My Big-Chop-aversary

It’s my 2-year big-chop-aversary! Two years in, I haven’t regretted my decision for a single nanosecond. In that time, more people are going natural every day, more great natural hair care products have come out, independent stores have opened to carry these products, and our grassroots revolution continues to impact our world and concepts of beauty. My hope for the future is that every person will see and embrace his or her beauty, unencumbered by narrow preconceived notions of attractiveness imposed by others. Rock on, everybody.

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Let's LOVE Being Natural

This past Saturday I went to my stylist Giselle for a trim. We started talking about how the rise of some negativity in the natural hair movement has saddened us. Some of this is from women who are glad they went natural, but are not satisfied with their "grade" of hair and cannot see the beauty in their hair and themselves. Others are criticizing women of mixed ethnic heritage or whose hair is a looser curl pattern, saying that those women's natural hair experiences don't really count because they don't really have "kinky" or "nappy" hair. Giselle's new location is great; check it out!. Salon: Dailey & Co. Address: 1105 Mt. Vernon NE, Atlanta, GA 30328 Intersection: Mt. Vernon Highway NE and Peachtree Dunwoody Road NE My discussion with Giselle reminded me of a post a friend of mine forwarded to me by a blogger named Veronica titled “Why I Stopped Blogging About Natural Hair.” The writer bemoaned the o...

Going Natural, All the Way

I am committed to being natural in as many aspects of my life as possible, phasing out products with harmful ingredients, using reusable instead of disposable items, printing as little as possible, and so on, taking my appreciation for my own existence and everything and everyone else to the fullest extent of my capacity. In this effort, I have for several years been using natural products for my daily ablution. Here's my list.

I Give Up!

Over the past 10 months of my hair being natural, I have encountered many women who have asked me what I use in my hair, how do you get it to spiral like that, etc. I see many women whose hair I LOVE and admire, so of course, it felt good to be complimented and asked for advice. However, one recurring theme struck me - how many women have given up on going natural because they couldn't figure out what to do with their hair. I really wanted to say to them NOOOO!!!! DON'T GIVE UP! but most times, I keep my cool, saying that everyone's journey is individual, while encouraging them to stick with it by trying a new approach - go to a professional who will teach you what to do with your hair. We forget that we were all taught what to do with relaxed hair for most of our lives. Just because our hair is "natural" doesn't mean that we "naturally" know what to do with it.

Love Being Natural