Money is renewable, time is not.” A Call For Simplicity
“Are you able to live your lifestyle without your hair being at the forefront? That's the most important thing because it’s not only money but also the time Black and brown people spend on their hair. “If you come to me and take a piece of hair and pull it to show how long it is, I couldn't care less. It’s often associated with well-being, but length is a poor barometer for hair health. Long, flowing hair has historically been viewed as a symbol of femininity, while women with short hair were demonized, and those with afro hair types were considered inferior. However, long hair is not an achievable goal for everyone and serves as a thinly-veiled racist and misogynistic beauty standard. Legacy natural hair care brands regularly pushed anti-shrinkage messaging at the movement’s peak and newer brands continue to tout boosted growth product claims that contribute to a premium on length at all costs. “Length checks” became a popular natural hair trend on Youtube wherein naturals would stretch out a curl to reveal its “true” length. Stylists are also busy challenging another natural hair hang-up: an obsession with length. It’s a battle within itself a bit.” The Reality Of Natural Hair & Beauty Standards “Black culture passes down a lot of tradition and a lot of this stuff gets ingrained. It was a protective layer so bugs couldn’t get into the hair,” Kemp asserts. “Considering our culture, the idea of oiling the scalp extends from slavery. Some directives from stylists reject beloved cultural habits, like heavily oiling the scalp, which has stirred controversy. “We think we have hair down for Black people, but it’s the one that requires the most listening and dumping of information you thought you knew about hair to really have that paradigm shift,” says Wilson. The result is a mass re-education of long-held natural hair beliefs. More experts have found their way to social media in recent years, partially spurred by the digital-first response to stay-at-home mandates. The ones who weren’t were too busy caring for their clients to make YouTube videos. “YouTube influencers had a head start on hair stylists. “A lot of us got caught up in curl dysphoria,” says Wilson. Additionally, the low visibility of diverse curl patterns allowed the same European beauty standards to take root with a new face. Many unpredictable techniques, such as the “LOC” product application order, became pervasive law that left large chunks of the community empty-handed. “ were all about self-love and understanding who you are instead of succumbing to the European standards that show up when we straighten our hair,” she curly hair representation was necessary, but the novice nature of early natural hair content allowed circumstantial or misinformation to go viral quickly. Kyla Vick, natural hair content creator and lawyer, recalls being first inspired to go natural via YouTube videos in 2015 when seeing Black women sporting afros on her college campus was still a rarity. YouTube gave regular, everyday people a platform and authority to widely discuss natural hair - for better or for worse.
“Around, YouTube was coming up and cellphone cameras were becoming more popular,” explains Anita Wilson, licensed tight curl specialist and owner of Monarch Curl Studio. What is now commonly referred to as the natural hair movement has been in motion since the 1960s, but most are familiar with the latest resurgence starting in the late 2000s.
#Simplicity patterns free
“I do my best to simplify my clients' routines so they can free up time in their personal lives.” “My motto is ease with hair care and not having to take six hours to style your hair like the internet says you have to,” says Shakera Kemp, hair stylist and owner of The Cuse Curlfriend. However, a new crop of expert voices is course-correcting towards simplicity and, ultimately, real freedom. Despite these profound inconveniences, the movement’s overall message of resisting racist beauty standards with self-love has managed to maintain community morale. In the last decade of the natural hair movement, the rise of an expensive product junkie culture and an influx of, often conflicting, information has left many naturals feeling frustrated with start-stop success. The phrase has become synonymous with the long, grueling hours regularly spent detangling, cleansing, and styling curly hair. When people with natural hair refer to “wash day,” they are very rarely exaggerating.
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