I’ve been feeling pretty guilty lately about my lack of commitment and concern for my natural hair. So I decided to turn to the greatness that is Google and, well, Google natural blogs and websites. I haven’t spent a great deal reading and researching, but in my brief search, I did notice that there seems to be a difference in opinion on the definition of “natural”. Apparently you can fall in one of four categories:
1. No perm, but color.
2. No perm, no color, but you still wear it “straight”.
3. No perm, no color, no heat, but you keep it braided or under weave.
4. No perm, no color, no heat, no weave.
Depending on who you talk to, the only real natural is #4. More lenient ppl may say 3 and 4 and occasionally 2, but #1 gets a lotta flack for introducing chemicals to their otherwise natural hair.
So what exactly IS natural????
12/14/2011 at 8:25 PM
I like that question Taija. I think “natural” is not so much *what* you’ve done to your hair, but *why* you’ve done it.
If you’re ashamed of what your hair is like when you undo what you’ve done (color, press, or weave), then your hair is NOT Natural. If you can rock a fro with just as much pride in your natural color, length, texture, as you do altered, you’re Natural.
Coloring, weaving, and pressing should be used to express yourself, not hide yourself.
Great post!