The natural hair community seems to be growing, in Scandinavia as well as world wide. This is amazing! Friendships are being made across continents thanks to the Internet and the movement. When I interviewed RJ director of Follicle (read the interview
here) back in August he talked about the difference of "going natural" and "returning to ones natural state". This is something I've heard of before but never done a post on. Why? Because to me going natural
is returning to ones natural state and embracing who you naturally are, fully. I personally don't want the natural hair movement to be a trend, something we look back on 30 years from now and say "Remember when we all wore our hair curly, haha" like you do with trends. I hope that this natural hair movement actually is the beginning of real change when it comes to beauty standards all over the world. I hope that the standard of what beauty is (and isn't) will change and broaden. I don't think it needs to be one or the other, I just think it can be different. If you are born with dark brown skin and kinky hair you should be able to grow up in a world where you can mirror yourself in the images you see in mainstream media.
What do you think? Is natural hair a trend or is it here to stay?
I definitely agree on that people should be able to embrace their natural selves. Not only when it comes to hair, but also skin color, eyes, nose, practically everything that you were BORN with.
ReplyDeleteI've met some individuals in Denmark, who are of another descent than Danish, who try to conceal their heritage with e.g. wearing fake lashes, coloring their hair, straightening their hair and so on. We must not forget, that a lot of people like to alter their looks as part of their style.
That being said, my experience of 'naturals' in Denmark is actually that most people did wear their natural hair all of their lives growing up in Denmark. It's more normal here to actually wear the hair like that. It hasn't been stressed in the media that you need to straighten your curls. First of all the advertisements don't cater to curly hair, secondly there isn't really a 'black community' since there are few black people living in the country. So in this case it doesn't seem like people wear their hair curly in Scandinavia because it's a trend, but because they always chose to do so. Maybe it isn't such a big problem here, as in the UK, US or African countries where a greater majority have naturally curly hair.
Also it depends on how you were raised. When I talk to mixed friends (b/w), it's usually the people who grew up with white moms who always wore their hair natural, whereas the people who grew up with black moms, had their moms or family members straighten their hair in the best sense.
I really enjoy the natural hair movement/community on the Internet and IRL because I can get advice on how to care for my hair in its natural state - trend or no trend - I personally think that is what is most important, and what I take with me.
I just hope its not predicated on what whites think about our hair. That's what happened in the 60's and 70's. We embraced our afro and braids and since white bosses didn't think it was appropriate, we went back to straightening. But I see a lot of ads (s long as you have "mixed chick" hair) with people with natural hair. Hopefully this will change the mindset enough that we feel comfortable embracing what we have. And of course we can straighten it if we want to, but not because we feel we have to.
ReplyDeleteGreat Topic!!
ReplyDeleteI know that the only reason why my mom put a relaxer on me, at quite an early age, was due to lack of knowledge. I'm sure that many women can relate to that experience. Nowadays, we have an abundance of information on how to maintain healthy hair and because of that I believe that the Natural Hair movement is not a just a trend. Knowledge is definitely Power and it is up to us to spread the awareness to our future generations.