Ariel Thompson

Final Draft
October 20, 2014

Naturally Unique
As early as the 15th century, women of African descent were judge off of the texture and
upkeep of their hair. A woman with coarser hair was considered to be unattractive. Whereas a
women with a looser curl pattern or long thick hair was considered to be attractive and powerful.
Six centuries later, and some of those beliefs and stereotypes about African American hair still
exist. Society tends to be more accepting of a woman with straight or chemically straightened
hair than a women embracing the natural hair that God blessed them with. Some may call a
Black womans hair nappy, kinky, too thick, wild, uncontrollable, or too big. Others may
categorize a black female with softer, straighter, or thinner hair to be good hair and a black
female with coarser, tighter, or thicker hair to be a bad grade of hair. Endless stereotypes and
stereotypical questions about the diversity of black hair have been asked. Can you comb your
hair?, Is that all your hair?, Why is your hair so soft?, How do you get it like that?, Are
you sure thats not weave? However, over the past decade, the natural hair community has
become bigger than ever before and eager to break down those barriers and stereotypes
pertaining to African American as well as women of color everywhere who have decided to toss
the creamy crack, which is better known as relaxer, and start their journeys towards embracing
their natural hair.
The natural hair group is a community of African American women or women of color in
other countries that are on the quest to embracing their natural hair. The natural hair group not
only embraces natural hair, but also journeys towards healthy hair that those with harmful
chemically treated hair cannot always obtain. The natural hair group strives to use hair products
that will nurture and care for their natural tresses. This group also stresses the importance of
knowing that no matter what kind of hair you have whether it be straight, nappy, kinky, curly,

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Final Draft
October 20, 2014

coiled, wavy, long, short, black, brown, blonde, thin, or thick, you hair is beautiful and so are
you. Throughout my paper, from natural hair vlogs, blogs, and interviews that I have watched
and facilitated, you will see how the natural hair discourse community works. You will learn
some of the communitys vocabulary, behaviors, practices, goals, beliefs, assumptions, how this
community communicates, and how to tell who is and is not a part of the community. But most
importantly, in my opinion, without digression from the point of this essay, you will be able to
see how the natural hair community has begun to get rid of those stereotypes about black hair
and its acceptance to society.
The biggest part of the natural hair community is the threshold for membership. I have
learned that without being a part of the community, then a lot of aspects of the community would
make absolutely no sense, so this is what I would like to elaborate on first. The threshold for this
community is indeed having natural hair. I find it interesting that a newborn baby girl of African
descent is a part of this community without evening knowing! So therefore yes, a person is born
with natural hair. But for some reason or another, later on in life many Black females decide to
put a chemical relaxer in their hair. In my case, at age 11 I was so eager to have straight hair all
the time that I chemically relaxed my hair to get my hair even straighter than it was. I look back
on that now that the natural hair community is exploding as a mistake that I made, but its a
lesson learned. The What a Relaxer is Really Doing video posted of YouTube by Green Beauty
Channel shows that although chemical relaxers make black hair easier to manage, they can burn
and scab the scalp of the hair as well as break off hair. Overtime, chemical relaxers break off hair
and make it harder to maintain the overall health of ones hair. For this reason, many black
females have opted to rid their hair of chemical relaxers and go natural, hence joining the natural
hair community. Membership to this community in many vlog post is said to be very liberating.

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Final Draft
October 20, 2014

Other than never having any chemical alterations to the texture of ones hair, the threshold for
being a part of the natural hair community is transitioning your hair from relaxed to natural and
doing a big chop. A big chop is essentially cutting off the relaxed ends of the hair and having
nothing but natural hair remaining. It is interesting to know why black women have decided to
partake on the threshold for joining the natural hair community. I personally know people who
have had family members with cancer so they decided to cut all of their hair off with their loved
one in order for the loved on to know that they are not going through cancer lifestyle changes
alone. This person wanted their family member to know that hair does not define them and that
with or without hair, cancer would not define their beauty.
As I watched videos of well-known natural hair YouTube vloggers, I quickly realized
that women of color make the choice to embrace their natural hair and become a part of this
community for various reasons. Vlogger Chime Edwards spent majority of her younger years
wearing her natural hair. She says that in high school she felt the need to have relaxed hair
because majority of her friends had bone straight relaxed hair. In high school, she eventually
relaxed her hair and over time she noticed her hair breaking off and thinning. Chime says that her
decision to join the natural hair community came from an epiphany she had in an African
American studies class that she took in college. She realized that black women tend to want their
hair to resemble that of white women because society considers straight or wavy hair to be
acceptable. Chime says it is important to love who you are without changing yourself.
Similar to Chime Edwards, Melanie Online TV wanted relaxed hair as a child but her
parents would not let her. In college, Melanie began getting her hair professionally dyed. She
eventually began dying her hair herself, but failed to properly take care of her colored hair. Her
hair became dry and brittle. Melanie decided to go to a hairstylist to revive her hair and she

Ariel Thompson
Final Draft
October 20, 2014

relaxed her hair. Being a college student, Melanie wanted to save money from constantly paying
for hair care, so in order to save money, she decided to stop getting relaxers. Then she began to
watch videos from members of the natural hair group on how to be able to wear her curly hair. In
her vlog, Melanie rants, Its been a long road. Ambrosia Malbroughs decision to join the
natural hair community was triggered from a bad encounter she had with a relaxer. Ambrosia
wrapped her hair under a bonnet before bed and the next morning, her hair was sticking to her
scalp, her scalp was burning, and there was drainage coming from her scalp. That day, Ambrosia
declared she would never put another relaxer in her hair. She wasnt exactly sure what she was
going to do, but she knew she would not put any more chemicals into her hair. Ambrosia began
watching natural hair videos on YouTube and she learned how to transition her hair from relaxed
to natural. After 8 months of cutting her hair little by little, she decided it was time to chop off
her relaxed hair. Ambrosia says I felt so good. It was the best feeling. I felt strong, I felt
powerful, I felt beautiful.
Ambrosia also mentions in her video that she realized that in order to understand some of
the videos and articles she read on natural hair, she had to learn vocabulary and terminology of
the natural hair group. While researching for my ethnography, I also found myself googling
terms that I was not familiar with. As previously stated, the big chop essentially means cutting
off all of your relaxed hair. Many people in the natural hair group refer to themselves or their
fellow members as naturals. A lot of naturals focus of maintain the elasticity of their hair, this
refers to the hairs ability to stretch to its actual length instead of shrinking into its curly state. In
videos I heard natural hair community vloggers and those commenting on the videos using a lot
of abbreviations. I learned that TWA is referred to as a teeny weeny afro, this term is used for
those who have extremely short natural hair. Abbreviations are also used to describe hair lengths.

Ariel Thompson
Final Draft
October 20, 2014

APL means arm pit length, BSL means bra strap length, and WSL refers to waist length.
Through my research, I learned that hair typing is a part of the natural hair community that
somewhat creates divergence between members of this discourse community.
Hair typing is putting natural hair into a category based on the curl pattern and texture a
persons hair has. Many naturals say that their hair is not one specific hair type, their hair has
multiple textures. There are two major hair typing systems that are accepted in the natural hair
community. Andre Walkers hair typing divides hair into four types ranging from type 1 to type
4. Type 1 hair is straight hair, type 2 is wavy hair, types 2, 3 and 4 are broken into 3 subtypes
which are a, b, or c. The higher the hair typing number, the curlier or more tightly coiled the hair
is. The Members of the natural hair community that use this hair typing system usually have hair
that falls between types 3c through 4c. The LOIS hair typing system is also widely accepted in
the natural hair community. In order to determine your hair type with this system, you take a few
strands of freshly cleansed hair and look at the pattern. The bends and coils of your hair should
resemble either the letter L, O, I, or S, hence why it is called the LOIS system. The disagreement
in beliefs in the natural hair community start with these two hair typing systems. Some believe
that Andre Walkers system gives a negative views the textures of Black womens hair and that
the LOIS system gives more of an open approach towards hair typing. While some members of
the natural hair community believe in hair typing, others dont because they do not want to be
labeled. In an interview, natural hair community member JSonya Watkins said hair is just
hair.
I interviewed Misha Little, a junior at Winston Salem State University. Misha said The
best part about having natural hair is your unique curl pattern, no one has the same curl pattern
so to see different ones is amazing to me. This is Mishas reason for not really liking to put her

Ariel Thompson
Final Draft
October 20, 2014

hair or anyone elses hair into a specific category. Just like other members of the natural hair
community, Misha believes that is it important to have patience with your hair and it is also
important to take good care of your hair. The natural hair community believes that it is important
to moisturize your hair with leave in conditioners and natural oils such as coconut oil, grape seed
oil, castor oil, or argon oil. Naturals also believe that it is important to have a hair regimen that
you follow religiously to maintain the health of their hair. Members of this community have a
variety of different hair regimens. On the Natural Hair Growth 101 blog site, Ms. Lala describes
hair hair regimen. Her regimen consists of a pre shampoo treatment, shampooing her hair
biweekly, deep conditioning, and detangling her hair. Whereas on her blog site Curly Nikkis
hair regimen includes oiling her hair daily and using a henna treatment once a month.
Although naturals have different regimens, I learned that as a whole the natural hair
communitys biggest belief and goal is that natural hair is beautiful, and regardless of what
society and stereotypes say it should be embraced. Naturals are very proud of their hair and are
always looking for more ways to make their natural hair healthier and longer. The community
believes that if you show love, care, and nurture to your hair, in return you will have the long
healthy hair that you want. Hydrated hair is also a huge hair goal in the natural hair community.
Through several YouTube videos I learned that hair with low porosity and hair that is very dense
can be harder to moisturize, so naturals with these hair characteristics tend to have a hair regimen
with products that will add more moisture to their hair. I also learned that hair labeled as 4C hair
does not have a defined curl pattern. The goal for these naturals is to bring out their curl pattern.
The Cherry Lola Treatment helps these naturals to bring out their natural curl pattern and
also helps all naturals to reach their hairs maximum hydration. This treatment consists of
products you would find in a kitchen such as, yogurt, backing soda, molasses, and honey. A

Ariel Thompson
Final Draft
October 20, 2014

product used in the Cherry Lola Treatment that I find interesting is liquid amino acid. The liquid
amino acid gives protein to the hair and also helps to make the hair softer. Many YouTube
comments said that this hydration method allowed their hair to become hydrated and reached the
goal giving their hair a curl pattern.
Just as with the comments on the Cherry Lola Treatment, naturals communicate with
each other verbally as well as via social networks, vlogs, and blogs. There are many Instagram
pages such as AMAZINGNATURALHAIR that are designed to give members of the natural hair
community inspiration, tips, goals, and ideas about their natural hair. Blogs and Vlogs are the
most popular way that the natural hair community communicates. Blogs for this community
normally consists of hair stories, hair styles, products, hair treatments, and videos. The Natural
Hair Rules blog is a great way for the natural hair community to communicate with each other
and to learn more information about natural hair. YouTube natural hair vlogs are a more
personable way that the nautral hair community communicates with each other. If naturals like a
specific YouTube natural hair vlogger, they will view the person as an inspiration and motivation
for their hair. Vloggers are able to easily communicate with their subscribers. Vloggers are also
able to make tutorial videos, give hair tips, and answer questions. Many vloggers of the natural
hair community become other naturals hair crushes.
I am not a member of the natural hair community. I have always wondered why naturals
seemed to be so in love with their hair and are so determined to embrace their natural locks.
After my research, I have a better understanding for the natural hair community. I now see that it
is not just hair, it is more than that. It is about embracing who you are and not who society says
you should be. The natural hair community is about knowing that you are uniquely beautiful and
the hair that God gave you belongs to you and no one else. In closing, I can say that I have a new

Ariel Thompson
Final Draft
October 20, 2014

appreciation the natural hair community and I myself may start my own unique hair journal to
the natural curls and coils that God bestowed upon me.

Andre Walkers Hair Typing System

LOIS Hair Typing System

AMAZINGNATURALHAIR Instagram
Page

Natural Hair Rules Blog

Misha Little- Interviewee

JSonya Watkins- Interviewee