Should Black Women Wear Their Natural Hair?

My answer to that question is YES! One of the most frequent criticisms I hear about Black women is that we wear too much fake hair. Let me tell you my (long) hair story. When I was a little girl my mother would put my hair in plaits and a lot of kids made fun of me and called me Medusa. Sometimes for special occasions she would use a hot comb. The hot comb was always terrifying but I liked the straight hair after. Since my hair was always in plaits or blow dried I did not know what my natural texture looked like. My hair would always be covered in Blue Magic or another grease.

It may have been fifth grade when my mother first relaxed my hair and I was made responsible for my hair care. My hair got shorter and shorter because of breakage. I used a curling iron on my bangs every day and I used drying gels and hairsprays. In eight grade my mother said my hair was breaking off and she had a hairdresser come to the house and give me a leisure curl (pretty much a Jheri curl). She didn't warn me beforehand that she was going to cut off all my relaxed hair! My hair was short and bushy, the closest to natural I had ever been. I had to spray my hair with greasy products every day. The kids at school made fun of me and treated me horribly. It was the worst year of my youth.

After two years of the leisure curl (and barely any hair growth) I went back to the relaxer. My mother also started getting braid-in hair weaves that I liked. She learned how to do them and gave me weaves for two years. Kids at school were so impressed by how much my hair grew over the summer! A couple of years later, I stopped wearing weaves, and started experimenting with hair colour in red and golden brown and my hair was constantly breaking and short. Then I saw an ad for clip in hair extensions that I quickly purchased and wore for for my last year of high school and two years of university.

During university I found a new hairdresser who gave me a "natural relaxer". I don't think it was natural, it was a sodium hydroxide relaxer. It made my hair swell and it actually grew down to my mid back. I never went back to no-lye relaxers. I continued with the relaxer into graduate school. That was when I started reading Black history. It changed me forever and changed the way I thought about being Black and the way I looked. I started seeing natural hair videos on YouTube and learned how to style and take care of natural hair. I stopped getting relaxers and transitioned for nine months by wearing a curly fro hairstyle.

One day I decided to just cut off the relaxed hair and end the process. I was shocked because my hair coiled up way shorter than I had expected! I had to experiment with products for three years and deal with having hair that I thought was too short to look good on me. Finally after three years my hair is the same length it was when I started transitioning (but it looks shoulder length due to shrinkage). I love my coily hair! It is full and actually has some shine. It moves when I talk and bounces when I walk. I get so many compliments on it, mostly from men! They love my hair! Some Black men like it but I get the most compliments from White men! When I had relaxed or weaved hair I never got any compliments! I will never relax or lighten my hair colour (and risk breakage) again!

My Current Hair Regimen: I use a modified Tightly Curly Technique

1. Wash day once a week. 
1. Plait hair into seven braids. Wash with a non-sulfate shampoo while leaving braids in. Put in some Cholesterol hair conditioner and don't wash out. Exit shower.
2. Unbraid and detangle each braid with a Tangle Teezer adding more Cholesterol if needed. Spray hair with mixture of water and vegetable glycerin to keep moist. 
3. Once detangled squeeze out the excess conditioner. Add Ecostyler gel and smooth small sections of hair with fingers. 
4. Braid hair again (to minimize shrinkage) and use a chamois to soak up the excess water and product that will come out of the braid. 
5. Repeat the process for all braids. Let hair air dry or sit under hooded dryer. It will take at least 24 hours to dry so I only do this on the weekend.
2. Before going out unbraid the hair and gently separate the coils. DO NOT ADD ANY PRODUCT or else the hair will shrink up again. It might take 20 minutes to do this in the morning.
3. At night add more cholesterol and gel if necessary and braid the hair again. If the hair is moisturized and tidy enough I just do a pineapple (pile hair on top of head and tie scarf around head).

As you can see from my regimen I don't use many products at all. Cholesterol is very moisturizing and cheap and it is the only wash-out conditioner I have found that can mix with gel (don't use any other conditioner). Once in a while I might do a protein conditioning treatment overnight. Everything I learned about taking care of my hair I learned online for free! There was a lot of trial and error but now I have no problem managing my hair. So if your hair is breaking or you have traction alopecia that makes it necessary to wear weaves and wigs (not just because you like them) then it's time to go natural. Natural hair can be so beautiful and different from the hair of any other women on earth! The most criticism you will get about your natural hair will probably be from other Black people who can't see the beauty of their natural state. You can learn to care for and love your natural hair and actually grow your hair long.

Natural Hair Inspiration (so beautiful!!!):

 Video 1, Video 2, Video 3, Video 4, Video 5, Video 6, Video 7, 

Natural Hair Websites:

Video (this video and description has plenty of links to popular sites)
TightlyCurly.com (where I got my regimen)
CurlyNikki.com
BlackgirllonghairNaturallyCurly.comNaturalChica.com
NewlyNatural.com

Cute Make-up and Hairstyles

I like the gyaru style of Japanese make-up. I have been doing something similar for a couple of years before I even heard of this stuff. I'll describe my daily look that takes me 15 minutes maximum:

• After my face cream I use concealer under my eyes and a mineral powder on my entire face. I also use a primer on my eyelids, forehead, and nose.
• I ALWAYS fill in my brows with a dark brown brow pencil. Ladies, please do this, it just polishes the look.
• I line the inner corner and inner half of my lower lid with a silver eyeliner (no sparkles). I line the rest of the eye with black eyeliner.
• I wear two to three coats of mascara.
• I may wear a bronze eye shadow on my lids with a bluish gray in the crease (it actually looks pretty natural). I only wear that at night. During the day I may go without eye shadow or just wear a dark brown.
• I line my lips with a plum lipliner, fill in the lips with a bronze/brown lipstick, and then add a pink or bronze lip gloss over top. It gives me a pinkish bronze lip that matches my skin.
• I wear a lot of pink blush. I add it to the front cheek area, and even a bit on the bridge of my nose. I don't use it under my cheekbones because I think that makes you look old.

The photo below is an exaggerated version of what I do. I use silver liner instead of white (more subtle), no false lashes, no green contacts (I think her eyes are natural though). I wear more blush and less white eye shadow. The Barbie tutorial will give you a similar look.

I think big, long lashes are very feminine so I really recommend wearing mascara. I also recommend RapidLash because it really does grow your lashes. I'm not a fan of the false lashes because I prefer the natural look (enhanced by make-up). If you tend to lower or furrow your brows, try this exercise to raise them again. I found it helpful because once I began to notice the different feeling when my brows were up versus down I was able to correct myself. You will have to do it twice a day for a while.
Make-up Tutorials:
I chose these tutorials because I think they look nice on Black women. Many of the tutorials for Black women use really bright, unnatural colours that I think EBWs should avoid.
Gyaru Make-up Video 1 (final look is very nice but I think it can be done with fewer steps)
Gyaru Make-up Video 2 (cute, but forgot the brows)
Kelly Rowland Tutorial
Kim Kardashian Inspired Make-up (on a Black woman. I know, I know, but KK does know how to look good)
Gyaru Make-up Video 3 (she used a lot of make-up and steps to get a natural look so I think it was excessive). 

Black Gyarus (excessive at times, unflattering piercings)

Great hair will really improve your appearance. I have been natural for over three years and my hair is finally long enough for me to feel comfortable. I did not like it when it was short and it is so much better now. I think natural hair is very feminine. I have lots of little coils with lots of movement and volume. If you wear wigs or weaves please choose something that looks natural or relaxed instead of an unusual colour or super straight and shiny texture.