What does it mean to be a militant natural?

[Embyra]

You may notice that may of these people rarely offer hair advice; or, if they do, the only advice is to "stay away from the creamy crack!" They usually show up in threads in which there is a natural vs. relaxed hair debate, or some other controversial topics

......i see this OFTEN here.......the person im thinking of is in this thread

 

[nappystorm]

......i see this OFTEN here.......the person im thinking of is in this thread

You noticed too?

 

[chrisanddonniesmommy]

Yeah, girl! My daddy had one when I was kid .

Be careful! Those things hurt.

 

[lushcoils]

Is there such thing as militant relaxers?

 

[nappystorm]

Is there such thing as militant relaxers?

Yep. If you haven't met any yet...don't worry, you will.

 

[EbonyCPrincess]

LMAO @ OP! Girl what killed me is the answer was never "yes!" I've had people unintentionally try to make me feel bad...but it never makes me feel bad at all! For example a woman at church, whenever I am rockin a new 'doo, comments on how nice it looks and asks how I did it. I always respond in detail. She responds in a hoity-toity voice "Well....I'm natural so....I do my hair myself....it just grows out of my head this way." I always respond, "Your hair is SO pretty and versatile! I actually do my hair myself as well...I did a rollerset/braidout/or whatever to achieve the curls I have today."

I am always SO happy when someone tells me they are natural or going natural, I'm excited for them, can't wait to see their texture after they finally BC, suggest sites and products, and talk hair! When one of my best friends BC'd (she isn't on a hair board) I repeatedly told her how great she looked. She smiled, touched her short kinks and said "I am so glad you told me that, I still feel very self-conscious because its so short, THANK YOU!"

Although I'm relaxed, I'm so comfortable & happy in my decision and happy that my hair is healthy that I am never EVER bothered by folks going natural. To the contrary - I'm so excited about this growing trend; by the time I have daughters, whether to relax or not will truly be a choice of preference, not a rite of passage into adulthood, or the "normal" hairstyle seen on black women. Shucks....if "everybody" goes/is natural as the woman in the post claims....maybe the cost of relaxer services will come down! SCORE FOR ME!

 

[EbonyCPrincess]

See, to be militant about natural hair is to hold onto the believe that only people with natural hair love themselves and their culture.

A militant natural is a delusional person who thinks that a person's consciousness, self-esteem, and sense of identity are all wrapped up into whether or not a person chemically straightens his or her hair.

It doesn't matter if their hair is dry, matted, dirty, hidden under a weave, or otherwise damaged or hidden. Their hair is "natural" and that's all that counts! Despite the evidence to the contrary, they believe that all natural hair is more beautiful than relaxed hair. They disregard the scores of women with relaxed hair who grow their hair to amazing lengths, whose hair is "healthy" and manageable. These women scare newbies with relaxed hair into thinking that their hair can never grow long....part of the reason for the constant big chop/relax/big chop cycle.

They ridicule other naturals who use heat on their hair. It's okay to use henna, baking soda, and caramel to loosen your texture, but BKT is questionable. You may or may not be kicked out of the "natural club," for using BKT.

You don't even have to wait until you are fully natural to become a natural militant. You can declare that you are "transitioning" and still have 18 inches of relaxed hair on your head. As long as your "mindset" has changed and you put in your siggy that you're never using "creamy crack" again, then it's cool. You, too, can be a natural militant.

They seem to walk around thinking they have "one up" on those of us who do use relaxers or texturizers. It doesn't matter if this person is horribly out of shape, riddled with debt, lacking an education, or a terrible mate. They are better than you because you relax your hair.

You may notice that may of these people rarely offer hair advice; or, if they do, the only advice is to "stay away from the creamy crack!" They usually show up in threads in which there is a natural vs. relaxed hair debate, or some other controversial topics.

Natural militants fail to see the oppressive nature of the idea that black women should be a monolithic group; they fail to appreciate the true diversity of our hair and the value of choice. They believe that black women do not have the ability to choose how we wear our hair. It doesn't matter if you're degreed up, smart, capable, accomplished, and constantly give back to the black community. If you have relaxed hair, you are "brainwashed."

A militant natural can also be a man, like the ones who "only date natural women."

BEST RESPONSE EVER!

 

[DrC]

BTW, I always thought the term of a "Natural Militant" was replaced with "Natural Nazi" they're both one in the same....right??

 

[Tiye]

See, to be militant about natural hair is to hold onto the believe that only people with natural hair love themselves and their culture.

A militant natural is a delusional person who thinks that a person's consciousness, self-esteem, and sense of identity are all wrapped up into whether or not a person chemically straightens his or her hair.

It doesn't matter if their hair is dry, matted, dirty, hidden under a weave, or otherwise damaged or hidden. Their hair is "natural" and that's all that counts! Despite the evidence to the contrary, they believe that all natural hair is more beautiful than relaxed hair. They disregard the scores of women with relaxed hair who grow their hair to amazing lengths, whose hair is "healthy" and manageable. These women scare newbies with relaxed hair into thinking that their hair can never grow long....part of the reason for the constant big chop/relax/big chop cycle.

They ridicule other naturals who use heat on their hair. It's okay to use henna, baking soda, and caramel to loosen your texture, but BKT is questionable. You may or may not be kicked out of the "natural club," for using BKT.

You don't even have to wait until you are fully natural to become a natural militant. You can declare that you are "transitioning" and still have 18 inches of relaxed hair on your head. As long as your "mindset" has changed and you put in your siggy that you're never using "creamy crack" again, then it's cool. You, too, can be a natural militant.

They seem to walk around thinking they have "one up" on those of us who do use relaxers or texturizers. It doesn't matter if this person is horribly out of shape, riddled with debt, lacking an education, or a terrible mate. They are better than you because you relax your hair.

You may notice that may of these people rarely offer hair advice; or, if they do, the only advice is to "stay away from the creamy crack!" They usually show up in threads in which there is a natural vs. relaxed hair debate, or some other controversial topics.

Natural militants fail to see the oppressive nature of the idea that black women should be a monolithic group; they fail to appreciate the true diversity of our hair and the value of choice. They believe that black women do not have the ability to choose how we wear our hair. It doesn't matter if you're degreed up, smart, capable, accomplished, and constantly give back to the black community. If you have relaxed hair, you are "brainwashed."

A militant natural can also be a man, like the ones who "only date natural women."

Pretty good synopsis. I thought people were over this nonsense. Guess I was wrong.

Is there such thing as militant relaxers?

Yep. The ones who think everyone needs a perm, or should get a perm. When people say "she needs a perm/relaxer/touchup" I think it's funny. A relaxer is a hair styling option. No one needs one. That's like someone looking at me and saying I need to color my hair chocolate brown - I might but that's my choice, it's not something that someone else can tell me to do.

 

[Nonie]

Be careful! Those things hurt.

To me, they don't. I've been using one for as long as I can remember. I have just misplaced it because I don't use combs when my hair is twisted or braided. Otherwise, it is the comb I have used since the 80's. It is the comb I am using here.

​

 

[imaccami]

A militant natural believes that when a natural straightens her hair via hot comb or flat iron it's just a styling choice, but when a woman with a relaxer achieves the exact same goal, straight hair, with a relaxer she has issues with being black.

A militant natural believes that natural hair is always a better option even when a woman with natural hair wears wigs and weaves 365 days a year for convenience or to save time or because they are styling-challenged. Funny how 99% of the time the wigs and weaves don't resemble their natural hair pattern. But when a woman relaxes for convenience or to save time or because she is styling-challenged it means that she doesn't love herself.

A militant natural believes in the backward thought process that you can be natural with a BKT, because a BKT is only temporary. A BKT loosens the curls, decreases volume, makes hair easier to comb and straighten, and prevents reversion…exactly what a relaxer does, but because it wears off is supposed to make some huge difference in terms of mindset. Nevermind the fact that people don't just use it once and let it wear off, they re-apply every 3 or 4 months. Just like women with a relaxer. But a woman with a BKT is natural and therefore filled with self love while the woman doing the exact same thing via a relaxer is self loathing.

A militant natural will go into threads where women are asking for advice about relaxers and give bad advice or state erroneous facts and when they get called on it say, "well, that's how I did it when I was relaxed, but that was before I found LHCF and my hair never got longer than NL so I guess I could be wrong."

A militant natural is deeply offended by the term “natural nazi” but can’t see how the term “creamy crack” is offensive.