Don’t Be Afraid To Show Your Natural Hair

Before anyone begins to think that I am confident with my natural hair because I’ve been natural my whole life, I want to eliminate this because I truly didn’t stay natural long enough to be deemed as someone that has been natural for a long period of time. I got my hair braided by my mother for 11 years, but I wasn’t confident in my hair, then I just turned to ponytails because it required less combing, in seventh and eighth grade I tried weave. For high school, I went between my natural hair and weave. Finally, in my senior year of high school, I truly became confident in my hair. A month later, after graduating, I began my freedom locs journey.

The first step for loving my hair was to find out exactly what kind of hair I had. I found out that I have 4b - 4c hair, and this is what sparked many hairstyles. With 4b - 4c hair I learned that I did not have to comb my hair every day and my hair would still look beautiful. I went an entire year without combing my hair, I only brushed my hair time to time to help any stray hairs, and I got even more compliments because my hair pattern was really starting to show. Many people even asked what I did to my hair with thoughts that I had some kind of hair gel, combing method, or washing routine. To their surprise, I simply just didn’t comb my hair.

I would like to get the negative out of the way: the mean stares and comments were from people who didn’t know how to do their hair, who wanted their hair like mine, who thought that they didn’t look good without weave, and who simply didn’t approve of black people’s hair. Now that we have gotten past the bad, let’s look at the good. The nice and curious stares and comments were from those that truly loved my hair, wanted tips on how to achieve my hair type (as if they could magically have my hair type), and that just wanted to compliment me. This helped for me to become more confident in my hair, and now today I am going towards freedom locs while using hair chalk. I never thought I was going to be confident enough to put color in my hair.

Think of what your natural hair has to offer: it keeps you warm in the winter and fall, it can be a cooling system in the summer, it keeps your scalp dry in the rain, and it can even act as a pillow! Just think of the rude comments and stares toward your natural hair as confirmation that you are going in the right direction, if your hair isn‘t beautiful and able to stand out then it must mean that you look like everyone else. I love looking different even though I know all of the negative that comes with it, and I also know the positive and this is what keeps me doing what I do with anything. I think of it this way: if I don’t look like the next person I have a higher chance of standing out to a modeling agent or fashion designer to show off clothes because they are always looking for people that are “outside of the box.”