#long4chair

Let’s Embrace our Natural Self!

Before I start, I would like to get this clear. I don’t have a problem with weaves, wigs, ponytails, etc. I say this, at the front door because when I decided to announce that I am trying to go natural; I got looks like I was a traitor. As of today, I wear my natural hair under my wigs because I am transitioning my hair from relaxers, tight hairstyles that pulled on my edges and bad hair gel that essentially dried out my hair. This is the reason for my natural hair growth journey.

My natural hair growth journey beginning

It was December 2015, and I was just about to finish college when I began cruising YouTube at home. I was bored and curious as to what was going on, then I came across some You-tubers sharing their experiences about maintaining their natural hair.

They talked about the products they tried and liked and the ones they didn’t like. I was hooked!  I spent hours watching, learning and writing down tips and products. You would have thought I was back in college. I was back on my grind.

It is funny how life can bring you into a full circle

A few years ago, 3 of my older cousins, who all live in different states, were visiting for a family reunion. I noticed that they had cut their hair down to a low Afro. At that time I was still relaxing my hair, wearing wigs and sometimes ponytails.

But I was curious. Was this a new revolution that I was ignorant about? Of course, I knew that the 60s brought back rocking the Afros, then in the 80s and early 90s the braids, especially the “Goddess braids” or for some of us the “Janet Jackson box braids”. Now the 2000″s “s brought back the natural hair look.

The crazy thing about it was that I found myself defending weaves, wigs, and ponytails. One of my cousins asked me why I wouldn’t just go natural. I heard comments like “You guys are just making the wig stores richer by trying to look like Caucasian women with that long flowing hair”. What? Yes, I was being attacked at the family picnic.

I said, “First, I am not trying to be like anyone but myself. Secondly, I love the way I look with long hair”.  I told my cousin that I have a big apple-shaped head, therefore, I couldn’t rock the short hairstyles. They don’t fit my face. The truth about it was that I was envious of my cousins’  abilities to wear their hair that short and still look good. They have the faces and heads for that style.

More young girls are going natural

>>> Female Pattern Hair Loss Success Stories <<<

As I look around these days, I see all lengths of Afros, twist outs and braids. While doing my research, I realized this may not be just a trend or phase, this could be the beginning of our sisters learning to love and accept their natural hair.

My history growing up was if your hair was long and silky-like, you had “good hair”. Being black, I grew up believing that because it was one of the descriptions people would use to describe someone with silky or wavy hair.

Now that I am in my forties, which means I grew up in the 70s and 80s, this was still going strong from my heritage, which started this nonsense. I can’t lie, I still find myself saying, “She or he has good hair”. I am not only transitioning my hair, but I’m also transitioning my mind about African-American hair. Furthermore, I have work to do, for real!

Our black culture is unique in many ways

Our hair is like no other on this planet. Going way back to our West African ancestors, we have always shown our artistic abilities when it came to our hair because it is so different. Our hair grows in a coiled curl pattern, coarser in texture, which makes our hair more delicate to manipulate than other races. Here in America, black people also have mixtures of different types of hair because we have Native American blood and other nationalities that are traced in our lineage. >>> 1 Year Hair Growth Journey: Embracing Your Natural Self <<<