Have you noticed alot of teens and early 20 somethings going natural ?

Recently, I noticed a number of new transitioners or naturals who are teenagers or early 20's. I love seeing this. There is a youtube channel called "familygoingnatural." and another by "Shidanatural. Rhashida has several videos where she is caring for her daughter's natural hair. Her little girl seems very comfortable with the whole "natural" look and especially looks forward to twists for her twistout. When we women embrace our natural hair and show confidence and pride and acceptance, our children see that and I believe it is easier for them to do the same. However, I think starting when they are young (like Rhashida has) is key because in their adolescent years, their peers exert influence and it is not as likely that they will embrace their nature hair. Positive media focus and high profile celebrities sporting natural hair is also helpful in advancing understanding and acceptance of natural hair. Shortly after the segment of "I Love My Hair" on Sesame Street aired, this video showed up on nearly every natural hair forum and blog. It was a hot topic, and again, this kind of airplay helps to bring natural hair more to mainstream America. Its no accident that a children's show was the medium used to raise awareness of natural hair. With stories of bullying and kids trying to fit in and assimilate on the raise, the timing of this video was great.

Our daughters, sisters, neices, friends' daughters, etc. need a level of pride, self-esteem, confidence that seems to be missing these days. I believe a better image of self would help them resist and overcome bad decisions that are affecting them and causing them to fall short of their potential. I have also noticed people, me included, who are on a natural hair journey, tend to elevate their interest in makeup, earrings, skincare and generally gravitate more towards their femininity. Embracing your natural hair lends itself to a renewed self confidence. It helps us hold fast to our views, preferences, and decisions and gives us a inner strength that allows us to not feel diminished because someone else doesn't agree or understand our natural hair journey and this confidence extends to the other aspects of our life. So, I am so happy to see an increase in our girls going natural.

I hope younger naturals and transitioners will chime in! Maybe, it can help those of us who have daughters. What have you noticed and how can we further understanding and acceptance of natural hair?

I noticed that at my job not sure of the ladies age but they look like they are in early or late 20's and I noticed in a lot of commericals that they ladies have natural hair and that was something you would hardly ever see..

letha wrote:I noticed that at my job not sure of the ladies age but they look like they are in early or late 20's and I noticed in a lot of commericals that they ladies have natural hair and that was something you would hardly ever see..

I've noticed the commercials too...many have natural hair now! My sister is 21 and went natural 2 years ago when I did...we both had scalp issues and just threw in the towel with the whole relaxer thing. She eventually got dreads!

I've noticed it as well, and love it! My main reason for going natural was because of scalp issues, too. I had dandruff something fierce, and it cleared up when I went natural. Also, I had an area in the back where the hair had thinned severely and I think slathering chemicals on every 8 weeks was preventing any from growing back. It's very slowly filling in, but it's still very thin. I'm hoping that it all does, but it remains to be seen. Another reason I decided to go natural was because of my daughter. She has some amazing curls and I think it would make me really upset if she hated her hair the way I always hated mine. The reason I hated mine ended up being unfounded, but for years I didn't want to deal with me supposedly nappy, unruly hair. I think a lot of that had to do with the lack of education from my parents and grandparents on what to do with it. I couldn't be happier now! And the hubby loves it, too!

CurlyNMixed wrote:I've noticed it as well, and love it! My main reason for going natural was because of scalp issues, too. I had dandruff something fierce, and it cleared up when I went natural. Also, I had an area in the back where the hair had thinned severely and I think slathering chemicals on every 8 weeks was preventing any from growing back. It's very slowly filling in, but it's still very thin. I'm hoping that it all does, but it remains to be seen. Another reason I decided to go natural was because of my daughter. She has some amazing curls and I think it would make me really upset if she hated her hair the way I always hated mine. The reason I hated mine ended up being unfounded, but for years I didn't want to deal with me supposedly nappy, unruly hair. I think a lot of that had to do with the lack of education from my parents and grandparents on what to do with it. I couldn't be happier now! And the hubby loves it, too!

YES...the dandruff was horrible for a long time! I still get some dry scalp but nothing like I had! Must be us mixed chicks who are blessed with that one...LOL And my poor mom did the best she could....she had curly hair but nothing like us!



In addition, my hair did thin

Yes i HAVE noticed alot of women starting to go natural . I live in new york and it seems like almost every day somebody stops me and ask me questions about my hair . I love it , sometimes i=I get so excited in trying to explain everything that i do to up keep my hair to them , that at the end of the convo i have to tell them its up to you to see what your hair likes . I kinda think its starting 2 become a fashion statemnet to be natural these days .

EMarie wrote:YES...the dandruff was horrible for a long time! I still get some dry scalp but nothing like I had! Must be us mixed chicks who are blessed with that one...LOL And my poor mom did the best she could....she had curly hair but nothing like us!

In addition, my hair did thin

My mixed cousins have bad dandruff, too, so I wonder if it's a mixed thing... Hmmm. Anyway, my mom had bone straight blonde hair so she knew absolutely nothing about hair with any kind of curl. She just kind of combed mine and my sister's hair out (dry, of course) and left it in a lopsided afro. My dad tried putting ponytails in it, with little or no conditioner, and that wasn't doing it either. My grandmother at least would get two good looking curly poofs in it, but still decided to relax my hair when I was 7 or 8. I will admit that I REALLY wanted it, even begged for it after she mentioned that she was thinking about it. I'm just glad that I decided to go natural now.

I would say that a lot of younger adults are looking to go natural as I have. When I did get perms i had dandruff problems as well, and my hair was unruly like it "rebelled" against the perm,meaning it would lay down when i wanted it to, styles would hold, it was just really bad.but now that I'm natural my hair isnt like that anymore.I did notice alot of people I knew back in high school growing locs, also most of my family is natural with the exception of my mother lol

Yes I would say that alot of young adults are going natural. I'm in my 20s and I hear alot of young women talk about the issues with their hair, such as it not growing and perms just not being in their budget and other things. I went natural because I love my hair and I don't want to feel like I have to straighten my hair because honestly I don't. I also think that it could be a fashion statement also (i hope not lol).

I even convinced other people to go natural without trying! All I did was talk about my hair and how much it was growing and what I was doing with it and they loved that I didn't have to do as much with my hair like they did.

I also think it has to do with a lot of what parents input into their child. If you tell them their beautiful and teach self worth, I promise it will make a difference! They'll be able to walk around with their heads high with their natural hair. If I was told I was beautiful, a lot of things that happened when I was younger wouldn't have happened.

I see lots of young natural young ladies and I go out of my way to get to them to give them compliments.

i noticed it in my city but it appears to be more prevalent among the young GLBTQ community as far as teen to mid 20's. not sure of the connection but i'm glad to see natural hair anywhere

I go to an HBCU so alot of the girls on campus are natural. They have just about every texture and style you could imagine, not to mention color too. There's so many natural femailes that being natural hair is called "Howard Hair." I went natural because I had a short pixie cut that HAD to be touched up every few weeks or so just to maintain that style. In the long run my hair broke off from being overprocessed and dry. So I stretched my next to last relaxer for 3 months, then relaxed then I decided to go natural.. whew!!

I dont think it matters so much why a person decides to go natural, it's their hair and they can do what they want with it. If s/he goes natural because s/he thinks it's fashionable or trendy or "in" then so be it.

queenshakirah wrote:i noticed it in my city but it appears to be more prevalent among the young GLBTQ community as far as teen to mid 20's. not sure of the connection but i'm glad to see natural hair anywhere

what does the Q stand for?

the Q is for questioning (curious)