Warning: Controversial Topic about being Natural

nakialovesshoes

nakialovesshoes

Well-Known Member
I was watching a YT video yesterday entitled "*itch You Ain't Natural" and I wanted to ask a question. Please ladies I just want to get some ideas because I had thought about what it would be like to be a (direct) heat-free natural. I don't want to incite a riot & have the thread shut down.

In this video, basically the poster was accusing ladies with heat trained/heat damaged hair of not being true naturals. Even though I don't necessarily agree with this, I would like to play devil's advocate & get some ideas from you ladies on the subject.

If natural hair is the state of one's hair as it grows from their scalp, once you permanently alter the natural texture, be it accidentally (heat damage) or on purpose (heat training), technically are you still natural? Or do you think that as long as the texture altering is not done with chemicals, this still constitutes being natural?

TIA for keeping the thread positive.

ETA: Are there any naturals that haven't flatironed/don't flatiron their hair? So far this lady is the only one I'm familiar with: http://members.fotki.com/Zhara/about/




 
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A thread on this very topic pops up every other month. Feelings are very mixed, so there will never be an answer that most can agree on.


Personally, if someone feels strongly that they are natural, that's fine with me. Who am I to tell them how to feel about their own hair?


Sent from my iPhone. It does EVERYTHING :grin:... except make calls :ohwell:
 
Hopefully this thread can stay civilized. It's never been that serious to me and actually thought one of the perks to being natural is versatility. If more people worried about what was going on with their own heads, the better off they'd be.

*waits for responses*
 
I'm saying from having heat damage in the front of my head that that ish n no way shape or form FELT natural...it wouldn't curl up at all...

I don't want to go to far about what I think about this topic bc ur gonna have ppl coming n hear saying well if I twist ur hair all the time it can change ur texture lol lol (bs) but I'm just going by how my hair felt n it didn't FEEL natural

Sent from my HTC Glacier using HTC Glacier
 
Natural means relaxer free IMO
Eta:Everything else like heat use or coloring might affect the health of your hair but you're still natural.
I mean shingling, gel, combing etc. change my texture temporarily but I'm still natural

*shrug* It's not that deep to me


Op. Your hair is pretty and so are you
 
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Eisani said:
Hopefully this thread can stay civilized. It's never been that serious to me and actually thought one of the perks to being natural is versatility. If more people worried about what was going on with their own heads, the better off they'd be.

*waits for responses*
Click to expand...

@EisaniI'm not here to judge, just to get a take on others' ideas. I guess I should've asked for each person's personal definition of "natural." Again, I'm not asking because I'm worried about anyone's hair. I got enough problems with mine. I didn't do thorough research before I started the thread, just a simple search on "true naturals."

 
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Hmm. Where do you draw the line? Some naturals will flat iron once a year and come away with a looser texture. Personally, I consider anyone that hasn't used chemicals to alter their texture to be natural. Heck I still consider myself natural even after texlaxing the back of my hair and having it not really take and revert withing a few weeks. I have major heat damage as well but I still feel natural. I don't expect others to agree with this necessarily though lol. We're not going to ever have an agreement on this.
 
What is a "TRUE" natural? :ohwell:

WHY should anyone care what someone else does to (or calls)their hair?

I don't understand these discussions.....

So, are your legs not "real" anymore because you shave them? :spinning:

Are you lashes now "fake" because you wear mascara? :spinning:

Does the same apply to your nails? :spinning:
 
I consider a person that has heat trained their hair to be:
non chemically/heat/thermal relaxed because there are bonds (hydrogen) that are permanently changed.

If there only a few strands that are this way then in my eyes the person is still natural.

Now I dont go screaming this from the rooftops nor do I try to brow beat a person.

Each and everyone of us is entitled to have our own definition

I have a friend that is heat trained but considers herself natural, I dont even have this conversation because well.... I dont want to. If she asked then I would but until then....
 
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It's not that big of a deal. The natural hair "movement" is supposed to be about bringing women (and men) together but it seems like people keep trying to alienate women and make it some kind of exclusive club. (Not you OP).

Natural to me: no chemicals to permanently straighten or loosen your hair. That's what it's been since the beginning of time (ya'll know what I mean lol) and that's what it will always be to me. New-age hairboard and youtube definitions can kick rocks.
 
CurliDiva said:
What is a "TRUE" natural? :ohwell:

WHY should anyone care what someone else does to (or calls)their hair?

I don't understand these discussions.....

So, are your legs not "real" anymore because you shave them? :spinning:

Are you lashes now "fake" because you wear mascara? :spinning:

Does the same apply to your nails? :spinning:
Click to expand...

Well then I'm not a real woman and my vay-jay is fake cuz I'm not * natural * like that :nono:
:lachen:
 
CurliDiva said:
What is a "TRUE" natural? :ohwell:

WHY should anyone care what someone else does to (or calls)their hair?

I don't understand these discussions.....

So, are your legs not "real" anymore because you shave them? :spinning:

Are you lashes now "fake" because you wear mascara? :spinning:

Does the same apply to your nails? :spinning:
Click to expand...

CurliDiva Is it wrong that I want to know how people view natural hair? I asked for a positive thread. I only wanted opinions on how people define natural hair. Sorry this seems to upset you but you didn't even respond to the question posted. :spinning:
 
The sarcasm is so unnecessary. I didn't post for that. Silly of me for thinking that there could be an intelligent discussion on what our different views are. I'm not asking for everyone to be on one accord.

I've been out of the natural loop for a minute. I ran across this video and wanted to know what the current train of thought was.
 
This topic cracks me up.in the last thread on this, a poster's friend said she was 100% natural even though she retouched her new growth with relaxer every 4 weeks!!!:lol::lol::lol:
To me if you have no chemicals, then you are natural.
 
Now, I may not agree with chemicals being on people's heads...but I am not going to make a whole youtube video about it because it is not that serious.

And to call a video "...itch you ain't natural" really shows how some people just feel the need to start drama about what other people do to their own heads just for the sake of keeping mess going.

Basically, folks need to mind their own business.

How about folks making a video called "...itch, stop being so lazy and go back to college and get your education cause times are hard out here economically."

Just sayin.

th_Kanye-Shrug.jpg


Oh...and I flat iron when I feel like it cause it's my head. :ohwell: :drunk:

And natural means chemical free.
 
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I don't use heat (I'm thinking about it though.) IMO Anyone without a relaxer is natural.

To be honest I think this world can do with one less label.
 
Here is a very good analogy. Just thought of this.

If I take a piece of broccoli from my own organic garden and steam it to where it is soft enough for me to chew (because I have a hard time with raw broccoli), it is still a piece of home grown organic broccoli that doesn't effect my body and is still healthy to consume.

Now if I go to the store and purchase a piece of broccoli that has been genetically modified (changed the DNA), grown, then sprayed with pesticides, fungicides, and chemical laden fertilizer...it looks like broccoli on the outside but is totally different on the inside and is not healthy to consume and may be altering your body's DNA in very subtle and disturbing ways.

Just because you decided to use heat to alter the texture of something does not mean it is not still natural.

It is not until you introduce chemicals to that material in which the DNA is altered...this is what makes that material no longer natural.
 
I don't believe there is a such thing as a true natural or what not. I believe that an individual should define his or her own state of being. I have altered the color of my hair but I have not altered it's texture. Some might state that I am not a true natural because I am not rocking my natural color. Personally I consider myself natural because I do not use relaxers or texlaxers.

These days so many people are rocking lace front wigs (which I have no problem with I just don't have the skills to rock one and have it look natural on me) that the new natural might be the weave free one. lol.

I just hope people are content with their choices no matter what others think.
 
It is a hard and very personal thing to define...we do so much to our hair.

For me it is not only about the physical appearance, but also the mind set behind the action: Am I trying to alter my hair in a permanent way because I don't care for its texture?

At the end of the day, isn't it all about texture? Relaxers, jerry curls, pressing(with the goal to heat train), texturizers, silkeners, wash n' wear, etc these procedures evoke the idea of permanence. Not necessarily color or caramel, baking soda, coconut milk or other treatments that can temporally loosen your texture for easy detangling or enhance what you already have.

I know a girl who uses a texturizer as a 2min treatment every month and still considers herself natural because you can hardly tell. I know she doesn't like her hair texture, she complains all the time how she wishes her hair was less cottony. Other people I know uses relaxers on their kitchen/nape/edges/4xyz patch and still consider themselves naturals.

You know what I say? Nothing, lol, none of my business!
 
When I hear natural I think it means no relaxer or chemicals to alter the natural hair pattern. I have color in my hair (to hide grey hair) but I still consider myself natural.
 
LaFemmeNaturelle said:
It's not that big of a deal. The natural hair "movement" is supposed to be about bringing women (and men) together but it seems like people keep trying to alienate women and make it some kind of exclusive club. (Not you OP).

Natural to me: no chemicals to permanently straighten or loosen your hair. That's what it's been since the beginning of time (ya'll know what I mean lol) and that's what it will always be to me. New-age hairboard and youtube definitions can kick rocks.[/QUOTE]

THIS!!!!! I totally agree.
Click to expand...
 
I consider natural hair to be chemical free with no permanent altering of hair texture.

I use Brazilian Keratin Treatment and still consider myself natural. I do not have to cut out the BKT and my hair reverts to curly after the first wash.
 
Why does our use of natural have to be so difficult? You can have a natural curl pattern/texture/hair color etc., but for some reason someone decided natural was all encompassing when it comes to black people.

IMO, they are not "true naturals" because the hair has been permanently altered. They don't have a relaxer.
 
Before I stopped relaxing my hair I referred to anyone's hair as "natural" as long as it was growing out of his/her head.

I would see a girl with very long and bouncy hair, and ask my friend who could spot weaves well, "Is that her natural hair?" It was understood that I was asking whether or not that woman was wearing a wig or weave, not if her hair was "natural".

After I stopped relaxing my hair in '98, and several other women I knew did as well, I learned that once women "went natural", they were extremely reluctant to refer to a woman with relaxed or heat trained hair as natural because she wasn't "as natural" as they were. I think the "natural" we mean when we say natural may be more akin to "organic" that GoodMernin mentions above.

I don't know...just my two cents. :)
 
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