Personal Narrative: Through The Natural Hair Movement

There has been a notable amount of conversation on the internet on the rebirth of the natural hair movement. Cherise Luter (2014) states that despite afros and the natural hair movement not being a new concept (i.e. the Black Power Movement), it has gone under what she calls a “refreshing change”. Furthermore, what used to be “I’m black and I’m proud”, has been replaced with “I’m me and I’m proud” (Luter 2016). So, what is the natural hair movement? It is defined as a movement where black women decide to not conform to the social norms of chemically altering their hair and wearing it in its natural, kinky, or curled state (Joignot 2015). The movement could also be considered as an outlet for black women to display their racial and cultural pride or to articulate their “political position (Brown 2014:297). However, simply the terminology “movement” is something that should be shocking to many. There is a great amount of historical context behind the continuous influence Eurocentric beauty ideals have had on black women for centuries. According to Nadia Brown (2014), Black natural hair throughout history has proven to be recognized as “either unintended or intended personal and political statements” (298). the beauty standard in Western society which praises European hair textures, has influenced many black women to be critical of other black women who choose to chemically straighten their hair, accusing them of being subservient to the dominant and pervasive racist

Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, investigates the notion of what good hair is. Dominant society views good hair as straight or essentially caucasian hair. This is not only problematic to the self-esteem and confidence of black women, but it can also cause black women to appropriate Asian culture. Black women unfortunately take advantage of Asian culture in search of what society believes is good hair. Many black women wear weaves in order to align to what society believes is good hair. However, when they buy this hair, they do not realize what Asians go through. Likewise, Asians who give up their hair do not know where or who this hair will be going to. Thus, this desire for good hair further perpetuates the lack of understanding that black

I wanted to start of the event with this video. I made it a few weeks ago. When I started working on this project I really thought that this was a minority only problem and I wanted to focus on Hispanics because of my Colombian decent. I wanted to honor my roots while embracing my American life style. But it was Monday night, a slow day at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean city somersault bridge and I was polishing glass for my side work and chit chatting with my coworkers. I was specifically talking to a co work. American. Blonde hair. Blue eyes. About 40 years old. I was telling her about my Tuesday plan that was handing out exit surveys at a polling location. She was confused. I said yes the primaries are tomorrow (this was Monday

Natural hair is what embraces your natural beauty. The fact that one strand of hair is

During the discussion there were a ouple of woen who shared their stories of their natural hair journeys

I had long, curly hair in elementary school and was very attached to it. My hair was how most people would identify me, but one day while my sister was babysitting I got lice from one of the children. After finding that out my mom was forced to shave my head. Many children were unimaginably cruel to me because I had to wrap my head in a bandana. While presenting in front of the class one day someone ran up and pulled it off my head; that incident brought on one of the most embarrassing times in my life. Having to deal with constant bullying started to turn me into a very angry person. Instead of crying when I was made fun of I would fight the person making fun of me. Having to deal with the constant torture from others at a young age made

40). A prevailing belief is that natural hair is more cost-effective and takes less time to manage (Titelbaum, 2009). Natural hair is also perceived as unkempt and dirty (Titelbaum, 2009). If one chooses to style their hair in a naturalistic way, effectively rejecting the dominant cultural opinion and pressure to conform to the hair standard; they are accepting of the fact that their choice will likely garner negative connotations and reactions.

Have you ever been through a journey faced with complications that lead you through frequent steps that can occasionally make you want to give up? I decided to do my capstone project on The Journey of Natural Hair, mainly focusing on the selections of afro-textured portions throughout my project. A journey of natural hair is a route you take along with your hair as you encounter different changes and ideas pertaining to your hair. The Natural hair journey technically starts when you are born because everyone is born with different varieties of natural hair. My reason for choosing such a topic is because it is something I can relate to. I have also experienced many of the common stages along my natural hair journey. This topic stands out to me and is something I enjoy talking and learning about. I understand that many aren’t able to self-experience a journey of natural curls which varies with race and background. Exposures to chemicals such as hair relaxers can permanently change the texture of the relaxed portion of hair. As I research further into my subject I hope to learn how certain things can manipulate the hair. I also seek to learn new things the journey has prepared as it continues step by step. I can achieve this by gaining more knowledge about natural/afro-textured hair through others experiences and studies on it.

The 5th graders kept taking me from my owner as she was walking down the aisle,

Considering the society’s obsession with our smartphones and our love of social media I am quite a bit surprised that apps dedicated to hair in general or even natural hair, in particular, are not much more popular. It has never once crossed my mind to look up an app to help with tracking my hair regimen or to help me find a stylist but now that I am aware that there are apps out there I am even a little shocked I didn’t think about this sooner. I feel like it should be a no-brainer so if you like me have never looked into using an app that might make your hair journey easier in some way, this article will be a wake-up call for you.

Naturally, during adolescence, I decided to test my independence, forge new boundaries, and find my personality. My hair was no different.

Here, there, everywhere, all I see is more hair. Wild and untamable like a jungle, running freely all over me. Dark as the night, contrasting with my porcelain skin. Sure, I did start the bold brows trend, but that was short lived. While I look like a wildebeest, my mother resembles a Sphynx cat. Sometimes, I wish I looked like her, not having to care about wearing shorts or going down to the beach.

According to the Social construction of gender as a process, men and women should be masculine and feminine respectively. At the beginning of the movie “Good Hair”, the author want the society to know how important the hair is, especially for a black women. Black Women straight and “relax” their hair with having a thought that it will make them look sexier and lead them to be more feminine. They think that nappy hair makes them less feminine. These black women’s have a desire of having hair like the people they see in the magazines. Those are especially white women with natural and blonde hair. Black women’s found out many different ways to make their hair relaxed and straight like the white’s hair. One of the method they found was of applying

Embracing the natural movement has something has been going for since about 2014 and took huge attention in 2015 and has changed my whole since then. One thing for sure when embracing this movement had to get to know my hair all over again and get re acquainted with. Having natural has it strong points and perks but on the other hand everything seems like day experiences and you pray that luck is on your side attempting something new with your tresses. Out of everything I had gone thru with my natural locks I’ve had been effected mostly by having to acknowledge that I am a product hair junkie, the amount of time that is dedicated to my hair and finding a salon able to handle my natural texture.

Hair Days As you sit on top my head When squished in my hat, I wonder how you breathe Tight against my scalp? When the umbrella comes out, Curls cascade down my face.