If It Wasn’t For The Internet- A Look at the Natural Hair Movement

Okay naturals let’s take a moment to reflect. What convinced you to go natural? Some may say they saw a cute style that another natural had or that they were tired of lifeless thinning hair. Others may say they were tired of being enslaved to the Saturday all day hair appointments and then some may say it was the countless shedding of hairs.

But what if I was to say it was the internet that convinced you to go natural?

Yes…the INTERNET.

Read On!>>>

I mean think about it. Sure all those reasons I listed above played a part. But you cannot deny that you didn’t get on the internet and to cruise the blogs, youtube, google images, pinterest and more to feel convinced that this was a socially accepted move for you to make.

Come on now, don’t give me that look. LET’S BE REAL. That was a concern of yours. If it wasn’t you, hey, more power to you. I’m just saying FOR ME, I’m not that daring when it comes to my hair. Now TECHNICALLY I’ve always been “natural”. My flat ironed hair fooled a lot of people into thinking I had a perm. I had to transition and big chop just like anyone else. But before I took that final plunge in September 2012, you better believe that I spent COUNTLESS hours on the internet trying to assure myself that it was okay and a good move for me to make.

Now I know, I know, black women have been wearing their natural hair for a LONG time. It’s not like we invented something new here. BUT this right here has turned into a true movement lately. Ten years ago, I rarely saw black women wearing their hair in its natural state. Now, I see it all the time.

It’s funny, like I said in another post about the next generation of naturals, it’s like all of us naturals are in some kind of secret unestablished sisterhood. You see a natural sister in the streets. You both share a smile. Yea, she gets it. We’re natural, and we’re proud. I even take it a step further to compliment other naturals on their hair. You never know if she needs that pick me up about her hair. We all have gotten frustrated with our tresses at some point or another so you never know if that compliment helps a fellow sister out with being accepting of her hair. (Sidenote: have you noticed how we all have expanded our vocabulary trying to be creative in thinking of every synonym of hair? No? Just me, okay.)

Anyway, I’ve gotten a bit side tracked. The point is that the internet has opened the door to a world of other naturals. We can interact with a natural in Los Angeles, Memphis, London, just every where. You may be in the most rural area imaginable, but you can still order products online for your hair to get to you. We can watch an infinite list of vloggers demonstrating every style known to man.

Anything and everything you need to know about being a natural is conveniently a click or tap away (for those that feel fancy with your tablets like me lol I’m still getting adjusted to being in this decade of technology #judgeme). You don’t have to rely on the people that are in your social circles for natural hair care advice. Although we have a long way to go to gain acceptance for natural hair, we have made GREAT strides in doing so.

So thanks to the internet, a lot of us have learned and felt encouraged to go natural so that we can truly appreciate the essence of my hair. Thanks to the internet, you went from being needy of your hair stylist to being a self taught guru of every natural hair style known to man. Thanks to the internet, you can concoct a mean deep condish out of meal ingredient leftovers. And thanks to the internet, we all visit curlynikki.com like addicts for the next juicy tidbit of information that can strengthen and grow our manes (there’s another one!). I mean, you wouldn’t even be reading this article right now if it wasn’t for the internet!

To the computer engineers that created the internet, thank you. Your countless hours that I’m sure you was paid handsomely for into creating such an invention is appreciated as I replay an invisible root method tutorial on youtube at 10 o’clock at night while my hair deep conditions with a product that a blogger suggested for my hair type a month ago.

To all my naturals, happy internet surfing. Just don’t drown in all that natural hair information! (You see what I did right there…surfing…drown? Yea. No? It’s cool. I’m going to keep my day job.)