The Natural Hair Movement
We’ve been battling this topic of hair for quite some time.
Ensuring the visibility and respect for all hair textures remain equal. This word EQUAL... it is constantly being desired in every aspect of life and the love of all hair types proves to be no different. Why is it always being fought for? Who is it that continues to want to divide and conquer? Is it really that hard to not have a hierarchy and for everyone to be on an even playing field?
The saga continues to find the truth within these questions but it all comes back to the answer being quite simple yet humans steadily find ways to complicate things with their own ulterior motives. Let’s take a little history lesson in The Natural Hair Movement by going to it's origin in the 60's, seeing it’s relevancy and its resurrection in the past few years!
Back in the 1960's The Black Panthers Civil Rights movement was huge. They stood for the love of everything black and protecting the life of just that. One pivotal moment was Angela Davis rocking her natural afro. The beauty and confidence that exuded from her was unthinkable for everyone was pressing and chemically straightening their hair. To see her wear her hair how she saw fit brought a new sense of freedom and self love for her as a woman and more so as a black woman. This open the doors to let black women to begin wearing their hair however they wanted to to see an alternative way of rocking their natural hair... naturally the way it was. As we went into the 80's and 90's the style of the afro died down to where you didn't see it as much as women became more involved in corporate America. Do we straighten our hair to get the interview in order to secure the job? What can we do to fit in and not appear "different"?
In the early 2000's the Natural Hair Movement returned stronger than ever as the black community began to learn themselves more and having a strong desire to want to reconnect with their roots. From the likes of Angela Davis iconic afro to Chaka Khan's voluminous curls to Grace Jones unapologetic flat top fade... today we now wear our hair in styles that reflect our authentic selves. We rock it natural, we rock it straight, we rock it curly or bald. We no longer are accepting validity for our diverse beauty and the self love reflected in that is just beautiful in its own right. Whether you want to wear weaves, wigs or locs. We officially are in the driver seat to navigate every inch of us.
How Glorious is that!
We want to make sure that we keep the narrative of this movement to remain true. In media we are seeing a lot of exposure to our sisters with fine/spiral curls and we must continue to make sure all light is passed to every texture and strand. Fine, Thick, Coarse or no hair at all... make sure we all are displayed in the most desirable lighting. For the movement was started do to coarse thick hair not being desirable. So lets have more Youtube videos, IG and Facebook highlights showcasing how to care and love for this type of hair and then jump on it with likes and love to support the beauty of these hair types as well!
Below are a few photos to show the diversity our hair textures for we naturally have every texture from the finest strands to the thickest curls. Oh how we love us... ALL OF US!
- Sun Gods
