I cut off all my hair to get my natural curls back

For those of you who don’t know what it means to “go natural”, it is a term in the black community for when you stop using relaxers or texturizers to straighten out your curly hair. It means that you have embraced your hair in its natural state and refuse to use chemicals to straighten it in order to conform to European beauty standards.

I decided to go natural about four years ago. Before then, I was an avid hair straightener. I was always told by my peers that straight hair looked better than curly hair, so I constantly straightened it. I had a weekly hair routine. Every Sunday I would wash my hair, blow dry it, then straighten it. It made it more manageable for the approaching week. Every morning before school, I would re-straighten my hair to make sure no curls ever popped through. After a while, all the heat took a toll on my hair. My hair was starting to thin out, my natural curl pattern was nonexistent, and my edges were slowly disappearing. It was time to make a change.

When I came to college, it was a time of transition. I was able to experiment more and find myself. One of the biggest experiments was with my hair. One day, I decided to chop it all off. I saw a picture of a pixie cut and I thought it was cute. That same day, I made an appointment to cut my collar bone length hair into a really short, edgy pixie. And I did without any hesitation.

After that, I slowly weaned myself off of straightening my hair. That summer, I decided to go full on natural. I made a vow to myself not to straighten my hair and embrace my God given curls. Once I did, I started to notice a lot of changes. It’s crazy how such a simple thing as loving your natural self can change so much in your life.

I became versatile

Natural hair is incredibly versatile. I can experiment with so many different styles, like wash and gos, braid extensions, twist outs, wraps; the possibilities are endless with natural hair.

I educate people

A lot of people ask me about my hair, especially when I do protective style. They don’t ask out of judgment, but out of curiosity. A lot of them have never been around a natural girl that does protective styles, so when they see me one day with my TWA (teeny weeny afro) and the next day with braids, they get confused. So, I get to explain the process to them and the reasons why I do it. By just being different, I can teach people about a culture they were unaware of.

I found a community

Social media is amazing. Especially for natural girls. It seems like we’re at the top of the game right now. The beauty standards have been changed. More and more African American women are embracing their curls. When I went natural, I was surprised and relieved to see that I wasn’t going through the process alone. Our community right now is going through a natural hair movement – thus I have had a great support system from my fellow naturalistas.

I am free

I learned that I didn’t have to constrain myself to the current beauty standards. I could make my own. I can love myself just the way God made me.