I agree I was also a victim / guilty of this. I still have tons of unopened hair products that I thought I needed because "they" said so. But to be fair.. that goes with any movement that I choose to be a part of. For example, I no longer buy a ton of natural hair products but now I'm into perfumes and body spray when I know darn well I had not stepped foot in bath & body works for like a decade until people started layering products. Which even layering and mixing perfumes used to be a big no no and unheard of and frowned upon. Now it's the thing to do so here I am buying tons of body spray and perfume trying to come up with a new scent. And before natural hair for me it was makeup. Buying tons of makeup only for the more natural look and no makeup look to be the current trend. It's just crazy and we just need to be careful of what we choose to be a part of and invest our time, interest, and money in. I hope this made sense I'm not good with explaining what's in my head sometimes but hopefully ya'll get it
Length is also a big part of the divestiture from the "community". If you weren't growing waist length hair, then you were told you were doing it all wrong.
Though the movement was co-opted and dwindled into an obsession of definition and length growth it did leave it's mark. I'm seeing teenaged girls with full afros coming out of school and that was just something not easy nor socially acceptable when I was their age. I think the next step is for the black hair community to come to terms with shruken 4 type hair. Straight out the shower, no blow drying, not stretching. Getting past the fear/disgust of raw, un-manipulated shruken black hair is where the real self-acceptance lies.
Saaame. I went out for the first time in four years recently, saw so many teens with fros and I had to contain myself. Like broo I didn't realise how much I wanted to see more fros until I actually saw people walkin' round with 'em.
I wore an afro as a child in the 80s. Lots of girls/women had afros back then. Even then though, you couldn't just leave it shrunken or it would break off. The way you styled an afro was to wash and condition, then braid it up in small braids (maybe 2x2 inch squares) to let it dry overnight. Then you'd unbraid and pick it out the next day. I think we rebraided each night. I don't quite remember anymore. But there was definitely grooming going on. I think that's what 'professional' or even 'presentable' comes down to. It's not the style you wear but simply that it's clear you are attending to hygiene and good grooming with self-respect. It's sort of like taking a shower and then putting on something to stop underarm funk. For some people that's anti-perspirant, for others deodorant, for others salt crystals, and so on. To each their own, just do something to show you respect yourself and take the time/effort to reflect that in how you present yourself.
If only I could. I am what i believe is mainly 4c with some 4b thrown in. My hair can start to loc within an hour. The thought of the detangling that would need to be done after a day. No thank you ma'am. I am definitely in the you do you camp. As long as you are aware of the potential damage that you are doing. A blow out or silk press, you know that heat can damage your hair and you can mitigate those risks. However with relaxers there hasn't been enough documented research into the long term effects and that is what concerns me with its use.
I agree with you. Yes there is a lot of things going on in this world we are being pushed out of. Our hair styles being copied by other people, other Races using African American hair care products they don't need and techniques we invented. Also I am sick and tired of other Races stealing every type of music we created and getting awards for it over us. A lot of these people who are stealing African American music do not even like us, but they LOVE our music and styles.
Unfortunately we as BW ultimately pushed ourselves out of the movement because as a group we don’t like gatekeeping and are obsessed with wanting to make our type 4 hair texture look like anything but type 4. Unless it’s really long, most BW don’t seem to truly embrace what their type 4 hair is like and can do. Society also makes it hard. So first we abandoned the original type 4 UA-camrs and flocked to the mixed girls with type 2 and type 3 hair. And when we realized that would never work, we turned to wearing protective styles, lace fronts and wigs 365 days a year. The great thing about the natural hair movement is that it did inspire a lot of BW to go natural in the first place and at least stop using the toxic relaxers. You see a lot more BW rocking their natural hair (or natural looking wigs etc.) than 20 years ago. I think that helped a lot of us deal and come to turns with our own internalized texturism and grow confidence from wearing our crowns in all their glory. I love that little black girls now have a plethora of natural BW role models to look up to.
Personally even though I am white passing with looser curls I did get a lot of shit for having frizz in the early to mid 2000s by my peers who exclusively had straight or wavy hair. I learned how to take care of my hair by watching black women with 3-4 type hair even though that's not my hair type a lot of the same processes work and this really helped me appreciate my texture and learn to work with my hair. I have only ever seen the natural hair movement as uniting. While I 100% agree there is a difference in how black women's hair has been treated historically and in present times I think it's disingenuous to say texturism only affects ppl with 4c hair. I would say the pressure to do extreme things to 4c hair is higher but we are united it seeking a love and understanding of our hair. I don't think non 4c hair havers should be villainized for contributing to the movement as long as they are being genuine about it and not claiming to have a hair type that they don't Edit: 1000% agree when it comes to POC being pushed out of their own thing in "all that goes on in the world" I just think texturism affects a broad group of people to various degrees and those people shouldn't be excluded from the experience of reclaiming their natural hair as a viewer or even as a creator if they have something to offer
I remember as a kid I always said to my mom "I wish I had silky hair like the girls with peach skin at school " and I had my hair relaxed for years. as it was on it last legs, and it was extremely damaged and thinned out from using relaxers my whole life, I cut my hair off, wore protective styles for a year and now i wear my natural hair out. my mom told me it would be hard, and she said it wouldnt look as good as other girls since i have tight 4c coils. she kept saying how it wouldnt look good especially for special/professional events. i ignored her, and ive been natural for 6 months now :) I'm still learning to love it and I hope to never give up on it
@@jbb8261 facts! My mom hated that I went natural and was judging me the entire time, then 2 years later. She calls me asking what products to use while going natural….. Now I just started my loc journey and she’s against it but I feel like she’s gonna get locs in a few years lol
When I decided to go natural my mom pointed out I wouldn’t look like my friend who had loose hair. My wear my 4c hair out almost 24/7 for 9 year. I don’t define it or use any gels for personal reasons only moisturizing products and blue magic.I love my hair and I hope to inspire other young girls to love themselves also. I’ve wore my fro to weddings, and other formal events and never felt less than pretty. I represent my ancestors 🫧
I get looks from other black girls and black men ain’t checking for me like that but you have to ask yourself. Can you truly be happy if you alter yourself for the viewing of others? I want people who think I’m pretty being my natural self in my life only. Idk why the judgement never bothered me, but I refuse to have another ball spot in my head from a relaxer again 😂
You say you "reperesent your ancestors" but as someone who is on the continent of Africa at this very minute let me tell you, the women here are all for the wig life and braided hair. Some even relax their hair. Some wear their natural hair but no one is shamed for not wearing their hair in its natural texture. And guess what?? They are still African women. No one questions their heritage because of how they choose to wear their hair.
@@britjj5126 congrats to them. MY ancestors were forced to either shave bald, cover their hair or chemically relax to feel even have a place in society were they are tolerated.
I think it's important for all us to take accountability for this, too. Women with looser texture hair wouldn't have "taken over" the moment if we didn't give them views. I know when I first went natural I was always watching UA-camrs with looser hair bc deep down I (at the time) wanted my hair to look like theirs. Obviously it's hard but it's really important to work on building your self esteem YOURSELF instead of looking for outside validation. If someone doesn't like your natural hair or makes comments about it or you don't attract certain types of men when you wear it natural, see that as a blessing for the type of people you don't want in your life! We have to commit to unlearning these negative ideas about our hair for OURSELVES and no one else! On the point of all the rules, I totally agree. Natural hair doesn't need to be that complicated. Everyone's hair is different.
@@CamrynElyse Right?! Now I only watch videos from creators whose hair is similar to mine so I'm actually learning - not just admiring. We need to be aware of the content we consume and what we give our attention to.
Thanks for being transparent. I didn’t have this issue because I was truly needing help with my natural texture and searching for someone whose hair was like mine. I got discouraged and stop watching most channels because I felt like I couldn’t find anyone with hair like mine and just started doing my own thing
Once money penetrates a movement it will change. Fact* The natural hair movement is still one of the best things that ever happened to me. Key: always sift through information (take the good, reject the bad)
I had a full thick 4c hair when I started the natural hair hype. Spraying water on my hair, cowash, oils, no sulphates etc turned my hair to light dead strands. Now I'm back to grease, sulphate shampoo and conditioner, no spraying water and my hair is thick and strong again, mid back. 4c hair is a different mood.
I feel you! I new my texture from years ago and for years I permed anyway. It's weird that now I look at the years I permed as just lazy!!! I admired the wrong people hair, when if I stopped perming, I have that hair too. There is no way, I permed to look like anyone else! And now thinking of a perm makes me feel weird. I am happier natural and would be embarrassed if I were to perm again. Simply because my 4C would be gone! I love what I see before and after I wash my hair. After conditioning, I am in love again. The curls are POP LOCKING AND DROPPING. I stopped perming in 04/2022 and yes cut all of the perm out. And when I thought I saw some permed strands, I cut some more. And now my hair is longer than it was only this time natural. Being natural does grow your hair and quick. I am never going back to perms and for better health and on purpose. I don't EVER want anyone to think that I wanted to be like anyone other than my Black Mother. I need my hair to be as strong as I am, so I had to knock it off. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
As someone who was alive during the “Black is Beautiful” movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, I see that as the first wave of Black women wearing natural hair. Then, we started straightening again and the Jheri Curl eventually came out as an alternative to straight styles in the 1980’s. All of this to say, it’s all a cycle. I went natural in the early 1990’s when braids because popular. And then we went back to relaxers again in the early 2000’s. I’ve been doing twists and twist outs since 1996. It’s gained popularity now, but I too have noticed that less and less women are doing the two strand twists and twist outs. We’ll be back to natural being everything again. It’s all a cycle! Just like life! I will say that it is nice to see news reporters and anchors rocking natural hair styles! The movement really made an impact in the mainstream media this time! I never saw news reporters with natural hair growing up, so we are growing! ❤
Thank you so much for this. I would like to play the devils advocate and ask if you during any of these times notice BW being catty with other BW who is hey think didn’t fit the style of the time? Just thinking and reflecting as a kid and not remembering the Shaming or rude comments and “invisible rules”. I’m just wondering if you see the divestment.
I've always thought it was insane that so many people didn't consider locs to be part of the natural hair movement. You don't get more natural than freeform locs. I've been loc'd since 1999. Wow, thanks for all the likes!
I recently got microlocs. Was a loose natural before but I fell in love with the look. It's definitely unfortunate how locs aren't considered to truly be natural hair for so many
@@elisejackson2854 I get up. Shower. My hair's done. I shampoo, treat and separate my roots once a month. I'm good. I was a loose natural for a week and a half after I grew out my relaxer under individual braids for 9 months. I was going for 12 months, but couldn't wait that long to cut off the old relaxed hair. My hair wasn't styling right after I washed it the second week after I cut it.. Nope! I got comb coils with the quickness. My goal was to grow out my relaxer for a year, and start my locs, but my little fro was so cute! Then I tried to wash, and twisty it again, and my coil pattern went missing. I'm all for powerful looking women but I looked......extremely masculine. I can say this because I belong to the LGBTQ+community: I looked DIESEL. Like I just wore a strap for fun. Again, NOPE! Had my locs started, and I am very happy thank you very much! 😁
@@reneemattier5883 lol the last part was hilarious. I love locs. But I opted for micro because you can do so much with them and they look super girly. I'm bi so I get you. I'm partial to butches funnily enough 😂
I remember this girl walked up to me, rubbed her hands all throughout my hair and told me I needed to do something with it. I didn’t give her a whole natural hair lecture but I let her know I didn’t like that my personal space was being invaded. At this point I feel we need to leave each other alone when it comes to how we choose to present ourselves natural hair or not. Nothing is ever enough anymore!
I feel you. This happened to me a lot in high school, but one time I was touring a college campus, and a random white lady came up to me and gave me (only me) a goodie bad with biolage shampoo and conditioner because she said I needed it and it would help me. I thought she was rude for that, and the products were very drying.
“Black women deserve to feel beautiful” in whatever way that’s true for them... That’s what I took away from this. I choose to judge nobody, not even myself
Even when I want to wear my 4c hair w/o manipulation, I go through extreme damage from matting, knots, tangles etc. So it's not that we don't always want to show our actual texture, its just usually healthier to style from twist/braid outs
I always asked “Why can’t I just have my hair growing out of my scalp like white people do?” Even after I got arthritis and so shaved it off every 3-4 months, my dad would make comments about it not being “clean” and edged up. Like ffs, I can’t even have a shaved head without the beauty police telling me my black hair ain’t right as it is. Leave Black people’s heads alone 😩
I saw a black woman online say. "I don't care if my hair doesn't grow anymore. It's hair. Life goes on" and I felt what she said. At some point you just say who tf cares
*Yes, I agree ☝️ I think I had length guilt , I felt like I owed ppl inches bc I’ve been natural for 8 yrs. I’ve had a lot of changes in a decade, great video.*
Me too. I personally never really wear my natural hair out because it never turns out how I would like and I feel like I can retain length if I wear braids 24/7. I feel like once I get to full mid back length or waist length then it’s like acceptable and easier for me to wear it out. It’s like proving something
@@livingdollgyaru this is literally why I got locs and why I'm debating combing them out. I want to learn to embrace my coils at all lengths but I also don't want to do that while trying to navigate college. So I decided to give myself four years to build basic healthy habits (washing my hair consistently, massaging my scalp, wearing a proper bonnet nightly, taking vitamins, and creating a better diet) before I take my locs out.
The natural hair movement became just another thing that separates us. It’s very sad. It’s just like light skin/dark skin comments that WE still make about each other!
The natural hair community’s obsession with waist length hair is so toxic! And everrrryonnnneeeee swears by different growth oils that they swear are the reason for their waist length hair. The amount of money I wasted on products I thought were gonna be a holy grail for long hair is embarrassing
Waist length hair isn't even practical for most straight-haired women. Waist-length* hair was mostly something wealthy women with plenty of free time to dedicate to combing and brushing could achieve. If you have a job where you are are very active, and have to do a bunch of movement, having super long hair is impractical. *Edit, what I thought was "waist length" was actually more like "hip length", but even then I feel like the most common hair length for American women is between shoulder and mid back.
@@starspeculation no...? I have hip length hair and i am a software engineer. It takes 10 minutes max to do my hair everyday. Long hair is not impractical at all, its a personal choice. Most women have waist length hair or longer
@@vinelend2832 Not in the United states. I rarely see women with hair longer than mid-back/lower rib. Seeing someone with waist-length hair is uncommon here.
@@starspeculation oh, i have never been to the US so i did not know that. What i was trying to say is that short hair, long hair is all a personal choice. No hair is impractical or high maintainence, and no hair is ugly as long as it is healthy
@@starspeculation what part of the US are you from? I grew up in Florida and even went to school with a good amount of girls that had waist length hair, even when I was out in public I’ll see them
So true!! After I gave up relaxer it was Wash on Friday and GO on Sunday! And don't get me started on all the products I had to apply and how it looked like a Sheep Dog by Tuesday. I'm still natural but that doesn't mean I'll stay that way...
The first big wave of the modern natural hair movement was actually more than 20 years ago, way earlier than you mentioned and before this current age of social media. Go back and look at some of the dates and history of the forums I'll mention here. UA-cam didn't even exist, it was pretty much just websites and forums. I was in my early 20's then, and it was 2001. The Neo-soul movement, music, fashion, headwraps and style was in its infancy. I did my first big chop that year. I stood out. At the time, approximately 92% of Black women relaxed their hair. Now, it's about half that. Almost no products were available save for a few brands at the health food store. We had to make most of our products from scratch in our kitchens and bathrooms, and that was the early days of Carol's Daughter. We had Black Hair Media and a few other places. A group of us that were on the Multicultural Hair board of the predominantly white forum of the Long Hair Lover's community online left after they tried to charge us to stay. Fun Fact-The hairtyping system that everyone uses now was created by Andre Walker (Oprah's stylist in the 90's) and expanded by a member on that board called Fia. We bounced on private boards, sending each other links until I asked my sorority sister who had a background in tech to create a home just for us. So was born the Long Hair Care Forum. My name was MSCHICHI. I was a moderator there back in the day until I left a few years after life got busy and I learned and contributed a wealth of info. We had to learn and research everything on our own about our natural hair and how to do it because there was barely any info out there. We spoke about the near gang activity of naturals v/s relaxed ladies even back then. It's been crazy to see how far things have come and the whole industry now. Much love to all the old heads and trailblazers, and all the newcomers carrying the torch. Like Maya Angelou once said, if it's on your head, it's good hair.
@M. Jessica, you are so right. I remember all those forums and how hard it was to find information. No UA-cam, no social media. Barely anything online about it. Memories lol
Yes! I did the big chop in '97, and the Neo-soul movement was a big part of the aesthetic. Those of us who were talking about and wearing our natural hair at that time all had 4c hair, and it was about learning to care for our hair and hair expression. I used to go to Carol's Daughter when it was a little shop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn to get products. Many of us paid a price for having natural hair, but we continued.
I agree the natural hair community became toxic. There would be women with 4C claiming that they have 3BC. Also women with type 3 claiming to have type 4. It became too much and I divested from natural hair content.
A huge part of the natural hair movement was DIY learning your hair type. Some people just didn't know and were still learning. I don't think they should be dragged for that unless they were intentionally falsely advertising which is wrong.
@@ralphiesarch8980 i dont think ALL of the girls were doing it intentionally, but when i first went natural and was looking for advice from type 4 creators, about 90% of those creators had the looser, ringlet and spiral curls. it made me so frustrated at the time because i’d thought i was just doing something wrong
I relaxed my hair and got a pixie and haven't felt more confident. I'm tired of feeling guilty for not embracing my natural hair. No I'm not brainwashed and I believe natural hair is beautiful, but it is not by force.
When I finally decided to cut my hair (and I'm pretty sure I'm 4A hair type) and now that it's not long anymore people are no long saying that I am pretty which shows me that I was never seen as pretty unless that I had long hair 🤮 But the lack of ✨ pain ✨ when my hair shorter! Less pulling, managing and tugging to get it to "look presentable" and I was tired of being in pain for HAIR 😩
Agreed! I was natural for nearly 15 years and just recently decided to do a straight perm simply for the ease and low maintenance, atp I'm old enough to not care about what anyone will think about that decision.
As a 🇮🇳 Indian i want to say thank you to everyone who brought up this movement 🙏 🙌 because in my country majority have straight hair and having curly hair(I've 3b-c)was odd the constant teasing, bullying etc. When I saw a indian blogger who followed the C.G method I was taken aback and first time thought to love my hairs. But I agree that ppl are too obsessed with it now to a unhealthy extent and that's the reason why I don't follow strict cg anymore so thank you sisters for showing the fellow curly heads the right way.
Yes straight hair is idealised in india, so being in the minority (wavy/curly haired) is tough. Hardly any products for our hair . But atleast the ayurvedic products work well
I want to join in saying thank you. I wonder if people don't realize how much texturism is a universal experience and has extreme nuance to how it affects us all. As a white woman with naturally curly hair, I've been shamed, told my natural texture is unprofessional, directed to "do something" about my hair, advised to chemically straighten it, and after decades of trying to figure out what that magic "something" would be to make my hair acceptable, ultimately have resorted to wearing wigs to feel comfortable with my hair's appearance. It's the first time in my life that I've regularly gotten compliments on my hair, which is really sad. While I'm fully-cognizant of the fact that the texturism I've experienced wasn't compounded by racism, the comments and even disgust are just as hurtful. This video spoke to me deeply, and the ultimate message that no one should be shamed for however they choose to wear their hair is 100% spot on. Natural, treated, styled, and even covered are ALL without-a-doubt beautiful.
@@vinelend2832 istg, i've learnt to take care of my hair pretty well and even when its at its glossiest and most "perfect", i still have my family members asking me to comb it. and when i snap and say 'you cant comb curly hair!', they'll say i'm high maintenance ;)( also i have relatives with the same hairtype who ended up permanently straightening it and yet they shame me lmaooo)
18:40 I felt guilty for wearing protective styles because I thought it showed that I didn’t love my hair in the natural state and thought it was bad to wear braids, passion twists, ect all the time but after doing it because doing my natural hair takes FOREVER! I realized that my natural hair became healthier, stronger, and grew way faster in the protective styles. I do enjoy wearing it out but like not all the time. I’m so glad I went natural too. My relaxed hair was so awful I remember dreaming of having natural hair and now I’ve been natural for 5 years! Which is crazy to me because I feel like it was just last year that I went natural.
Me too. And while we are talking about this, I want to say specifically to the women coming to these conclusion like one of them did in this video, PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE DOING (take your pick) TO THEIR HAIR FOR SELF HATING REASONS. A black woman wearing a wig over her natural hair does NOT automatically mean she hates her natural hair. It means she cares enough about it to PROTECT IT. Despite the gaslighting that some black women do when black hair is talked about in anything but utter, 110% praise, black hair is typically more fragile than straighter textures hair in general (GENERAL, PEOPLE. So please don't come up with personal anecdotes to debunk it because general means it might apply to most but not everybody). So black women put it up to protect it, not because they're ashamed of it. And it's the same thing with relaxing. Stop coming to the conclusion that a black woman went back to relaxers simply because she hates her natural hair. For a lot of natural women who were once relaxed, a lot of us in our experience noticed the time and manageability difference between relaxed and natural hair. She may have loved how her natural hair looked, but probably got sick and tired of all the products, techniques, and learning curves she had to do and the time spend on properly moisturizing and detangling natural hair. So please stop coming to the sole conclusion that she is self hating because that is the route she wanted to go. With relaxers, black women have their own reasons why they went back to it, not all of which has anything to do with them hating themselves.
The looser texture girls ruined the movement😂here me out now… if you notice a lot of the stuff they started hating “oh it doesn’t work it’s bad for you” does wonders for type 4 hair such as grease I love me some blue magic and Indian hemp, sulfates, certain gels everything that does my fellow type 4 sisters the type 3-below cousins lowkey demonized it another thing why are white people in this movement 😭
Sweetheart you are speaking on the high bee fletcher!!!🙌🏾🙌🏾😭 I use most of the products that were so called "bad" for your hair. Especially the oils, they have my have thriving!
Girl my youngest is type 4c all day. The minute I started using Blue magic with black castor oil, her hair started to flourish. There’s no one size fits all in natural hair.
One thing I noticed is that when people with 4c hair started getting more appreciation, there were people that would claim 4c just for the sake of clicks and views. Even though you called people natural hair police for correcting them, I do think people were right to do so because it can cause a lot of confusion and upset for people. People incorrectly labelling themselves as 4c (or type 4 in general) for views definitely put me off because it became harder to find people with similar textures to use as a reference.
I know right I have 3c 4a hair and I be seeing people with hair like mines saying it’s 4c . I get it can look slightly different person to person but it gets to a point where you know you don’t have 4c hair not even remotely.
@@Sondersun exactly!! people want help with hairstyles and it’s a lot easier to copy a hairstyle from someone with a similar texture than someone whose hair is different!
The problem is a lot of these girls went natural for the wrong reasons and it backfired, they were following a trend instead of doing it because it was something they REALLY wanted to do for THEMSELVES. Going natural should be a personal choice and a self love journey, not some community you join because it's trendy.
As someone who has NEVER straightened my hair in my 30 + years on earth, this being a fad or a movement seems odd to me. My hair is just my best feature, that is part of my "tumbao" which means African sexiness in my Afro Latin culture. I think this is being over thought. Our hair is gorgeous, end of story. No controversy there.
I can only speak for the States but when Eurocentric beauty standards can make or break how you succeed and navigate daily society from the time you step foot in school at age 5, yes, going natural had to be a Movement, a Cultural Revolution. Not the first of its kind but definitely distinct in an increasingly racially integrated, globalized computer-age.
Wait wasn't their a few afro Latinos complaining about discrimination a few years ago. I'm sure you've seen it in your culture too eh? Oh wait that mustve been over skin color...💅🏽 Well anyhoo
I think what happened is we focused more on texture rather than the science of hair,like porosity, density, thickness of your strands. Many companies caught on to that creating unnecessary products. Also, influencing us to be product junkies as we looked for products that worked for our curl pattern over what works for each individual based on their hair composition or needs. Furthermore, thinking heat, grease, sulfates, silicones, or washing you hair more frequently with shampoo would be damaging. Once I started looking at my hair scientifically I went back to mainstream products versus ones geared solely towards natural hair and went back to an old school routine. My hair has been thriving.
Yes, the Suave in the green bottles have never done me wrong, but in the name of supporting Black business, I use Suave when I’m broke and running low on product.
Yup. Same thing with skincare. Taking a scientific approach is much much easier than playing product roulette. You get to the root cause and solution to your hair and can actually see change much faster (imo).
@@propainaccessories yes, Some of the tried and trues started switching up the formulations and ingredients to fit “good ingredients for natural hair” when they were doing just fine the whole time. As a business I get it because the revenue comes from consumers and that is what the consumers wanted
I'm one of the "looser hair girls" and I use grease, oils, and butters. I believe in do what works for you. I tried following the "natural hair rules" but just started making my own products and stuck to my own routine. I don’t think the movement failed, we as a people failed. What was supposed to bring us together tore us apart. So girls with type 4 hair please love your hair because I would love to have a fro i didn't have to manipulate into one. I cant do wash n goes cause it'll end up a big, tangled mess. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, lol. Oh and I agree with the be aware where u stand 👀.
This! My hair is very wavey but if i dont drown it in multiple products it literally becomes huge, puffy, and dry. I always wished i had more defined perfect curls like my 4C friends. Also to be honest i have never found a hair type combination that looks anything like my hair. All the wavey pictures are always of white women's hair that has the texture of smooth and straight but just has some soft waves, but i have never seen thick coarse textured hair like mine under any of the "wavey" part of the spectrum so i never understood how hard people use these labels as part of their identity and part of defining others when those labels represent such a fraction of actual hair types, textures, volume, and experience.
@@rightweaponry908 if your hair requires a lot of product for it to not become dry, frizzy and puffy, you may have high porosity hair. Look for hair products that have Glycerin in the first 3 ingredients on the list, legit changed my life. I have 3b/a and recommend As I Am long & luxe leave in.
Yup, this is me! My curls are looser, but my hair is stupid thick, takes forever to detangle and I need leave-in and gel or my hair will mat together. My mom has 4C hair and I honestly wish my hair was like hers sometimes. I’m ready to just cut it all off and rock a TWA 🥲
In my opinion, the natural hair movement started out as an informative, self aware and self loving machine & is now turning into business opportunity. Let's get back to when building a community for black people to learn ourselves, love ourselves and embrace our differences enjoyable again.
This is not a hair problem this is a lack of self love problem. Yes there are people out there that hate on things that are different. BUT if you as individual know yourself and know what you love about yourself already, then no bully, hater or comment can change what you already know in your heart. Love yourself so much that if someone say, "you look like an orange dinosaur" you can say "no baby in my heart I already know I am a purple elephant"!
Agree. I just posted it’s about self love and your family community. I never realized how Bless I was to have such a diverse group of women with hair from Lena Horne to Viola Davis and we ALL respect and loved each other curls, perms, wigs, weaves braids or extensions. Because we love each other we see only the black Woman struggle to be beautiful in her own skin no matter what the color or texture of her hair is. Geez it’s enough to fight Becky at work!! Why the heck would I demean my fellow black sister because she is different? At the end of the day we all have 1000 seasonings in the cabinet, more body lotion than Jergens, and pots are suppose to be stored in the oven!!!! “Come Together”❤
Yeah but the problem is that there's a lot of young people that are still learning to love themselves. It's like how a sapling is so much easier to chop down than a full grown tree. We need to give the saplings space to grow
As someone who grew up natural, long before it was popular, and tried relaxing my hair once in college 😖, I think the problems with the community come down to trading one out of reach Eurocentric beauty standard for another out of reach less Eurocentric beauty standard. Instead of just embracing and loving our hair. Personally I can’t stand when people are so hyper focused on length.
❤ I ask the same question. Like their “cousins” to Lady Godiva. If I wanted to have a dream of long hair my 4z would be a nightmare just hanging out loose everyday.
I exited when people became obsessed with hair typing. 😩 And then all the natural hair scientists started talking about porosity, parabens, sulfates, and whatever. It truly doesn’t have to be that hard. Then came all the complaining that our hair “takes too much time” and the rise of wigs. Hear me out. Y’all can do what y’all want. Taking care of our natural hair CAN take long if you want a high-maintenance style BUT it doesn’t have to. White folks spent plenty of time on their hair because it’s just fun to do sometimes! I had long hair practically all my life until I cut my hair a few times in college (even shaved my head lol). Everyone asked how my hair would grow back so quickly and literally the answer is by doing very little. I seldom do my edges and I’ve always done wash and go puffs even as a type 4 because these n****s were not about to tell me my hair was nappy. Whatever. Then when my hair grew out again, people were like 😍. 😩😩😩 Keeping our hair healthy is relatively simple and can be low maintenance. But when the popular natural hair gurus became biracial with loose curls, it became a chore (because people were trying to make their look like theirs) and people started spreading the lie that our hair takes “too much time.” I’d love to see the capital “C” Community embrace our hair again because it’s beautiful and what God blessed (yes, BLESSED) us with. I really appreciate the OGs because they taught me that taking care of my natural hair was even a possibility. Then, I figured out a routine that worked for me. I hope others can get back to doing the same.
@@GoaWay... It takes me 10 mins to detangle mine and mine's supper coily (or 4c as we'd say back in the day). I know the women behind black girl curls have put a lot of back up with their hair 'rules'. But they make more sense to me than anything else I've heard on UA-cam University since I went natural 7 years ago.
@@dahlia1452 10 minutes? 😳... 😭. That's great! I wish I could do that. I wish I could do it in 30 minutes. The thing that makes it worse for me, is that after I am done detangling, and have washed & conditioned my hair, it gets all tangled again during that process. So I have to re-detangle it. That makes me hate doing my hair. I put off washing my hair for as long as I can. Also, my twist outs used to take more than an hour for me to do. I loved the look, but taking the time to twist them every night, that was too much for me. Maybe I have some sort of health issue that is causing my hair to do that. I know my hair used to shed excessively. Everytime I would touch it, hair would come out. I need hairstylist for natural hair. 😌
@@GoaWay... you don't have to do do a twist out everyday. Just pineapple your hair on top of your head with a satin scrunchie, cover with a satin scarf, and fluff with fingers the next morning🙂
This mom of four girls with type 4 hair is forever grateful for the natural hair movement. It fills my heart every time I see a new natural hair youtuber. I am glad to see that the movement is here to stay. I am in my 11th year of loving my hair, and it is great to teach that love to my little ones by modeling it for them. Great video!
I love all the new info, “protective styling isn’t really protective”, “no raw oils and butters”, etc. Even though we’re 10+ years into the natural movement, it’s still a young movement. I think something we still overlook is the mindset we have of particularly tight coiled hair. Are we just having fun with wigs, weaves and relaxers or are we only outwardly dealing with inner turmoil?
I am having fun with wigs and weaves lol. No hair can be straight long, bubblegum pink in the morning and short, curly and white the evening... Wigs and weaves give so much freedom and ways of expressing one's tastes and personnality, but somehow if you have them on your head and you're black, you hate yourself.
I think it doesn’t matter. There’s turmoil whether you’re natural or not. If someone has type longer 4C hair, spending 5 hours on a “twist out” or on “wash day” is turmoil. BW need to be left alone when it comes to hair. That’s why many left the “natural hair community” because it became a hotep cult. I’m glad I left that community. Now I do whatever I want with my hair.
I started as a loose natural for years. I transitioned to wigs until one day I had enough. I wanted a permanent protective style and that’s when it dawned on me, Locs! My hair has never been happier, who knew the answer for me the whole time was not detangling and combing my hair.
The natural hair movement definitely freed me and showed me my own African Beauty and whats possible. Love it forever ♥️♥️🙏🏾we will work on thos important flaws and take it to the next level 🤎🤎🤎
Firstly, I want to thank The Natural Hair Community for a movement that included black women with coarse hair. I'm glad we have a lot of hair products intended for our stands at the drug, grocery, and retail stores. The Community helped us with the language and terms to use for describing our hair and the products we use. I can't think of a more inclusive community. Racism roots will sprout up everytime. Yes! It will among black ppl. While we are not a monolith, we must acknowledge the "beauty" standards set by this oppressive system was established to undermine and suppress us. This is why I'm not for every community being inclusive. Let's get something straight about everybody jumping on the "bandwagon". If it were not for the socal media Natural Hair Communty, the Curly Girl movement would not exist. The curl type 3c wouldn't be all the rage without 4c hair. It's the self unawareness for me. Ppl were joining (high jacking) the movement for ulterior motives. This caused a lot of naturals to feel disenchanted and ostracized in a movement made for them. How are folk going to come into a Communty their never wanted to be a part of (before all of the sensationalism) and critique it for not being about them? The Natural Community hasn't gone anywhere. The ppl who didn't belong there have exited the Community. Thank you.
THIS! as someone who has that kinky afro type 4 hair, this was the take for me. Even to this day if I do not specifically type in ..."for type 4 hair" I will not see anyone who has a similar hair type to mine😭
The only thing i dont like with the natural hair community is where uneducated/people without qualifications want to speak in absolutes despite they have no scientifc background. It took one person to say grease is bad then everyone says it. It took one person to say low porosity hair should stay away from protein then everyone says it and the list goes on. Then the crazy hennas and clay masks and so many steps that we're told we should do if we want healthy hair. Somehow people without credentials became experts in dictating what we should do and shouldn't do and i was one who blindly followed. Now this is not to throw everyone under the bus but I just wish those influencers, if you're sooo passionate about hair, why not actually study so that you're credible and knowledgeable in what you're saying instead of saying what the next person said.
@@LoXena Use what works for you and if that’s oil and butters, great. I haven’t used those since childhood, yet my hair thrives without them. I’ve stuck to what works for me without bashing other’s choice of products.
My issue with the natural hair community started with the “taking the stupid out of natural hair” movement. The no oils and butters trends, then no protective styling trend. Like leave people to do what they want with their hair 💁🏾♀️
Seriously. I relaxed my hair my hair last year after being natural for five years because I just was too stressed to do it and I big chopped back in March. Before I big chopped, when I was relaxed and now, the only thing that works on my hair is shea butter. Grease and the likes. I’ve tried expensive I’ve tried cheap. Of course I do like As I Am and it would probably last longer since my hair comes to my collarbone when stretched but back when my hair was past bra strap length, I was using a 25-30$ hair product in one month and my hair just doesn’t like all that extra. I do think oils don’t “make your hair grow”. I agree with people that it comes from within just like skin care, but moisture wise, im keeping my butter and my oil, because its less than 5$ at the beauty store and my hair doesn’t get dry after two days. With my 40$ hair products or whatever that stuff is my grandma has thats pink, mg hair is dry and god forbid it gets wet. Used shea butter with my twists and my hair had been wet, exposed to heat, cold, dry and air and it’s STILL moisturized. And being natural for four years my hair grew yeah but in 2020 I was putting my hair in twists or braids and letting it rock and it grew tremendously. Protective styling is alright for me. I’m definitely not listening to people who can just wake up and add water to their hair and go (lol my grandma). We are NOT the same
If it weren’t for the no oils and butters trend my hair wouldn’t be flourishing. I heard about it and it lead to a change in my hair routine and journey that has definitely been an upgrade, and I can say that I don’t think i would be where I am today if I hadn’t heard of it. I agree that we should let people do what they want but some of us did get something out of simplifying our routines and changing it up
With the exception of 9mos when I learned not to follow trends no matter how popular they are, I've been natural all my life. I don't think it's trends that are the problem it seems it's more when people are being successful with what they are doing and decide to jump on a trend that's the problem. Personally, I've never used raw oils and butter on my hair so for me the trend would have been using them. However, I did not jump on that trend because I could not see doing something to my natural hair that I had not ever done. My hair was thriving and doing just fine so I didn't need to add oils and butter. When my mom did my hair she would shampoo, condition, and braid it up using a leave-in. I just kept on shampooing, conditioning, and using leave-in, but I added gel for a WnG. It was and still is simple, and my hair is happy and flourishing. So, if your hair is flourishing by using raw oil and butter then keep doing that. If it is flourishing doing something else keep doing that. However, if it isn't healthy and happy try something new. Not because it is a trend, but because your hair needs a change.
I'm glad I don't follow trends because there have been so many of them. There have been the Monistat cream trend, the Vicks Vapo Rub trend, the chebe trend, the rice water trend, the no oils and butters trend, the sea moss trend. What trend are they going to come up with next?
I am BSL now but when I did my bc back in college, omg people went IN on me. Sooo many people would tell me that I need to do something with it. One guy told me my hair felt like carpet & another black girl (with fine hair) told me my hair reminded her of her Brillo pad. People started being waaay more interested & nicer once I started getting length. I’ll never forget the things people said to me back then.
I was done when I was staring at nearly $800 worth of products at the bottom of my sink hot off the heels of being told to "go see a doctor" on a natural hair board because my 4b hair wasn't past my shoulders after 3 years of being natural. I mean, who goes 3 years without seeing a doctor? I started looking at my aunties with they're healthy hair and 4 products (Soft N Sheen, Blue Magic, Queen Helene Cholestorol, and Cream of nature shampoo) and my hair flourished.
Girl, I'm over here nodding. I was so over all these conditioners it wasn't even funny. I marched my tail to the beauty supply and got my Queen Helen cholesterol and walked right on out!! I'm throwing away half the crap I purchased. I am obsessed with Indian herbs though. lol
This is so much bigger than hair type. Even if you have 4c hair, it’s still looked on favorably if it’s long and full. I have thin short 4C hair and I had hard time finding creators with similar hair. I divested from the natural hair movement because I was tired of being inundated with videos of people with full and long hair and the pressure/expectation to have hair that looked like that. They were all selling the idea that if you did xyz, your hair would grow like their hair. Meanwhile, genetically some ppl are just predisposed to have thicker longer hair. Even 4c gurus like Naptural85 and Halfrican Beaute made me feel like I was lacking. I came to the conclusion that it was genetically impossible for my hair to look like Halfrican Beaute’s and started putting my hair away in wigs and protective styles. Another reason was content creators doing more sponsorsed videos vs just sharing products they liked.
Same. My fine, yet extremely kinky hair just didn’t have much representation on UA-cam. And I finally realized that my hair would never look like theirs. So I embarked on a journey of getting to know MY own hair. I’ve been better for it.
also, i agree with you. it’s important to have that representation across the board! i have even felt the same way because i don’t have super thick hair, and you follow all of these tutorial wondering why it doesn’t come out the same. it was so important for me to watch people that had similar hair types to me, down to density, strand with, curl pattern, etc. those are the only creators i took advice from, the rest i just watched for fun!
I remember hairstylists saying we should not put “food” in our hair. People from various cultures have been using oils in their hair for centuries… these hair products weren’t around centuries ago. People used the Earth to clean and moisturize their hair.
My grandmother told me back in her day. They washed their hair with Ivory Bar soap. Cracked an egg in their hair with mayonnaise to condition their hair. Used pure Olive Oil & Crown Royal grease to moisturize and style their hair. That was in the the late 1930’s- early 50’s. That was all they needed.
My grandmother, rest her soul, used mayonnaise, castor oil, and egg to condition my hair and it would get so thick and full. She was a hairstylist in the 60s/70s
Wow! I didn’t realize that people were taking the opinions of others on social media as gospel. I just accepted as advice. I kept what worked for me and threw away the rest.
That part. Even when I began my natural journey I knew there was a lot of BS out there. I just used the videos for style inspiration and kept it moving. People put way too much trust into some of these "gurus".
Honestly, the community made me feel poor. I watched videos from USA and my country and, all they have in common is "oh try this expensive product or your hair won't be healthy". I'm learning to filter the information and adapt to what fit my bank account at the moment, and now i can say I'm happy with my hair, it isn't 100% but is pretty close to what i want
Don’t focus on what brand of products or whatever. just use something for a shampoo and a leave in and make sure you’re allowing your hair to drink up the water when you run it over your head, focus on really cleaning your hair and then condition once done, oil and all that stuff can be used but if you don’t have it don’t worry about it. make sure you’re giving your hair enough water and dry it don’t leave it wet, if you do and you do this over extended periods of time i’ve heard that it could damage your hair by making your hair follicles swell up and become mushy and break off. but you can do your own research. these are just some tips i go by.
What helped me was starting to learn about the ingredients themselves, what they do and how they work and from there reading every label to see what's truly worth it or not. That and going truly natural and utilizing oils, butters and good old water.
I wear my hair in mini twists as my go to protective hairstyle. I love my afro, I wear it out whenever I want to. But you know the drill. We gotta keep the hair stretched out in order to avoid single strand knots. That's why wearing twist outs / other hairstyles helps us to maintain the length, and eventually see growth. Thank you for the awesome video.
This is why I decided to loc my hair. I've been an on and off natural since I was a sophomore in high school and I'm now 36. I've grown my hair to beat strap length and had to big chop many times. I can definitely see why someone would get tired of the natural hair movement. It isn't easy.
Yes me too!! Locs were my best hair decision, I feel free to let my hair be and not on a constant merry go round about what to do with my hair. Thanks for sharing this aspect!
The internet did not make me go natural. After 10 years of relaxer, thinning, breakage I did a big chop myself and then I discovered the natural hair community and it supported me through my dry tough 4c-d high porosity hair journey. And I’m thankful for that. It’s left for us to do our research and find out what works for us. No one forced anything on anyone
Then internet didn’t make me want to go natural. When I was in elementary school about fourth to fifth grade I wanted to do my own hair. I always hated the flat iron, hot comb and other products just out of concern for my hair. And fear because I was scared of getting burned lol. I found it silly that for me to wear my hair I had to completely change it. I felt clumsy when I had to constantly worry about my hair getting wet. So by fifth to sixth grade I began going natural. I guess I was apart if the community in some sense simply by wearing my hair out but I didn’t use social media then so I didn’t contribute anything online.
I had to take a break from the community. I was trying all these different methods and my hair was falling out. When I was using "white people" shampoo and conditioners my hair was growing. I recently switched to a plant-based product from the first use two weeks ago my hair loved it. I guess the best thing to do is listen to your hair and let it lead you in its journey.
I will say, I still the the curly girl movement in general (that includes people of other races) was still helpful for those of us who are more type 3c/4a. I wasn’t told I had bad hair, but I was told I needed to do something with it. People seemed personally offended that I wore it in a puff everyday. I didn’t really know how to wear it down and every makeover movie in the 90s had some girl with frizzy wavy or curly getting their hair straightened in the after. And it’s what I always did for special occasions, a press and curl. It was a better space for me in a lot of ways than the Black natural hair community.
so im latine and have curly hair. i always tell people "black women saved my hair" bc with a white mom and in high school at teh PEAK of flatironing hair it was broken and damaged and rough. i found a couple black girls who i followed on twitter and would check the threads every so often and would try their tips and see what otheres were recomending. now my hair is thriving and i have black women to thank
I miss the natural hair content we used to have when we were all trying different products, techniques, and styles. Despite all the negativity and rules it was fun to experiment
Great video. Being natural is tough as straight is seen as better. I've come to realize I don't care what people/men think. If i like my hair natural and you don't oh well, not my problem. I've gone back to using oils and butters bc my hair likes it. Less shedding and breakage for myself and my daughter. I watch natural youtubers for entertainment only. I'm going to do what's best for me and what I like no matter what! 😊
This conversation was very interesting. I decided to go natural because I saw a video where a lady had gotten a relaxer and had burns so severe she lost the ability to grow her hair back!! So I transitioned not because of a movement, I just did not want to go bald. Never did I place so much emphasis on my hair decision. I’m 4C or tight textured and once I learned how to care for my hair l fell in love with her.
I love the girl who said that she doesn't do her edges because "they don't want to be done", because that's literally it! 😅😂 My edges have no interest in staying gelled down. In fact, my hair used to eat gel. I had to find different products to style my hair with because most gels werent it, and edge gel didn't do anything.
I feel like we gotta also take into account the impacts of capitalism in the rise/decline of the natural hair community. Not faulting content creators because I know sponsorships are necessary for them to make a living. I know that there was a point in time where audiences started to get overstimulated because of the over saturation of new products being advertised to them to achieve a specific style. I think this contributed to a shift in the hair industry as a whole. Now Beauty supply stores had to compete with big chain stores, online stores, etc. The industrialization of natural hair lead to creators feeling burnt out because of the nature of business in a capitalist economy being more competitive. This also meant. Like some of the folks in the video said, the rise of natural hair went hand in hand with the rise of wigs, which is also an industry under the “black hair umbrella”. With all these different views on which products are best and which products suck and the debate around different protective styles, came the “natural hair police”. And so on and so on
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 THANK YOU! Because my hair loves Tresseme and Pantene!! I’m 4C and all this stuff (oils, pomades, curl creams…uugghhh) is just too much… 5 years and I’m over it. I’m embracing just a simple wash, condition and hair grease; diffuse or air dry and Afro poppin!
I liked your perspective and honesty in this video! I think that one of the deepest issues of the natural hair movement is that it exposed a lot of our traumas and negative mindsets that we had not really dealt with until the movement. Some people went natural and were deeply disappointed in their texture. Those of us who have tighter textures faced the fact that we had been told for so long (directly and indirectly) that our hair texture is not beautiful...that somehow we are less fortunate and less beautiful than what the world considers beautiful. The natural hair movement has gotten out of hand to me because what should have been a safe space for us to experiment and encourage, turned into a place of bitterness and anger. And I think it stems from a place of not knowing how to really deal with the trauma of being made to believe that tighter textures are not beautiful. That is what the world told us and tells us and has modeled to us since forever! I think the natural hair community is for every woman of color with whatever texture of hair they have. Unfortunately, I have seen videos where women with kinky textures are ranting about people with looser textures. I feel that we all have a responsibility to deal with our own personal hair traumas and not project our insecurities onto other women. In reality, we don't know another person's story. And I am guilty of it too! I had been hearing my whole life that my hair is bad because it's kinky... and sometimes I make the comments like "girl you're so lucky cause your hair is looser" or "Whatever, she don't have to work as hard cause she has good hair". So, our community consists of a lot of people with unchecked traumas, jealousy and bitterness because of feeling not good enough, which sucks cause as humans, we want to feel valued. But how can we when a major part of who we are is rejected. It's a mess. We have to do the work and stay in our lane, but sadly some people will continue to speak out of their trauma, jealousy and bitterness...therefore making the natural hair community yet another space for people of color to tear each other down.
Natural hair is beautiful and you just have to do what’s best for you. Our hair textures are different. So other people shouldn’t to tell you what to do with your hair
Now texturism is leeching it’s way into the loc community and it makes me so sad. To have locs become commercialized, curly ends being sought after and seeing looser texture persons with locs being propped up in the community just makes me shake my head. I locd for hair freedom , ease and to move away from the issues of the natural hair community.
yess the loc hair community is crazy . I feel like it’s a fad & everyone is doing it because it’s the newest thing in. I want to loc my hair but I also still love my loose free hair . I don’t want to loc my hair because it’s this thing or movement everyone tryna do. It’s annoying.
@@thelifeofatm9565 loc your hair when you are ready. So many take their locs down over and over again. Its better to be sure than to go through all of that
I'm a natural who was a product junkie up into 2019. I switched to hair grease and gel and my hair had grew so freaking fast. I packed up all that expensive junk and gave it away. I still love being natural.
I kinda feel like the amount of natural hair content on social media also contributed to the "fall" of the natural hair community too because it was so hard to stick to just one routine/brand/content creator. Once natural hair became the "in" thing, there was an influx of natural hair content. (In addition to the fact that social media really started popping off around the same time too). Plus, more and more brands were popping up on the shelves. These brands were working with content creators and the content creators were making their money by working with these brands. It was like a never-ending cycle. I started making natural hair content because there weren't enough creators on UA-cam who had hair like mine ( I have more than one curl pattern). Unfortunately, it was hard for me to grow my platform because at the time I started, everyone already had their favs. I also noticed most of the well known creators either had looser textured hair or their hair was super long and these were things that people wanted which contributed to why their platforms were growing. and now all the natural UA-cam girlies have transitioned to lifestyle creators and barely even post anymore.
The natural hair movement started much earlier than 2013, moreso around 2009/2010 (honestly probably even earlier than that) with early UA-cam, blogs, and forums. Great video!
as a mixed/afrolatina person, i’ve barely faced scrutiny for my texture. before i knew how to care for and style my hair, i was bullied for having “messy” matted hair. my mom has 4a/4b hair and was never taught how to take care of it, so she never took care of my 2c-3b hair. for me (and other girls with a similar texture) the curly hair movement taught me how to take care of my hair. many mixed kids don’t have parents with knowledge on curly hair. not being able to wear cute hairstyles while dealing with mats and frizz can be painful and isolating for young girls, no matter how curly their hair is.
Thissss I’m mixed n my mom didn’t have any idea how to care for my hair n I was shamed so much I hated my hair till I came across how to care for it on UA-cam in high school. I still struggle feeling comfortable with my hair
@@aisha-3857 I think that's your insecurity talking. There are 4 a to c girls all over UA-cam. I don't see why you would feel the looser haired girls are the standard. Reference the girls with your hair type, And stop that silly talk. No matter how much representation there is always some girl indicating its not enough or having some dissatisfaction.
I remember first hearing women w/ natural hair referred to as a “community” and thinking it was weird back then. At the heart of being natural is gaining a sense of confidence and comfort in being yourself and owning it. How you do that is and should always be your choice and feeling connected bc you can relate to others should be a perk, not a rule.
why would the word "community" be a problem when ppl are offering info and support in an area we have in common...pushing our understanding further ahead. without failures, we can't fly...
I really felt when you said growing all this hair to hide it because you can’t do anything with it!!! I grew my natural hair to waist length but avoided wearing it out because it would shrink up to my shoulders, tangled very easily, and washing it took 4 hours. It was also annoying having to adjust plans just because of my hair so I mostly wore braids and wigs. Ultimately felt restricted that I rarely wore my waist length hair out and got a ginacurl curly perm🤷🏽♀️ I know chemicals aren’t great for your hair but at least I can do what I want now. And if I decide to go back to natural in the future I can do that too. People are quick to judge meanwhile they never took care of your hair before.
I honestly didn't know what my natural hair looked like because my mom relaxed my hair because it was to thick for her to manage. I feel like many girls and women went through this and the movement created curiosity so the big chop was the next step in the journey. I was literally 34 when I saw my natural curls from the age of 8. I relaxed religiously at any site of new growth. Thank God I took the leap and started loving me as God made me. I've now been natural for 8 years and it's still a learning experience. 😌 Do whats best suits your lifestyle and what you love... Do what works for you!!! Period.
I just could not get behind people telling me not to put oil on my hair...my hair has grown so much, I've retained length longer than ever, and all I need is water and oil. People really want a one rule thing for everybody but everyone's hair is different.
What I realized after over a decade of embracing my curls and trying different things is that 1. You only need a good shampoo, conditioner, and deep treatment. It doesn’t have to be made for “curls” but it has to have good ingredients to nourish your hair. 2. You need to wash your scalp with actual shampoo regularly, scalp health is extremely important. The NO poo method is simply not good for the health of your scalp and hair! 3. Trim your hair at least once per year 4. It is okay to straighten or trying different hair styles once in a while as long as you don’t compromise the integrity of your hair. 5. “Natural hair” is the hair that grows naturally from your scalp this includes any hair texture 6. You are free to wear your hair the way you feel comfortable wearing it without feeling like you are being judged.
Completely agree with this entire video, especially the part where these natural hair gurus were telling us what's good and bad for our hair. I asked my mom to stop using grease in my hair when I was about 11 because I remember seeing a video where the girl said it was bad for our hair. Fast forward to now, I'm 22 and started using grease again for the past few months. When I tell you, my hair is feeling unbelievably full, soft, and detangling has been easier than ever! Still trying to figure out what works best for my hair, but protective styling with just some water and grease to moisturize has been my new go-to.
I remember I stopped using coconut oil cause everybody stopped. I recently started using it again and my hair is finally looking good again. I always thought of myself as intelligent but I still got sucked into this group think. Fascinating.
Lol a lot of people was still using coconut oil...the natural hair community made you believe it was bad....yes true it doesn't agree with everyone bit it works well for some
The "Natural Hair Movement" for Black Women has come and gone a bunch of times in the Modern Age (early 1900s+). The most recent wave began gained momentum circa 2006/2007. I really think stars such as Tracy Ellis Ross, Rachel True and who can forget Kelis with "3b/3c" hair wore their hair big/bold curly, unapologetically and many women felt they could rock with it. Racial relations in the country had cooled by then and less Black women/people were worried about what white people thought about their hair. Also, Andre Walker, Oprah's Hairstylist came out with his book "Andre Talks Hair in 1997", which revolutionized the way folks with textured hair think, manage and categorize our hair. Anthropologically speaking, he was the Linneaus of the "Hair Industry". 25 years later we've added 3c as a hair type but not much else. Anyway, all of the people I named are Biracial Americans with type 3 curls. Before Andre's book and before Tracee E. Ross & Rachel True. Other natural curly folks of color on tv were Karyn Parsons (Hillary from Fresh Prince), Cree Summer & Jasmine Guy. Although you could argue. Tatiana Ali, Chili from TLC, Rozanda Lewis (MTV). The main take away is that for a long time Authentically looking Black women with type 4 hair weren't rocking their natural hair like that. However, I am going to highlight the OG's: Angie Stone, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Macy Gray and most notably Free from 106 & Park. 106 & Park was a popular show on the early 2000s and both hosts Free & AJ had what appeared to be natural looking hairstyles and they rocked them with incredible style & influence on the 13-25 cohort. Free was rocking Afros in a new way & we were there for it wanting to know, what is she going to wear next. She was bold, beautiful, stylish and showing everyone that Black was all of that. Later on they replaced her with biracial/Latina female co hosts, but you know they had to keep the guy Black, but that's another story. The Natural Hair Movement has evolved over the last 25 years for sure. Before 2006 there were very few products/media outlets that we could use to figure out how to really do our hair. Then came UA-cam and then around 2012 the rise of the UA-cam/Instagram stars who built their brands, other brands and communities. However, I think most people only really seemed interested in seeing 2c-3c hair videos and maybe 4a, with the ideal hair type being 3b for many people. Basically, we were supposed to be embracing our hair & relating to each other, but things got real exclusionary and featurist. The girls with 4b and 4c hair, often darker women felt more inferior than ever before. Brands they helped make household names like *cough* Shea Moisture did entire ad campaigns excluding them. So many Black women got fed up and when Nicki Minaj's styling team revolutionized the wig game, lace front wigs became the go to for many naturalists who A) wanted more versatility B) Got tired of failed/old wash & go's, twist outs and C) Got tired of buying and applying a shit ton of products only to discover it's never going to give us the hair we thought it should of gave for amount of time, money & energy we spent. Natural Hair isn't toxic. People are toxic and if you don't truly love yourself, you'll consume the poison and infect other people with that BS. What's inside your head truly matters more than what sits on top.
Excellent analysis. The late 60s/70s and fros were a huge statement in a highly discriminatory time. But by the 80s texturizers and relaxers were back. This is so hard bc the hate (external and internalized) is still real.
@@candicem9651 That internalized hate is so real. My mom said when she wore Afro's in the 70s that older Black women thought she was being militant, but when she wore her braids white people thought she looked like Bo Derek (white actress). My mom always did different things with her curly hair. Her father (Creole, but identified more as a Native American), had long straight hair and had a zillion ridiculous names for Black people & Black hair. He said her hair looked like a jungle woman or something when ever she wore it curly. Blackness was never really celebrated in my family. Just about everyone on both sides looks Mixed with sonething. Blackness is always there, but folded and tucked away and at times crumpled up like a receipt in a pant pocket. For me, my hair went from silky & wavy as a small child to thick, tight curls that my mother found difficult to manage. At 5 I begged for straight hair and wore relaxers for 16 years. I felt like my hair was ugly because none of the women in my family seemed to have hair like mine. The only time I liked my hair was when I wore it long & straight. Even when I comb my hair at damn near 40, internally I call my hair "nappy a** shit". My husband hates when I say that. He thinks I have "good hair", but in my family it was not good enough 😕. It is really ashame that as women (especially Black women), so much of our femininity and beauty depends on what other people think about our hair. I made the decision to be natural because I didn't want my daughter to grow up with a complex about who she was and who she was supposed to look like. It was a hard decision for me because I loved wearing my hair as straight as I could get it. However, I noticed that people weren't relating to me as a Black woman when I wore my hair straight. I was in a Cosmetology program before I had my daughter and Black women were skeptical about me doing their hair because I didn't exactly look Black. When I went natural, I did so because I wanted my daughter to know that Black hair is beautiful just the way it is. In order to do that, first I had to unlearn the negativity & hate I was taught. I've been relaxer free without relapsing to the creamy crack for almost 12 years. My daughter has kinky & beautiful type 4 hair just like her dad and I love it ❤️. She never had a relaxer despite my mother in law with the "good hair" always having something negative to say about natural hair. My daughter is now 15 & aware that most of the times it's your own people giving the most hate. The only way to get around it is to build eachother up & to be critical of images in the media where naturalistas are not represented or where only a "certain kind" of naturalista is promoted.
Let's not forget the India Arie's though and any artist who sang NeoSoul. They really led the natural hair aesthetic. Jill Scott! I don't believe we can have such conversations without mentioning the likes of her. She had type 4 hair. Erika Badu wore her hair in mid length Bongo dreads.
Natural hair is very beautiful, this I know for a fact. The major reason I transitioned to natural hair in 2016 was because my relaxed hair was stagnant to me and it didn't fit me(to my opinion) I also joined cause it was a trend which I became a product junkie. In 2018, I decided to cut my hair from scratch to actually understand my hair better and know what works for me. I do not care about how long or short my hair is, what matters is that my hair is healthy. The noise in the natural hair movement is very loud but you have to choose your silence and do what works for you! Enjoy every phase x moments of wearing your natural hair and you'll be good. I'm glad you spoke about this topic!
I left the natural hair community once I found out that 4c girls were using soft relaxers to get their hair a certain way especially to lay down their baby hairs!
Thank you for this. 2 things for me: 1-I stopped stopped oils and butters following the advice of some UA-camrs and my hair broke off. I had a trial and error period and I’m back on track. 2- someone was showing how to use yarn for braiding hair and said to click the link. The link was charging$26.00 for the same yarn on Amazon for $6.00. We use and abuse our own community.
there is a lot of discourse about it on social media…most of the og natural hair youtubers don’t even make natural hair content anymore, and if they do, the views are shot. i think most people are over natural hair as a “fad.”
@@CamrynElyse I think you're not considering that there's no more content to be made. What more can the OG natural hair youtubers post that they haven't already posted? There's only so much product reviews you can watch. At this point most people in real life know what works for their hair and they are passing on the information to the younger ones. Doesn't really mean that 'the movement fell'.
I had no idea how bad the community it had gotten. I went natural by chance in 2016 because I needed a quick style for my busy mornings and found out that box braids were an easy way to grow out a relaxer. After having my loose natural hair for 5 years and exploring UA-cam as my main source of information, I loc'd it this year because I was going through a depression and the LAST thing I wanted to do was my hair. Im sad that the natural hair movement has simply become a trend for people to follow and has strayed away from the original purpose of loving ourselves and our culture. I guess thats how most things go in our capitalistic society but its sad that we still have to put so much stock into what someone else thinks about us, instead of loving ourselves regardless. I hope that even when natural hair is no longer 'on trend' that we still retain the freedom to work, love and go about our lives in whatever hair state we want. I think the most important aspect of the movement is securing our ability to choose.
A friend told me to document my hair journey and I said "Nah, I'm natural, but I'm a lazy wash-and-go girl. I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation. I'll be dragged in the comments for disrespecting my hair" Now looking back on it, I'm really glad I didn't add my voice. Although nobody liked my hair when I transitioned and it was a healing thing for me having to accept myself when even my mom told me "I looked unkept", my coils are a bit on the loose side. I realize that even though I eventually influenced many of my family members to go natural, they all had hair textures very similar to mine. We can only talk about what we know. I remember when my cousin asked me "So what is our hair type exactly?"... She asked me cause I've been natural for 10+years and I was like "Girl, I don't know the numbers?"... But I'll say this, any community has the potential for toxicity. Safe rule is... Don't tell people what to do with their hair. Ever. Compliment them or shut up! If it's not growing from you, your comment doesn't matter.
I made 10 years natural on the July 26th. What a journey it has been. I can’t believe I stuck it out. I transitioned for 11 months before my big chop I’ve had so many hair cuts, hair styles and hair regimens since 2012 ! I wear my hair straight 90% of the time had no real issues with my texture loosing it’s pattern. I’ve had some hair nightmares and even wanted to go back to relaxers but I’m still holding on. Great video!
I knew I was done with the natural hair community the day I confided on a UA-cam video about how I was struggling with my 4c hair and I was hardly seeing any of the products/representation I felt I needed in a so called “community” that claimed to help people with my hair texture! The only responses I got were from other pretentious black women which ranged from them accusing me of being white saying I was just “stirring negative attention”, women saying “baby natural hair is easy that’s YOUR problem”, and one woman just said with a cruel laughing emoji that I should just shave off all my hair because “my negative energy was unattractive” . That was the day I fully divested from the community and changed my hair into something I could handle
I am very sad to know that you had such an experience. I wish you would give natural hair another try. I think our hair -whatever texture it is- is beautiful and versatile. And our natural hair is healthier for us overall.
@debbied95 That is very kind of you to say, but no. I am firmly done with the loose natural hair community and don't plan on ever going back. A tough lesson I've learned is that that community is evil and nasty and it's been co-opted by wyt corporations profiting off the misery of bl@ck people. I have since divested and moved on to having locs and I couldn't be happier.
I just took a little info from here and there until I found what works for me. Everything else was pure entertainment to watch. Gotta learn how to weed out bs especially when you're just trying to learn.
My hair has always been my journey alone and I never looked to the “community” to tell me what to do. I’ve never “done my edges” and I have no desire to have hair to my neck. Been doing my own thing for about 20 years now.
It was a great and much needed starting point for me when I cut my hair off. As with ANYTHING, its always trial and error. Once you find what works, things get insanely simple. Once I found what I can do, what I like to use and what works ... I quit with the videos. Your video is the first natural hair video thats popped up in my feed in MONTHS.
I highly appreciate this video and the dialogue in the comments. Y’all are raising some great points! A lot of what I’ve been thinking for years. I first went natural in 2012 and pulled away from *the community* years back because I saw it was headed for disaster 😩. It’s best to work towards truly understanding all of the unique characteristics of your own hair… not even all 4Cs are the same.
I’ve been a natural hair advocate my entire life, but 8 months ago I decided to loc my hair to become closer to my naturalness. My family was never really supportive of either my natural hair or my locs, but my 3c/4a hair was something I wore out regardless of the “nappy” comments. Now with locs I also get told that my hair looks wild and unruly, but that’s what I love. Natural hair and locs both are the most natural state of our hair as black people and our ancestors had the right idea in being confident about their crowns💗.
As someone with 3b/c hair i KNOW i don’t face the same discrimination as people with type 4 hair, however the length discrimination is so real too. i liked to comb my hair down on the sides of my head in a neat line. I thought it was slick and cute and showed off the wave pattern. Then a group of my classmates started making fun of me because my hair looked like those packets of dries ramen. that shit hurted
These same exact people tried to have your hair pattern right after. Trust. And they must eat an awful lot of those noodles to even look at hair and think that 😆😆😆
That is so true about the oil and butter and no products in your hair, The natural hair community is so toxic is telling you not to use oil and butter in your hair. I had a lady told me not to use oil in my hair because it will damage my hair and I told her that 'I tried it and without oil my hair was falling out because it was dry and thick and coarse, so it all depends on your hair type'. That lady was literally running me down and telling me that my experience was wrong and her opinion was right.
This is why I left and got loc’d. I went natural in 2012 and I absolutely loved it. But lately, I could no longer deal with trying to fight my hair to create a “curl” that naturally just wasn’t there so I could leave the house. I needed the freedom to just live my life. But still be chemical free. My sisterlocks are the best decision I’ve ever made concerning my hair. I wish I would have done it sooner.
The rabbit hole goes so deep in this topic. I truly enjoyed this video and the conversations here in the comment section. I’ve been natural 11 years and my daughters “TheDivaSisters” have been natural all of their lives. I’m glad I learned early on to do what’s best for our natural hair individually because everyone in my house has unique hair. Im also going through a new phase that many people aren’t talking about which is the change to womanhood/adolescence which can present even more changes to our natural hair. The journey continues and brings so many different paths that it’s virtually impossible for any one “guru” to be RIGHT. Do what’s best for you. Always. ❤️💯
True fall came when people started trying every trend and abandoned what may have worked for them because of what they see, mostly, looser textures do. You then have natural hair “gurus” that come in and then say you don’t need extra product on your hair. There is no set moto to follow and it became tiring for people to catch up on trends because sadly the movement became a trend.
I love my natural hair,it took me time.But my father always instilled in me to go natural.I hate the labeling of good hair vs bad hair.I remember I didn't like my hair when I was younger.I literally told myself you are going to like your hair so I posted a picture on Instagram of my hair in its natural state no stretching or anything.And I've learned to accept my hair.I do wear wigs but it's so my hair can rest.But when I want to I wear my hair out,I do.There is a difference of wearing wigs and weaves and hiding your hair because you don't like it.
This video means a lot to me!!! I am white but i have LOTS of thick, ultra curly ringlets of crazy poofy hair. So many people told me as a kid they were jealous of all my beautiful hair. As i have gotten older though, i always straighten my hair (after letting it air dry out of the shower) because going a week or two without washing my hair (not way I'm dry brushing this stuff) is just asking for tangles in all those dry curls. It's just sooooo much easier to manage and keep hydrated and healthy if it's straight and i can slap it into a ponytail It's really hard to deal with all the comments about how I'm killing my hair (i straighten twice a month on wash day, use lots of masks, and have very expensive heat protection) and how people are so sad I'm hiding my natural beautiful curls. Just let me live and do what is manageable for my life!! That is not a crime or tragedy that I am no longer restrained by my hair!!!
Not all of us have been using raw oil and butter on our hair and taking hours to do our hair. What seems like a trend to many is how I've always taken care of my natural hair. At one time I followed a popular trend for a brief period. I got a relaxer and hated it, then from peer pressure got a touch-up 3mons later with a different product that was supposed to be better. It wasn't better and I still hated my hair 6mos after that I cut off my waist-length hair because I could not stand it any longer. I went back to what my mom taught me to do with my hair. She would shampoo, condition, and braid it up with a leave-in. So I followed that practice with my natural hair but added gel or styling cream and wore a WnG instead of braids. That is what I still do because it is easy, and does not take all day. I don't think there is only one way to take care of or style natural hair. It is more about personal preference IMHO. Hair grows whether your wear it long or short is also a personal choice. However, if your hair is prone to breakage and you want it long then you may have to accept that there is a certain way you have to care for and style it. That way will vary depending on your hair. I wear a WnG almost all of the time and have no problem retaining length but a lot of type 4 naturals seem to have a problem doing that. Some of us need to wear braids and/or twist with or without extension hair in order to retain length. Some will decide length isn't that important and want more style freedom. Whichever we choose the most important thing is to be happy with our hair and accept what it will and won't do. sorry couldn't find the bubble emoji
The natural hair community made me buy tons of products that I didn’t need.
Same here😂
Now I know what my hair needs , and that's what I buy
I love my hair😍
i feel like we all had crazy stashes at some point…i lowkey still do, even though i only use 4-5 products every wash day. time to clear it out🫠
I can relate! I became a product junkie & WASTED A TON OF MONEY!!
I agree I was also a victim / guilty of this. I still have tons of unopened hair products that I thought I needed because "they" said so. But to be fair.. that goes with any movement that I choose to be a part of. For example, I no longer buy a ton of natural hair products but now I'm into perfumes and body spray when I know darn well I had not stepped foot in bath & body works for like a decade until people started layering products. Which even layering and mixing perfumes used to be a big no no and unheard of and frowned upon. Now it's the thing to do so here I am buying tons of body spray and perfume trying to come up with a new scent. And before natural hair for me it was makeup. Buying tons of makeup only for the more natural look and no makeup look to be the current trend. It's just crazy and we just need to be careful of what we choose to be a part of and invest our time, interest, and money in. I hope this made sense I'm not good with explaining what's in my head sometimes but hopefully ya'll get it
@@kandykoated83 i loooove fragrance, i’m in it forever. never leaving🫶🏾 but i do agree with you.
Length is also a big part of the divestiture from the "community". If you weren't growing waist length hair, then you were told you were doing it all wrong.
This. The obsession with length
@@holyhills4186 I have mid back length and I was told on IG my hair was too short 🤣🤣
@@LoXena wait someone said that to you? I'm sorry, don't let them make you, hate your hair.
@@holyhills4186 It's okay, I don't owe them inches, health over length. 😌
If it's short you get shamed
Though the movement was co-opted and dwindled into an obsession of definition and length growth it did leave it's mark. I'm seeing teenaged girls with full afros coming out of school and that was just something not easy nor socially acceptable when I was their age. I think the next step is for the black hair community to come to terms with shruken 4 type hair. Straight out the shower, no blow drying, not stretching. Getting past the fear/disgust of raw, un-manipulated shruken black hair is where the real self-acceptance lies.
I AGREE
Saaame. I went out for the first time in four years recently, saw so many teens with fros and I had to contain myself.
Like broo I didn't realise how much I wanted to see more fros until I actually saw people walkin' round with 'em.
I wore an afro as a child in the 80s. Lots of girls/women had afros back then. Even then though, you couldn't just leave it shrunken or it would break off. The way you styled an afro was to wash and condition, then braid it up in small braids (maybe 2x2 inch squares) to let it dry overnight. Then you'd unbraid and pick it out the next day. I think we rebraided each night. I don't quite remember anymore. But there was definitely grooming going on. I think that's what 'professional' or even 'presentable' comes down to. It's not the style you wear but simply that it's clear you are attending to hygiene and good grooming with self-respect.
It's sort of like taking a shower and then putting on something to stop underarm funk. For some people that's anti-perspirant, for others deodorant, for others salt crystals, and so on. To each their own, just do something to show you respect yourself and take the time/effort to reflect that in how you present yourself.
So right we’ll said
If only I could. I am what i believe is mainly 4c with some 4b thrown in. My hair can start to loc within an hour. The thought of the detangling that would need to be done after a day. No thank you ma'am. I am definitely in the you do you camp. As long as you are aware of the potential damage that you are doing. A blow out or silk press, you know that heat can damage your hair and you can mitigate those risks. However with relaxers there hasn't been enough documented research into the long term effects and that is what concerns me with its use.
That is a statement “How black women get pushed out of their own movement.” I think this statement applies to a lot that goes on in the world.
I agree with you. Yes there is a lot of things going on in this world we are being pushed out of. Our hair styles being copied by other people, other Races using African American hair care products they don't need and techniques we invented. Also I am sick and tired of other Races stealing every type of music we created and getting awards for it over us. A lot of these people who are stealing African American music do not even like us, but they LOVE our music and styles.
Facts
Unfortunately we as BW ultimately pushed ourselves out of the movement because as a group we don’t like gatekeeping and are obsessed with wanting to make our type 4 hair texture look like anything but type 4. Unless it’s really long, most BW don’t seem to truly embrace what their type 4 hair is like and can do. Society also makes it hard. So first we abandoned the original type 4 UA-camrs and flocked to the mixed girls with type 2 and type 3 hair. And when we realized that would never work, we turned to wearing protective styles, lace fronts and wigs 365 days a year.
The great thing about the natural hair movement is that it did inspire a lot of BW to go natural in the first place and at least stop using the toxic relaxers. You see a lot more BW rocking their natural hair (or natural looking wigs etc.) than 20 years ago. I think that helped a lot of us deal and come to turns with our own internalized texturism and grow confidence from wearing our crowns in all their glory. I love that little black girls now have a plethora of natural BW role models to look up to.
Personally even though I am white passing with looser curls I did get a lot of shit for having frizz in the early to mid 2000s by my peers who exclusively had straight or wavy hair. I learned how to take care of my hair by watching black women with 3-4 type hair even though that's not my hair type a lot of the same processes work and this really helped me appreciate my texture and learn to work with my hair. I have only ever seen the natural hair movement as uniting. While I 100% agree there is a difference in how black women's hair has been treated historically and in present times I think it's disingenuous to say texturism only affects ppl with 4c hair. I would say the pressure to do extreme things to 4c hair is higher but we are united it seeking a love and understanding of our hair. I don't think non 4c hair havers should be villainized for contributing to the movement as long as they are being genuine about it and not claiming to have a hair type that they don't
Edit: 1000% agree when it comes to POC being pushed out of their own thing in "all that goes on in the world" I just think texturism affects a broad group of people to various degrees and those people shouldn't be excluded from the experience of reclaiming their natural hair as a viewer or even as a creator if they have something to offer
🙌🏿🙌🏿
I remember as a kid I always said to my mom "I wish I had silky hair like the girls with peach skin at school " and I had my hair relaxed for years. as it was on it last legs, and it was extremely damaged and thinned out from using relaxers my whole life, I cut my hair off, wore protective styles for a year and now i wear my natural hair out. my mom told me it would be hard, and she said it wouldnt look as good as other girls since i have tight 4c coils. she kept saying how it wouldnt look good especially for special/professional events. i ignored her, and ive been natural for 6 months now :) I'm still learning to love it and I hope to never give up on it
This is so beautiful! Keep working at it
She's putting her own insecurities on you. But it's not 100% her fault. Keep up the good fight though.
My mom said this to me. She ended up going natural a year after I did 🤦🏾♀️ my hair could have been butt length if she never relaxed it smh
@@jbb8261 facts! My mom hated that I went natural and was judging me the entire time, then 2 years later. She calls me asking what products to use while going natural….. Now I just started my loc journey and she’s against it but I feel like she’s gonna get locs in a few years lol
I remember when my mixed with white sister practically apologized to her people’s when I showed up with my Afro 😂😂🙄🤷🏾♀️
When I decided to go natural my mom pointed out I wouldn’t look like my friend who had loose hair. My wear my 4c hair out almost 24/7 for 9 year. I don’t define it or use any gels for personal reasons only moisturizing products and blue magic.I love my hair and I hope to inspire other young girls to love themselves also. I’ve wore my fro to weddings, and other formal events and never felt less than pretty. I represent my ancestors 🫧
I get looks from other black girls and black men ain’t checking for me like that but you have to ask yourself. Can you truly be happy if you alter yourself for the viewing of others? I want people who think I’m pretty being my natural self in my life only. Idk why the judgement never bothered me, but I refuse to have another ball spot in my head from a relaxer again 😂
💯
I love this
You say you "reperesent your ancestors" but as someone who is on the continent of Africa at this very minute let me tell you, the women here are all for the wig life and braided hair. Some even relax their hair. Some wear their natural hair but no one is shamed for not wearing their hair in its natural texture. And guess what?? They are still African women. No one questions their heritage because of how they choose to wear their hair.
@@britjj5126 congrats to them. MY ancestors were forced to either shave bald, cover their hair or chemically relax to feel even have a place in society were they are tolerated.
I think it's important for all us to take accountability for this, too. Women with looser texture hair wouldn't have "taken over" the moment if we didn't give them views. I know when I first went natural I was always watching UA-camrs with looser hair bc deep down I (at the time) wanted my hair to look like theirs. Obviously it's hard but it's really important to work on building your self esteem YOURSELF instead of looking for outside validation. If someone doesn't like your natural hair or makes comments about it or you don't attract certain types of men when you wear it natural, see that as a blessing for the type of people you don't want in your life! We have to commit to unlearning these negative ideas about our hair for OURSELVES and no one else!
On the point of all the rules, I totally agree. Natural hair doesn't need to be that complicated. Everyone's hair is different.
I AGREE
the algorithm will tell on us every time🗣
@@CamrynElyse Right?! Now I only watch videos from creators whose hair is similar to mine so I'm actually learning - not just admiring. We need to be aware of the content we consume and what we give our attention to.
Girl you spoke a whole word and preached and read my mind! Whew!!!
Thanks for being transparent. I didn’t have this issue because I was truly needing help with my natural texture and searching for someone whose hair was like mine. I got discouraged and stop watching most channels because I felt like I couldn’t find anyone with hair like mine and just started doing my own thing
Once money penetrates a movement it will change. Fact*
The natural hair movement is still one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Key: always sift through information (take the good, reject the bad)
SAY THAT!!!!!!
Same! I love embracing who i am!
Amen !!
100%
Love this comment ❤️ Totally agree 💯
I had a full thick 4c hair when I started the natural hair hype. Spraying water on my hair, cowash, oils, no sulphates etc turned my hair to light dead strands. Now I'm back to grease, sulphate shampoo and conditioner, no spraying water and my hair is thick and strong again, mid back. 4c hair is a different mood.
What products do you use and what's your routine :)
Yes, less is more. The less you mess with your hair the longer and thicker it gets. That is the secret. I have been natural for 25 years now.
What’s ur routine pls
Same experience. Do what works for you!
I feel you!
I new my texture from years ago and for years I permed anyway.
It's weird that now I look at the years I permed as just lazy!!!
I admired the wrong people hair, when if I stopped perming, I have that hair too.
There is no way, I permed to look like anyone else!
And now thinking of a perm makes me feel weird.
I am happier natural and would be embarrassed if I were to perm again.
Simply because my 4C would be gone!
I love what I see before and after I wash my hair.
After conditioning, I am in love again. The curls are POP LOCKING AND DROPPING.
I stopped perming in 04/2022 and yes cut all of the perm out. And when I thought I saw some permed strands, I cut some more. And now my hair is longer than it was only this time natural.
Being natural does grow your hair and quick.
I am never going back to perms and for better health and on purpose.
I don't EVER want anyone to think that I wanted to be like anyone other than my Black Mother.
I need my hair to be as strong as I am, so I had to knock it off.
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
As someone who was alive during the “Black is Beautiful” movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, I see that as the first wave of Black women wearing natural hair. Then, we started straightening again and the Jheri Curl eventually came out as an alternative to straight styles in the 1980’s. All of this to say, it’s all a cycle. I went natural in the early 1990’s when braids because popular. And then we went back to relaxers again in the early 2000’s. I’ve been doing twists and twist outs since 1996. It’s gained popularity now, but I too have noticed that less and less women are doing the two strand twists and twist outs. We’ll be back to natural being everything again. It’s all a cycle! Just like life! I will say that it is nice to see news reporters and anchors rocking natural hair styles! The movement really made an impact in the mainstream media this time! I never saw news reporters with natural hair growing up, so we are growing! ❤
this is great insight
Thank you so much for this. I would like to play the devils advocate and ask if you during any of these times notice BW being catty with other BW who is hey think didn’t fit the style of the time?
Just thinking and reflecting as a kid and not remembering the Shaming or rude comments and “invisible rules”. I’m just wondering if you see the divestment.
I've always thought it was insane that so many people didn't consider locs to be part of the natural hair movement. You don't get more natural than freeform locs. I've been loc'd since 1999.
Wow, thanks for all the likes!
locs🤍🫧
I recently got microlocs. Was a loose natural before but I fell in love with the look. It's definitely unfortunate how locs aren't considered to truly be natural hair for so many
@@elisejackson2854 I get up. Shower. My hair's done. I shampoo, treat and separate my roots once a month. I'm good. I was a loose natural for a week and a half after I grew out my relaxer under individual braids for 9 months. I was going for 12 months, but couldn't wait that long to cut off the old relaxed hair. My hair wasn't styling right after I washed it the second week after I cut it.. Nope! I got comb coils with the quickness. My goal was to grow out my relaxer for a year, and start my locs, but my little fro was so cute! Then I tried to wash, and twisty it again, and my coil pattern went missing. I'm all for powerful looking women but I looked......extremely masculine. I can say this because I belong to the LGBTQ+community: I looked DIESEL. Like I just wore a strap for fun. Again, NOPE! Had my locs started, and I am very happy thank you very much! 😁
@@reneemattier5883 lol the last part was hilarious. I love locs. But I opted for micro because you can do so much with them and they look super girly. I'm bi so I get you. I'm partial to butches funnily enough 😂
Yes the ability to just get up and not have to do anything to your hair is the best
I remember this girl walked up to me, rubbed her hands all throughout my hair and told me I needed to do something with it. I didn’t give her a whole natural hair lecture but I let her know I didn’t like that my personal space was being invaded. At this point I feel we need to leave each other alone when it comes to how we choose to present ourselves natural hair or not. Nothing is ever enough anymore!
I feel you. This happened to me a lot in high school, but one time I was touring a college campus, and a random white lady came up to me and gave me (only me) a goodie bad with biolage shampoo and conditioner because she said I needed it and it would help me. I thought she was rude for that, and the products were very drying.
@@tiahnarodriguez3809 Really? It amazes me how ignorant white people can be sometimes.
That person was probably doing witchcraft coming up rubbing her hands in your hair. No joke
Was she a black girl?
@@Hello-iz9hl Yes
“Black women deserve to feel beautiful” in whatever way that’s true for them... That’s what I took away from this. I choose to judge nobody, not even myself
🫶🏾
Even when I want to wear my 4c hair w/o manipulation, I go through extreme damage from matting, knots, tangles etc. So it's not that we don't always want to show our actual texture, its just usually healthier to style from twist/braid outs
Preach!
I wish I could rock my hair straight out of the shower without spending hours detangling, twisting my 🎈4c hair. 😅
That and the fact that I look ugly in that style
I always asked “Why can’t I just have my hair growing out of my scalp like white people do?” Even after I got arthritis and so shaved it off every 3-4 months, my dad would make comments about it not being “clean” and edged up. Like ffs, I can’t even have a shaved head without the beauty police telling me my black hair ain’t right as it is. Leave Black people’s heads alone 😩
Especially, the black men critics, they are the worst
I think it comes down to how you take care of your hair. Maintence and nutrition plays a big part in our natural hair
With locs I can finally pretty much let my hair grow out of my head. Except when people start trying to hint that I'm due for a retwist 😩
They all finally realized it's "Just Hair" so as long as you're happy with your hair that's all that matters.
EXACTLY
I saw a black woman online say. "I don't care if my hair doesn't grow anymore. It's hair. Life goes on" and I felt what she said. At some point you just say who tf cares
Yeah I think that’s it
*Yes, I agree ☝️ I think I had length guilt , I felt like I owed ppl inches bc I’ve been natural for 8 yrs. I’ve had a lot of changes in a decade, great video.*
LOVE THIS ❤️
Me too. I personally never really wear my natural hair out because it never turns out how I would like and I feel like I can retain length if I wear braids 24/7. I feel like once I get to full mid back length or waist length then it’s like acceptable and easier for me to wear it out. It’s like proving something
@@livingdollgyaru this is literally why I got locs and why I'm debating combing them out. I want to learn to embrace my coils at all lengths but I also don't want to do that while trying to navigate college. So I decided to give myself four years to build basic healthy habits (washing my hair consistently, massaging my scalp, wearing a proper bonnet nightly, taking vitamins, and creating a better diet) before I take my locs out.
Me too 😭😭😭😭😭
Yes!!!! This describes how I’ve been feeling actually. And worrying about the length inadvertently took my length 🥲😅
The natural hair movement became just another thing that separates us. It’s very sad. It’s just like light skin/dark skin comments that WE still make about each other!
literally yes :(
What the hell you talking about?
@@PBLKW ummm….it appears that I am talking about “the rise and fall of the natural hair community.” What the hell you talking about?? 😂
@@PBLKW Which part didn’t you get
@@jamilas3491 LMAO
The natural hair community’s obsession with waist length hair is so toxic! And everrrryonnnneeeee swears by different growth oils that they swear are the reason for their waist length hair. The amount of money I wasted on products I thought were gonna be a holy grail for long hair is embarrassing
Waist length hair isn't even practical for most straight-haired women. Waist-length* hair was mostly something wealthy women with plenty of free time to dedicate to combing and brushing could achieve.
If you have a job where you are are very active, and have to do a bunch of movement, having super long hair is impractical.
*Edit, what I thought was "waist length" was actually more like "hip length", but even then I feel like the most common hair length for American women is between shoulder and mid back.
@@starspeculation no...? I have hip length hair and i am a software engineer. It takes 10 minutes max to do my hair everyday. Long hair is not impractical at all, its a personal choice. Most women have waist length hair or longer
@@vinelend2832 Not in the United states. I rarely see women with hair longer than mid-back/lower rib. Seeing someone with waist-length hair is uncommon here.
@@starspeculation oh, i have never been to the US so i did not know that. What i was trying to say is that short hair, long hair is all a personal choice. No hair is impractical or high maintainence, and no hair is ugly as long as it is healthy
@@starspeculation what part of the US are you from? I grew up in Florida and even went to school with a good amount of girls that had waist length hair, even when I was out in public I’ll see them
They lost me at the wash n go. THAT WAS A LIE 😂 Then I only ever achieved ONE decent twist out. I eventually locked my hair and am happy over here.
So true!! After I gave up relaxer it was Wash on Friday and GO on Sunday! And don't get me started on all the products I had to apply and how it looked like a Sheep Dog by Tuesday. I'm still natural but that doesn't mean I'll stay that way...
😅😅i had to relax my hair again it's just easier and i look neat. Natural was so hard for me
My hair looked at wash n go, laughed, and went back to what it was doing 💀💀 did not work.
@@godiswithyou.5358 🤣🤣🤣
@@godiswithyou.5358Girl🤣
The first big wave of the modern natural hair movement was actually more than 20 years ago, way earlier than you mentioned and before this current age of social media. Go back and look at some of the dates and history of the forums I'll mention here. UA-cam didn't even exist, it was pretty much just websites and forums. I was in my early 20's then, and it was 2001. The Neo-soul movement, music, fashion, headwraps and style was in its infancy. I did my first big chop that year. I stood out. At the time, approximately 92% of Black women relaxed their hair. Now, it's about half that. Almost no products were available save for a few brands at the health food store. We had to make most of our products from scratch in our kitchens and bathrooms, and that was the early days of Carol's Daughter. We had Black Hair Media and a few other places. A group of us that were on the Multicultural Hair board of the predominantly white forum of the Long Hair Lover's community online left after they tried to charge us to stay. Fun Fact-The hairtyping system that everyone uses now was created by Andre Walker (Oprah's stylist in the 90's) and expanded by a member on that board called Fia. We bounced on private boards, sending each other links until I asked my sorority sister who had a background in tech to create a home just for us. So was born the Long Hair Care Forum. My name was MSCHICHI. I was a moderator there back in the day until I left a few years after life got busy and I learned and contributed a wealth of info. We had to learn and research everything on our own about our natural hair and how to do it because there was barely any info out there. We spoke about the near gang activity of naturals v/s relaxed ladies even back then. It's been crazy to see how far things have come and the whole industry now. Much love to all the old heads and trailblazers, and all the newcomers carrying the torch. Like Maya Angelou once said, if it's on your head, it's good hair.
thank you for this!
@@CamrynElyse Anytime! I had to make a few edits for accuracy and clarity-it's been a long time, lol!
@M. Jessica, you are so right. I remember all those forums and how hard it was to find information. No UA-cam, no social media. Barely anything online about it. Memories lol
Yup. Did a big chop back in 98 and I stood out a lot. BW just didn’t do that at the time.
Yes! I did the big chop in '97, and the Neo-soul movement was a big part of the aesthetic. Those of us who were talking about and wearing our natural hair at that time all had 4c hair, and it was about learning to care for our hair and hair expression. I used to go to Carol's Daughter when it was a little shop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn to get products. Many of us paid a price for having natural hair, but we continued.
I agree the natural hair community became toxic. There would be women with 4C claiming that they have 3BC. Also women with type 3 claiming to have type 4. It became too much and I divested from natural hair content.
A huge part of the natural hair movement was DIY learning your hair type. Some people just didn't know and were still learning. I don't think they should be dragged for that unless they were intentionally falsely advertising which is wrong.
It's been a pleasure to wear my natural hair. My entire family went natural. How could you go wrong wearing hair that grows from your scape?
@@ralphiesarch8980 i dont think ALL of the girls were doing it intentionally, but when i first went natural and was looking for advice from type 4 creators, about 90% of those creators had the looser, ringlet and spiral curls. it made me so frustrated at the time because i’d thought i was just doing something wrong
@@PBLKW A lot depending on what you have going on health wise. I had some crown thinning a few years back bc if thyroid problems.
@@Dominq-v5z ok sorry
I relaxed my hair and got a pixie and haven't felt more confident. I'm tired of feeling guilty for not embracing my natural hair. No I'm not brainwashed and I believe natural hair is beautiful, but it is not by force.
So tired of the guilt trip! I don't want my hair natural. I like it straight and manageable.
When I finally decided to cut my hair (and I'm pretty sure I'm 4A hair type) and now that it's not long anymore people are no long saying that I am pretty which shows me that I was never seen as pretty unless that I had long hair 🤮 But the lack of ✨ pain ✨ when my hair shorter! Less pulling, managing and tugging to get it to "look presentable" and I was tired of being in pain for HAIR 😩
i want to do this so badly 😭
"It is not by force" straight up!!! loool reminds me of my Ghanaian mom always saying that. Yesss sis
Agreed! I was natural for nearly 15 years and just recently decided to do a straight perm simply for the ease and low maintenance, atp I'm old enough to not care about what anyone will think about that decision.
As a 🇮🇳 Indian i want to say thank you to everyone who brought up this movement 🙏 🙌 because in my country majority have straight hair and having curly hair(I've 3b-c)was odd the constant teasing, bullying etc. When I saw a indian blogger who followed the C.G method I was taken aback and first time thought to love my hairs. But I agree that ppl are too obsessed with it now to a unhealthy extent and that's the reason why I don't follow strict cg anymore so thank you sisters for showing the fellow curly heads the right way.
What a beautiful post!
Yes straight hair is idealised in india, so being in the minority (wavy/curly haired) is tough. Hardly any products for our hair . But atleast the ayurvedic products work well
Personsally, patanjali, biotique and kama ayurveda were game changer for my 2b hair
I want to join in saying thank you. I wonder if people don't realize how much texturism is a universal experience and has extreme nuance to how it affects us all. As a white woman with naturally curly hair, I've been shamed, told my natural texture is unprofessional, directed to "do something" about my hair, advised to chemically straighten it, and after decades of trying to figure out what that magic "something" would be to make my hair acceptable, ultimately have resorted to wearing wigs to feel comfortable with my hair's appearance. It's the first time in my life that I've regularly gotten compliments on my hair, which is really sad. While I'm fully-cognizant of the fact that the texturism I've experienced wasn't compounded by racism, the comments and even disgust are just as hurtful. This video spoke to me deeply, and the ultimate message that no one should be shamed for however they choose to wear their hair is 100% spot on. Natural, treated, styled, and even covered are ALL without-a-doubt beautiful.
@@vinelend2832 istg, i've learnt to take care of my hair pretty well and even when its at its glossiest and most "perfect", i still have my family members asking me to comb it. and when i snap and say 'you cant comb curly hair!', they'll say i'm high maintenance ;)( also i have relatives with the same hairtype who ended up permanently straightening it and yet they shame me lmaooo)
18:40 I felt guilty for wearing protective styles because I thought it showed that I didn’t love my hair in the natural state and thought it was bad to wear braids, passion twists, ect all the time but after doing it because doing my natural hair takes FOREVER! I realized that my natural hair became healthier, stronger, and grew way faster in the protective styles. I do enjoy wearing it out but like not all the time. I’m so glad I went natural too. My relaxed hair was so awful I remember dreaming of having natural hair and now I’ve been natural for 5 years! Which is crazy to me because I feel like it was just last year that I went natural.
Me too. And while we are talking about this, I want to say specifically to the women coming to these conclusion like one of them did in this video, PLEASE STOP SAYING THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE DOING (take your pick) TO THEIR HAIR FOR SELF HATING REASONS. A black woman wearing a wig over her natural hair does NOT automatically mean she hates her natural hair. It means she cares enough about it to PROTECT IT. Despite the gaslighting that some black women do when black hair is talked about in anything but utter, 110% praise, black hair is typically more fragile than straighter textures hair in general (GENERAL, PEOPLE. So please don't come up with personal anecdotes to debunk it because general means it might apply to most but not everybody). So black women put it up to protect it, not because they're ashamed of it.
And it's the same thing with relaxing. Stop coming to the conclusion that a black woman went back to relaxers simply because she hates her natural hair. For a lot of natural women who were once relaxed, a lot of us in our experience noticed the time and manageability difference between relaxed and natural hair. She may have loved how her natural hair looked, but probably got sick and tired of all the products, techniques, and learning curves she had to do and the time spend on properly moisturizing and detangling natural hair. So please stop coming to the sole conclusion that she is self hating because that is the route she wanted to go.
With relaxers, black women have their own reasons why they went back to it, not all of which has anything to do with them hating themselves.
The looser texture girls ruined the movement😂here me out now… if you notice a lot of the stuff they started hating “oh it doesn’t work it’s bad for you” does wonders for type 4 hair such as grease I love me some blue magic and Indian hemp, sulfates, certain gels everything that does my fellow type 4 sisters the type 3-below cousins lowkey demonized it another thing why are white people in this movement 😭
Sweetheart you are speaking on the high bee fletcher!!!🙌🏾🙌🏾😭 I use most of the products that were so called "bad" for your hair. Especially the oils, they have my have thriving!
@@KatyJac I don’t know if you’re agreeing or not😂😂
@@Jessica.Shawnte I am 😭😭
@@KatyJac oh😂😂
Girl my youngest is type 4c all day. The minute I started using Blue magic with black castor oil, her hair started to flourish. There’s no one size fits all in natural hair.
I’m so proud of you for uploading
❤️❤️❤️
One thing I noticed is that when people with 4c hair started getting more appreciation, there were people that would claim 4c just for the sake of clicks and views. Even though you called people natural hair police for correcting them, I do think people were right to do so because it can cause a lot of confusion and upset for people. People incorrectly labelling themselves as 4c (or type 4 in general) for views definitely put me off because it became harder to find people with similar textures to use as a reference.
I know right I have 3c 4a hair and I be seeing people with hair like mines saying it’s 4c . I get it can look slightly different person to person but it gets to a point where you know you don’t have 4c hair not even remotely.
Exactly
talkin bout “i don’t know what to call it”🤦🏾♀️
@@dolldoctrine when they know exactly what they’re doing!
@@Sondersun exactly!! people want help with hairstyles and it’s a lot easier to copy a hairstyle from someone with a similar texture than someone whose hair is different!
The problem is a lot of these girls went natural for the wrong reasons and it backfired, they were following a trend instead of doing it because it was something they REALLY wanted to do for THEMSELVES. Going natural should be a personal choice and a self love journey, not some community you join because it's trendy.
As someone who has NEVER straightened my hair in my 30 + years on earth, this being a fad or a movement seems odd to me. My hair is just my best feature, that is part of my "tumbao" which means African sexiness in my Afro Latin culture. I think this is being over thought. Our hair is gorgeous, end of story. No controversy there.
You didn't do what ?!!! LADY YOU ARE A LEGEND 💝💖💓💞💕💘
@Clara 👍🏾🇨🇺🌍
Yes ma'am 🇵🇦🇵🇦❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
I can only speak for the States but when Eurocentric beauty standards can make or break how you succeed and navigate daily society from the time you step foot in school at age 5, yes, going natural had to be a Movement, a Cultural Revolution. Not the first of its kind but definitely distinct in an increasingly racially integrated, globalized computer-age.
Wait wasn't their a few afro Latinos complaining about discrimination a few years ago. I'm sure you've seen it in your culture too eh? Oh wait that mustve been over skin color...💅🏽 Well anyhoo
I think what happened is we focused more on texture rather than the science of hair,like porosity, density, thickness of your strands. Many companies caught on to that creating unnecessary products. Also, influencing us to be product junkies as we looked for products that worked for our curl pattern over what works for each individual based on their hair composition or needs. Furthermore, thinking heat, grease, sulfates, silicones, or washing you hair more frequently with shampoo would be damaging. Once I started looking at my hair scientifically I went back to mainstream products versus ones geared solely towards natural hair and went back to an old school routine. My hair has been thriving.
me too. that's where i am rn
Yes! I bought hair grease last year. I hate how the natural hair community started leaving out the old school stuff that kept us looking moisturized
Yes, the Suave in the green bottles have never done me wrong, but in the name of supporting Black business, I use Suave when I’m broke and running low on product.
Yup. Same thing with skincare. Taking a scientific approach is much much easier than playing product roulette. You get to the root cause and solution to your hair and can actually see change much faster (imo).
@@propainaccessories yes, Some of the tried and trues started switching up the formulations and ingredients to fit “good ingredients for natural hair” when they were doing just fine the whole time. As a business I get it because the revenue comes from consumers and that is what the consumers wanted
I'm one of the "looser hair girls" and I use grease, oils, and butters. I believe in do what works for you. I tried following the "natural hair rules" but just started making my own products and stuck to my own routine. I don’t think the movement failed, we as a people failed. What was supposed to bring us together tore us apart. So girls with type 4 hair please love your hair because I would love to have a fro i didn't have to manipulate into one. I cant do wash n goes cause it'll end up a big, tangled mess. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, lol. Oh and I agree with the be aware where u stand 👀.
So true, I can’t wear a puff because it causes my hair to tangle. My mom has type 4 hair and it’s beautiful and when she hot combs it…chefs kiss!
This! My hair is very wavey but if i dont drown it in multiple products it literally becomes huge, puffy, and dry. I always wished i had more defined perfect curls like my 4C friends. Also to be honest i have never found a hair type combination that looks anything like my hair. All the wavey pictures are always of white women's hair that has the texture of smooth and straight but just has some soft waves, but i have never seen thick coarse textured hair like mine under any of the "wavey" part of the spectrum so i never understood how hard people use these labels as part of their identity and part of defining others when those labels represent such a fraction of actual hair types, textures, volume, and experience.
@@DishaeB yes. I have friends and nieces with 4 type and I be rolling my eyes at them with the perfect puffs. Lol.
@@rightweaponry908 if your hair requires a lot of product for it to not become dry, frizzy and puffy, you may have high porosity hair. Look for hair products that have Glycerin in the first 3 ingredients on the list, legit changed my life. I have 3b/a and recommend As I Am long & luxe leave in.
Yup, this is me! My curls are looser, but my hair is stupid thick, takes forever to detangle and I need leave-in and gel or my hair will mat together. My mom has 4C hair and I honestly wish my hair was like hers sometimes.
I’m ready to just cut it all off and rock a TWA 🥲
In my opinion, the natural hair movement started out as an informative, self aware and self loving machine & is now turning into business opportunity. Let's get back to when building a community for black people to learn ourselves, love ourselves and embrace our differences enjoyable again.
This is not a hair problem this is a lack of self love problem. Yes there are people out there that hate on things that are different. BUT if you as individual know yourself and know what you love about yourself already, then no bully, hater or comment can change what you already know in your heart.
Love yourself so much that if someone say, "you look like an orange dinosaur" you can say "no baby in my heart I already know I am a purple elephant"!
😁😁😁
It really has everything to do with texturism
Agree. I just posted it’s about self love and your family community.
I never realized how Bless I was to have such a diverse group of women with hair from Lena Horne to Viola Davis and we ALL respect and loved each other curls, perms, wigs, weaves braids or extensions.
Because we love each other we see only the black Woman struggle to be beautiful in her own skin no matter what the color or texture of her hair is.
Geez it’s enough to fight Becky at work!!
Why the heck would I demean my fellow black sister because she is different? At the end of the day we all have 1000 seasonings in the cabinet, more body lotion than Jergens, and pots are suppose to be stored in the oven!!!!
“Come Together”❤
Yeah but the problem is that there's a lot of young people that are still learning to love themselves. It's like how a sapling is so much easier to chop down than a full grown tree. We need to give the saplings space to grow
As someone who grew up natural, long before it was popular, and tried relaxing my hair once in college 😖, I think the problems with the community come down to trading one out of reach Eurocentric beauty standard for another out of reach less Eurocentric beauty standard. Instead of just embracing and loving our hair. Personally I can’t stand when people are so hyper focused on length.
🎯
❤ I ask the same question. Like their “cousins” to Lady Godiva. If I wanted to have a dream of long hair my 4z would be a nightmare just hanging out loose everyday.
I exited when people became obsessed with hair typing. 😩 And then all the natural hair scientists started talking about porosity, parabens, sulfates, and whatever. It truly doesn’t have to be that hard. Then came all the complaining that our hair “takes too much time” and the rise of wigs. Hear me out. Y’all can do what y’all want. Taking care of our natural hair CAN take long if you want a high-maintenance style BUT it doesn’t have to. White folks spent plenty of time on their hair because it’s just fun to do sometimes! I had long hair practically all my life until I cut my hair a few times in college (even shaved my head lol). Everyone asked how my hair would grow back so quickly and literally the answer is by doing very little. I seldom do my edges and I’ve always done wash and go puffs even as a type 4 because these n****s were not about to tell me my hair was nappy. Whatever. Then when my hair grew out again, people were like 😍. 😩😩😩 Keeping our hair healthy is relatively simple and can be low maintenance. But when the popular natural hair gurus became biracial with loose curls, it became a chore (because people were trying to make their look like theirs) and people started spreading the lie that our hair takes “too much time.” I’d love to see the capital “C” Community embrace our hair again because it’s beautiful and what God blessed (yes, BLESSED) us with. I really appreciate the OGs because they taught me that taking care of my natural hair was even a possibility. Then, I figured out a routine that worked for me. I hope others can get back to doing the same.
i agree, natural hair doesn’t have to be complicated AT ALL…simplicity is key!!
The thing that makes it take so long for a lot of us, is the detangling.
It takes me about 1-2 hours to detangle mine.
I get terrible fairy knots.
@@GoaWay... It takes me 10 mins to detangle mine and mine's supper coily (or 4c as we'd say back in the day). I know the women behind black girl curls have put a lot of back up with their hair 'rules'. But they make more sense to me than anything else I've heard on UA-cam University since I went natural 7 years ago.
@@dahlia1452 10 minutes? 😳... 😭. That's great!
I wish I could do that. I wish I could do it in 30 minutes.
The thing that makes it worse for me, is that after I am done detangling, and have washed & conditioned my hair, it gets all tangled again during that process. So I have to re-detangle it. That makes me hate doing my hair. I put off washing my hair for as long as I can.
Also, my twist outs used to take more than an hour for me to do. I loved the look, but taking the time to twist them every night, that was too much for me. Maybe I have some sort of health issue that is causing my hair to do that. I know my hair used to shed excessively. Everytime I would touch it, hair would come out.
I need hairstylist for natural hair. 😌
@@GoaWay... you don't have to do do a twist out everyday. Just pineapple your hair on top of your head with a satin scrunchie, cover with a satin scarf, and fluff with fingers the next morning🙂
This mom of four girls with type 4 hair is forever grateful for the natural hair movement. It fills my heart every time I see a new natural hair youtuber. I am glad to see that the movement is here to stay. I am in my 11th year of loving my hair, and it is great to teach that love to my little ones by modeling it for them. Great video!
I love all the new info, “protective styling isn’t really protective”, “no raw oils and butters”, etc. Even though we’re 10+ years into the natural movement, it’s still a young movement. I think something we still overlook is the mindset we have of particularly tight coiled hair. Are we just having fun with wigs, weaves and relaxers or are we only outwardly dealing with inner turmoil?
i think some are the former and some are the latter, and i have a video talking about that🫣
Let’s talk about why tightly coiled hair is such an issue but oop they not ready for that conversation🤭
I am having fun with wigs and weaves lol. No hair can be straight long, bubblegum pink in the morning and short, curly and white the evening... Wigs and weaves give so much freedom and ways of expressing one's tastes and personnality, but somehow if you have them on your head and you're black, you hate yourself.
@@gbbs9 im ready why do you think it's an issue?
I think it doesn’t matter. There’s turmoil whether you’re natural or not. If someone has type longer 4C hair, spending 5 hours on a “twist out” or on “wash day” is turmoil. BW need to be left alone when it comes to hair. That’s why many left the “natural hair community” because it became a hotep cult.
I’m glad I left that community. Now I do whatever I want with my hair.
I started as a loose natural for years. I transitioned to wigs until one day I had enough. I wanted a permanent protective style and that’s when it dawned on me, Locs! My hair has never been happier, who knew the answer for me the whole time was not detangling and combing my hair.
The natural hair movement definitely freed me and showed me my own African Beauty and whats possible.
Love it forever ♥️♥️🙏🏾we will work on thos important flaws and take it to the next level 🤎🤎🤎
Firstly, I want to thank The Natural Hair Community for a movement that included black women with coarse hair. I'm glad we have a lot of hair products intended for our stands at the drug, grocery, and retail stores. The Community helped us with the language and terms to use for describing our hair and the products we use. I can't think of a more inclusive community. Racism roots will sprout up everytime. Yes! It will among black ppl. While we are not a monolith, we must acknowledge the "beauty" standards set by this oppressive system was established to undermine and suppress us. This is why I'm not for every community being inclusive. Let's get something straight about everybody jumping on the "bandwagon". If it were not for the socal media Natural Hair Communty, the Curly Girl movement would not exist. The curl type 3c wouldn't be all the rage without 4c hair. It's the self unawareness for me. Ppl were joining (high jacking) the movement for ulterior motives. This caused a lot of naturals to feel disenchanted and ostracized in a movement made for them. How are folk going to come into a Communty their never wanted to be a part of (before all of the sensationalism) and critique it for not being about them? The Natural Community hasn't gone anywhere. The ppl who didn't belong there have exited the Community. Thank you.
THIS! as someone who has that kinky afro type 4 hair, this was the take for me. Even to this day if I do not specifically type in ..."for type 4 hair" I will not see anyone who has a similar hair type to mine😭
Well said.
@@simplyandoime7344 Thank you.
❤️❤️❤️ Love This
Straight facts, no printer! (yes I'm aware of how cheesy and dorky that statement is!😆😆😅) I totally agree with this comment tho!
The only thing i dont like with the natural hair community is where uneducated/people without qualifications want to speak in absolutes despite they have no scientifc background. It took one person to say grease is bad then everyone says it. It took one person to say low porosity hair should stay away from protein then everyone says it and the list goes on. Then the crazy hennas and clay masks and so many steps that we're told we should do if we want healthy hair. Somehow people without credentials became experts in dictating what we should do and shouldn't do and i was one who blindly followed. Now this is not to throw everyone under the bus but I just wish those influencers, if you're sooo passionate about hair, why not actually study so that you're credible and knowledgeable in what you're saying instead of saying what the next person said.
oop…period💅🏾
Now oils and air are bad 😂
@@LoXena 2mr water will be bad lol
@@LoXena Use what works for you and if that’s oil and butters, great. I haven’t used those since childhood, yet my hair thrives without them. I’ve stuck to what works for me without bashing other’s choice of products.
@@LoXena yes this is the New thing lol.
My issue with the natural hair community started with the “taking the stupid out of natural hair” movement. The no oils and butters trends, then no protective styling trend. Like leave people to do what they want with their hair 💁🏾♀️
Seriously. I relaxed my hair my hair last year after being natural for five years because I just was too stressed to do it and I big chopped back in March. Before I big chopped, when I was relaxed and now, the only thing that works on my hair is shea butter. Grease and the likes. I’ve tried expensive I’ve tried cheap. Of course I do like As I Am and it would probably last longer since my hair comes to my collarbone when stretched but back when my hair was past bra strap length, I was using a 25-30$ hair product in one month and my hair just doesn’t like all that extra. I do think oils don’t “make your hair grow”. I agree with people that it comes from within just like skin care, but moisture wise, im keeping my butter and my oil, because its less than 5$ at the beauty store and my hair doesn’t get dry after two days. With my 40$ hair products or whatever that stuff is my grandma has thats pink, mg hair is dry and god forbid it gets wet. Used shea butter with my twists and my hair had been wet, exposed to heat, cold, dry and air and it’s STILL moisturized. And being natural for four years my hair grew yeah but in 2020 I was putting my hair in twists or braids and letting it rock and it grew tremendously. Protective styling is alright for me. I’m definitely not listening to people who can just wake up and add water to their hair and go (lol my grandma). We are NOT the same
If it weren’t for the no oils and butters trend my hair wouldn’t be flourishing. I heard about it and it lead to a change in my hair routine and journey that has definitely been an upgrade, and I can say that I don’t think i would be where I am today if I hadn’t heard of it. I agree that we should let people do what they want but some of us did get something out of simplifying our routines and changing it up
With the exception of 9mos when I learned not to follow trends no matter how popular they are, I've been natural all my life. I don't think it's trends that are the problem it seems it's more when people are being successful with what they are doing and decide to jump on a trend that's the problem. Personally, I've never used raw oils and butter on my hair so for me the trend would have been using them. However, I did not jump on that trend because I could not see doing something to my natural hair that I had not ever done. My hair was thriving and doing just fine so I didn't need to add oils and butter. When my mom did my hair she would shampoo, condition, and braid it up using a leave-in. I just kept on shampooing, conditioning, and using leave-in, but I added gel for a WnG. It was and still is simple, and my hair is happy and flourishing. So, if your hair is flourishing by using raw oil and butter then keep doing that. If it is flourishing doing something else keep doing that. However, if it isn't healthy and happy try something new. Not because it is a trend, but because your hair needs a change.
I'm glad I don't follow trends because there have been so many of them. There have been the Monistat cream trend, the Vicks Vapo Rub trend, the chebe trend, the rice water trend, the no oils and butters trend, the sea moss trend. What trend are they going to come up with next?
@@1GoldenBreeze THANK YOU. This has been my exact experience, routine and thoughts.
I am BSL now but when I did my bc back in college, omg people went IN on me. Sooo many people would tell me that I need to do something with it. One guy told me my hair felt like carpet & another black girl (with fine hair) told me my hair reminded her of her Brillo pad. People started being waaay more interested & nicer once I started getting length. I’ll never forget the things people said to me back then.
I was done when I was staring at nearly $800 worth of products at the bottom of my sink hot off the heels of being told to "go see a doctor" on a natural hair board because my 4b hair wasn't past my shoulders after 3 years of being natural. I mean, who goes 3 years without seeing a doctor?
I started looking at my aunties with they're healthy hair and 4 products (Soft N Sheen, Blue Magic, Queen Helene Cholestorol, and Cream of nature shampoo) and my hair flourished.
Girl can I get ur routine pls 🥺
Girl, I'm over here nodding. I was so over all these conditioners it wasn't even funny. I marched my tail to the beauty supply and got my Queen Helen cholesterol and walked right on out!! I'm throwing away half the crap I purchased. I am obsessed with Indian herbs though. lol
Blue magic is the truth!!!!!! Changed everything when I stopped buying all the new wave crap and took it back to the black classics 💙
This is so much bigger than hair type. Even if you have 4c hair, it’s still looked on favorably if it’s long and full. I have thin short 4C hair and I had hard time finding creators with similar hair. I divested from the natural hair movement because I was tired of being inundated with videos of people with full and long hair and the pressure/expectation to have hair that looked like that. They were all selling the idea that if you did xyz, your hair would grow like their hair. Meanwhile, genetically some ppl are just predisposed to have thicker longer hair. Even 4c gurus like Naptural85 and Halfrican Beaute made me feel like I was lacking. I came to the conclusion that it was genetically impossible for my hair to look like Halfrican Beaute’s and started putting my hair away in wigs and protective styles. Another reason was content creators doing more sponsorsed videos vs just sharing products they liked.
Same. My fine, yet extremely kinky hair just didn’t have much representation on UA-cam. And I finally realized that my hair would never look like theirs. So I embarked on a journey of getting to know MY own hair. I’ve been better for it.
have you guys looked into the channel starpuppy? she has a hair type similar to what you’re referring to (shorter, fine, low density, 4c)!!
also, i agree with you. it’s important to have that representation across the board! i have even felt the same way because i don’t have super thick hair, and you follow all of these tutorial wondering why it doesn’t come out the same. it was so important for me to watch people that had similar hair types to me, down to density, strand with, curl pattern, etc. those are the only creators i took advice from, the rest i just watched for fun!
@@CamrynElyse I don’t really watch much hair content anymore but I do think I’ve seen her before. I’ll check her out again!
@@CamrynElyse OMG I love her❤️ Her personality is amazing and it is good to see someone who has hair just like you
I remember hairstylists saying we should not put “food” in our hair. People from various cultures have been using oils in their hair for centuries… these hair products weren’t around centuries ago. People used the Earth to clean and moisturize their hair.
My grandmother told me back in her day. They washed their hair with Ivory Bar soap. Cracked an egg in their hair with mayonnaise to condition their hair. Used pure Olive Oil & Crown Royal grease to moisturize and style their hair. That was in the the late 1930’s- early 50’s. That was all they needed.
Honey is actually very good for your hair. I have found.
My grandmother, rest her soul, used mayonnaise, castor oil, and egg to condition my hair and it would get so thick and full. She was a hairstylist in the 60s/70s
Wow! I didn’t realize that people were taking the opinions of others on social media as gospel. I just accepted as advice. I kept what worked for me and threw away the rest.
That part. Even when I began my natural journey I knew there was a lot of BS out there. I just used the videos for style inspiration and kept it moving. People put way too much trust into some of these "gurus".
Honestly, the community made me feel poor. I watched videos from USA and my country and, all they have in common is "oh try this expensive product or your hair won't be healthy". I'm learning to filter the information and adapt to what fit my bank account at the moment, and now i can say I'm happy with my hair, it isn't 100% but is pretty close to what i want
Don’t focus on what brand of products or whatever. just use something for a shampoo and a leave in and make sure you’re allowing your hair to drink up the water when you run it over your head, focus on really cleaning your hair and then condition once done, oil and all that stuff can be used but if you don’t have it don’t worry about it. make sure you’re giving your hair enough water and dry it don’t leave it wet, if you do and you do this over extended periods of time i’ve heard that it could damage your hair by making your hair follicles swell up and become mushy and break off. but you can do your own research. these are just some tips i go by.
What helped me was starting to learn about the ingredients themselves, what they do and how they work and from there reading every label to see what's truly worth it or not. That and going truly natural and utilizing oils, butters and good old water.
I wear my hair in mini twists as my go to protective hairstyle. I love my afro, I wear it out whenever I want to. But you know the drill. We gotta keep the hair stretched out in order to avoid single strand knots. That's why wearing twist outs / other hairstyles helps us to maintain the length, and eventually see growth. Thank you for the awesome video.
This is why I decided to loc my hair. I've been an on and off natural since I was a sophomore in high school and I'm now 36. I've grown my hair to beat strap length and had to big chop many times. I can definitely see why someone would get tired of the natural hair movement. It isn't easy.
Yes me too!! Locs were my best hair decision, I feel free to let my hair be and not on a constant merry go round about what to do with my hair. Thanks for sharing this aspect!
The internet did not make me go natural. After 10 years of relaxer, thinning, breakage I did a big chop myself and then I discovered the natural hair community and it supported me through my dry tough 4c-d high porosity hair journey. And I’m thankful for that.
It’s left for us to do our research and find out what works for us. No one forced anything on anyone
I wish I could give this a thousand likes.
Yesss this right here come on ! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 how about add your girls love tree hair for who they are the lessons could be taught earlier
Yeah thank you !!
Then internet didn’t make me want to go natural. When I was in elementary school about fourth to fifth grade I wanted to do my own hair. I always hated the flat iron, hot comb and other products just out of concern for my hair. And fear because I was scared of getting burned lol. I found it silly that for me to wear my hair I had to completely change it. I felt clumsy when I had to constantly worry about my hair getting wet. So by fifth to sixth grade I began going natural. I guess I was apart if the community in some sense simply by wearing my hair out but I didn’t use social media then so I didn’t contribute anything online.
Yea perm breakage made me go natural lol
I had to take a break from the community. I was trying all these different methods and my hair was falling out. When I was using "white people" shampoo and conditioners my hair was growing. I recently switched to a plant-based product from the first use two weeks ago my hair loved it. I guess the best thing to do is listen to your hair and let it lead you in its journey.
What products do you use?
I will say, I still the the curly girl movement in general (that includes people of other races) was still helpful for those of us who are more type 3c/4a. I wasn’t told I had bad hair, but I was told I needed to do something with it. People seemed personally offended that I wore it in a puff everyday. I didn’t really know how to wear it down and every makeover movie in the 90s had some girl with frizzy wavy or curly getting their hair straightened in the after. And it’s what I always did for special occasions, a press and curl.
It was a better space for me in a lot of ways than the Black natural hair community.
So true ...they love to say..you have to do something with it...
so im latine and have curly hair. i always tell people "black women saved my hair" bc with a white mom and in high school at teh PEAK of flatironing hair it was broken and damaged and rough. i found a couple black girls who i followed on twitter and would check the threads every so often and would try their tips and see what otheres were recomending. now my hair is thriving and i have black women to thank
I miss the natural hair content we used to have when we were all trying different products, techniques, and styles. Despite all the negativity and rules it was fun to experiment
Great video. Being natural is tough as straight is seen as better. I've come to realize I don't care what people/men think. If i like my hair natural and you don't oh well, not my problem. I've gone back to using oils and butters bc my hair likes it. Less shedding and breakage for myself and my daughter. I watch natural youtubers for entertainment only. I'm going to do what's best for me and what I like no matter what! 😊
I love it for you❤️
This conversation was very interesting. I decided to go natural because I saw a video where a lady had gotten a relaxer and had burns so severe she lost the ability to grow her hair back!! So I transitioned not because of a movement, I just did not want to go bald. Never did I place so much emphasis on my hair decision. I’m 4C or tight textured and once I learned how to care for my hair l fell in love with her.
chemical burns are no joke!!🫠
i went “natural” because i wanted my hair to grow long like my mom’s :)
I love the girl who said that she doesn't do her edges because "they don't want to be done", because that's literally it! 😅😂 My edges have no interest in staying gelled down. In fact, my hair used to eat gel. I had to find different products to style my hair with because most gels werent it, and edge gel didn't do anything.
I feel like we gotta also take into account the impacts of capitalism in the rise/decline of the natural hair community. Not faulting content creators because I know sponsorships are necessary for them to make a living. I know that there was a point in time where audiences started to get overstimulated because of the over saturation of new products being advertised to them to achieve a specific style. I think this contributed to a shift in the hair industry as a whole. Now Beauty supply stores had to compete with big chain stores, online stores, etc. The industrialization of natural hair lead to creators feeling burnt out because of the nature of business in a capitalist economy being more competitive. This also meant. Like some of the folks in the video said, the rise of natural hair went hand in hand with the rise of wigs, which is also an industry under the “black hair umbrella”. With all these different views on which products are best and which products suck and the debate around different protective styles, came the “natural hair police”. And so on and so on
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 THANK YOU! Because my hair loves Tresseme and Pantene!! I’m 4C and all this stuff (oils, pomades, curl creams…uugghhh) is just too much… 5 years and I’m over it. I’m embracing just a simple wash, condition and hair grease; diffuse or air dry and Afro poppin!
I liked your perspective and honesty in this video! I think that one of the deepest issues of the natural hair movement is that it exposed a lot of our traumas and negative mindsets that we had not really dealt with until the movement. Some people went natural and were deeply disappointed in their texture. Those of us who have tighter textures faced the fact that we had been told for so long (directly and indirectly) that our hair texture is not beautiful...that somehow we are less fortunate and less beautiful than what the world considers beautiful. The natural hair movement has gotten out of hand to me because what should have been a safe space for us to experiment and encourage, turned into a place of bitterness and anger. And I think it stems from a place of not knowing how to really deal with the trauma of being made to believe that tighter textures are not beautiful. That is what the world told us and tells us and has modeled to us since forever! I think the natural hair community is for every woman of color with whatever texture of hair they have. Unfortunately, I have seen videos where women with kinky textures are ranting about people with looser textures. I feel that we all have a responsibility to deal with our own personal hair traumas and not project our insecurities onto other women. In reality, we don't know another person's story. And I am guilty of it too! I had been hearing my whole life that my hair is bad because it's kinky... and sometimes I make the comments like "girl you're so lucky cause your hair is looser" or "Whatever, she don't have to work as hard cause she has good hair". So, our community consists of a lot of people with unchecked traumas, jealousy and bitterness because of feeling not good enough, which sucks cause as humans, we want to feel valued. But how can we when a major part of who we are is rejected. It's a mess. We have to do the work and stay in our lane, but sadly some people will continue to speak out of their trauma, jealousy and bitterness...therefore making the natural hair community yet another space for people of color to tear each other down.
Natural hair is beautiful and you just have to do what’s best for you. Our hair textures are different. So other people shouldn’t to tell you what to do with your hair
Now texturism is leeching it’s way into the loc community and it makes me so sad. To have locs become commercialized, curly ends being sought after and seeing looser texture persons with locs being propped up in the community just makes me shake my head. I locd for hair freedom , ease and to move away from the issues of the natural hair community.
😂 Just a video with a girl Loc’d that combed the ends to “Embrace” her natural curls😐🤣
yess the loc hair community is crazy . I feel like it’s a fad & everyone is doing it because it’s the newest thing in. I want to loc my hair but I also still love my loose free hair . I don’t want to loc my hair because it’s this thing or movement everyone tryna do. It’s annoying.
@@diplovely72 ?
@@thelifeofatm9565 loc your hair when you are ready. So many take their locs down over and over again. Its better to be sure than to go through all of that
I'm a natural who was a product junkie up into 2019. I switched to hair grease and gel and my hair had grew so freaking fast. I packed up all that expensive junk and gave it away. I still love being natural.
I kinda feel like the amount of natural hair content on social media also contributed to the "fall" of the natural hair community too because it was so hard to stick to just one routine/brand/content creator. Once natural hair became the "in" thing, there was an influx of natural hair content. (In addition to the fact that social media really started popping off around the same time too). Plus, more and more brands were popping up on the shelves. These brands were working with content creators and the content creators were making their money by working with these brands. It was like a never-ending cycle.
I started making natural hair content because there weren't enough creators on UA-cam who had hair like mine ( I have more than one curl pattern). Unfortunately, it was hard for me to grow my platform because at the time I started, everyone already had their favs. I also noticed most of the well known creators either had looser textured hair or their hair was super long and these were things that people wanted which contributed to why their platforms were growing. and now all the natural UA-cam girlies have transitioned to lifestyle creators and barely even post anymore.
i noticed that too👀
There is only so much hair content one can creat in 4+ years.
🤔 , Iv noticed that as well...about the creators transitioning into topics other than what originally drew me to them in the first..
@@LightSkinCreole I've noticed that too and I understand their need for money but I've unsubscribed from all of them.
@@oliviaburrell-jackson9280 I have as well..but not all, Star puppy is into cosplay which I like..but the rest..yes indeed...
The natural hair movement started much earlier than 2013, moreso around 2009/2010 (honestly probably even earlier than that) with early UA-cam, blogs, and forums. Great video!
as a mixed/afrolatina person, i’ve barely faced scrutiny for my texture. before i knew how to care for and style my hair, i was bullied for having “messy” matted hair. my mom has 4a/4b hair and was never taught how to take care of it, so she never took care of my 2c-3b hair. for me (and other girls with a similar texture) the curly hair movement taught me how to take care of my hair. many mixed kids don’t have parents with knowledge on curly hair. not being able to wear cute hairstyles while dealing with mats and frizz can be painful and isolating for young girls, no matter how curly their hair is.
So true I was bought up in a white foster home and had to suffer with lack of knowledge and going to school and being bullied
Thissss I’m mixed n my mom didn’t have any idea how to care for my hair n I was shamed so much I hated my hair till I came across how to care for it on UA-cam in high school. I still struggle feeling comfortable with my hair
But y’all hair has become the standard
@@aisha-3857 I think that's your insecurity talking. There are 4 a to c girls all over UA-cam. I don't see why you would feel the looser haired girls are the standard. Reference the girls with your hair type, And stop that silly talk. No matter how much representation there is always some girl indicating its not enough or having some dissatisfaction.
@@aisha-3857two things can exist at the same time
I remember first hearing women w/ natural hair referred to as a “community” and thinking it was weird back then. At the heart of being natural is gaining a sense of confidence and comfort in being yourself and owning it. How you do that is and should always be your choice and feeling connected bc you can relate to others should be a perk, not a rule.
why would the word "community" be a problem when ppl are offering info and support in an area we have in common...pushing our understanding further ahead. without failures, we can't fly...
It’s such a weird take to be put off by the community aspect.
It’s a community - that’s positive!
Not a cult.
I really felt when you said growing all this hair to hide it because you can’t do anything with it!!! I grew my natural hair to waist length but avoided wearing it out because it would shrink up to my shoulders, tangled very easily, and washing it took 4 hours. It was also annoying having to adjust plans just because of my hair so I mostly wore braids and wigs. Ultimately felt restricted that I rarely wore my waist length hair out and got a ginacurl curly perm🤷🏽♀️ I know chemicals aren’t great for your hair but at least I can do what I want now. And if I decide to go back to natural in the future I can do that too. People are quick to judge meanwhile they never took care of your hair before.
I honestly didn't know what my natural hair looked like because my mom relaxed my hair because it was to thick for her to manage. I feel like many girls and women went through this and the movement created curiosity so the big chop was the next step in the journey. I was literally 34 when I saw my natural curls from the age of 8. I relaxed religiously at any site of new growth. Thank God I took the leap and started loving me as God made me. I've now been natural for 8 years and it's still a learning experience. 😌 Do whats best suits your lifestyle and what you love... Do what works for you!!! Period.
I just could not get behind people telling me not to put oil on my hair...my hair has grown so much, I've retained length longer than ever, and all I need is water and oil. People really want a one rule thing for everybody but everyone's hair is different.
What I realized after over a decade of embracing my curls and trying different things is that
1. You only need a good shampoo, conditioner, and deep treatment. It doesn’t have to be made for “curls” but it has to have good ingredients to nourish your hair.
2. You need to wash your scalp with actual shampoo regularly, scalp health is extremely important. The NO poo method is simply not good for the health of your scalp and hair!
3. Trim your hair at least once per year
4. It is okay to straighten or trying different hair styles once in a while as long as you don’t compromise the integrity of your hair.
5. “Natural hair” is the hair that grows naturally from your scalp this includes any hair texture
6. You are free to wear your hair the way you feel comfortable wearing it without feeling like you are being judged.
I’ve been natural as an adult for 23 years. This is a very well constructed conversation and I agree with every point you made.
Completely agree with this entire video, especially the part where these natural hair gurus were telling us what's good and bad for our hair. I asked my mom to stop using grease in my hair when I was about 11 because I remember seeing a video where the girl said it was bad for our hair. Fast forward to now, I'm 22 and started using grease again for the past few months. When I tell you, my hair is feeling unbelievably full, soft, and detangling has been easier than ever! Still trying to figure out what works best for my hair, but protective styling with just some water and grease to moisturize has been my new go-to.
I remember I stopped using coconut oil cause everybody stopped. I recently started using it again and my hair is finally looking good again.
I always thought of myself as intelligent but I still got sucked into this group think.
Fascinating.
Lol a lot of people was still using coconut oil...the natural hair community made you believe it was bad....yes true it doesn't agree with everyone bit it works well for some
The "Natural Hair Movement" for Black Women has come and gone a bunch of times in the Modern Age (early 1900s+). The most recent wave began gained momentum circa 2006/2007. I really think stars such as Tracy Ellis Ross, Rachel True and who can forget Kelis with "3b/3c" hair wore their hair big/bold curly, unapologetically and many women felt they could rock with it. Racial relations in the country had cooled by then and less Black women/people were worried about what white people thought about their hair. Also, Andre Walker, Oprah's Hairstylist came out with his book "Andre Talks Hair in 1997", which revolutionized the way folks with textured hair think, manage and categorize our hair. Anthropologically speaking, he was the Linneaus of the "Hair Industry". 25 years later we've added 3c as a hair type but not much else. Anyway, all of the people I named are Biracial Americans with type 3 curls. Before Andre's book and before Tracee E. Ross & Rachel True. Other natural curly folks of color on tv were Karyn Parsons (Hillary from Fresh Prince), Cree Summer & Jasmine Guy. Although you could argue. Tatiana Ali, Chili from TLC, Rozanda Lewis (MTV). The main take away is that for a long time Authentically looking Black women with type 4 hair weren't rocking their natural hair like that. However, I am going to highlight the OG's: Angie Stone, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Macy Gray and most notably Free from 106 & Park. 106 & Park was a popular show on the early 2000s and both hosts Free & AJ had what appeared to be natural looking hairstyles and they rocked them with incredible style & influence on the 13-25 cohort. Free was rocking Afros in a new way & we were there for it wanting to know, what is she going to wear next. She was bold, beautiful, stylish and showing everyone that Black was all of that. Later on they replaced her with biracial/Latina female co hosts, but you know they had to keep the guy Black, but that's another story.
The Natural Hair Movement has evolved over the last 25 years for sure. Before 2006 there were very few products/media outlets that we could use to figure out how to really do our hair. Then came UA-cam and then around 2012 the rise of the UA-cam/Instagram stars who built their brands, other brands and communities.
However, I think most people only really seemed interested in seeing 2c-3c hair videos and maybe 4a, with the ideal hair type being 3b for many people. Basically, we were supposed to be embracing our hair & relating to each other, but things got real exclusionary and featurist. The girls with 4b and 4c hair, often darker women felt more inferior than ever before. Brands they helped make household names like *cough* Shea Moisture did entire ad campaigns excluding them. So many Black women got fed up and when Nicki Minaj's styling team revolutionized the wig game, lace front wigs became the go to for many naturalists who A) wanted more versatility B) Got tired of failed/old wash & go's, twist outs and C) Got tired of buying and applying a shit ton of products only to discover it's never going to give us the hair we thought it should of gave for amount of time, money & energy we spent.
Natural Hair isn't toxic. People are toxic and if you don't truly love yourself, you'll consume the poison and infect other people with that BS. What's inside your head truly matters more than what sits on top.
Gems!!
Excellent analysis. The late 60s/70s and fros were a huge statement in a highly discriminatory time. But by the 80s texturizers and relaxers were back. This is so hard bc the hate (external and internalized) is still real.
@@candicem9651 That internalized hate is so real. My mom said when she wore Afro's in the 70s that older Black women thought she was being militant, but when she wore her braids white people thought she looked like Bo Derek (white actress). My mom always did different things with her curly hair. Her father (Creole, but identified more as a Native American), had long straight hair and had a zillion ridiculous names for Black people & Black hair. He said her hair looked like a jungle woman or something when ever she wore it curly. Blackness was never really celebrated in my family. Just about everyone on both sides looks Mixed with sonething. Blackness is always there, but folded and tucked away and at times crumpled up like a receipt in a pant pocket. For me, my hair went from silky & wavy as a small child to thick, tight curls that my mother found difficult to manage. At 5 I begged for straight hair and wore relaxers for 16 years. I felt like my hair was ugly because none of the women in my family seemed to have hair like mine. The only time I liked my hair was when I wore it long & straight. Even when I comb my hair at damn near 40, internally I call my hair "nappy a** shit". My husband hates when I say that. He thinks I have "good hair", but in my family it was not good enough 😕. It is really ashame that as women (especially Black women), so much of our femininity and beauty depends on what other people think about our hair.
I made the decision to be natural because I didn't want my daughter to grow up with a complex about who she was and who she was supposed to look like. It was a hard decision for me because I loved wearing my hair as straight as I could get it. However, I noticed that people weren't relating to me as a Black woman when I wore my hair straight. I was in a Cosmetology program before I had my daughter and Black women were skeptical about me doing their hair because I didn't exactly look Black. When I went natural, I did so because I wanted my daughter to know that Black hair is beautiful just the way it is. In order to do that, first I had to unlearn the negativity & hate I was taught. I've been relaxer free without relapsing to the creamy crack for almost 12 years. My daughter has kinky & beautiful type 4 hair just like her dad and I love it ❤️. She never had a relaxer despite my mother in law with the "good hair" always having something negative to say about natural hair. My daughter is now 15 & aware that most of the times it's your own people giving the most hate. The only way to get around it is to build eachother up & to be critical of images in the media where naturalistas are not represented or where only a "certain kind" of naturalista is promoted.
So eloquently put, Sis! I was hoping for someone to speak on the history of this movement and its true beginning on UA-cam way back in 2006/2007.
Let's not forget the India Arie's though and any artist who sang NeoSoul. They really led the natural hair aesthetic. Jill Scott! I don't believe we can have such conversations without mentioning the likes of her. She had type 4 hair. Erika Badu wore her hair in mid length Bongo dreads.
Natural hair is very beautiful, this I know for a fact. The major reason I transitioned to natural hair in 2016 was because my relaxed hair was stagnant to me and it didn't fit me(to my opinion) I also joined cause it was a trend which I became a product junkie. In 2018, I decided to cut my hair from scratch to actually understand my hair better and know what works for me. I do not care about how long or short my hair is, what matters is that my hair is healthy. The noise in the natural hair movement is very loud but you have to choose your silence and do what works for you! Enjoy every phase x moments of wearing your natural hair and you'll be good.
I'm glad you spoke about this topic!
I left the natural hair community once I found out that 4c girls were using soft relaxers to get their hair a certain way especially to lay down their baby hairs!
Thank you for this. 2 things for me: 1-I stopped stopped oils and butters following the advice of some UA-camrs and my hair broke off. I had a trial and error period and I’m back on track. 2- someone was showing how to use yarn for braiding hair and said to click the link. The link was charging$26.00 for the same yarn on Amazon for $6.00.
We use and abuse our own community.
i did not know the natural hair movement fell. I'm still here with my natural hair.
there is a lot of discourse about it on social media…most of the og natural hair youtubers don’t even make natural hair content anymore, and if they do, the views are shot. i think most people are over natural hair as a “fad.”
@@CamrynElyse I think you're not considering that there's no more content to be made. What more can the OG natural hair youtubers post that they haven't already posted? There's only so much product reviews you can watch. At this point most people in real life know what works for their hair and they are passing on the information to the younger ones. Doesn't really mean that 'the movement fell'.
I had no idea how bad the community it had gotten. I went natural by chance in 2016 because I needed a quick style for my busy mornings and found out that box braids were an easy way to grow out a relaxer. After having my loose natural hair for 5 years and exploring UA-cam as my main source of information, I loc'd it this year because I was going through a depression and the LAST thing I wanted to do was my hair. Im sad that the natural hair movement has simply become a trend for people to follow and has strayed away from the original purpose of loving ourselves and our culture.
I guess thats how most things go in our capitalistic society but its sad that we still have to put so much stock into what someone else thinks about us, instead of loving ourselves regardless. I hope that even when natural hair is no longer 'on trend' that we still retain the freedom to work, love and go about our lives in whatever hair state we want. I think the most important aspect of the movement is securing our ability to choose.
A friend told me to document my hair journey and I said "Nah, I'm natural, but I'm a lazy wash-and-go girl. I have absolutely nothing to add to the conversation. I'll be dragged in the comments for disrespecting my hair"
Now looking back on it, I'm really glad I didn't add my voice. Although nobody liked my hair when I transitioned and it was a healing thing for me having to accept myself when even my mom told me "I looked unkept", my coils are a bit on the loose side. I realize that even though I eventually influenced many of my family members to go natural, they all had hair textures very similar to mine. We can only talk about what we know. I remember when my cousin asked me "So what is our hair type exactly?"... She asked me cause I've been natural for 10+years and I was like "Girl, I don't know the numbers?"... But I'll say this, any community has the potential for toxicity. Safe rule is... Don't tell people what to do with their hair. Ever. Compliment them or shut up! If it's not growing from you, your comment doesn't matter.
I made 10 years natural on the July 26th. What a journey it has been. I can’t believe I stuck it out. I transitioned for 11 months before my big chop I’ve had so many hair cuts, hair styles and hair regimens since 2012 ! I wear my hair straight 90% of the time had no real issues with my texture loosing it’s pattern. I’ve had some hair nightmares and even wanted to go back to relaxers but I’m still holding on. Great video!
I knew I was done with the natural hair community the day I confided on a UA-cam video about how I was struggling with my 4c hair and I was hardly seeing any of the products/representation I felt I needed in a so called “community” that claimed to help people with my hair texture! The only responses I got were from other pretentious black women which ranged from them accusing me of being white saying I was just “stirring negative attention”, women saying “baby natural hair is easy that’s YOUR problem”, and one woman just said with a cruel laughing emoji that I should just shave off all my hair because “my negative energy was unattractive” . That was the day I fully divested from the community and changed my hair into something I could handle
I am very sad to know that you had such an experience. I wish you would give natural hair another try. I think our hair -whatever texture it is- is beautiful and versatile. And our natural hair is healthier for us overall.
I am so sorry to hear you had this experience. Made me sad to read your comment. I have 4C hair and I know it's really hard seeing representation.
That’s terrible! And, to me, it’s cyber bullying. Sadly this is not an isolated incident.
@debbied95 That is very kind of you to say, but no. I am firmly done with the loose natural hair community and don't plan on ever going back. A tough lesson I've learned is that that community is evil and nasty and it's been co-opted by wyt corporations profiting off the misery of bl@ck people. I have since divested and moved on to having locs and I couldn't be happier.
I just took a little info from here and there until I found what works for me. Everything else was pure entertainment to watch. Gotta learn how to weed out bs especially when you're just trying to learn.
WOWWW i totally went natural ONLY to not leave home WITHOUT A WIG ☹ Anyways il be finished with my microlocs in the morning 💖
YES TO THE MICROLOCS🤍
My hair has always been my journey alone and I never looked to the “community” to tell me what to do. I’ve never “done my edges” and I have no desire to have hair to my neck. Been doing my own thing for about 20 years now.
It was a great and much needed starting point for me when I cut my hair off. As with ANYTHING, its always trial and error. Once you find what works, things get insanely simple. Once I found what I can do, what I like to use and what works ... I quit with the videos. Your video is the first natural hair video thats popped up in my feed in MONTHS.
I highly appreciate this video and the dialogue in the comments. Y’all are raising some great points! A lot of what I’ve been thinking for years. I first went natural in 2012 and pulled away from *the community* years back because I saw it was headed for disaster 😩. It’s best to work towards truly understanding all of the unique characteristics of your own hair… not even all 4Cs are the same.
i appreciate it too🥹
I’ve been a natural hair advocate my entire life, but 8 months ago I decided to loc my hair to become closer to my naturalness. My family was never really supportive of either my natural hair or my locs, but my 3c/4a hair was something I wore out regardless of the “nappy” comments. Now with locs I also get told that my hair looks wild and unruly, but that’s what I love. Natural hair and locs both are the most natural state of our hair as black people and our ancestors had the right idea in being confident about their crowns💗.
As someone with 3b/c hair i KNOW i don’t face the same discrimination as people with type 4 hair, however the length discrimination is so real too. i liked to comb my hair down on the sides of my head in a neat line. I thought it was slick and cute and showed off the wave pattern. Then a group of my classmates started making fun of me because my hair looked like those packets of dries ramen. that shit hurted
Terrible
These same exact people tried to have your hair pattern right after. Trust. And they must eat an awful lot of those noodles to even look at hair and think that 😆😆😆
That shit hurt* I ain’t no scholar just a bored nigga
That is so true about the oil and butter and no products in your hair, The natural hair community is so toxic is telling you not to use oil and butter in your hair. I had a lady told me not to use oil in my hair because it will damage my hair and I told her that 'I tried it and without oil my hair was falling out because it was dry and thick and coarse, so it all depends on your hair type'. That lady was literally running me down and telling me that my experience was wrong and her opinion was right.
This is why I left and got loc’d. I went natural in 2012 and I absolutely loved it. But lately, I could no longer deal with trying to fight my hair to create a “curl” that naturally just wasn’t there so I could leave the house. I needed the freedom to just live my life. But still be chemical free. My sisterlocks are the best decision I’ve ever made concerning my hair. I wish I would have done it sooner.
The rabbit hole goes so deep in this topic. I truly enjoyed this video and the conversations here in the comment section. I’ve been natural 11 years and my daughters “TheDivaSisters” have been natural all of their lives. I’m glad I learned early on to do what’s best for our natural hair individually because everyone in my house has unique hair. Im also going through a new phase that many people aren’t talking about which is the change to womanhood/adolescence which can present even more changes to our natural hair. The journey continues and brings so many different paths that it’s virtually impossible for any one “guru” to be RIGHT. Do what’s best for you. Always. ❤️💯
True fall came when people started trying every trend and abandoned what may have worked for them because of what they see, mostly, looser textures do. You then have natural hair “gurus” that come in and then say you don’t need extra product on your hair. There is no set moto to follow and it became tiring for people to catch up on trends because sadly the movement became a trend.
All valid points were made. I went natural around 2013 and you were on point
I love my natural hair,it took me time.But my father always instilled in me to go natural.I hate the labeling of good hair vs bad hair.I remember I didn't like my hair when I was younger.I literally told myself you are going to like your hair so I posted a picture on Instagram of my hair in its natural state no stretching or anything.And I've learned to accept my hair.I do wear wigs but it's so my hair can rest.But when I want to I wear my hair out,I do.There is a difference of wearing wigs and weaves and hiding your hair because you don't like it.
Exactly.
i agree!!
This video means a lot to me!!!
I am white but i have LOTS of thick, ultra curly ringlets of crazy poofy hair. So many people told me as a kid they were jealous of all my beautiful hair.
As i have gotten older though, i always straighten my hair (after letting it air dry out of the shower) because going a week or two without washing my hair (not way I'm dry brushing this stuff) is just asking for tangles in all those dry curls. It's just sooooo much easier to manage and keep hydrated and healthy if it's straight and i can slap it into a ponytail
It's really hard to deal with all the comments about how I'm killing my hair (i straighten twice a month on wash day, use lots of masks, and have very expensive heat protection) and how people are so sad I'm hiding my natural beautiful curls. Just let me live and do what is manageable for my life!! That is not a crime or tragedy that I am no longer restrained by my hair!!!
Not all of us have been using raw oil and butter on our hair and taking hours to do our hair. What seems like a trend to many is how I've always taken care of my natural hair. At one time I followed a popular trend for a brief period. I got a relaxer and hated it, then from peer pressure got a touch-up 3mons later with a different product that was supposed to be better. It wasn't better and I still hated my hair 6mos after that I cut off my waist-length hair because I could not stand it any longer. I went back to what my mom taught me to do with my hair. She would shampoo, condition, and braid it up with a leave-in. So I followed that practice with my natural hair but added gel or styling cream and wore a WnG instead of braids. That is what I still do because it is easy, and does not take all day.
I don't think there is only one way to take care of or style natural hair. It is more about personal preference IMHO. Hair grows whether your wear it long or short is also a personal choice. However, if your hair is prone to breakage and you want it long then you may have to accept that there is a certain way you have to care for and style it. That way will vary depending on your hair. I wear a WnG almost all of the time and have no problem retaining length but a lot of type 4 naturals seem to have a problem doing that. Some of us need to wear braids and/or twist with or without extension hair in order to retain length. Some will decide length isn't that important and want more style freedom. Whichever we choose the most important thing is to be happy with our hair and accept what it will and won't do. sorry couldn't find the bubble emoji