Genesis of Long Hair Care Forum

[larry3344]

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a nice weekend.

i came across an interesting thread on lipstick alley and I thought it would be an interesting conversation to have in terms of how this forum started. I wish more of the OG members were still around but perhaps more people could share their insight.
Essentially the thread was created in 2017 off the heels of the Shea moisture commercial scandal. The discussion was lee by a poster claiming that it is white Jewish women that started the natural hair movement and no poo method was adopted by them.

Link below:

Origins of the Current Natural Hair "Movement"

I've been natural my entire life. Lol I get a kick out if people being amazed at us wearing our own hair. Huh?

www.lipstickalley.com

 

[larry3344]

I was curious to know if anyone who was around in those early stages could confirm or at least provide insight. I know it’s been said that this site was created as a spinoff of a white hair forum yahoo group where many naturals congregated but felt unwanted.

the thread also references naturallycurly being unwelcoming place for women with kinky hair and changed course when naturals became the money makers.

 

[Rastafarai]

Interesting. I can only speak on my experience and recall joining LHCF in the early 2000s when I was fully relaxed. Back then, Dominican products were hugely promoted - from Salerm, Silicon Mix and Lacio Lacio, as was Mane n' Tail/MTG, Sta Sof Fro, Dudleys and Nexxus.

I then went on my natural journey, and as LHCF didn't have many naturals at the time, I found Dee on Nappturality:








That's where most natural Black women went to get advice on how to care for their hair when many products didn't necessarily cater to our hair type at the time. Nappturality was a welcoming space for 4a - 4c sisters including those interested in locs and free form styles. I had also joined Curly Nikki's forum and NaturallyCurly subsequently thereafter, though found NaturallyCurly more populated by Caucasian women. That eventually changed, and I found more Black women joining that forum for natural hair care advice.

Ultimately, I remember Nappturality being a founding part of my natural hair journey for and by Black women, and like Beverly/LHCF, appreciate the space she created for and by Black women interested in healthy hair care.

 

[naturalyogini]

Hmm. I started with naturallycurly.com. That site divided curlies by hair type.. I would visit over here occasionally but found it was more for relaxed hair. Then a lot of shenanigans started happening at NC. It got really vicious. I left NC and eventually migrated here.

 

[VinDieselsWifey]

I found NC in 2003, which led to me finding NP, which led to me finding LHCF. I use to frequent all 3 about equally at first, then started focusing more on NP & here. I went natural in 1999 when it wasn’t popular. Mostly everyone here was relaxed back then. I still took advice from anyone who had beautiful healthy hair. I eventually texlaxed but went back to natural.

 

[Sharpened]

Lorraine Massey did invent the "no poo" method. I was natural since '98 due to being sick of getting my hair done. NC was the first forum; NP, LHCF, and BHM were started to specially deal with our textures. I found them, other forums, and blogs like motowngrrl in 2003. No poo made my scalp flake over time, and I learned conditioner was not meant for the scalp. Oil rinsing, which I discovered here, saved my life!

 

[B_Phlyy]

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a nice weekend.

i came across an interesting thread on lipstick alley and I thought it would be an interesting conversation to have in terms of how this forum started. I wish more of the OG members were still around but perhaps more people could share their insight.
Essentially the thread was created in 2017 off the heels of the Shea moisture commercial scandal. The discussion was lee by a poster claiming that it is white Jewish women that started the natural hair movement and no poo method was adopted by them.

Link below:

Origins of the Current Natural Hair "Movement"

I've been natural my entire life. Lol I get a kick out if people being amazed at us wearing our own hair. Huh?

www.lipstickalley.com

I read the whole thread and post #18 is about how I remember things going down.

Not sure the exact phrase I googled, but I initially got sent to Black Hair Media and Nappturality. From there, I learned about The Long Hair Community and then LHCF. Most of the members were relaxed and product launches were highly anticipated because they only happened once a season.

 

[ckisland]

I stumbled upon Motowngirl first when I was relaxed but over constantly straightening my hair. From there I found Nappturality and fotki and I was loyal to them streets for awhile, but I knew that LHCF existed. Back then it seemed relaxed hair heavy, and I didn't have any interest in that. I think it was when I started experimenting with seriously wearing my hair stretched that I got more into LHCF. I dabbled in NC for a hot 5 seconds, and stalked LHC for a little bit, but they weren't my speed. Now I haven't been on Nappturality or fotki in years!! LHCF has become my whole tribe

 

[free2bme]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

 

[PatTodd]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

Thank you for this origin story! Been here since about ‘05!!! The baby in my avatar was “born” here…he is now 15!!!

 

[larry3344]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

Love it!!
Lesson here from miss Beverley is create our own platforms. I never knew this.

 

[snoop]

This may be a topic for another thead, but the original poster mentioned that hair typing began in the boards then someone else mentioned that Andre Walker's publicist was the one who told him to add it to his book? I'd never heard this before. Any of the OGs here to confirm?

 

[larry3344]

This may be a topic for another thead, but the original poster mentioned that hair typing began in the boards then someone else mentioned that Andre Walker's publicist was the one who told him to add it to his book? I'd never heard this before. Any of the OGs here to confirm?

Interesting!

 

[snoop]

So I just logged into my nappturality account for the first time in years (visited a handful of times recently, but never logged in). My profile says that I joined in 2010 (probably due to a server switch), but my earliest post was in 2004! That was long before I started this iteration of my journey and was between one of my stints with a relaxer. I think that was the first forum that I'd ever joined.

When I started this particular stint into my natural hair journey, I then found Black Girl with Long Hair (BGLH) which was a great place to go and see long natural hair showcased. I was so disappointed when she removed that section from her site. It was like fotki, but you didn't have to worry about knowing individuals handles or passwords. People were constantly featured. It was basically a catalogue of users hair journey.

I couldn't get into BHM and I avoided this forum for what felt like years simply because I didn't like the blue background in the logo. I think I missed out on the hottest period of this forum's history because of that. I eventually found my way, though.

IMO, at the end of the day it was to our benefit that we weren't inclusive. We've got a wonderful home here and I don't think that I would have learned as much as I did about our hair specifically, if the information was lost among the information of others.

 

[B_Phlyy]

This may be a topic for another thead, but the original poster mentioned that hair typing began in the boards then someone else mentioned that Andre Walker's publicist was the one who told him to add it to his book? I'd never heard this before. Any of the OGs here to confirm?

From my understanding, Andre's book initiating the hair typing system with his chartbut hair boards expanded on them because they felt it was no truly inclusive.

If I recall correctly, Andre's chart categorized the types 1 - 4 and then a-c. But only types 1 and 2 went to C. Type 3 and 4 only had A & B. He also recommended that type 4 should be relaxed for manageability.

(hope this posts correctly. I don't think this the original graphic but the principle is the same)


Many hair board members felt that this did not include super tight type 3 'curls' that were not quite type 4. Hence, hair type 3c was added.
Same with Type 4. Some felt that there was hair that was so coily and kinky that it had absolutely no definition ever, and now we have 4c.

 

[naturalyogini]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

Wow. Thanks for the post. I remember this. There was also a long hair lovers conditioner and leave in with the same base as Brown Butter Beauty, but much better. They were my favorite. Then poof one day she went out of business.

 

[snoop]

From my understanding, Andre's book initiating the hair typing system with his chartbut hair boards expanded on them because they felt it was no truly inclusive.

If I recall correctly, Andre's chart categorized the types 1 - 4 and then a-c. But only types 1 and 2 went to C. Type 3 and 4 only had A & B. He also recommended that type 4 should be relaxed for manageability.

(hope this posts correctly. I don't think this the original graphic but the principle is the same)
View attachment 473399

Many hair board members felt that this did not include super tight type 3 'curls' that were not quite type 4. Hence, hair type 3c was added.
Same with Type 4. Some felt that there was hair that was so coily and kinky that it had absolutely no definition ever, and now we have 4c.

This is what I'd always heard, too.

 

[ItsMeLilLucky]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

Wow, I never knew this. Thanks so much for this origin story. I was here in I think 2010 or whatever my profile says lol. I’m pretty sure I lurked for a bit before I actually joined, then for a time after I joined, I actually forgot about this site. I don’t remember what bought me back. I love when people bump old threads sometimes. I feel like I’m taking a trip down nostalgia lane.

 

[spacetygrss]

Ahhhh, memories. Yes, my memory is the same as free2bme. I remember it the same as her. Also, I remember nappyhair.com. I was a member of there and naturallycurly.com as well. We didn’t have a lot of resources back then.
I was literally one of the first member so nappturality.com (like single digits, if that tells you something), but became a paying member here later. My memory is that this sight is a spin off longhairlovers.com. This one is still around and successful thankfully.

 

[Chicoro]

OG member here. LHFC was originally a board on longhairlovers.com. The long hair lovers site was run by a white woman called Jennifer Blainey or something like that. There were lots of different forums. I only used to visit the form for women of color. Jennifer decided to change the format of her site and do away or merge the women of color forum with the various forums for the whites. The women of color got pissed and Beverly created LHCF and everyone bounced to Beverly's newly created forum. It was a mass exodus.

Jennifer didn't know what hit her, she realized the hard way that it was the black women that brought all the traffic to her site. Long Hair Lovers limped along for a few more years before dying out. LHCF is still around 18 years later. Oct will be the 19th anniversary.

Naturallycurly.com was always a multi cultural site and was more hospitable to types 2 and 3 hair. Not much love for type 4. I haven't visited that site in almost 20 years.

YES!

I came across a black lady called , "Golden spoons". I don't think she was a member here. But I was following her trail like bread crumbs as her hair had grown from shoulder blades and dropped in length to bra strap. I think she was using the "Grow Afro Hair Long" process with pencil sized braids. As I was pressing enter and looking for more information on her process, I accidentally came across LHCF. That was in 2003, about 18 years ago!

 

[naturalyogini]

I found an old pinterest of the longhairlovers products. https://pin.it/2uvw5RV

 

[Evolving78]

A yahoo forum was created in 2000-2001? The members from there came here. I lurked on here for awhile before I joined. I was on the yahoo forum first. Also LHC was another site I lurked frequently. BHM came after LHCF and there was also NP and Naturally Curly forum. Motown girl was around too.
majority of the Yahoo Black Haircare Forum were relaxed and Adrienne (OG) gave the blueprint and the inspiration of the ability to grow AA hair from short to long.

 

[BeautifulRoots]

Bump

 

[sunnieb]

I just love reading about the evolution of black hair care forums.

I remember looking at so many blogs and websites back then. A friend of mine told me about LHCF in 2008 saying that "those women are obsessed with their hair, but I think their techniques work". I lurked for a while and joined a few months later. Still here, just don't post like I used to!