Embracing Your Natural Hair

Have you fully embraced your natural hair?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 181 58.8%

  • No, but I'm working on it.

    Votes: 62 20.1%

  • No, and I don't want to embrace it.

    Votes: 7 2.3%

  • Some days are better than others....

    Votes: 58 18.8%
  • Total voters
    308
  • Poll closed .
Mostly. I think I'm the type to never be fully satisfied. I've been short-ish all my life and I still may be like "man, I wish I was a little bit taller" when a parade goes by or there's something on a high shelf. :) but for the most part i like my hair and what i don't, i'm resigned to. :look: it can actually be pretty fun.
 
I've learnt to embrace that I have fine strands. I used to think that my twisting technique was off because my twists always looked anorexic and not chunky but now I have grown to like and understand my hair. I like the fact that my hair grows downwards and I love the combo of the spongy and coily/wavy hair. I've also embraced that my hair has waves in the back and not in the front so I don't waste money anymore on miracle products. And even though my fine hair has a lot of fly aways when I air dry it the upside is that my hair is thriving without heat. I've embraced that my hair can't take a lot of heat so I have learnt how to do many natural hairstyles that look attractive on me.

Best,
Almond Eyes
 
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Love, love, love my natural hair but I so want it to be long enough to bun. I think by April 2010 with proper care to retain 3 more inches I'll be able to grab more than 1/3 of my hair to make a natural bun or french roll.
 
Learned to love my hair and the versatility of kinky coily vs straight. Love it both ways. I love ways and had no idea my hair was capable of this.
:yawn:
 
Are you at the point where you have fully embraced your natural hair and no longer compare your hair to others? Or are you still trying to achieve your dream hair?

I am there. I enjoy the journey as my hair grows strong and healthy everyday. I enjoy learning about my hair and others. I would've loved if my hair was longer, thicker and my edges fuller, but what I have right now is more than okay, it's beautiful and it's all mine.
 
I love my hair and everything that it can do, and I know that the more I'll take care of it the more I'll love it because the more I'll discover about all that it can do. I went natural mainly for the sake of versatility, so that's one of the things I enjoy the most.

I donno about naked hair :giggle: For my hair that seems more like punishing it than embracing it, lol.

And as for comparing my hair to others, I think these days I don't much bother (except I still compare length. working on that.) Occasionally I'll compare other people's hairs to mine. sort of, "I like her hair a lot. It looks a lot like mine." It's silly but I do it a lot xD

I agree that its continuous though. My natural hair has me excited to see how it will change in a way that my relaxed hair never did.

I could babble about it forever but the simplest way to put it is just to say... I love my hair. :grin:
 
I love it but, some days it's crazy..
I still miss my childhood thickness (thats ok) will get it back..


Happy Hair Growing!
 
I think I just came to realize that my vision of "dream hair" has changed.
Thank God 'cause my hair and i were gettin' prtety tired of that whole conformity thing!
 
I'm trying with everything in me. The ignorant, cruel, unsophisticated cruelty of the atmosphere in the place I live and within some of my own kin and associates makes it a daily struggle.

Why can't people glance and move on?

As much as I did this for myself, with no support and no other naturals in my social circle, feeling around for how this journey is to go blind-folded and shackled is tiresome.

However...when I have two feet of afro, I'm going to make several visits, to a few choice folk. Tee, hee!
 
I cant say that Im fully there but I am completely 100% sure that I made the right decision in going there. Of course I have my ups and downs but I havent been natural that long and my hair has been in twist 96% of the time!!! Relaxers are the thing of the past for me and I hope to never go down that road. When Im able to wake up and put my hair in a pony then I will have fully embraced it...lol!!!
 
I love my texture and am not ashamed to flaunt all one inch of it. However, it is dry. When I touch it I can hear the crunch crunch underneath my fingers.

So no, I frefuse to embrace having dusty hair...so maybe not the natural but the state that it is in is what I have a problem with. It looks good, just dont slice your cuticles trying to play in it:nono:!
 
I'm loving my hair right now. In fact, I had to straighten it to get it trimmed. I had flat ironed it and everything, got it trimmed, then came back home and washed it again to get it back to it's natural state. I get more compliments with my natural hair then when I have it straight, b/c natural hair just stands out more.
 
Irresistible said:
I fully agree

and furthermore dont think that you have to wear your hair as is, naked etc etc to be accepting

but sadly folks do take it that far

so I know just why you said it that way
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I don't think one has to wear their hair naked and unmanipulated to be accepting. But I do think it's extremely important to accept and embrace your hair in that state...after all, that is your raw natural hair.
 
msa said:
I don't think one has to wear their hair naked and unmanipulated to be accepting. But I do think it's extremely important to accept and embrace your hair in that state...after all, that is your raw natural hair.
Click to expand...
I get what your saying......I Guess

but I was referring to the natural nazi's that think only juice and berries or nothing is acceptable and if you manipulate, add product or define or straighten your hair you are not accepting your hair period

there are those that take it THAT far

now for me, since I been dealing with my hair natural for 16 years I DO know exactly what to expect out of my hair and dont have many surprises to accept or embrace or even encounter, I know what its like exactly with no product, naked etc AND I aint keeping that way

so if thats not accepting it, thats cool wiff me:yep:

cause my hair has had enough disasters , and like someone said , that indeed is a recipe for one

but those that love that, hey , do you :thumbsup:

just dont like folks being all up in my head telling me what I FEEL about my hair due to how I take care of and manage it:ohwell:
 
mwedzi said:
Mostly. I think I'm the type to never be fully satisfied. I've been short-ish all my life and I still may be like "man, I wish I was a little bit taller" when a parade goes by or there's something on a high shelf. :) but for the most part i like my hair and what i don't, i'm resigned to. :look: it can actually be pretty fun.
Click to expand...

*music mistro!*

'I wish I was a lil bit taller, wish I was a baller, wish I had a girl [with long hair] I would call her' :grin:

Now, M, we need to talk detangling bizness...didn't have fun with my hair last night. I think she might have read my post in this thread...nosy hair.
 
I've never understood these hair nazi/die-hard nappturals :perplexed. I can understand saying that you should appreciate or love (even learn to love) your hair naked - without any product. I believe that's where true acceptance happens - when your hair is in it's natural state. But to be somehow boxed into only wearing you hair without any manipulation or product, to me, works against natural- african, african american hair. Our hair (for the most part) is dry by design, so to not look for ways to moisturize or keep it moisturized -even through manipulation - doesn't make sense to me.

And secondly, I haven't heard of one race or group of women on the planet that don't do something to their hair. Most women, moisturize, de-frizz, spray, color, whatever. Why are we relegated to some higher plane to be considered natural? Senseless.

And by the way, I am in LOVE with my texture, certainly naked but also slick, layed back, curly, twisted, puffed and all other ways I decide to wear my hair. It's all beautiful to me!

Fine 4s said:
People will view this differently. For example, a die hard natural may say anyone who straightens their hair has not fully accepted their natural hair.
Food for thought...
I like Lyoness's response. It's continuous.
Honestly, it's a work in progress because I'm not fully comfortable wearing my hair in a natural state (no product, no heat, no manipulation as in shingling etc.) at my current length.
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Fine4s, Irresistible, and almond eyes, I agree with all of you.

Someone that sometimes straightens their hair isn't necessarily refusing to embrace their natural hair. Using gel to define one's curls isn't a bad thing either.

There's nothing wrong with someone straightening, dying, curling, etc. their hair, but when someone tries to force their natural hair to do something that it just doesn't want to do and become upset, then, I think there's a problem. I don't think it's good to try to force your hair to look like someone else's. If you are natural and find that your hair just doesn't want to do something, I think it's best just to accept it. This is what I consider embracing one's natural hair----not being so caught up in what your hair doesn't look like and can't do, but accepting it for what it is.

I consider someone that never wears their hair in an unstraightened state and is embarrassed to be seen in public with unstraightened hair as not embracing their natural hair. If someone chooses not to embrace their natural hair, that's their choice. I'm not one of those natural nazis that insist every goes natural. :lachen:

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion and my opinion only, lol! I know everyone defines embracing one's natural hair differently. :yep:
 
I at first had no intention of ever wearing my hair in its natural state. Then I had to decide between trying natural styles or keeping my heat damaged ends. I decided to cut of 6 in. of heat damaged ends and try out some natural styles at least for a while.

Honestly, I did not see how my 4b kinks could be considered beautiful. But now...I really do love my hair! I mean, for a while I thought all those people on the hair boards who said they loved their kinky hair were just overcompensating/lying to convince themselves since they didnt have type 3 curls. But now i truly understand! My hair is gawjus!!!
 
Is it possible for us to ban the word "Nazis" in describing the militancy/dogmas of some people?

I totally understand what we're trying to convey when we use that term but I think its inappropriate considering the real history attached.

Just a suggestion...
 
I eventually fully embraced my natural hair within the first year of my BC. I don't think "embracement" is instantaneous in most people. That's why I too think it's important make sure ppl are following ppl on fotki or have hair idols that are as close to their natural texture as possible. Yes, it's fine to applaud all naturals and look up to many different types/textures. But it's important to have a realistic view of your own hair. If a person, is constantly looking at a 3b for example and idolizing them, and their own hair is 4a--they're only going to find themselves disappointed if their hair doesn't do what that 3b hair can do.
 
I really wish that natural conversations would stop coming down to a "Nappier than thou" argument every time. "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your saviour? Have you accepted natural hair as your end all be all?" The militancy and preachiness that comes across these in conversations do nothing but pull us back. If Shameka thinks natural means juices and berries then fine! Its her hair, not mines. People have different reasons for doing things. If someone recycles because they like to see the cute men on the recycling crew, who am I to tell them they are wrong? I'd rather them recycle for the non-mainstream reason rather than to not recycle at all. If people go natural for the curls or for the fad or just to be different, I think experiencing their natural hair (fully or not) and portraying natural beauty is still a winning situation. So whether or not they have accepted their natural hair doesn't matter to me.

But since it matters to you yes I have accepted my hair. For all its chaos and bipolarness. Its ups and downs. It is me. I have worn it "raw" and have done damage to my hair because of that. Spraying my hair with water and letting it be left me with a tangled mess that took hours to detangle and a loss of quite a bit of hair. All in the name of "accepting my hair for what it is." I wold have locs if I contunied down that route. And I am not interested in locing my hair. For those that think that is the only way to ever truly be natural. Sorry. Not for me. This is as "accepting" as I will get. :-)
 
CoilyFields said:
Is it possible for us to ban the word "Nazis" in describing the militancy/dogmas of some people?

I totally understand what we're trying to convey when we use that term but I think its inappropriate considering the real history attached.

Just a suggestion...
Click to expand...
God's honest truth I was on a group that was full of divison and hate about this years back. I was there when 1 woman got fed up with the hate and coined the phrase on that group about alot of how those women acted, I witnessed the pure hatred and the slights going on and on and on

That describes how they act(ed) obviously alot of people felt that way because the term took off from that day on. Now if your offended by it I apologize, but I have been on the other side of that hate and it aint nothing pretty

I suppose you could take it up with the mods to ban a word, I dont think you can ask a person to ban a word that offends you, or I would have done it long ago everytime someone calls a white person on this board 'clear'

it is what it is and I feel its just a term to describe the hate/division/control/superiority they impose on others
 
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