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Challenges, Triumphs of "Going Natural"

By Carmen Belcher and Janell Hazelwood
Black College Wire

Credit: www.erykahbadu.com Erykah Badu

Jillian Blackmon had gone without chemically relaxing her hair all of her life. She’d often go to a salon to get her hair pressed by way of a straightening comb or flatiron.

Last summer, she decided to stop pressing her hair and wear it in its naturally curly state. “I was sick of sitting in the beauty shop for three to four hours,” Blackmon said.

The popular kinky twist style and a ponytail were her favorites, and both provided carefree alternatives to getting her hair pressed. But after challenges such as the humid weather of her Atlanta hometown and little knowledge about how to care for natural hair, the sophomore Hampton University political science major didn’t want to deal with maintaining it. Blackmon worked as a supervisor at a Six Flags amusement park and her work environment was just not conducive to wearing a natural style.

“I used to have to wash it every week,” she said. “It was just too much.”

She’d often look at other women with long straight hair and think of herself having that look again. After getting a job at a hometown courthouse where many of her co-workers were white, she was advised to get a more “professional look.”

“My mom told me that natural just isn’t professional,” she said. “She thought that maybe the [white co-workers] would question me too much, and I didn’t really want to be scrutinized.” After going several years without chemically straightening her hair, Blackmon decided to get a relaxer.

“My hair is easier to maintain,” she said. “Now, I can just put it in a ponytail with no problem.”

Sitting five or more hours at a beauty shop, ducking and dodging rain drops, or stressing in the mirror over the first sight of new hair growth are all situations many black women with chemically straightened hair have been through.

Hampton University women are no exception, with many having their own hair triumph-and-trial stories to tell, living in a society where Eurocentric beauty standards have been a major influence on them. The debate about what’s more acceptable, “au natural” or “bone straight,” still rages, and the choice can be both life-changing and life-altering, often raising questions of personal, social and even spiritual significance.

For Tiffany Perkins, a freshman public relations major at Hampton, her hair journey has been a game of back and forth. Last summer, after being used to straightening her hair via a relaxer, Perkins decided to grow out her perm. She said she had no definite indication of the product’s safety.

“I noticed that I didn’t see an FDA-approval sign on [at-home perm] kit boxes,” Perkins said.

The chemical relaxing process can be long and expensive, and safety may definitely be an issue when it comes to chemically straightening black hair. A 2001 Food and Drug Administration Consumer Magazine article titled, “Heading Off Hair-Care Disasters: Use Caution With Relaxers and Dyes,” said that many of the top complaints to the agency’s Office of Cosmetics and Colors are about chemical hair straighteners.

The problems included baldness, scalp rashes and sores, and hair thinning. The article also said that consumers’ complaints often stem from incorrect handling of a product, rather than the product itself.

For Perkins, wearing a natural was short-lived. At the end of a sixth month without a perm, she was frustrated with her hair. She, too, went back to chemical straightening.

“It was far too thick and my hair is really coarse,” the Chicago native said. “I just couldn’t do anything with it.”

From the long blond tresses of Beyoncé to the silky straight hair extensions of stars such as Lil’ Kim and Vivica Fox, the entertainment media have bombarded the pubic with images of women who are said to encompass a more European standard of beauty.

At Hampton University, some students believe those images have had a major effect on black women.

“Women really have issues with their hair no matter what the texture is,” said Brandy Chambers, a senior sociology major.

“The images of Europeans on TV and in other media tell us that a certain kind of hair is much more beautiful. That sends a message that our own natural hair is not.”

For Chambers, leaving her relaxer behind was a matter of acquiring self-love.

“I’ve admired natural hairstyles since high school,” Chambers said. “I thought of it as a way to appreciate the natural me.”

When she first decided to venture into the world of natural hair, the reactions from family, friends and peers were mixed. Coming from a hometown environment where having natural hair was not the “in” thing, Chambers can remember high school peers who did not look approvingly at “kinky hair.”

“I remember two young girls on the bus having an argument,” Chambers said. “And one of the girls alluded to the fact that her ‘good hair’ was better than the other girl’s ‘nappy hair.’ That really blew my mind.”

She said many of her family members were slow to accept her new hairdo when she went natural at the end of her freshman year of college.

“Sometimes I’d have an Afro and they’d be like, ‘When are going to do something with your hair?’” Chambers said. “Older people have been more bold with their comments, some very negative, while younger people are more quick to compliment my hair.”

Chambers, who typically likes to wear her hair in an Afro, coiled knots or twists, said one of the major perks of wearing her natural locks is versatility.

“I can get weaves, I can get cornrows, I can wear an Afro,” Chambers said. “I think it’s the best of both worlds.”

Although she loves her natural hair and said she doesn’t plan ever to get a chemical relaxer, Chambers does plan to get her hair pressed for a different look. When she told friends (who also don natural locks) her plans, she said some of their responses were not supportive. “To them, it’s like I’m trying to be something I’m not,” Chambers said.

“They’re like, ‘Stay true to yourself.’”

Talking about whether to wear black hair in its natural state or chemically straightened raises the question of what defines blackness. Sometimes, a woman is said to be discrediting her heritage by getting her hair relaxed.

Chambers embraces her African roots and is supportive of causes that fight for the rights of blacks, but said she didn’t want to be put into a box.

“Oftentimes, people who choose to wear their hair natural are stereotyped as being on that ‘black power tip,’” she said. “I don’t have to fit into some standard. I’m trying to validate myself for me.” She said she hopes that she can be a positive example to others who want to wear their natural hair.

“Embrace your natural beauty,” advises Chambers. “Straight hair is not the only type that is beautiful.”

For Nere Ayo, junior psychology major at Hampton, wearing her natural-textured short cut is a way to distinguish herself from the usual standard accepted by mainstream society.

“Everybody likes the whole long, straight hair thing,” Ayo said. “I feel more comfortable making a statement with my hair regardless of what’s current or in style.”

Ayo, like Chambers, likes the versatility of her hair. “I can do whatever I want with it now that it’s natural,” she said. She plans to begin locking her hair soon and said she just likes wearing different styles.

Although a natural hairstyle just wasn’t for Perkins, she said she admires the beauty of natural hair.

“I think it’s gorgeous for some people,” she said. “If you can do it, more power to you. It just wasn’t for me.”

Blackmon echoes those sentiments and is happy with her relaxed mane today. She said she doesn’t think getting a relaxer should be seen as a cop-out from blackness.

“I’m still black and I’m going to be black regardless,” she said. “I define myself. My hair doesn’t define me.”

Carmen Belcher and Janell Hazelwood are students at Hampton University. Belcher writes for the Hampton Script and Hazelwood is lifestyles editor.

Posted Feb. 23, 2004