Naturally Kinky Hair

I'll keep this short. Here's a link to pages and pages of beautiful kinky hair. The link will take you to a thread on the long hair care forum.

There are some phases missing in these pictures. I apologize for the poor quality. Most of these pictures I took of myself with just a phone camera.

In the last few years I've had natural loose hair, braided locs, a perm (no pic of the loose perm), extensions, and several home texturizers. You can see in some of the pictures that I braided my permed hair and left them in. I eventually cut all the straight parts out and took out my braids.

I kick myself when I see how I ruined my natural hair with chemicals. Somehow, I got convinced that my hair was "just too tight" to wear loose. I bought into the myth of "softening my curl" with a texturizer. I went to a professional hair shop to get one and I was told my hair was too long for a texturizer and that I should get a perm and just leave it in for a little while. I left there literally burned.

Memories....

If I only knew what I knew now about natural hair care. I'm still no expert but even with my limited knowledge, today I know so much more about my hair than I did when I permed it.

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Awhile back when I first started this hair transition I was all over the internet researching.  Reading forums and watching videos and such.  I was a lurker and besides my youtube subscriptions there is very little record of me in this sphere of natural hair sites.

So I realize that this is a new site and I am a new face.  I haven't added any pictures of me yet, but they're coming.  I just really don't like getting in front of the camera but I do think it is important for this kind of site.

My biggest dream is to get other folks on the site blogging too but I probably won't be putting in any promotional effort anytime soon, so for awhile this just be my hair blog.

Of course if anyone is reading this and would like to join the site you are more than welcome.  Just click on the register link.  You can even set up your own blog on this server.

So today I'm unknown but I do plan on posting more about me and what I'm doing.

Now that I have started this blog I remember why I stepped away from this in the first place.  Reading blogs and watching videos is addictive.  I have spent so much time in the last few days sucked into youtube.

The insecurity about wearing my wash and go fro surprised me. I have been natural nearly my entire life. I BC'ed in 6th grade. I locked in 7th grade (and I was teased for the entire year because of it). I have worn my hair shaved to the scalp multiple times as an adult. I thought that any hair insecurities I could possibly have had been resolved but it hadn't.

Even though I have been natural for so long I never really had to deal with my loose, growing hair. Usually, once it got to a certain length I would cut it or loc it. So for the first time I was confronted with my natural hair texture and I didn't really know what to expect from it or how to handle it.

I made the mistake of thinking my hair was “curly.” I bought curl defining products and I was surprised when they didn't do anything for my hair.. While I still consider my hair curly, the products I tried were not for my hair type. I had to learn that type 3 and type 4 hair is not always treated the same.

I'm still trying to figure this hair out but I got a clue when I found cynthiarf on YouTube. I started cowashing, and finger detangling. I would shake out my freshly washed hair (no combs and no manipulation) and I started to see what my natural texture was. It was interesting to observe, but I hesitated to leave the house with my hair in just it's natural, uncombed, state.

I didn't feel pretty and I didn't feel like I looked acceptable. It was just the strangest thing to me to have those feelings considering I never had a mainstream look. But at least with twists, locs, and braids at least I “did something” with my hair. All of a sudden I just felt vulnerable and open to the judgment of others but really the problem was the my own judgment of my hair.

At first I used flowers and earrings to compensate for my hair's lack of prettiness. Finally, I made a conscious decision to just get over it. I am truly liberated knowing that I can show my natural hair and not be the least bit ashamed or uncomfortable.

I feel like there is a pressure on those of us with the really dense, tightly coiled hair, to tame it. Surprisingly, the worst criticism seems to come from other women with natural hair who seem to think you are taking a lazy route by leaving your hair as it is.

Personally, I don't judge a woman for what she chooses to to with her hair. My choice is based on what I feel is best for my hair today. My hairline is already shorter than the rest of my head from my transition out of braided locs. I choose to wear my hair in the styles that I feel puts the least amount of stress on it.

There is still a lot of the good and bad hair issue flying around. Even though we avoid those terms and use new ones those values are still being placed on different types of hair. It is much more accepted for looser curls that hang to just be. My tight curls that grow up need something done to them.

Case in point, check out some the venomous comments on this post from Black Girl With Long Hair. Most of this discussion is about free form locs. While I am not locking my hair, I can be put in this same category because I usually don't comb or style before I leave the house and my hair goes into it's natural curl and clumping pattern. It's interesting to see the comments about this particular style being unclean, unprofessional, and unkempt when the exact same words are used by others to describe any natural hair style no matter how meticulously manicured it may be.

I'm all for ladies exercising their rights to style their hair. I know us type fours can do many things with our hair and that there are lots of ways to naturally elongate and “define curls.” I just think it's kind of messed up that people, especially black people won't accept how some textures are in their natural state. The funny part is that when that same hair reaches a certain length a different level of respect comes along.

I think I should stop because I'm drifting and rambling now. I'll revisit those thoughts in another post.

I am trying to get started with my blog and I figure I could share some of what has inspired me on my natural hair journey.

There was a period of time when I was soaking up everything I could find about natural hair on the internet. YouTube has hours of videos on the subject and one particular woman stood out as a huge inspiration to me.

She inspired me to wear my hair in a wash and go. I imagine that she and I have a similar hair type. I love how she lets her hair do what it does and all the information she shares in her videos.

Go to cynthiarf's YouTube channel and subscribe. She is amazing.

I don't have a problem with the word kinky and despite the name of this site I actually refer to my hair as kinky more than I do as 4a/4b.  We all know that every head of hair is different and that to truly describe type 4 hair you need to go into more detail than just one word can convey.

All of that is to say, I'm using "kinky" but I know that doesn't tell the whole story.

I started this blog because I want to blog about my hair and at the same time set up a space where anyone can start their own hair blog and be a part of a community.

This blog uses software that allows it to function as a social networking community.  My greatest goal is to see a true exchange of information between women with type 4 hair.

We have the hair that most people see as a problem to be solved, as unmanagable, as unprofessional.  I want to hear from women who have shattered those myths.  I really just want to celebrate that our hair is perfect exactly the way it grows out of our scalps.

I have a lot to learn about managing my own hair.  I've found some blogs that I listed in the blogroll that are a great source of information and inspiration.  I would love to add more blogs to the list.  So any comments with links are welcome.