Being Natural in the South

Is it just me or does it seem like being natural has a bad rep mainly in the South? When I travel to New York and other places, it seems to be accepted and appreciated. However, I'll admit as much as I lovvvvve the South and would never live anywhere else, we can be a bit behind. Heck, I only know of 2 natural salons in Houston, the 4th largest city in America. Anyone else care to vent about this?

I'm an East Coast city girl so I have no idea on the bad rep the South gives to the naturals.

Can you share alittle more insight on what is said or what is done in the South that has them a bit behind.

I am in the south and I dont really experience any real problems here. I get compliments all the time about my hair. All races have tried to touch it (and that is my pet peeve)!

Also, there are alot of natural salons according to google.

http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SKPC_enUS343US347&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=natural+salon+in+houston

@ Miss Leggz, I am definitely in the South and I must say, I totally agree with you. When transitioning, my closest friends and fam said I would look like a "nappy headed fool". And that's what they said to my face, Lawd knows what they said behind my back. After my BC, I would go out and people would blatantly stare at me, like it was something new. But now that I have learned to take care of my hair, the same people are asking what products I use and wonder if it will make their hair shine like mine. Hhhmmm!!!!!
I remember going into a BSS and asking if they sold chemical free, natural hair care products. The guy "We no have that hea (here)!!!!!"

MissLeggz, I agree with you. And I have noticed that the deeper I go into the country areas, the worse it is. I get stared at all the time and asked "is that yours? How did you do that?" A few older ladies have even looked at me like I was disgusting. It has to be my hair because I have been visiting the same places all my life and my hair is the only thing that has changed.
However, the times that I have visited my city friends I don't even get a second look because I guess natural hair is not a new phenomenon to them.
I have learned the most part to ignore but educate the ignorant. Sometimes I still get upset but that's usually when, like I said, I am in the deep deep country.

MissLeggz I so agree with you. I am from Memphis and I think that rep is still strong in TN, Mississippi, Ark, and Alabama as well. I live in LA now where people are accepting of just about anything so it's always a dilemma when I go home. Last time I went home my hair was in its natural state with 2 flat twists into a pinup style and my aunt looked at me with a kinda disgusted look on her face and said 'is that how they wearing their hair in LA now?' of course its a generalization to say that everyone in my city thinks like that (cuz clearly my dad hate relaxers and never wanted me to get one in the first place lol) but the looks I get in Memphis vs. when I lived in DC and now in LA are completely different. BTW my aunts hair is so thin and so broken from relaxers...I just don't get it. I call Memphis the relaxer capital of the world lol.

I am encouraged to see other natural sistas when I am out and about though. 5 years ago I wouldn't see nearly as many young adults wearing their natural hair (although older women were more comfortable with it).

I think the south in general is just behind when it comes to a lot of stuff - and this is just another thing they are behind on. I don't know of (m)any natural hair care salons there either.

I live in Atlanta, and you would think with all this diversity here, people would be more accepting. In fact, my co-workers are always telling me that I don't look right when I wear my hair out (bantu knots.) or that my hair would look "pretty" if I get it blown out.. I only had one supporter (at work) throughout my journey. When I went to a "natural salon"- they kept pushing me to straighten my hair and get it layered..

I grew up in Houston and I totally agree with you.

I was born and raised in New York, and I moved down here in February. I can say that for me, it didn't really matter where I went, because the main people who commented on my hair were my close friends, family, and classmates. When I came down south, I went into a school where most black girls were wearing long permed hair, weaves, or extensions. I have no problem with weaves or extensions, but at that time I knew that I needed to begin to accept myself before I started adding a bunch of fake hair into my head.

Now I'm in a predominantly white school, where people are either intimidated, fascinated, or unsupportive of my natural hair. It's mostly the other black girls who see my natural hair as something shameful, but the white kids are captivated by it. I had one white girl, while I was doing a two strand twist in class cause I knew I wouldn't have time when I got home, say she wished she had black hair. I was like WOOOOW, that's funny, cause it seems like most black girls feel the exact opposite way. I've been called everything from granny to Africa, and I still wear my 'fro with pride, just to prove to myself that the opinions of others can't affect me anymore.

So, truth be told, I only saw a slight difference in opinions when I came down south, but that's probably because I keep to myself and try to stay away from certain people.

There aren't any natural salons here either that I know of.

I don't get dirty looks from people (I dont think). When people are looking at me, in my mind I am saying to them, "I know I look good." LOL!!!

I haven't gotten any negative comments about my hair....well my father in law. He and my son were looking at my wedding pics together. He told my son, "See, that's back when your momma had her hair done." I just laughed and though to myself, " I know I look good." LOL!!!!

I usually get compliments from southerners, or questions about how I get my hair like "that". Its never negative though.

I live in Memphis & totally agree with you. I've concluded that it's just ignorance & a lack of desire to know better. I transitioned for a year & it was mainly to lessen the # of questions that I would have to answer. After I BC'd, I got very hurtful comments from friends & even my mom. The running statement was "Don't look to me to be supportive because I'm just not into the natural thing" & "Are you on some kind of spiritual journey or something? What are you trying to accomplish by doing this?" No one got that I just wanted to have healthy hair. I had to soon learn to get over it b/c it was really about what I wanted. I still get some random dumb comments but I just laugh them off now. We really only have one natural hair salon in the city. There are stylists that claim to specialize in natural hair but they use silicone-laden products & just want to flat iron your hair.

My thoughts aren't to condemn the South specifically. I consider myself to be a traditional Southern Belle myself. However, it's unfortunate that some of the ideals black people have held on to are still resonating here. It occurs everywhere, but in some places it is underhand, sometimes here it can be blatant. None of my friends are in support of the natural. They keep telling me I'm brave and I couldn't do it. I really don't understand what the big deal is. To me, they are brave for putting sodium hydroxide on their scalp. And they are in pharmacy school with me and full aware of what the chemical is capable of. My grandparents are unfortunately color struck. My grandmother has what would be considered "good hair" but still chooses to perm it. She once told me when I was little, "you're lucky you're light skinned or else I wouldn't want to keep you" Love her to death, she's my best friend. But I will NEVER forget that statement.

I think the issue is more so that naturals aren't in great abundance here in the South. So, you're considered an outsider, or some type of spectacle. And, it you may see 100 new people before you see someone else with natural hair. Like many have said before. Being natural doesn't mean I'm suddenly listening to only NeoSoul or becoming a vegetarian. You don't have to be a revolutionary. It doesn't have to be that big of deal. After all, it is JUST HAIR!

To me, being natural they might think I look like a slave. But I'm the one that's free.

I'm from New Orleans & I know what you mean! When I told my HS friends I was going natural & I was going to cut my relaxed ends off, I got weird looks & one of my friends even asked me what I was going to do if my hair turned out to be nappy. In my mind, I'm like wtf...I told her, I would just accept the fact that I have nappy hair. What else would I do haha?! They never got to see my hair in person because I moved back to LA but, they saw it on FB & most had positive things to say.

This is a really interesting topic because I've seen the exact opposite when in the south. Now my home is in Louisville KY but I went to undergrad in Little Rock, Arkansas (Philander Smith College to be exact). My inspiration to go natural began there. I had never seen so many black people with natural hair in dreads and other interesting styles.

In Louisville the only people I'd seen with dreads were hippies and they were always white so it was a real treat for me to see brothers with dreads at school and to see sisters rocking their curls! They were in the minority but it was not a big deal at all.

Then I went to Fisk University in Nashville TN for grad school and was again amazed by the natural beauties I saw on campus. My final inspiration is a girl in my class who shaved her head 4 -5 years ago while she was in undergrad. Her hair now is absolutely gorgeous! And I remember looking at her and thinking, "Heck, if she can do it, so can I!" I haven't actually told her that she was my inspiration to go natural but just seeing the versatility and flat out awesomeness of her hair (that she does herself!) made a huge impact on me.

In retrospect, I"m wondering if perhaps seeing such acceptance of natural beauties in the south were only because I was attending historically black colleges.

I've found, unfortunately, that the reactions to natural hair down here are directly related to the type of hair you have. The good/bad hair nonsense is alive and well!

I can only speak from my personal experiences. I've attended 2 HBCUs. One in Louisiana and one in Texas. At the school in Louisiana, there may have been natural girls but they had (don't get mad) "good Creole hair". So, you wouldn't know. Blondie is right, it depends on what type of hair you have unfortunately. At the school in Texas, students dress like they're going to the club. To be honest, the whole southern belle idea is that everyday is a fashion show. I love it tho. I like to play dress up and I'm a total girly girl. My mother used to tell me all the time "don't go outside without anything on your lips" and "where you going with that t-shirt on" when I was younger. I don't even own a pair of tennis shoes!

I think the natural thing is becoming more popular now EVERYWHERE. So maybe we'll catch up one day...

I am originally from the south and am now living in New England. I've been wearing my natural hair out since Feb of this year and thus far I've got nothing but complements (eventhough I am TERRIBLE at stying it lol). The entire time I was in the south I was relaxed or "weaved". I will be moving back to the south in the next few months so I am very curious to see what (if any) reactions I'll get. Very interesting.

I live in the south an notice that as well. I only told a few ppl in my school i was going natural and they gave me crazy looks. Im from NY and all different kinds of styles and looks are accepted. A part me wishes i could go back to NY. But i have noticed some natural females in the south but it doesnt really seem the norm.

Im in the South (South Carolina to be exact) and I haven't had any negative comments or looks from outsiders (family is a different story). I am from Columbia, SC but currently live in Rock Hill, SC (20 minutes south of Charlotte, NC). I did the big chop May of 2008, the first time my mom saw me with it she didn't recognize me because she didn't know I was planning on chopping all my hair off. Keep in mind I had shoulder length thick hair-so I let a LOT of hair go, lol. But she wasn't really negative she was just WHY? But ironically she's been wearing her hair in a little fro FOREVER but I guess she didn't consider that natural. My aunts were the same way "Why, your hair was so long and pretty". My older cousin was absolutely disgusted and everytime she sees me now she make sure to let me know lol. But the thing is with her, her hair is thin, breaking off, and she puts the cheap weaves in her hair and let one of my other cousins do her relaxers (who has no experience) yet, she's disgusted with my hair. My younger cousins (they're between the ages of 16-25 loved it!!! My dad didn't care either way. No one in my family knew I was doing the BC. My friends knew because I've talked about it for awhile, but they were surprised when they saw me and I went from shoulder length hair to maybe less than an inch fro. They were also supportive and has been even more supportive since my hair is the big wild crazy fro like I initially wanted.

But enough about the family- outsiders love my hair, I get compliments all the time. I see natural hair all the time (believe it or not) I see 2 or 3 curly heads a day when I'm out and about. At school (graduate school at University of South Carolina) I see curly heads a lot there to.

Believe me I understand what you guys are saying about curlies in the south, but the only negativity I recieve is from family. I have a few people I've come in contact with considering going natural. I try to give them the best advice I can. Going natural was a good decision for me but it may not be for them (at this time).

akaprincess00 wrote:I live in Memphis & totally agree with you. I've concluded that it's just ignorance & a lack of desire to know better. I transitioned for a year & it was mainly to lessen the # of questions that I would have to answer. After I BC'd, I got very hurtful comments from friends & even my mom. The running statement was "Don't look to me to be supportive because I'm just not into the natural thing" & "Are you on some kind of spiritual journey or something? What are you trying to accomplish by doing this?" No one got that I just wanted to have healthy hair. I had to soon learn to get over it b/c it was really about what I wanted. I still get some random dumb comments but I just laugh them off now. We really only have one natural hair salon in the city. There are stylists that claim to specialize in natural hair but they use silicone-laden products & just want to flat iron your hair.

hey akaprincess where is the natural salon?

I live in the south and there are about three natural salons in my city that I actually know about but I am seeing more and more naturals in my area. There has really been an influx of naturals in my church. I haven't received any negs about being natural. I don't think anyone is brave enough to say anything to my face. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] But I'm finding that it is becoming more and more accepted or the norm in my area. However, my area of the south may be the exception.

So, an update. I'm really excited. I'm just getting home from a "spot" and I saw soooo many girls with natural hair. I felt so at home and so many people complimented me on my hair. Maybe I just didn't notice it before...

i am still in school and when i first went natural everyone looked at me like i was some foreign object....

ive been completly natual for almost a year and now almost everyone has gotten "used to" my natural hair..

every now and then i get those "you need to do something with that mess" comments...ugh.

I think the demarcation line between ignorance and acceptance has more to do with socio-economic factors/general education levels than the North/South idea.

I currently live in Raleigh, NC, but I grew up in West Texas, went natural in Austin, and also lived in NYC and NJ for several years. I've have had overwhelmingly positive experiences in Raleigh-Durham, where university graduates and professionals come from all over the world to study and work. BUT if I drive an hour to some of the smaller, less-economically-advantaged towns (or bump into some at my local grocery store), my TWA will get some funny looks.