Natural hair is a journey that I learn from daily. Even after all these years, I’m still figuring it out.
I started my natural hair journey wearing locs in 2011. With locs, I was tired of doing my hair and I wanted something low maintenance. Last summer, I transitioned from locs to become a loose natural because the locs damaged my scalp. I also missed touching my hair. With my twa (teeny weeny afro), I like that my hair is manageable, it doesn’t take long to do.
I never had issues with my locs, but as a loose natural, it is hard to figure out what hairstyles to wear on short hair and what products agree with my hair’s porosity. These past few months I learned that I need to use hair products that have natural ingredients. I found this out through trial and error which was good because natural hair products can be expensive and I don’t have to spend a lot of money on products to test out anymore. With and without locs, I personally have never been discriminated against, but I received a lot of questions from people unfamiliar with the hairstyle.
Instagram and YouTube have helped me learn about taking care of my hair in locs and with my twa. Platforms like YouTube and other forms of social media have made it more accessible for people like me who need help when it comes to taking care of my hair. Since my hair is short now, I don’t really look for hairstyles, but with locs, I followed an influencer on Instagram for hairstyle inspiration.
Growing up, I didn’t see much representation of women with natural hair in mainstream media but I have seen a shift within the past 10 years. I believe social media has played a big part in it. Even though there has been a change and there is more diversity, I don’t think there’s enough representation. There are more women being displayed with a looser curl pattern than women with kinkier hair textures. The same people are being used as the “face” natural hair community in television shows, magazines, and other forms of advertising, but there are so many others that can be used.
