Black hair natural styles | The Sad Truth About Natural Hair Discrimination - Style - EBONY | Blog Black Hairstyles

Black hair natural styles | The Sad Truth About <b>Natural Hair</b> Discrimination - <b>Style</b> - EBONY | Blog Black Hairstyles

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The Sad Truth About <b>Natural Hair</b> Discrimination - <b>Style</b> - EBONY Posted: 20 May 2014 09:00 PM PDT Who is responsible for the natural hair divide in our community?  The natural hair community is a sisterhood of Black and bi-racial women who have made the decision to abstain from relaxers and chemical hair treatments in exchange for the unprocessed form of their waves, curls, wavy curls, curls and coils, and coils and kinks. As with all large groups centered around a common idea, there are varying views on how best to define that idea—in this case the term, "natural." The spectrum spans from "devout naturals"—women who pass on all chemicals from color treatments and relaxers to certain product ingredients—to your "technical naturals," women who no longer wear relaxers, but happily rock weaves, blowouts and the like on a regular basis. In the middle are your naturals who rock color, but don't mess with weaves. You also have your naturals who live the 24/7 protective style life, which includes box braids, Marley twists, crochet braids and other trendy styles. Point is, every type of natural you can think of exists. In hair forums, the race to define what it all means rages on but the prevailing thinking seems healthy—natural is an individual thing. It's the other, less talked about issue in the natural hair community that is concerning—some naturals are essentially being eliminated from the conversation as a whole. There's a New Way for Mainstream Media to Divide Us Via Our Hair Over the past few months, a great debate has been steadily brewing in the natural hair community about the value of hair-typing--the grading of hair textures on a spectrum. Going natural was once about breaking free from European beauty standards and embarking on a journey to embrace one's own natural hair, but somewhere along the way, things seem to have gone astray, and we've found ourselves sponsors of a beauty industry that is overwhelmingly praising a certain type of natural hair, and clearly ignoring another. Women with kinky textured hair, commonly known as type 4, are experiencing something of a "texture discrimination" as a consequence of this new natural new beauty standard. Curly and wavy girls dominate the branding in products mass marketed to natural hair. So while the recent rebirth and modern day celebration of natural hair has provided some balance for Black women looking to escape the media induced pressure to yearn for European imitated straight, long hair, now there is a new pressure for natural women to yearn for a specific type of natural hair. Women with kinky textured hair are experiencing texture discrimination as a consequence of a new beauty standard now being set amongst naturals. Propagated across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and the beauty industry at large, the new standard being touted in the natural hair community and amongst beauty brands largely caters to looser hair textures. Tight, coily and kinky hair naturals are underrepresented and by far under-celebrated, given their hair does not conform to the hair images being glamorized and glorified by many popular natural hair brands. Even the celebrated example of Lupita Nyong'o, her type of natural hair is the exception, not the rule. Citing her as justification that naturals with coarse hair are not being discriminated against is like saying because Barack Obama is the President of the United States, there is no racism. Lupita is a breath of fresh air and a diversion from the norm. However, from my experience with running multiple natural hair focused social media accounts, I can guarantee you that images of kinky textured naturals with teeny weeny Afros to even long, thick tresses, don't get nearly as many likes or shares as the women with looser curl or wave patterns. Something is up.  4c Hair Vloggers Speak Up Jouelzy, a popular YouTube personality and vlogger on the topic of 4c type natural hair, recently lent her voice to the texture discrimination debate that has been swirling about in hair forums. In her video, Jouelzy— in no uncertain terms—points a finger at companies perpetuating the stereotype that healthy hair is shiny, springy, thick and long. She accurately points out that for women with kinky hair textures, healthy hair doesn't have the same visual attributes that are found in looser textures. Healthy kinky hair gives off a luster that does not shine and has a propensity to be more fluffy than voluminous, as kinky hair tends to be softer in texture and less dense than other hair types. A scan through the comments on Jouelzy's video reveals that women are impassioned by this topic: large choruses of women answered back with "Yes!" "Preach!" and "Thank you!" There are monologues, anecdotes and rants. You'll also notice a pattern: the responses are from women with type 4 hair. Hair Typing Helps More Then It Hurts As the editor of a natural hair website catering to women with type 4 hair, I'm regularly questioned about why I hair type. It is also not uncommon for me to receive a fervent email periodically from naturals who find it to be frivolous and divisive. The sentiment certain naturals hold about hair-typing reminds me of the sentiment my college friend had towards black Greek organizations. "We are already divided why further separate us?" she would say. In her analysis she failed to take into consideration that Black Greek Organizations were founded to serve and support underrepresented students. The very premise of Black Greeks is unity. Hair typing for me is analogous with communities and personalities like 4c Hair Chick, Kinky Chicks, NaturalMe4c, Jemy1415, Klassy Kinks, NappyFu, Discovering Natural, MsTanish1, Jouelzy and Black Naps. We created platforms dedicated to kinky naturals to serve as fortresses of encouragement and inspiration for a group of women who at times feel ostracized. Nothing we do is about division. It is about validation. The big question is: how do we discontinue the natural hair typing discrimination that has divided the natural hair community? And as important, who is responsible for this discrimination? Sound off below!

Angela // 3C/4A <b>Natural Hair Style</b> Icon | <b>Black</b> Girl with Long <b>Hair</b> Posted: 17 Apr 2014 06:00 AM PDT Introduce yourself! A: Hi! My name is Angela Tellier. I'm a professional photographer from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Why did you make the decision to go natural? A: I have been natural for about 9 years now. Growing up my Mom never allowed me to relax my hair. So I kept my natural curls until I was about eight. Being the only colored girl in elementary school I had a hard time accepting that my color and hair texture were beautiful and normal, and I didn't understand that they were part of my roots and who I am. So at eight I wanted to get my hair straightened. After long contemplation, my mother allowed me to do so. I kept doing this at home and at salons until I was 19. My hair looked terrible during those years. I had a lot of breakage from heat damage. Seriously, I was desperate enough to use an iron once! My family and I lived in a small city near Harlem and you couldn't buy any black hair products around town. When I was 19 I went on a holiday to Spain after skipping the salon for a while to save money. After a few days my hair was rough and frizzy because of the combination of salt water and sunshine. It lightened up and my natural texture came through. I f-ing loved it! I hadn't seen my own texture in years, and suddenly I couldn't believe why I ever used chemicals to straighten my hair. I never did a big chop. When it comes to hair, I'm not that brave lol. I just let it grow and chopped off the ends every now and then until I had a full fro. How would you describe your texture? A: I guess my hair texture would be a combination of 3C, 4A and a little 3B in the nape. It changes though over the years. I like the mix of hair types because it allows me to change it up. With a little more product and no touching while air drying, I can easily turn it into a 3B/C type, and with less product and a little pulling, I get a 3C/4A kinda situation. I colored my hair a few times blond and red, but every time I lost a lot of my length because of breakage. I like to swim also, and the chloride in the water doesn't really help keeping your hair strong and healthy. I decided that I just won't color my full head of hair, so if I really want to spice things up, I can color parts of it. I've never used it, but I've heard good things about Henna. Describe your styling regimen over the course of the month. A: I wash when I feel that my hair needs to be washed. I think once every 10 days depending on how much product I have used, or if I went out and my hair reeks of cigarettes. I use Aveda Be Curly Shampoo. It's an organic shampoo. Sometimes I like to change things up and use black soap. Next to that I use Kinky Curly Curling Custard every now and then, but mostly in the summer. I finish bottles of Kinky Curly Knot Today to be able to comb my hair in the shower. I can't go a day without my Kinky Curly (at this moment I'm out of it and it's a battle to comb the knots out). Next to that I use Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk on my dry curls in combination with a water spritzer to pep things up, and I try to use a deep treatment mask ever week. Right now I'm trying the one from the Shea Moisture line, but I'm not really a big fan of it. I prefer Curls Curl Ecstasy Hair Tea Deep Conditioner. And EVERY day I use pure organic coconut oil and pure shea butter. Sometimes I melt a blend of the two with a dash of almond oil. The shea butter I buy on the African market comes in blocks. The coconut oil I use is from the supermarket. The one you cook with, and that smells slightly like coconut. I also use the coconut oil and shea butter as a body lotion/face cream every day. When it's wintertime I like to use Jamaican black castor oil on my ends and scalp. Before bedtime I try to twist my hair. This doesn't always work since I can be very lazy when it comes to that, but I do sleep on a satin pillowcase. What does wash day look like for you? A: I have a shower that runs for 15 minutes before the hot water is done. So I wash quickly. I wet my hair almost every day and in between washing I wash with conditioner. One thing I always do when my hair is wet is put a little coconut oil and shea butter in it, and use product after. That way my curls stay hydrated all day. When I do it the other way around I have to use more product during the day. Describe your favorite go-to hairstyle for days when you don't have a lot of time to style. A: Afro, down, or a fluffy tail with bangs. I used to love box braids, but I haven't done that in a very long time. How do you combat shrinkage? A: Shrinkage has never really been a problem for me. It doesn't shrink that much. Now that it's growing longer it gets kinda flat on top, but I don't mind. I can switch it up when I don't feel like big hair. When I want it more fluffy I spritz it with a combination of water and conditioner, comb it a little bit, or in the worst case blow it out; although I rarely use a blow dryer. What are some of your problem areas (if any) that require special care and attention? A: My nape. Every day I have knots there close to tiny dreads. It's because my clothes cause friction. I have tried a lot of things to make sure it doesn't happen, but as of now I just have to get them out every night, or make a small braid in my nape area. Next to that my scalp gets very dry in the winter, and I have some damage around my hairline from the years I used chemicals to relax my hair. What are 2 do's for your texture? A: Keeping my hair conditioned is a definite do. What are 2 don'ts for your texture? A: Coloring my hair and sleeping without it in twists, or without a satin pillowcase. Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you? A: Website: www.angelatellier.com Tumblr: www.angelafro.tumblr.com Instagram: angelatellier Meosha Just another lover of natural hair and expression. - Style Icon Coordinator for BGLH

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