No matter what we do someone is always looking for a new way to divide us…The jury is still out on the natural hair debate  and the layers are intense… 

Why cant natural just be natural why are we always trying to divide each other? My natural is better is better than your natural…. Reallly??!

In 2010 someone told me I wasn’t natural because I straighten my hair at different times in the year and that you are only considered having natural hair if you wear it in its natural state all the time. No perms, chemicals, flat irons or pressing combs…EVER

Then Yesterday the topic came up on fb in a video posted by Erin Alana where one of the panelist also said ur hair isnt natural if you straighten it….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/19/split-ends-natural-vs-rel_n_931691.html

Obviously its the definition of natural we are dealing with, debating over and it varies from person to person….

 In the Spike Lee  movie “School Dayz” the Jiggaboos gave the Gammarays a hard time because they pressed their hair straight… So in that time  I guess natural to them started with  no press…But now-a-days natural definitely starts with no perm… 

At least it does for me and thousands of others… Kick the chemicals & ur natural in my book

Now if you decide to style your hair with heat or no heat for that matter; such as with rods, curlformers, or rollers all of a sudden you’re now unnatural??! I dont think so…

Rollers, curling irons, rods, curlformers, are styling preferences which have nothing to do with the “are you natural” debate if you ask me!! Particularly because 3 of them can be used without ever applying heat to your hair (air dry) same as a braids, ponytails, afros or buns are styling preferences… Which seem to be more widely accepted styles in the natural world

Being that there seems to be a very blurry line with this natural hair thing I just had to ask… What about conditioner, oil or grease? Does that make one’s hair unnatural? Because that alters the natural state as well…. And what about bubbles and barrettes? Are my daughters unnatural because I use grease, a comb, and a brush to style them? A comb and a brush alters your hair from its natural state, doesn’t it? Are they unnatural too? Because no one ever seems to include kids in this natural vs unnatural hair and I just needed to know if they were exempt and this is only a “grown folk” issue.

Of course I was told conditoner, oil and grease are maintainance products so they are ok to use and my daughters qualify as having virgin hair, not natural hair… 

With that said I just feel the need to say that if kids are excluded  then this natural hair debate is just another way for grown black women to isolate and divide each other….with. all. this… I’m more natural than you, NONSENSE. The more classifications we put on something the more room there is to discriminate between each other which really doesnt help anyone now does it?? And FYI virgin hair is most definitely still natural…

 It seems to me that natural is being defined as more of a hairstyle….than anything. Oh I wear my hair natural… No chemicals, no additives and no variance in style.. Because if an occasional press, color, goddess braid or curly weave means you are now unnatural then there are plenty of us like myself, who can’t actually claim the title in earnest then…

So where does that leave people like me? I flatiron my hair, use curlformers and twists to create styles, But if I’m not natural and Im not relaxed…. What am I?

 *Patiently awaiting my new classification from the peanut gallery*

 And of course the biggest question on top of all… How natural are any of us really no matter how we choose to wear our hair….are you really “all natural” if you wear clothes and not cloth, stilletos with ur afro and not Jesus sandals, deodorant, shave your legs or your underarms, wax ur pubes, wear make up or contact lenses, arch your eyebrows,  eat McDonalds or any other fast food,  use forks, knives, spoons, glasses or plates, live in a house instead of a hut, buy milk from a store instead of a farm… especially if you are online right now reading this post… Because there is nothing natural about facebook, twitter or anything else on the internet…..hello they use electricity, you only use candles…

How can people who claim to be the  “enlightened” as my girlfriend let me know true naturalistas consider themselves (clearly I missed that memo on that one) pick and choose their degree of all natural-ness.. considering themselves the poster child for all-natural everything living then having elements inbedded in their lifestyle that is contradictary to the exact values they are fighting to represent yet try to tell me Im completely unnatural because I straighten my hair sometimes…  -_-

My view in all of this… If someone who kicks the chemicals considers themselves having natural hair, let them define themselves, the same way you define yourself!!!! Because technically they are “natural” whether they rock a natural style everyday or not..

All I know is that the next person who questions how natural I am because my hair is straight, Im going to ask them  to direct me to their cow first because I’ll definitely need a glass of milk before I even start to give them my answer..

 xoxo

Carrie Pink