Monday, 23 September 2013

Natural in the city; a trend or here to stay?




If you live in Lagos, you should have noticed the rise in the number of ladies going au naturel. Now I am sure in other cities in Nigeria there is also  rise but I live in Lagos now and can only comment from my experience here.  

So natural hair is on the rise; more and more Nigerian women are doing the BC and starting out the journey of self-discovery and hair and all that jazz. You don’t have to be an overly observant person to have noticed all the kinky sisters walking around Lagos. Because believe me we are everywhere. I mean everywhere; from TWAs to big in your face afros to twists outs and two strand twists, we are everywhere.  So the "trend" has caught on, I don’t think it is a bad thing. But the thing with trends is that they pass and if ladies are doing because it’s a trend then once this trend moves on what happens then? 

I worry that if one does not go natural for pure love of one’s hair and self then one can easily be swept away with the tides. I hope that ladies are going natural for their own personal reasons and they have truly seen the light. As much as this may be a trend I believe it is a good trend. We have not won yet but we are getting there.

I remember seeing picture of my mom when she was younger with an afro. And it wasn’t just her, everyone in that era had afros and afro puffs. Then came the relaxers and weaves and human hair and now looks like we are right back to the beginning. You can also say that this will mean another cycle has begun, maybe, but I doubt it. We now know more about our hair and the benefits of keeping it in its natural state.  May be on the return of the relaxer only the true converts will stand tall, flying the natural flag (lol)

I really don’t like it when people say “oh your hair is natural, it’s in vogue now or it’s the trend”. NOPE! I went natural because my hair didn’t do so well relaxed and I didn’t help the situation by flat ironing and coloring it. I am happy I went natural; do I think of relaxing my hair again? Not in this life time.

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