Back to my roots

Big chop, Bantu knots, twist outs and co-wash are all terms that have been circulating in the media and the World Wide Web for quite some time.

All of these are synonymous with the Natural Hair movement, which has women of colour from all corners of the globe transitioning from their relaxed tresses and heading back to their naturally coiled roots.{{more}}

It is no surprise then that Mintel, the world’s leading market intelligence agency, reported in 2013 that hair relaxer sales had plummeted by 26 per cent since 2008 and by 15 per cent since 2011.

In the second form of the Girls’ High School, my hair was relaxed for the first time. It was a decision that I made with my mother, in the hope of taming my thick, natural hair. From that time, I was constantly reminded by my stylist of all the treatments and other regimens that I needed to follow, if I wanted to have healthy, relaxed hair.

When I joined the media close to three years ago, I quickly realized that I would not always have the time to deal with my hair in the manner required. This fact, coupled with a longing for a change and a lot of research, led me to begin transitioning back to my natural hair. It was only a week ago that I trustingly placed a pair of sharp scissors into my mother’s hands and begged her to cut my hair, after only five months of transitioning, which was filled with intermittent bouts of frustration because of my thick roots and stringy ends.

It is often stated that when the rest of the world sneezes, the Caribbean catches the cold and returning to my natural roots, like so many others around me, led me to wonder about the impact of the natural hair movement on relaxer sales in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“A lot of people have been going the natural route because of the kind of agents used in the chemical process. Sometimes when you relax your hair, it begins to thin out too, so a lot of people have switched,” said Lunetta Bailey, the manager of The Modern Place, which is the agent for SoftSheen-Carson Products, one of the leading companies in hair relaxer.

“It’s (the natural hair market) a very big market. That’s why SoftSheen and Organics and so have tapped into that market and they have created a lot of products for all textures of natural hair. It’s important because with natural hair, you can’t just wash it, you have to treat it as well.”

This new era of women with natural coifs has also ushered in a demand for styling moisturizers, setting lotions and curl creams. Also, naturalistas are engaging in “protective styling” with box braids and weaves, which contribute to an increase in sales for beauty supply stores providing these products.

“More people are going natural so they coming looking for curl cream or curl puddings, something to enhance their natural curls. Instead of using shampoo because shampoo dries out the hair, they use the co-wash to add moisture because the natural hair needs more moisture than the relaxed hair, especially with people working in air conditioning. So, they use puddings, custards, leave-in conditioners to help keep the hair moist or preferably to style the hair,” sales representative at Diamond Girl Beauty Supplies Adonell Joseph said.

When I began my transitioning process, my visits to the salon became less frequent. So, I can only imagine the impact that this movement is having on this particular sector in our multi-island state.

A conversation with Suzanne Goodluck, proprietor of Suzanne’s Hair Studio, seemed to confirm my belief.

“With the natural hair movement, a lot of people tend to think that they can take care of their own natural hair and you have YouTube showing them just about everything. In that aspect, quite a lot of persons basically do their natural hair from YouTube, even in terms of braids and all the stuff. Some of them don’t even go to the salon,” she told me.

However, Auldine Browne of Barnet Fair Hair Fashion said her clientele has actually increased with persons who have just transitioned and are seeking ways to care for their tresses.

Both hairstylists did agree that while some persons are transitioning for the purpose of healthy hair, many others are simply following the current hair fashion trend that is being publicized by celebrities in the media.

“Every trend in hairstyle has its season and right now, it’s the natural season, more of the 70s era where two things happen. One, persons are more into expressing themselves through their natural hair and those who are more into weaves and stuff like that, they are expressing themselves with longer flowing weaves,” Browne said.

“Although more people feel like natural hair is about preserving hair and so on, they still use harmful chemicals in it, like the colour. Most people who go natural, they still colour their hair. If it was all about preserving the health of the hair, they wouldn’t even put colour in it either, because colour damages hair almost as much as relaxer damages the hair.”

Since doing my big chop, visits to natural hair blogs have been frequent, as I desire to take care of my little curly afro to garner maximum results of healthy, natural hair. I discovered the LOC – liquid, oils and cream – method, which dictate that I use a leave-in conditioner, before using a moisturizer or curl cream to add moisture and define curls and finish with natural oils to help seal in moisture.

Goodluck, who specializes in relaxed hair, cautioned me against using too many products in my hair, as they may not be compatible with one another and hence do more harm than good to my natural ‘do.

Having been in business for the past 15 years, Browne gave me some tips on how to take care of my hair the healthy way, using things that can be found in my own kitchen!

“For persons who are more concerned about maintaining the health of their natural hair, natural products will be the ideal products that you would want to use. Natural products like oils: peppermint oil that increases circulation and improves a healthy scalp. Circulation is good; therefore, you’re going to encourage growth. Coconut oil moisturizes the hair and you have aloe products, good in cleansing hair and getting rid of dried impurities from the scalp. You can use things like lemon – you can do your own treatment at home with lemon and honey. Lemon helps to normalize the Ph in the hair. If the Ph in your hair is normalized, then that means your hair will be in a healthier state, so persons who are concerned about preservation in the hair, they can think about products that are not so much in the store,” she said.

In fact, Browne told me that taking care of my natural hair doesn’t have to be expensive. She noted that companies try to capitalize on trends by permeating the market with a lot of products to make people think that they need them in order to take care of their hair.

“You don’t really have to use all those products to have your natural hair looking that way, so if it’s more expensive, it all depends on you and what you want out of it. It doesn’t have to be more expensive than a relaxed look,” the Barnet Hair Fair Fashion proprietor said.

The natural hair movement in all parts of the world is being met with different reactions from people in society. Whether this reaction is positive or negative, it is clear that the movement is increasingly making an impact on hair companies and the products that they create for women of colour. Whether the trend will be sustained for a long time is a question that only the increasing numbers of naturalistas can answer.