BGLH.com (Black Girl with Long Hair) is one of my approved sources of Kinky Hair Knowledge, and last week they posted a very interesting guest article by Ariel of Revolutionary in Pink Pumps. Here’s some of what she had to say:
You know the girls you see in the Miss Jessie’s and Shea Moisture ads, the ones with big smiles as tons of bushy curls come falling down around their faces? Or how about the dark chocolate girl whose perfect white teeth beam up at you from the magazine ad as she rocks a thick kinky type 4 afro? Yea those girls… they are not me. My natural hair doesn’t make me smile or want to pose for pictures or even run my hands through it. On the daily I consider if I should just chop it all off and go bald.
Seeing that Ariel has 4C hair like many women and men who consider their hair kinky, we were interested to see if anyone else had similar experiences. My team fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your perspective) has never felt this way, but we could think of friends and family who were not too thrilled by their natural hair.
I just ‘big chopped’ this past weekend and I hated it. I’ve never had short hair, but as the days go by I am really learning to embrace and love my natural hair! I’ve always had a relaxer as far as I can remember. Being able to see my natural hair was a shock for me at first. I’ve been transitioning for almost a year (november will be a year since my last relaxer). It’s been a great transition now I just need to train my natural hair and enjoy. I have major shrinkage but I’ve learned how to stretch my hair. I’m getting box braids this weekend just because I’m not use to my hair being so short. Other than that I am loving my kinks!
That’s awesome Iman!! Congratulations, it only gets better 😀
One of the reasons people care so much about hair is how it frames your face, you can go from thinking you look beautiful with one style and thinking you look awful with a different style. Everyone has hair types that don’t fit them, for me natural hair suits me and that’s the main reason I do it and refuse to relax it even on bad days but some people can’t seem to find a natural hair style they think looks good on them and that’s fine. Those people shouldn’t be judged just because they want to look in the mirror and be confident they look beautiful by using weaves and relaxers.
Very sad because her hair is gorgeous
I love my natural hair! It’s different and unique and so much more amazing than I expected. I have hand-in-hair-itis in a massive way. I hate that I can’t do it justice and make it look good. I struggled with doing my relaxed her nicely too but at least I had the experience of playing with my Barbie’s hair and reading Marie Claire (what can I say no sisters and my mom delivered a VERY effective anti-hair lice talk about playing in other girls’s hair) so that wasn’t so hard.
So yes my natural hair is frustrating because everyday wearing it out looks like a cry for help for a bad hair day but does that make me want to chop it off or relax again? NO!
Well, I def have the 4c texture, but personally Im not a big fan of updo’s (on myself) I prefer my hair down and my natural hair doesn’t drop. Im really a straight hair girl. I feel like the tight fro is just too masculine for my face shape. Considering the nature of my hair, alot of length still kind of looks like a twa because it’s tight. Also my hair doesn’t like to stay stretched either unless its braided or twisted or straightened with a hard press on a cool day lol. So i feel like in order for me to be natural again i would really have to love my kinks instead of straightening them all the time, because that surely wouldn’t even last in the summer.