By Do you love your natural hair? Natural hair can be wild, dry and sometimes not manageable. Some days it looks great and other days you cannot even style it. However, your hair belongs to you, and I think everybody can learn to love their natural textured hair.
Personally, I do not believe in love at first sight, and I think then when we embark on a natural hair journey, whether transitioning or starting out with a big chop, the uncertainty of what our hair will look or be like preventing us from completely giving ourselves to that feeling. However, there are plenty of good reasons why you should love your natural hair.
Here are 11 reasons why you should love your natural hair.
11 Reasons to love your natural hair
- To Become Natural Means To Discover Yourself.
One of the big surprises of becoming natural is that you find a new you! Not a whole new you, because that is impossible (unless you suffer some form of brain damage) but a more confident you. This happened to me, and I bet it will happen to you if it has not already.
As you go natural, you work through a lot of insecurities and doubts, face naysayers, overcome challenges, and you come out on the other end stronger, more confident and even stunning. Wow, is it me or going natural is starting to sound a lot like going through therapy.
- Not Worry About the Rain
When you have chemically straightened hair, you need to have a direct line to the weather forecast. Flat ironing your hair and then facing a rainy day is a big no-no. Talk about going on a date with your boo and then it starts raining girl we all know we do not like running in high heels, but the image of our hair puffing up like a fuzz ball brings out the gazelle in us as we run for cover.
With natural hair, a rainy day is no biggie. Rain, what rain? We laugh at the sight of rain; we say “Bring it on Mother Nature, my hair needs a little moisture!” (Well, it is not exactly these words, but it is pretty close. A little rain never hurt anybody).
- Natural Hair Is Mostly Healthy.
Having relaxed hair means having broken hair. To “uncurl” our hair, the strongest bonds in it (disulphide bridges) need to undergo a highly alkaline process (relaxer) to break them down so our hair can have a new, straighter shape. Unfortunately, our hair’s elasticity irreversibly lost, the cuticle layers that protect our hair are damaged, and our hair becomes very vulnerable to damage.
Natural hair, although the weakest among Caucasian and Asian, is certainly stronger than relaxed hair and if you take proper care and give it some TLC it will be very healthy.
- Inspiration
Wearing your natural hair inspires others who want to make the transition or need a boost of confidence for them. You may inspire someone with your hair and not even know it.
- It is Beautiful
I should not have to say this, but here it goes. You should love your hair because it is beautiful. Yes, it is just plain beautiful! For all the reasons I mentioned before and more, it should be enough to say your hair is fine because it is your hair. Everyone’s hair is different and unique and because of it, it is shockingly beautiful.
- Versatility
Natural hair can lend itself to many hairstyles; you can go a month without ever doing the same hairstyle twice, and I bet you can even go longer. Alongside the braids, twists, locks, braid outs, twists, outs, flat braids, flat twists, Mohawks, updos, buns, Bantu knots (do I need to go on?) you can also resort to accessorizing your hair with head wraps, beanies, hats, hair jewellery and more. It is so much fun, or what do you think!
- Deceptive
Yes, our hair can be very tricky, especially to people who know nothing about curly hair. It is quite fun to see people’s reaction to our hair when we show up with curly shoulder length hair one day and on the other day, it is almost waist length. Alternatively, how easy it is to set different styles on it, you can go natural, curly, wavy, braids, locks and the list goes on. Some people just can’t contemplate all of this and think you must have some wig or extension (sound familiar?). Moreover, this brings us to our next reason.
- Society Standards
We know all hair is beautiful in our hearts, but if we were to rely on magazines, advertisements, and each message in media, we probably wouldn’t believe so about our own. Rocking your hair says “screw these society standards!” This is me, all me, and it is beautiful, I AM beautiful! Now say it.
- We admire our differences
Although we always say, “I wish I were this,” and “I wish I were that” honestly that is a lie. Women complement each other because somewhere, now, there is a woman that can pull off a hair color that you can only dream about, and that is OK with us. Do we want to look like we all came from a Barbie factory?
- Freedom
Being free from harsh chemicals like perms and relaxers is a beautiful feeling. Also, just being yourself, if natural hair is for you, feels amazing. It feels like being free.
- Saves Money
Hair products can be a bit pricey these days, but being natural you are cutting out those faithful visits to the hair salon.
Conclusion
What do you love about being natural? How long have you been natural? How to find a natural hair straightener that really works ? I have major crushes on other people’s hair because they are different from mine, but I love my hair most because it is mine. You should love yours too because only your hair can do what it does, no other hair can do it the way yours does it. So embrace your hair the way it is, multiple personalities and all, and then you will be able to see its beauty and be happier. Enjoy it! It is God’s gift to you.
