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Maya Jeanne's avatar

i'm coming up on three years loc'd and truly have NEVER felt more beautiful, snd and like myself! i don't do frequent retwists, rarely style it, just let it be. i've never been more in love with the way i look. 🥰

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Shelley Paterson's avatar

I love this for you Maya as you should!

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Mayda ➰'s avatar

Aaaah this is so timely! I’ve been having knotless braids, stitch braids and Fulani braids back-to-back for the past 2 years. This year, I decided to use Ramadan as a springboard to stop wearing synthetic hair and only style/braid my natural hair. I clearly didn’t think this through 🤣 but I’ll tru to hold tight to my commitment until December. It’s a learning curve because it is forcing me to learn how to care for my hair and truly embrace it. I’m curious to know what your go-to style is?

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Shelley Paterson's avatar

That I totally get, sometimes you just have to challenge yourself but you can do it! The more time you spend with your hair the easier and quicker it gets to style I promise you! It’s just about putting in that time!

Me personally I used to love a slick back bun but learning to let it go because i’d like to have edges by the time I’m 50😂. So usually style with twist outs, braid outs or wash and gos that you can style however! I usually just wear my hair down. When I want it out my face i’ll just throw it in a puff or a messy bun type look.

Trying to get into doing more styles with braiding my natural hair to spice it up a bit too!

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Kristyn's avatar

This is so timely for me as literally a couple of hours ago, I sent my mom and sister a picture of my semi-failed twist out asking if it was presentable enough for zoom. Millennial-cusp sis said yes. Mom said no- not professional (and neither was my outfit according to her, but I digress). Wearing my natural 4C hair and ensuring it looks good all 360 degrees while also being a new mom to an infant is tough. Who has the time?? Who has the skill?? (not me)

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Anayo's avatar

The struggle! 😩 See this is where a hair calendar would work

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Deymadamvicky's avatar

What an insightful article. However, as an older black woman, I must tell you that for some of us, our hair simply does not cooperate and that’s when the wigs come out. But I do agree with you.

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Anayo's avatar

We love a good wig

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Taylor Simone Haynes's avatar

awesome essay!!!<3 made think about all the media we see too. I started doing this thing where I only engage in media with Black women that wear their natural hair. My Pinterest is filled with afros and so many different ways to style natural hair. I think it's all about what images you conjure through your engagement with whatever media. When I was constantly seeing women with wigs, then it made me want to get a wig. But once I started curating my media, it helped soo damn much. I really resonate when you talked about how people make it seem "difficult" to style natural hair. I've always thought braids and wigs were even more work. Right now, I'm focused on growing my hair, so all I've been doing is a low bun, sometimes bantu knot-out if I'm going somewhere fancy. The cycle is truly so repetitive and expensive too. I think about all the money I wasted on hair; it's scary!

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