Why Are So Women Returning To Natural?

First let me start off by saying that most women will say that they’re going natural and I say returning to natural. Going natural sounds like you’re going somewhere you’ve never been. How can go natural when you were born natural? When I was transitioning I would say that I was growing out my relaxer and the reply would always be, “you going natural?” Of course I would say yes because it sounds natural but I was not going I was returning to my natural hair. So why are so many are returning to their natural hair?
There are so many reasons but I’d like to break them down into 3 categories.

Let’s meet the Soul Nappy’s. You know how people talk about soul mates well the Soul Nappy is connected to natural hair like a soul mate. They are the ones who never quite felt comfortable with relaxed hair. It’s not to say that they don’t like straight hair but they don’t love it. They love seeing women with big juicy afro’s. They drool over soft twists and smile when they see a neat set of loc’s. Soul Nappy’s have long love/hate relationship with their relaxed hair. They loved getting it done and walking out the salon with their hair all flipped and dipped, but a week later they hate it. They grew up around the relaxers and everyone they knew had one so they try to conform, however, it becomes a serious struggle for the Soul Nappy’s. Soul Nappy deep down inside see themselves as natural but they go through a tug of war over being themselves and pleasing other people. These are the women who wake up one day and decide this it. I’m cutting if off. They don’t care for long transitioning. Once their mind is made up they know deep down inside that they are making the choice that pleases them. They don’t usually wear extensions because they are so comfortable with their hair. The love they have for their hair is more than superficial it’s soul deep. These women are the ones that are in it for life. Being natural is who they are and they have no desire to change that.

Now lets meet the Fad Nappy’s. You know the ones who like what seems to be in style for now. The will see women with natural hair and to them it’s looking “mad fly”, and they began to wonder how it they would look with natural. Now though they like natural hair they are still very fond of straight hair. Their struggle is being natural and staying relaxed. They began by wearing natural looking wigs or weaves to comfort their decision. Their need is not as strong as the Soul Nappy, so they’re not quite there yet. They will, however, grow out the relaxer to return to their natural hair, but they know deep down inside they’re not staying natural. They go back and forth with flat ironing their hair straight and wearing it kinky. They are still in awe of the so called pretty hair so if they hair is too kinky they will not keep it natural. The Fad Nappy natural state will last about 2 years some will go as far as 4 years but the average Fad Nappy will be 2 years. Once a Fad Nappy goes back to relaxing her hair she may begin to miss her natural hair for some reason, especially when she see a woman with natural hair. A few Fad Nappy’s will end up becoming Soul Nappy’s but most will just be Fad Nappy’s.

Last but definitely not least is the Necessity Nappy’s, the NN’s for short. They love straight hair. Straight hair is more than beautiful to them. They sit around wondering why they were born with nappy hair. The hardest thing to do is to stop relaxing their hair even if it is severely damaged. The reason for them to return to natural hair is because they have ran out of options and they have no choice. The NN will hide their hair for the longest yet when there is a conversation about natural hair, they will mention that they are natural but they can’t handle it so they wear wigs, weaves and braids. Every once in a while they will have their natural hair out and reluctantly wear it in a puff or twist. They really do put in the effort to become comfortable with their natural but it is hard to get around the whole nappy head/bad hair thing. They go on websites that are geared toward women who are natural because they do want to understand their hair and truly want to make the best effort to take care of their hair. They want to love their hair but it’s hard for the NN sisters to really wrap themselves around hair that has been condemned for many years. How do these women get passed this dislike of kinky hair? The majority of them don’t. there a few who do began to fall in love with natural hair, it’s not a deep love but it’s love none the less. The NN’s need encouragement to the max. They also need comfort because they see having to be natural is some what of a loss to them. It sort of hurts them to wear their hair in their natural state, so we have to handle the NN’s with kid gloves. When an NN comes to the other side of being natural I call it glorious because mentally it was extreme battle for them to over come.

There may so many other reasons for returning to natural hair but these are the core reasons. Most of us have stories as to why they wear their hair natural and most of the reasons are the ones that impacted this decision. I, myself, am a hair fanatic. I love all hair but my love for Natural hair is soul deep. I love reading about it, talking about it, and touching it. I was born to wear my hair in it’s natural state. I was not always there but when I decided to go there, I knew I was on board for life. We may not all come from the same place but it’s wonderful when we arrive there.


Peace, Blessings and Prosperity, Floeva