Woman defends 'box braids' claiming Vikings invented it. Then an actual Viking descendant fact-checked her

Many people might use various ways to defend cultural appropriation. Some may even draw on history or certain interpretations of it to bolster their claims. Similarly, a woman defended her box braids by asserting that Vikings were the ones who invented braids, and therefore, her hairstyle was not cultural appropriation. However, an actual Viking descendant, Henny—who goes by @hensybensy on TikTok—spotted the video and decided to clarify any misconceptions people might have.

"How can my hair be cultural appropriation when Vikings literally invented braids?" a woman named Natalie Reynolds (@nataliereynolds) with box braids questioned. The Viking descendant made a stitch with her and clarified, "I am from Iceland, and I want to share a bit of history with you since you are so interested in Viking history." Henny explained that people know about Vikings because of the Icelandic people who wrote the Icelandic sagas. "One such person was Snorri Sturluson, who also wrote the prose Edda. He's the reason you know about Norse mythology," Henny added. The man happened to be her great-grandfather over the past 18 generations. "He was talking about his own great-grandparents going back another 10 to 15 generations."

Henny is very interested in genealogy and has found out that most people in the sagas are related to her, going back 30-35 generations. "Anyway, I know a lot about the Vikings and as it goes, none of them wore box braids." She added, "There is no provable knowledge of any Vikings wearing box braids ever." No history, including Icelandic history, Scandinavian history, or Viking history, provides any evidence of box braids. "Did Vikings wear braids? Yeah. But not those kinds of braids that you are wearing, love." Henny continued, "I really wish that people like you would stop using my family, my own ancestry, my own heritage, as a means to justify antagonizing another entire group of people."

"Box braids like that were not done by Vikings. They were not invented by us. They have nothing to do with us," Henny remarked. "It's not cute; it really isn't. You are now upsetting two groups of people." Henny felt that she was offending people who were actual descendants of Vikings by using their names to justify her box braids. "No, you cannot wear those box braids as a result of us. If you wanna wear them, wear them, but your hair is gonna fall out." Henny pointed out that Natalie would upset several people like the Icelandic people, Scandinavians, and those from the Faroe Islands.

People in the comments appreciated the new knowledge and shared what they knew. @birdf.ingman wrote, "In the US, references to Viking ancestry is just a white supremacist dog whistle. Sorry, your sagas got mixed up in it." @thewitchyhistorain commented, "Viking braids are more akin to today's French and Dutch braids - I don't know where these folks get these crazy ideas." @norseforged remarked, "Føroysk here. The only plaits we ever really use are standard plaits and ones similar to a French braid. Føroysk hair is typically thin. It would for sure fall out if we wore those types of braids, lol." @ayomidebee shared, "Thank you for this! By the way, the braids she’s wearing are called Fulani braids—created by the Fulani people in West Africa. They aren’t box braids."

You can follow Henny (@hensybensy) on TikTok for more cultural and human rights content.