Spinny: What's YOUR definition of natural?

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

I swear ya'll go HARD!!!

Poll: What color is the sky on a clear day?
a) blue
b) sky blue
c) cerulean blue
d) it aint blue at all

Then 50-11 posts will follow talmbout it aint really blue at all.

bright blue, azure, cobalt, sapphire, navy, powder blue, midnight blue, Prussian blue, electric blue, indigo, royal blue, ice-blue, baby blue, air force blue, robin's egg blue, peacock blue, ultramarine, aquamarine, steel blue, slate blue, cyan; Oxford blue, Cambridge blue; literary cerulean

WHAT CHU MEAN DOE' WHEN U SAY "ON A CLEAR DAY" ???​

 

[Black Hoya Chick]

I just got highlights and I do not feel any less natural. Still relaxer free

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

I just got highlights and I do not feel any less natural. Still relaxer free

my mom thinks your highlights are the shiiiiiiz niiiiiz!
(the bomb!)

 

[Gigi-07]

Un-relaxed hair.

...IA

 

[Crackers Phinn]

I consider natural to be no chemical process, relaxer/tex/color(henna being a grey area).

There is nothing special about the word natural. You don't get a prize if you pass somebody else's definition of what it means. You can't write being natural off on your taxes. At the end of the day, the only definition that matters is the one you set for yourself.

The whole debate gets a Kanye shrug.

 

[Newtogrow]

I voted no relaxer at all but I would have chose the second one if it did not include coloring. Therefore I consider natural to be no relaxer, texlax, jheri curl~those chemical processes.

 

[Minty]

At this point, I consider natural to be hair coming out of your head, because this weave thing is out of control.

My new def: your natural hair.

 

[dyh080]

Hair that God intended you to have.

 

[halee_J]

I always thought it was hair free of any chemical service that permanently alters the natural texture of the hair.

 

[tocktick]

No relaxer (that inc. texlaxing or whatever term is used - which is still a relaxer anyway). I don't care if one colours, does temporary treatments or heat trains (actually, maybe a bit of a grey area since it's permanent). Still natural to me.

On other boards and this board (not sure about this thread - haven't read through), I have heard people say those who colour are not natural. Some say because the colour may change texture that's they reason why. As far as I'm concerned if you've coloured your hair without the intention of using it as a means to get a looser curl I don't see the issue.

The most silly thing I've probably heard is that if you don't use natural products you aren't natural. I think that's a bit of an extreme view and needlessly elitist to be frank. With all that said, I don't really begrudge anyone of using their own definition of natural to define what their hair is. To each their own.

 

[Sapphire_chic]

I know this is an supposed to be an opinion thread but it looks like a "my definition is correct!" thread.
I chose no chemical processes for the purpose of this thread

 

[CherryCherryBoomBoom]

I think truly natural hair is hair that hasn't had any chemical processes on it at all, such as relaxing, curly perming, BKT or dyeing. I suppose if one dyes their hair, it's not truly natural, because that's not their natural colour, but I would say they still have natural-textured hair, to be more specific. Also, hair damaged by heat isn't really natural either, IMO.

 

[Anew]

No relaxer period.

Even if your hair is heat trained its still not chemically processed.

Also color treated natural hair is natural hair with color

 

[Anew]

So now we're making up definitions to make ourselves feel better.

If you're that ok with your decision, then be ok with it. Stop trying to argue something is natural when it clearly is not.

My definition of natural is hair that has not been permanently altered from its natural state

Who is in here arguing? I think I need to wake up on the other side of the bed, lol

 

[dicapr]

I love the no chemical bonds being broken definition. Anyone who has been out in the blazing hot sun knows that you hair can be hot to the touch. If any chemical bonds have been broken by being outside w/o a hat is that person no longer natural? Seriously. How do you even know that non of the chemicall bonds have been broken in your hair. Even those with heat altered/dyed hair knows that when they go to a salon and the water hits their hair in its starts to puff up the stylist will know that they are natural.

 

[JuiceMobsta]

I know this is an supposed to be an opinion thread but it looks like a "my definition is correct!" thread.
I chose no chemical processes for the purpose of this thread

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Agreed. But dont we all side with our own opinions?



Here is where I think the confusion/debate is coming from, IMO. This topic is just wayyyy too general and that is why everyone has such differing opinions. It would need to be more specific.

1) People clump the terms natural hair texture and natural hair color into the same basket. These are two seperate things.

2) Natural hair texture refers to the shape, pattern,or size of hair that naturally grows out of your head.

3) Natural hair color refers to the natural color that you inherited from your parents, your ancestors, or from a genetic disorder.

4) A person may have dyed their naturally black afro into a red, blonde,etc. afro, but their natural hair texture is still present.

5) If someone were transitioning from relaxed/texlaxed/texturized/permed to natural, and once they are completely natural, tell me, what is it that is now natural?:scratchch When they say that they are newly natural are they referring to hair color or hair texture? They are referring to hair texture.

6) IMO, the term "natural" refers to the texture of the strands. Hair color is a whole nother story.

7) You dont base natural hair off of color because many ethnicities share the same hair color traits, so you base it off of texture. Some ethnicities have round straight strands, some have wavy flat/round strands, some have curly flat/round strands, and others have kinky coily curly flat strands. If you saw a stranger walking by, you can try and determine whether they are natural or not by their hair texture.

8) Heat damage/training is just damaged natural hair(whether it is breaking off or not), your hair just overdosed on the heat. What if only a few strands of hair are heat damaged, is that not natural? Just like going swimming really often and not protecting your hair, your hair will overdose on chlorine and be damaged. Just like over exposure to the sun, your hair might get bleached by the sun. Just like putting drying gels/spritz/etc. in your hair or not knowing proper hair care, the hair didnt start out dry brittle and frizzy with split ends and porosity issues, but now it is a hot mess.

9)And what about people whose hair is changed naturally???:eyebrows2 Honey and Lemon can lighten the hair as well as other things, and I have read where people used natural products and overtime their curl pattern was either loosened or completely relaxed, such as coconut milk and yogurt natural relaxer. Someone from this forum mentioned using coconut milk on their natural hair for years and now their hair is straight as if they got a relaxer. So..... does that mean that she is no longer natural???


...Just some food for thought...

 

[LeopardLover77]

Well here goes my opinion:
Natural means no chemical relaxer (no sodium hydroxide or thio).

If you're heat-trained, have color, etc you're still natural. That's my final answer.

This debate could and probably will go on until the end of time...... It's just crazy that with all of the division among us, we have to go and further categorize our NATURAL hair.

 

[Crackers Phinn]

1) People clump the terms natural hair texture and natural hair color into the same basket. These are two seperate things.

4) A person may have dyed their naturally black afro into a red, blonde,etc. afro, but their natural hair texture is still present.

I'm going to start out by saying that I know the difference between color and texture, so I understand that they are different processes. I do question whether they don't lead to the same result.

Alot of the arguement about what is "natural" revolves around something permanently altering the bonds of the hair.

Permanent color, relaxer and heat have to be applied to the hair for an indeterminate amount of time in order to "take". To maintain the look, color needs to be reapplied to the roots, same with relaxer application and heat use. To discontinue the look of permanent color the affected area has to be cut off, same with relaxed ends, same with 'heat damaged' ends.

If the application, maintenance and way to discontinue the processes for relaxer, heat use and color are the same, what makes color any closer to nature than the other two options?

Bleach done badly on black hair, and it's done badly more than it's done goodly, equals fried looking. I know that I am not the only person to see colored hair look like straw in a way that is differet from just getting a bad perm.

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

 

[SignatureBeauty]

To me I would say any hair that has no Relaxer/Texturizer etc. But I have thought about going back natural many times, but it might be best for me to just keep texturizing because everything I would do to my natural hair ie: color,flat iron etc. is not considered natural anyway, it seems like it is too many restrictions on being "Natural" LOL!! But we all have our own opinon on what natural means to us, so I don't Knock no ones opinon on it!!

 

[fletches]

Well here goes my opinion:
Natural means no chemical relaxer (no sodium hydroxide or thio).

If you're heat-trained, have color, etc you're still natural. That's my final answer.

This debate could and probably will go on until the end of time...... It's just crazy that with all of the division among us, we have to go and further categorize our NATURAL hair.

We aren't categorizing or dividing.This isn't about a division this is about basic word definition and this would apply to anyone across the board.

What ppl are saying doesn't make any sense. Think about the words heat and train. How can you say heat trained hair is natural when the very name of what your doing has the word "training" in it.

Nature needs no help in doing what it does. It does not need training of any kind. So when we, humans make a decision that we want something different than what our body is naturally producing without any help from us, then you can't call that natural anymore.

Sorry

 

[Solitude]

At this point, I consider natural to be hair coming out of your head, because this weave thing is out of control.

My new def: your natural hair.

My WHOLE LIFE before joining the hair boards, when people talked about natural hair to me, they were talking about weave-free hair. That's why I find "naturals" who wear sew-in weaves & wigs daily to be an interesting bunch. I would prefer to relax my hair bone-straight than to be a slave to fake hair.

Who is in here arguing? I think I need to wake up on the other side of the bed, lol

I know, right???? If find the whole discussion to be interested and quite civil. I think we all know that the term "natural" refers to un-relaxed hair on hair boards, but it's interesting to hear everyone's personal definitions.

 

[Solitude]

We aren't categorizing or dividing.This isn't about a division this is about basic word definition and this would apply to anyone across the board.

What ppl are saying doesn't make any sense. Think about the words heat and train. How can you say heat trained hair is natural when the very name of what your doing has the word "training" in it.

Nature needs no help in doing what it does. It does not need training of any kind. So when we, humans make a decision that we want something different than what our body is naturally producing without any help from us, then you can't call that natural anymore.

Sorry

Just like athletes train, but they are still using their natural ability/talent. The two words don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I thought natural always referred to natural vs. chemical, not natural v. heat, etc.....

 

[fletches]

Just like athletes train, but they are still using their natural ability/talent. The two words don't have to be mutually exclusive.

I thought natural always referred to natural vs. chemical, not natural v. heat, etc.....

Athletes are training for a specific sport. A sport they choose to participate in but is not a requirement from nature. Ppl were were not given natural ability to play sports.

 

[arosieworld]

Nature doesn't give me bangs either. When I was Natural nature gave me split ends, should I have kept those? When I lived in florida I know the sun and the water tore my hair up more than any relax, iron, or color treatment and yes changed the texture to the point moisture would not make it revert or become healthy again. Was I no longer natural? I've been bleach blond before and my hair was defiantly more healthy with heat and looked more natural when wet. I'm not saying both sides don't have their points. I'm just saying when you see things so black and white you miss out on a lot of gray. Let everyone have their own definition for natural.

 

[~Sparklingflame~]

Well here goes my opinion:
Natural means no chemical relaxer (no sodium hydroxide or thio).

If you're heat-trained, have color, etc you're still natural. That's my final answer.

This debate could and probably will go on until the end of time...... It's just crazy that with all of the division among us, we have to go and further categorize our NATURAL hair.

 

[asubeauty]

I know this is an supposed to be an opinion thread but it looks like a "my definition is correct!" thread.
I chose no chemical processes for the purpose of this thread

I know, right? I wasn't trying to start anything, but dang, ya'll!

We aren't categorizing or dividing.This isn't about a division this is about basic word definition and this would apply to anyone across the board.

Thank you!

I know, right???? If find the whole discussion to be interested and quite civil. I think we all know that the term "natural" refers to un-relaxed hair on hair boards, but it's interesting to hear everyone's personal definitions.

Me too. That's why I started this thread.

Nature doesn't give me bangs either. When I was Natural nature gave me split ends, should I have kept those? When I lived in florida I know the sun and the water tore my hair up more than any relax, iron, or color treatment and yes changed the texture to the point moisture would not make it revert or become healthy again. Was I no longer natural? I've been bleach blond before and my hair was defiantly more healthy with heat and looked more natural when wet. I'm not saying both sides don't have their points. I'm just saying when you see things so black and white you miss out on a lot of gray. Let everyone have their own definition for natural.

I totally agree.

 

[fletches]

Nature doesn't give me bangs either. When I was Natural nature gave me split ends, should I have kept those? When I lived in florida I know the sun and the water tore my hair up more than any relax, iron, or color treatment and yes changed the texture to the point moisture would not make it revert or become healthy again. Was I no longer natural? I've been bleach blond before and my hair was defiantly more healthy with heat and looked more natural when wet. I'm not saying both sides don't have their points. I'm just saying when you see things so black and white you miss out on a lot of gray. Let everyone have their own definition for natural.

Bangs are just a shorter version of what naturally comes out of your scalp.

Nature didn't give you split ends, the enviroment that we (humans) create gave you those. The sun and water didn't tear your hair up. How does water tear your up hair when you need water to moisturize your hair? What probably tore your hair up is what humans have put in the water. How was your hair more healthy with artificial heat, but the sun tore it up? How did your hair look more natural when wet, but the water tore it up?

 

[LeopardLover77]

We aren't categorizing or dividing.This isn't about a division this is about basic word definition and this would apply to anyone across the board.

What ppl are saying doesn't make any sense. Think about the words heat and train. How can you say heat trained hair is natural when the very name of what your doing has the word "training" in it.

Nature needs no help in doing what it does. It does not need training of any kind. So when we, humans make a decision that we want something different than what our body is naturally producing without any help from us, then you can't call that natural anymore.

Sorry

No, it makes sense because I am more likely to come across heat in my day to day life than the chemicals from a tub of relaxer. So in my eyes, heat IS natural. And it (heat) is the lesser of two evils.

You have more control when you train your curl pattern to be looser with heat. Every time you open up a box of relaxer you are at risk of putting God knows what on your hair. So many potential problems...how long has it been on the shelf? Was this batch properly manufactured? Etc.

Your hair is STILL natural if it is heat trained. You are just chemical-free.

I'll take Heat-trained NATURAL for 500 Alex....

 

[Solitude]

Athletes are training for a specific sport. A sport they choose to participate in but is not a requirement from nature. Ppl were were not given natural ability to play sports.

When I used to run, my motto was "Born to Run." It was completely natural to train to run faster, jump higher, and throw farther. So, now anything you train for is un-natural? I'm sure you wouldn't argue that people were not given the "natural" ability to run, yet runners train for marathons, right??

Hair doesn't naturally "fro." It was picked out and hair-sprayed to death in the 70's, even cut into the round basket-ball shape. Are fros not "natural?" Hair doesn't grow out of your head twisted or loc'd, but they are clearly considered natural hairstyles.

Seriously, people need to stop trying to be scientists, etymologists, and cosmetologists. Telling other people to "go look stuff up" in the dictionary is rude. I'm in law school, and let me tell you reasonable minds do differ.

This type of over-doing it is why I truly believe that natural hair will never become the norm amongst black women. As folks continue to further restrict what it means to have natural hair, people are going to lose interest and the movement will regress.

ETA: It's almost like some people with natural-textured hair want it to be this little exclusive club, and as it grows, then they want to further restrict the definition. It's just silly, and now that I've read that other thread, I kind of wish I wouldn't have commented in this one.