Last week I posted a video of Miss Jessie's Co-founder and CEO, Miko Branch, discussing how to successfully transition hair back to its natural state, with Essence magazine's esteemed beauty bloggers. If you happened to miss that post, you can click HERE to check it out. Now that Miko has filled you in on how to successfully restore your hair to its natural state and what to expect during the transitioning process, she and Essence.com will further your natural hair education, with this informative clip that disproves some common myths pertaining to natural hair and natural hair care. Whether you are on the fence about committing to transition to your natural texture, are newly all-natural and adjusting to this change, or you have been all-natural for years, but still have questions due to gossip heard through the grapevine, curl expert Miko Branch can help to clarify some of these myths.
source: essence.com
To recap and elaborate:
MYTH 1: Your natural hair is impervious to breakage during natural styling. FALSE! Hair is delicate by nature, with or without the influence of chemical additives. Your natural texture still consists of fragile fibers, culminating in each curly strand hair. The wear and tear associated with over manipulation, the use of hot styling tools, and over-saturation with products will inevitably lead to some degree of damage. Going natural will not exempt you from this fate, so this is why it is important too, as Miko says, "Be mindful of your hair in its natural state." If you find a good balance in your styling routine, breakage can be avoidable.
MYTH 2: Natural hair is easier to care for than treated hair, and will always be easy to manage. FALSE! As Miko says, a wash n' go fro may not require as much effort to polish up, but looking fresh and flawless always takes a little bit of effort. Every hair texture, from slick and straight to the tightest curls and coils, is bound to encounter the occasional bad hair day. Therefore, it is inevitable that your natural textured hair is going to require a small degree of maintenance and tender loving care, in order to avoid this. Washing and styling natural hair protective twists, braids, and coils diversify your look options while also helps to maintain your hair's health, however mastering these styling techniques takes practice, and practice can take time. Natural hair is an adventure- you have to experiment and play to find out which styles work best for you and your personal routine, but with proper advanced planning and patience, you are guaranteed to find something that works for you. Just do not underestimate the care needed to keep your natural hair happy and healthy.
MYTH 3: Only those of African heritage possess highly textured hair. FALSE! Textured hair is not bound to any particular heritage, because many ethnicities consist of individuals with multi-textured, curly hair. As Miko describes in the clip, the clientele seen at the Miss Jessie's Salon is incredibly diverse, because people of all ages, ethnicities, and genders have the potential to experience being blessed with beautiful, textured curls.
MYTH 4: Men find natural hair unattractive. FALSE! The fact that this myth ever made it into the circulation of human awareness makes my skin crawl, however it cannot be denied that generally speaking, the complicated history of societal sexual politics and the socially imposed standards for the expectations of female beauty has not always favor textured curls... and that is exactly what makes this a myth. The idea that no man could ever find a woman with textured hair attractive is based on generalizations and assumptions, which have been made based on past trends in fashion and beauty, and as my mother always says, "To always assume, makes an ASS of U and ME". It's important to recognize that trends are not fixed in stone, but rather are always in a constant state of transition by nature. Fads are fleeting; a hundred fifty years ago, it was considered gauche for women to wear pants, and four hundred years before that, men regularly sported high heels. The expected standards that quantify outer beauty are inevitably inconsistent and fickle, which is why allowing a mercurial aspect of culture to define and determine the preference of every individual person's taste is absolutely absurd. I've never known anyone to experience rejection in the dating world due to their hairstyling choices, however, if this is something that has happened to you or someone you know, consider it a dodged bullet. Anyone shallow enough to walk away from a good person because of the way they look is obviously struggling with their own issues and insecurities, and that is baggage you do not want, need, or deserve. Natural hair is sexy- period!
MYTH 5: Natural hair grows slowly, or does not grow at all. FALSE! For people with exceptionally tight curls and coils, hair shrinkage is a natural thing, ultimately causing hair to appear much shorter than it actually may be. Length is obtained via a consistently healthy hair regiment. Fortunately, there are plenty of methods and products that can help combat shrinkage, if you desire to see more length throughout the diverse curl patterns that exist within your textured hair. For instance, Miss Jessie's Super Sweetback Deep Treatment actually gives curls more length, while also increasing your hair's natural growth. Check out for more information on that product, as well as everything else the Miss Jessie's line has to offer.
MYTH 6: You are still natural if you chemically alter your hair. Today there are plenty of hair treatments currently on the market that do not completely strip your hair of its curly texture and fully straighten it, but they are designed to combat frizz and simplify at-home styling of your curls. Though your hair may not be completely bone straight after treatments such as these, the imposition of these chemicals obviously means your hair is no longer natural. However, there is a strange grey area when it comes to hair coloring. There are plenty of people who rock their natural texture without the influence of any chemical treatments but do get their hair dyed or highlighted. Though the physical structure of the hair may not differ after getting hair colored, technically the addition of permanent hair dyes in any capacity means the hair is no longer considered natural. Though people's opinions vary on this one, technically hair no longer qualifies as natural, once any chemically based alteration with permanent to semi-permanent results are applied to the hair.
Source: Instagram
And don't forget to pre-order your copy of Miko and Titi Branch's memoir and business guide, Miss Jessie's- Creating a Successful Business from Scratch- Naturally, for more pearls of wisdom! Click HERE to get your copy today!
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