Why Everyone Should Join the Natural Hair Movement

Let me begin by acknowledging that I have nothing against relaxers or flat irons.  I get it. I was there.  Had you asked any of my friends 5 years ago who would be the last to “go natural,” you would have received a unanimous vote for me.  I loved LONG straight weaves (with the top left out).  If I was not rocking that, I rocked a pixie cut.  It took me forever to even try out a curly weave.  Curls were not for me.  I did not have time to learn curls or curl patterns, and I doubted that my fro even had a pattern based on my experience with new growth.

Then I had a daughter.  You would think that helping her learn her curls alone would convince me to accept my own.  Yet, that was not the case.  I was forced to join the natural hair movement.  My hair refused to grow back post partum.  It shed.  It broke, and, just when I thought it was growing, it would shed and break again.  So although I tried to say, “I did it for my daughter,” that could not have been further from the truth.

I did it for me.  Now that I have done it for me, I fully understand the natural hair movement.  I want everyone – white and black and every shade of brown between – to feel how freeing it is.

Still do not understand?  Still do not quite agree?  I know.  I felt the same way.  So here it is…here is why I find peace in my decision, and how perhaps you too can find peace in the middle of a hair revolution.

1. Your long hair options DO NOT CHANGE!

You can still wear your weaves, wigs, faux locs, and box braids.  You can still have booty length hair.  The hair market has changed significantly.  The options available for “protective styles” are endless.  If you want long hair tomorrow, you can have long hair tomorrow.  If you want straight hair tomorrow, you can have straight hair tomorrow. Your celebrities, your influencers, and your style crushes, have all accepted the movement…The market has weaves for curly hair and weaves for bone straight hair. There are clip ins and braiding options for natural hair, blonde hair, purple hair, wavy hair and any other type of hair you can dream up.

2. There is a product perfect for your hair.

You just have to find it…the way you had to find the right product before you started wearing it natural.  Every curl pattern has a product line.  My personal favorite line for both my daughter and me is the Love of People.*  And there are so many others.  You can go to almost any grocery store, drug store, or super store and find option after option of products catered to you.  Amazon offers tons of products that can be on your doorstep in days.  You have access to exactly what you need to help your hair flourish!

(As an Amazon influencer, I get a little back in whatever you buy as long as you use my link so feel free to shop around here.)**

*I received $0 for talking about the Love of People.  I am sharing my hones opinion one curly girl to another.  For my full disclosure, click here.

**This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure here.

3. Someone is watching you.

There is a girl somewhere who needs to see people who look like you.  There is a grown woman who needs to know it is not too late to make a fresh hair start.  I did not understand until I “big chopped.”  People would stop to compliment my hair.  They would ask what products I used.  They would ask me how I created whatever style I was wearing that day, and it had nothing to do with being a blogger or an influencer.  My white, wavy haired, blond co-worker thanked me the day I posted my first natural hair video on Facebook.  She sent me a text.  She could not care less about ordinarilyextraordinarymom.  She only knew Brittany – the math teacher who sponsored Fellowship of Christian Athletes with her.

Then there was a student in my Algebra 2 class who is biracial (black and white) with a mom who has straight blonde hair.  When she found out I had a mixed little girl, it opened a floodgate of questions.  At first I thought maybe she wanted to know my daughter’s hair routine and products, but she did not want those.  She was not looking at my daughter in math class every day.  She was looking at me.  She wanted to know what Mrs. Bonnaffons uses.

My daughter needs someone to watch.  I love her, and she is as beautiful as they come, but she does not look like me.

We just have the same hair – almost.  My prayer for her is to look around and see others that remind her of herself, that she can question about hair regimens, that remind her that she is beautiful.

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The natural hair movement is more than hair.  It is self-acceptance.  It is self-awareness, and it is self love.

If you embrace the movement for nothing else, I give you my number one reason in a nutshell…do it for you.

Will you wake up every day and love it?  No.  Will the transition be easy?  No.  Will you always ooze self-confidence and high self-esteem?  No.

Yet, I can promise you, looking in the mirror and accepting the beautiful woman that stares back at you is priceless.  Nothing feels better than rocking the natural tresses God gave you – with or without a movement.

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How do you wear your hair?  What are your thoughts on the natural hair movement?

Comment below or connect with me: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat: mrsbonnaffons.

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Check out my other natural hair blogs for other natural hair care needs.

1.  Natural Hair Growth: Tips & Tricks
2.  How to Style Your Short/Medium Natural Hair
3.  Going Natural 101 – 5 Things No One Ever Told Me
4.  Nighttime Routine for Natural Hair

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