Not that these styles are not beautiful….its just!!!

OR is the whole ‘EMBRACING OUR NATURAL HAIR TEXTURE’ a fallacy of the highest order?

IF IT IS NOT than why are we spending entire weekends CO-WASHING, BLOWING, WANDING, COILING, TWISTING, BRAIDING, AND KNOTTING our kinky lock and spending $$ much coin on CURLY, KINKY, COILY PUDDINGS heavy enough to drag Eryka Badu down to the bottom of the Hudson.  All in an effort to transform  our ‘natural’ curl pattern to into a looser configuration or stretch it into something we deem more attractive.  On YouTube all day watching twist outs, braid out, bantu knot (my daughter included)  blow drying to then wand it then twist it into a knot to ultimately release it into a bounty of soft flowing curls that will revert back as soon as you walk out the front door. (my daughter again)

We are (Ethnic Women) spending more money per capita than any other demographic in the nation on curly, kinky, natural hair products that quite frankly are the same as smoothing products with shiny new afrocentric packaging? I’m not mad at Miss Jessie’s, Carol’s Daughter or Mixed Chicks brands in particular, hell, I wish I would of thought of it first.   I’ve have been doing natural hair for twenty-years, pressing, rodding, straw-setting, as well as relaxing, permanent waving, and coloring.  I have had clients with relaxers get a highlight services and ask less questions and less concern than a natural client getting straightened.  

What kind of flat iron is that?, are there sulfates in the shampoo?, whats my texture 6D?, should I co-wash?, should I pre-wash?, can you pre-wash?what are you putting in my hair?, what temperature is your blow-dryer?, is your flat iron ceramic or titanium btw, whats the difference? O_O

For all of our efforts avoiding being played by mainstream corporations profiting from the marketing and promoting of Eurocentric ideas of beauty and its corresponding products….we have once again taken the bait.  You only have to spend an afternoon on YouTube to experience how big this natural hair product push has become.  Vlogger’s with a conscience or ethics  state up front that the products used in their tutorials were sent to them free prior to giving a thumbs up or down and I can appreciate that!  

……IS IT ME? or isn’t  natural hair  supposed to be maintenance free.  I mean all you have to do is wet it down, apply conditioner, rinse, add a creme leave-in with Coconut, Shea or Macadamia nut oil while its wet…. let go and let have OR put a hand full of plaits in it ….right!  An entire cottage industry worth billions of dollars is born of hair that needs absolutely no maintenance if indeed it is natural?

What happened to all this self-love, ethnic pride and motherland assimilation, i’m just asking the question because none of the natural clients i’ve come in contact with actually want to wear their hair…..natural.  The movement is flawed in that to embrace your natural beauty is just that, and braids with added hair is still fake….locks as well! Am I a jerk for pointing this out or just in a snarky mood,  I WILL be forty-five in two months and its not going over well in my head.  It maybe that the militance and arrogance that some women project on this topic annoys the fuck out of me especially black women with platinum blonde but ‘natural’ hair…gtfooh!

Just like the Jherri Curl, The Relaxer, and Weaves have been associated with the imposing of the ‘Western’ standard of beauty on ethnic women, I am now inserting ‘Natural Hair’ to the list because the exploitation of it is the most absurd of all!