Beauty 2.0

Our beauty is enhanced by our natural hair. It is a natural beauty that is more diverse and holds the ability to express ourselves so easily. Whether we twist, braid, comb coil or roller set our hair we can express our selves in so many ways without having the prototype of the 'typical black girl' chained to us. We can finally play in our hair and not feel bound to a standard that is unrealistic.

The apprehension felt by women contemplating what they are going to do once they embrace their natural hair is many times rooted in the question 'what am I going to do with it?' I always respond in my mind 'anything you want.' When we release our selves from relaxing our hair we discover the true beauty of our hair. The myth that our natural hair growth has to be 'tamed' or 'trained' and that doing this was in of its self a natural process is wrong. Why do we need to manipulate our beauty? Why do we need to hide it under wigs and weaves because we want to 'let it rest' because the last relaxer burned our scalp or caused alopecia?

These thoughts are more than all of us having the choice to relax or to be natural, it is more so about our health and the degenerate image of women of colour that has been paraded through the media which in turn skews the true image of who we are. The proof is in the fact that slowly more and more women with darker skin tones and natural hair are being featured in commercials, film, television and print ads. We celebrate this because we all know that this was not a reality a few years ago. We celebrate that we see ourselves in the media because the images portrayed were unrealistic and placed their to maintain the status quo of what beauty is.

Welcoming the world to the natural you is a journey, it is worth all the time and effort you put into it. Showing the world who you are and not trying to fit a mold of any prototype is you accepting you.

I sometimes wonder what type of person I would have been if I continued relaxing my hair, I don't think I would be conscious of many harmful ingredients in hair care products and foods. I think I would just continue thinking this is the only way and not see an alternative, and this is what scares me. I'm actually scared when I think about not realizing the lye...