Do you believe everyone that claims they are "natural"?

what is considered natural hair to you?

  • hair that is not chemically altered to become straight

    Votes: 185 94.9%

  • hair that has: chem color, perm, texturizer anything besides shampoo/condi

    Votes: 9 4.6%

  • hair that: is shampooed with chemicals I wash my hair with water only!

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Total voters
    195
  • Poll closed .
Neith said:
2) How can someone with chemically altered hair be considered to be natural? Colored hair isn't natural.

Say I get a bottle of orange juice that says "ALL NATURAL, fresh squeezed, not from concentrate" but it's purple instead of being orange. Adding color = not natural.
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hm, never thought about it like that.

mizzdebbi said:
Very good points, but what about BKT & Thermal straightening??
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good question! your hair goes right back "natural" when it wears off
 
me-T said:
wait, lockin isn't natural either?
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Everybody has their version of what natural is to them.

For ME, locing is a natural HAIRSTYLE.

Anything that CHEMICALLY STRAIGHTENS THE HAIR on a PERMANENT basis is NOT natural to me.

Natural hair with permanent or semi-permanent color is still NATURAL to me, because the hair hasn't been chemically straightened or had the coils smoothed out. Others may disagree and they may be correct, because you do need to condition more heavily than usual.

There are many with very rigid standards, but for me it's quite simple - chemical straightening (texlaxed, silkener, etc.) equal NOT natural. Everything else is still considered NATURAL.
 
me-T said:
wait, lockin isn't natural either?
Click to expand...

I was just adding to the discussion to make the point that your hair does not grow out of your head in "locs." It takes a process and quite a bit of manipulation to start and maintain locs, to my understanding, but this is still considered "natural."

As someone pointed out earlier, chemicals are in everything, including tap water and we do all kinds of things to our hair with heat, combs, and products to change it into a desire look. So, I think it's all really the same.

* Slightly Off topic*
this makes me think of when I had my son, people would ask me if I had a natural childbirth. I would say yes b/c I did not have a C-section....but, I had pain killers, so to some people said I didn't have a "natural" birth. I was like :huh:. So...chemicals (painkillers) made my son's birth unnatural??

That's basically how I feel about hair. This is my hair growing out of my head, altered or not, just like it was my son who came out my body- so it's all natural. Labels are just labels.
 
mizzdebbi said:
I was just adding to the discussion to make the point that your hair does not grow out of your head in "locs." It takes a process and quite a bit of manipulation to start and maintain locs, to my understanding, but this is still considered "natural."

As someone pointed out earlier, chemicals are in everything, including tap water and we do all kinds of things to our hair with heat, combs, and products to change it into a desire look. So, I think it's all really the same.

* Slightly Off topic*
this makes me think of when I had my son, people would ask me if I had a natural childbirth. I would say yes b/c I did not have a C-section....but, I had pain killers, so to some people said I didn't have a "natural" birth. I was like :huh:. So...chemicals (painkillers) made my son's birth unnatural??

That's basically how I feel about hair. This is my hair growing out of mymy son who came out my body- so it's all natural. Labels are just labels. head, altered or not, just like it was
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See, I want to know why people feel that "unnatural" is bad. I look at it without any emotions attached, it is what it is. The same way I can say purple oj is not natural oj, I say that hennaed hair isn't natural.

but why do people get defensive? And the numbskulls who think that they are actually somehow better than others who choose to relax? :nono: That's the part that is the mess.

There isn't one of use here that live 100% "natural" lives. Even the greenest of us are not what we would be if we didn't live in modern civilization. You may have natural hair, but you still aren't much more natural than anyone else :lachen:
 
yeah every one does have their own definition but everyone is entitled to their opinion as well. Natural really not have any chemicals to in any way straighten the hair or to have the hair in a state that is other than the way your hair was as a child.

I have seen a lot of naturals color to enhance their natural color but they are still natural to the fact that they don't have a perm to alter their hair texture.

I guess if you want to say coloring natural hair makes causes it to be no longer natural then washing and conditioning the hair too can be not natural.
but again everyone has their own opinion to the matter.
 
it's funny because a lot of permed people may say they are natural, i mean it's the hair out our your scalp yeah but not natural texture.
I've had this happen at school with dominican friends, they had naturally curly hair but permed to get some of the curl out and some of them were saying they were natural because its their hair. so yeah I agree some confuse what natural is.
 
lol! don't get me wrong ladies I didn't mean women on lhcf i just meant in general (could be here but not really) outside people you've come across, i don't want ya'll cursing me out on here lol!!!

march87 said:
Natural = no permanent texture altering chemicals ( relaxed, texlaxed, silkened, wave nouveu (sp), jherri curl, etc.)

I have seen some people on fotki that may be lying about being natural. Their hair looks like a underprocessed relaxer.
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I know i started this thread but back in the 80's my mom gave me a jheri curl, me and my friends at school said our hair was like that lol!!!!! my natural hair has curl to it anyway but the Jheri made it real nice, it just softened the curl pattern and made it more defined. She was doing every bodys jheri curl back in the days :lachen:

and it was 3rd grade not now lol!!!! now i'm relaxed telling truth, and that is my hair in my avatar siggy whatever it's called :lachen:


jada1111 said:
Sorry, there are peeps that just feel the need to lie about their hair. There have been several so-called "naturals" that were caught out there for being texturized. I don't care if a person is texturized, just admit it, so that those of us who do NOT have chemicals in our hair don't follow your routine.
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longhairlover said:
I know i started this thread but back in the 80's my mom gave me a jheri curl, me and my friends at school said our hair was like that lol!!!!! my natural hair has curl to it anyway but the Jheri made it real nice, it just softened the curl pattern and made it more defined. She was doing every bodys jheri curl back in the days :lachen:

and it was 3rd grade not now lol!!!! now i'm relaxed telling truth, and that is my hair in my avatar siggy whatever it's called :lachen:
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad- one time in middle school I went 6 months w/o a relaxer, so I had waves. I used to wear this phony pony with a wave pattern & people would be like, is that your hair??

I would just say yep! and keep it moving. I was 14 and it was funny to me. still is. It's so not that serious.
 
oh yeah what you said on the hair mags. I have even seen celebs in their lying and on a talk show they are relaxed.

I don't c the big deal if your relaxed your relaxed goodness, everyone wants to front like they have naturally straight hair sometimes curly.

Most people even whites have some sort of wave pattern everyone perms, I guess that's why the natural hair "styles" and "looks" people wear them and my say they are natural.

i'm sure some women who get straw sets that are permed lie to their co-workers about being natural as well.

it's funny with this natural, permed stuff. so many definitions so many lies lmao!!!!:grin:

mwedzi said:
I think the places where you see the real lying is those black hair magazines. Actually, I never read them, but I hear people all the time talking about how celebs talk about their regimens when the pictures are not even their hair. I think that's wrong because it sets up all sorts of false expectations and false information on how natural hair is supposed to behave and what you can expect from it. And we all know that the last thing we need is more false information about natural hair.

And yes, I bolded it, lol.
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I believe some truly believe they are natural eventhough they have some level of straightener. I think they believe if it is not straight (i.e. texturizer) they are natural b/c it is not totally relaxed to them.
 
JustKiya said:
Do I believe everyone who says that they are Natural? :look: Honestly, I don't really care if you are natural or not, or lying about it or not. :lachen:


I was going to say the same thing! It don't matter to me. It just makes it confusing for us that are natural/trying to go natural and we think we may have found someone with a texture/type similar to our own and it turns out they have been texturized/texlaxed. But you know, I honestly wouldn't be able to tell anyway!:lachen:
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To me natural are those that don't relax their hair, that their hair has not been chemically altered to become straight. If someone says they are natural i am assuming that they dont relax or texturize so yes i believe them. Why would anyone lie about that? I never heard of cases like this.
 
i think folks consider natural child birth going straight with no pain medicines nothing to make you feel better just suffering in pain lol!!!

mizzdebbi said:
As someone pointed out earlier, chemicals are in everything, including tap water and we do all kinds of things to our hair with heat, combs, and products to change it into a desire look. So, I think it's all really the same.

* Slightly Off topic*
this makes me think of when I had my son, people would ask me if I had a natural childbirth. I would say yes b/c I did not have a C-section....but, I had pain killers, so to some people said I didn't have a "natural" birth. I was like :huh:. So...chemicals (painkillers) made my son's birth unnatural??

That's basically how I feel about hair. This is my hair growing out of my head, altered or not, just like it was my son who came out my body- so it's all natural. Labels are just labels.
Click to expand...
 
It doesn't matter to me, and I didn't know it mattered that much to others until I joined LHCF.

my .02 cents:
you're not natural if you
1) use chemicals (relaxer, texturizer, , etc.) that permanently straighten your hair
2) i also don't think you're natural if you always straighten your hair b/c you never wear it in its natural state

I don't consider my youth (pre-relaxer days) to be natural b/c my mom straightened my hair most times.

I focus more on the alteration of the texture of your hair, so I don't consider those who color their hair to no longer be natural.
 
This has confused me too. I don't understand how relaxing makes one's hair not natural, but when a person dyes their hair another color they are still natural. So does being natural mean that you have retained a curl pattern? If that's the case then texlaxing is a form of natural hair, in my opinion. Both relaxing and coloring your hair with dyes that contain chemicals are a process that isn't natural.
 
texlaxing to me is underprocessing your hair so that you maintain more of your natural curl pattern, texlaxing makes your hair more manageable than being 100% bone straight, still a chemical so not natural.

relaxed is not natural your curl pattern has been compromised to be straight and it's a chemical.

i never thought of locks as not being natural, i know that they use products on the hair to get it locked when they palm it.
 
It can get dicey. Here on LHCF, I consider myself relaxed but since it was a bit of a botched attempt and I ended up with a lot more texture than anything, I suppose I fall under "texlaxed" but since my relaxed hair resembles the way my 2-3inches of new growth looks, I tell people IRL that I'm just natural b/c they wouldn't understand the whole "texlax" thing. I've honestly tried to explain it to a few :nono: but they just look at me like I'm crazy and say "Well it ain't straight, therefore you're natural!" so...what am I to do? :lachen:

As far as I'm concerned though, I'm relaxed and transitioning....so maybe by this time next year I can rep au natural 100%, both on LHCF and IRL!!! :grin:
 
lmao!!! funny about the pony. :lachen:

mizzdebbi said:
Don't feel bad- one time in middle school I went 6 months w/o a relaxer, so I had waves. I used to wear this phony pony with a wave pattern & people would be like, is that your hair??

I would just say yep! and keep it moving. I was 14 and it was funny to me. still is. It's so not that serious.
Click to expand...
 
*Muffin* said:
This has confused me too. I don't understand how relaxing makes one's hair not natural, but when a person dyes their hair another color they are still natural. So does being natural mean that you have retained a curl pattern? If that's the case then texlaxing is a form of natural hair, in my opinion. Both relaxing and coloring your hair with dyes that contain chemicals are a process that isn't natural.
Click to expand...

As you can see, there are many definitions of natural. :lachen:

I base my opinions on alteration/retention of your hair's natural texture/curl pattern/coil pattern. If you permanently straighten your hair or always wear your hair straight, i don't think you're natural...you just don't have a relaxer.

I use Joan from Girlfriend's as an example. when the show first began she was natural, although her hair had highlights. Years later, she either relaxed her hair or constantly wore it straight so I no longer consider it natural b/c i could no longer see her natural culr pattern.

I don't fit anyone's version of natural, so I'm honestly not that concerned with labeling other people's hair:lachen:

jmho
 
isis77
misleading them with your chemically texlaxed hair.....dam dam dam lol!!!!! joking some us may have fibbed a bit about our tresses in the past. it's funny because with men you can tell them anything about your hair and they will believe it they don't know what women do to their hair lol!!!!
 
What do I consider natural....

Hair that grows from my scalp....it's ALL mine!!!!!
as long as it's not hair transplant or a tacky weave:ohwell:...\

all that other stuff is just an opinion or debatable....
 
I really could care less. I am natural but because I know how to create coils in my natural hair people ask if I have a texturiser. When I tell them no, they think I am lying because I want to hide from them my real hair texture or stop them from buying the latest chemical on the market. It's so ridiculous. Why does anyone care?. Yes, it is pathetic when people lie but I think that the number of women who do lie is very small.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
Eisani said:
:huh: I've never understood this. Texlaxed hair is chemically treated. Period. Sometimes you'll see percentages given like __% texlaxed. What? How do you know the exact percentage? That's like saying you're 75% employed or married...either ya is or ya ain't :lachen:.
Click to expand...


no, what I usually see is someone saying they are 75% is saying they are not bone straight. Like 100% is relaxed bone straight so what they are saying is that they have only broken down their cortex only about 75% and it wasn't completely stomped into submission.
 
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