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It’s Friday (TGIF!) and as I prepare wind down for the weekend, what better way to do so then with a podcast? Back in 2013, I wasn’t aware of the impact that transitioning to natural hair would have on my personal development, self-care and wellness routines. Needless to say, I became engrossed with learning about the best hair care products and routines from my fellow naturalistas on the Internet via...
Sending this lovely friend of mine lots of love as she travels throughout the Middle East and heads back to live in South Africa! Thank you for your support and for sharing your story. “My evolution to wearing natural hair was very natural in that it was passive. I decided to stop relaxing my hair because I didn’t feel like going to the salon. Over time, I began to notice...
“I live in London, but I’ve worked in other European countries where people would ask to randomly touch my hair. I’d be at work and people would literally touch my hair throughout the day, so I know that I would be the talk of the day if I wore my hair out like I’m wearing it now.
I’ve been natural for two years. One day I was having a hard time and needed a change, so I cut it off myself. It was very liberating. It was the first time I experienced having short hair which took a little while for me to embrace because in our community hair is everything. A lot of women in London have natural hair, but they choose to wear protective styles because it appears more acceptable on the job. I often wear protective styles myself when I’m back home. Things are slowly changing, however. Our main pharmacy chain which is similar to CVS started selling more products for Afro-textured hair about three years ago. A lot of people get their natural hair products from the US, so that’s important.”
“When I started focusing on living a more holistic lifestyle, I stopped relaxing my hair. I transitioned to natural in 2009 and started growing it out in 2016. Having my daughter earlier this year also influenced my decision to let my hair grow out more. Initially, I wanted to loc my hair, but I always kept it cut short until now.”
“You caught me while I was sitting here with my eyes closed in the park enjoying the warmth of the sun before the weather gets too cold.
Both of my parents are health nuts, so I’ve been natural all my life. Being natural hasn’t really impacted the way that I live because it’s really the only lifestyle that I know. If having natural hair inspires more women of color to live a healthy and organic lifestyle then that’s definitely a good thing.”
“I cut my locs because my birthday was a little over a week ago and I just turned 34. I’m going through a time of transition with a lot of different things, including my personal and professional life. I’m a clinical social worker and a therapist working primarily in healthcare with a network that focuses on undocumented black immigrants. I had my locs for about two years. I recognized that...
“I’ve been natural my whole life except for the time when I relaxed my edges and my edges have never been the same. I lived in Phoenix, AZ until I moved to Washington, DC for medical school when I was 24 years old. Having grown up around a majority of non-black people, I was kind of ashamed of my hair because people would always try to touch it and would...
“I decided to take time off before pursuing my undergraduate education. At the time, going natural and cutting my hair was me saying ‘no, I’m taking my power back’ because I was always looking for answers outside of myself. Loc’ing my hair has helped be more patient. I can visually see how strong and healthy my hair is as it grows and I mature. I’m excited to attend Howard University...
Shanel James will represent the United States at the 2017 Miss International beauty pageant to be held in Japan in November. Let’s show her some love! “I’ve been involved with the pageant world for about ten years. I went to a high school in Maryland that has a lot of former Miss Maryland USA contestants which exposed me to the pageant process. I’ve done multiple photo shoots which is amazing...