Ebony Hair Magazine

12
Pros of Going Natural

description

A vibrant hair magazine for young women of color. A publication by Tiffany Clayton.

Transcript of Ebony Hair Magazine

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Pros of Going Natural

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Pros of Going Natural

by Tiffany Clayton

“Na uh! It’s too much work!”

“Girl you just haven’t seen my hair!”

“If you black without creamy crack...you just wack!”

For years, Black women have had a misunderstanding of life without a perm. For starters, you won’t become Don King’s twin if you go natural. Sure a perm is more convienent and makes hair easier to manage, but is it really the best choice? Is it more expensive to go natural? How do you take care of natural hair? With the help of some sistas, we uncovered the truth of NATURAL HAIR.

There are many reason why women may indulge in perms. Maintaining natural hair isn’t as hard as people make it seem. Healthy hair, natural or chemically con-trolled, requires proper care and products. With a variety of hair care items available, there’s some type of remedy for everyone. It’s much cheaper to pay a $30-$45 dollar price for a routinely wash and press than getting a perm. Some have claimed to feel more coneected with themselves with natural hair. Who wouldn’t want a self-esteem booster? Jessica Moore stated “You become one with your roots, literraly.” Myself, I’ve been natural all mylife. Weather can affect your hair texture and styling ability, but it’s a choice I don’t re-gret. Often, I consider getting a perm, but then I realize I wouldn’t change a thing about my hair.

Afros were once the only natural option for black women. Now, they are no longer seen as the only style pos-sible. Suddenly, braids, twists, locks (also known as “dreadlocks”) and cornrows became popular. Once women began to see that they had options-many of them-they took full advantage. A lot of women hadn’t seen their hair in its natural state since childhood, when mothers consid-ered hair-straightening almost as a rite of passage from girlhood to young wom-anhood. As a result, they weren’t quite sure how to treat their own hair. Some would try natural hair as a fad, then go back to relaxed hair, which they felt more comfortable with. Still, enough women stuck with it. From the awkward grow-out phases, some mean-spirited comments from family and friends they dared to be different.

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for Women of Color

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L’ O R E A L

Bring out the Queen

` in you.

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THRIFY ANIMAL PRINT HANDBAG

Why not try something different?

4 Must Have Fashion Acessories for Your Hair

LONG, FLASHY EARRINGS

SCARVES

Whether you use it as a headband or wear it around your neck, they can be used for any fashionstatement.

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Great for casual and dressy attire.

4 Must Have Fashion Acessories for Your Hair

BOLD HAIR COLOR

SCARVES

Whether you use it as a headband or wear it around your neck, they can be used for any fashionstatement.

Stay warm and have fun decorating your

beautiful hair!

Nothing brings in the new year like new hair color..

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Ebony’s CornerReader’s share their experience on going natural.

Dawn’s Hair Story

I didn’t have the money to indulge in my every 2-week hair ritual. I complained all the time about the fact that I couldn’t get my hair done. Then, God stopped me one day and said, “Stop com-plaining about what you don’t have and embrace what you do have.” From that point, I decided that I would grow my hair out and see what my natural texture was.

Toshia’s Hair Story.

I decided to go natural in 2000, after being dubbed the “Weave Queen!.” I’d had enough of spending literally thousands of dollars a year on this certain look. I was tired of trying to become beautiful, and I wanted to know if I was beautiful without the fillers and additions.

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Bianca’s Hair Story

By summer of 2008 I was in Turkey and I learned the hard way, that salty water and heat can damage your hair to! So I finally did my big chop last year and went completely natural again for the second time.

Amina’s Hair Story

I went natural on September 29th 2006. I wore my hair natural when I was in primary school in Burundi be-cause a short cut was mandatory. Of course I did not know anything about maintenance: I never used a condi-tioner, I used a regular body soap to wash my hair daily and Vaseline.

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Chrisette Michele: Her Hair StoryBlogger Necole was able to interview the R&B singer about her daring move to shave her hair.

Necole: Thanks for speaking with me. I wanted to talk to you about those new photos of you that hit the internet.

Chrisette: It was crazy! I never get weird pictures or anything like that on the internet. That’s not my claim to anything so my Dad hit me up and he tells me there is a picture of me on the internet with my head shaved and I’m like “Oh MY God! that’s not good”.

Necole: You revealed your new hairstyle at a show at Albany State University right?

Necole: Someone made the comment that shaving her hair off was the most liberating ex-perience she has had as a woman. Do you feel the same way?

Chrisette: I didn’t really plan to reveal it. I was at a show and I had a hat on so when I went backstage there was a bunch of kids with cameras. They saw the front of my head and since it was so light blond and close to my skin complexion they made headlines that I had shaved my head bald. I was a bit disappointed. I did cut my hair off. It’s a quarter inch. It’s not shaven but I was so over the hair damage and every-thing I was dealing with having the other hair style so I said that I was going to go

Necole: When I posted your photos to my blog with the quote from you on why you decided to go natural, there were over 200 Comments. I didn’t expect that. I remem-ber one comment in particular said that “Women who have natural hair look down on women who prefer to relax their hair because they secretly hate their own hair” and so forth. It was like a battle between those who prefer natural hair and those who prefer relaxed hair.

Chrisette: It definitely was liberating because people told me that my style; who I am as a musician, who I am as a person, and who I am as a body type would never fly in this industry. 1) be-cause I’m too thick 2) because my hair

Chrisette: It’s so interesting to me because my thing is I always want to bring unity. For me it’ll never be a battle between a natural sister and a relaxed sister. It’ll always be what’s best for you and what’s best for me is having the healthiest hair possible. I’m a girl who has always had healthy hair and getting into the music industry has ru-ined my hair care regimen because you have to be on 10 all the time. So the easiest way for me to be on 10 is to be on 10 naturally.

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Chrisette: Well, the cool thing about my label is that they don’t do much at all. They are free-spirited with

Necole: In the past few weeks, I feel as though a lot of artists have been step-ping out and making statements in the name of “creative freedom” and expres-sion. What was your initial reaction to Erykah Badu’s “Window Seat” video?Chrisette: The day the album was released I went to her album release party in Los Angeles. I have always been her biggest fan. Her video definitely inspired me to be comfortable being myself and to be honest with myself. She said “this is me, this is who I am, lets think outside the box” and that’s definitely what I am saying with everything I am now and everything that I am doing now. So I am so proud of her for being so brave and courageous.

Necole: I saw her video and it actually made me sit back and evaluate every-thing in my life and everything I was doing. Like am I a part of this “group think”? I go through stages with my hair just like the next woman. Do I want to be straight..do i want to be big and wild..how will people react to this or that? Like I feel at times we use our hair as a security blanket. The longer my hair is or the “bigger” I wear it, the more I hide my insecurities. And then sometimes I just feel like India Arie “I am not my hair”

Chrisette: But the truth of the matter is, everyone keep saying to me “I am not my hair”. I AM my hair. Whether I wear long tresses on my head or short naps, that’s me. And when you say something

was nappy 3) because I wasn’t singing about what everyone else was singing about. I am not interested in really selling sex, that’s not really my brand so I’ve faced a lot of challenges so far and wanting to go natu-ral for 6-7 months now was a challenge. People that I asked (not from my label) was like “You can’t do that. That doesn’t match fashion. You can’t be high-fashion with nappy hair”.Necole: You actually had a natural hairstyle when you first signed to Def Jam. Did your music label encourage you to change your image?

me and they’ve always been very gracious watching me change my hair all the time. Even when they signed me, it was kinky. They signed me with nappy hair.

crazy about it or disrespect it, you hurt my feelings. Artists like to make believe that nothing effects them and that they

love haters and haters make them stron-ger. That’s a load of bullcrap. I think that Haters are mean and that’s all that’s to it. So…I am my hair.

For more information and pictures, please visit Necole’s website www.necolebitchie.com.

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