The natural hair movement is NOT over. My response to an "article" by Black Media Scoop

So in the midst of celebrating my birthday (October 16th), an article written by the staff of Black Media Scoop was brought to my attention. This article entitled 'The Natural Hair Movement is Over! Sistahs Going Back to Creamy Crack' basically concludes that the supposed movement is over with and that women are going back to relaxers. First off I found it interesting that the article is shown as written by BMS Staff (maybe no one had the 'cojones' to take credit for the article). Anyway, in the intro they throw some figures about relaxer sales declining and how companies who traditionally catered to relaxed hair clientèle introduced products with the intent of getting in on the booming natural hair market. But then the article digresses to the writer claiming hair stylists are observing that their clients are going back to relaxers, citing the following reasons: 
Snapshot of the article's "reasons"

Let's breakdown the reasons:
1. High Maintenance? I honestly beg to differ. To me, natural hair is a lot more low maintenance than relaxed hair because you don't have to run to the salon every weak to relax, steam and all these other treatments that are needed to keep natural hair healthy looking. I can do my own treatments at home. Also, regarding the issue of time, I will admit that yes it can take a long time to style natural hair depending on your hair type, thickness etc HOWEVER, When styling natural hair, the styles that we do put in tend to last us a while, so time is not all in vain.

2. Bringing sexy back? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!! Since when straight hair is the ideology of sexy? (Dang it!! in jumps those Eurocentric ideologies of what beautiful/sexy is). In my own experiences, I have felt sexiest (yes, I have my sexy moments lol), with my own natural hair, open and in a kinky curly afro mess lol Why? because it's all me, all natural and if I cant love the all natural me and feel sexy do I really think I'd feel genuinely sexy in anything else? Think about it, happiness should come from within, well in this case sexiness should come from within, not from something external that can my manipulated or taken away. So basing your sexiness on something such as your hair (or any other external component as a matter of fact) is a recipe for self esteem disaster. ALSO, they say that natural hairstyles don't give you versatility... COME ON!!!! Natural kinky/curly is the most versatile hair possible!!!! We can easily do things with our hair that relaxed hair cannot do. So they completely lost me with that one. 

3. Breaking the bank? Ah yes, they say that, "The price of natural hair care products can add up…especially when you’re trying to figure out which products work best for your hair type." I actually agree with this somewhat. The trial and error process of finding out what products can work for your hair can be a daunting and often costly task, simply because there are so many products that can do different things to suit the versatility of natural hair. HOWEVER once you find products that work for your hair then you're good to go and that cost goes down drastically, unless you become a product junkie lol (FYI, being a product junkie is a choice, I will admit I was one, but I put my foot down and I only buy what I really need). Plus we are not committed to monthly salon visits. And!!! I can mix up stuff for my hair at home, and even using stuff found in my kitchen (I'm dying to try an avocado mask for my hair, but i don't think my dad would be too happy if he saw me putting it in my hair and not eating it lol).

Now before I conclude, let me say that I am not anti-relaxer, at the end of the day your hair your choice. I'm not trying to make it seem as if natural hair is far superior to its relaxed counterparts either. I have no issue with a person who chooses to relax their hair. Its just hair folks, it's not that serious. But what I will say is that whoever wrote this poor offering of an article is either trying to be somewhat satiric (if so, they failed miserably) or they simply were too lazy to get some actual data. Or they were trying be a bit controversial in their topic to rile up naturals to get some traffic to their website, because before this article I'd never heard of Black Media Scoop. Either way, the simple truth is this: the natural hair "movement" is here to stay, the only moving its doing is growing; and if you don't like dat, yuh cud put dat in yuh pipe and smoke it.

Natural hair is here to stay..aren't these ladies fierce?
Photo courtesy Natura Magazine

UPDATE: Since then the article no longer seems to be on the site, and the link to the article is now redirects to some spam site so I removed the link from my article.


Best regards,
Tshenelle aka Nelly B.

8 comments

  1. I am "natural" and I say it with quotes b/c I don't even really know what that means. I do not have a relaxer however I get my hair flat ironed every Friday, lol! I like low maintenance and it works for me. My hair is healthy and that is all that matters to me. I love the picture you posted showing ladies in all their "natural" glory! My sister wears her hair like that but for the life of me I wasn't given the gift of styling!

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    1. girl healthy hair is most important...and its chemical free, so you're natural to me, u simply choose to wear it in a flat ironed state...before i shaved my hair, i thought about flat ironing, but heat is not my friend lol. but let me challenge you..change it up a bit, trust me when i tell u i am no stylist, but youtube became my friend lol!! try some styles with your hair in its curly texture..u never know what u may come up with. thanks for commenting!!

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  2. hooray for this! I'm too in love with the natural hair movement for it to be over - great piece!

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    1. thank u!!! i dont think the movement will disappear..even if some of the women in it are in here thinking its a fad..for me personally...i cant see myself relaxed again...nope..

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  3. Blessings, season greetings and happy new year.

    My hair is natural (I am not mixed-always get that question), long (mid back), salt and pepper, complex, versatile and wonderfully defiant. I love it, God don't make mistakes.

    People will make whatever excuses they need to make to justify embracing anything other than what is. The irony is, as adults we need not make excuses for our choices. If you want to straighten it, straighten it, if you want to dread it, dread it, if you want to leave it natural, leave natural. We all have the right to exercise our choices whatever they are, where we run into trouble is when we want to dictate our choices unto others.

    peace.
    Rhapsody
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  4. Thank you for this post! The fact of the matter is that the "natural hair movement" has always been. I've seen ladies with natural hair in different spaces and places throughout my life. The trend is what grows and wanes. I'm grateful for the trending natural hair movement because it's lead to some of us embracing who we are fully and totally. We've also empowered ourselves to build businesses with natural hair as a platform, not to mention branching out into fitness since we're no longer concerned with sweating out the 'doo! As a former relaxer wearer, I say that it's a really personal choice to return to natural and I don't judge anyone since I know what it feels like.

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    Replies
    1. YESSSSSS!!!!! Girl I could hug you...thank you for your contribution!!!!

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