Cover Image from O! Magazine’s September 2012 Issue

When the cover of the September issue of O! magazine arrived in my inbox, my initial reaction to the ‘makeover’ issue was that Oprah looked like her usual gorgeous self. However, social media and the natural hair blogging community were buzzing with mixed emotions about whether Oprah’s hair was actually in its au naturale state.

So I set out to get the final word from Lady O’s longtime hairstylist Andre Walker. After seeing the topic covered extensively by Madame Noire and the rest of the blogosphere, I decided to talk to him about more pressing (no pun intended) issues than Oprah’s braid-out.

Oprah’s longtime hairstylist Andre Walker

Like the current state of my at-home beauty closet and the fact that I (like many of you) am probably buying all of the wrong products to take care of my hair. After talking with Andre about the must-have hair care products women should have at home, I discovered I was right because I only own 3 out of the 10 things he mentioned. Check out Walker’s recommendations and see if your at-home beauty product game is up to par?

source: kissntellchantell

I’ve been looking around the internet trying to determine what exactly constitutes as “natural hair”.

I was under the impression that a person is “natural” if her hair is free of chemical relaxers. However, after observing natural hair blogs, Youtube, Black Twitter, Pi Nappa Kappa, Natural Hair Meetup annoucements and any place black women gather in large numbers, it seems that the “natural movement” is really just the “kinky curly fro” movement.

Am I out because I actually like wearing my hair straight?

18 months ago, I received my last relaxer. As I’ve discussed before, I stopped getting relaxers because my hairstylist told me chemical straighteners stunt hair growth. Relaxers never got my hair bone straight without the help of a cosmetology license, a blowdryer with a comb and a smoking hot ceramic flat iron anyway, so I figured I could do without the chemicals and achieve the same look.

I’m still growing out my relaxer, and I think my hair is about half-natural. Yet, I hear people say “I’m natural” after skipping a single relaxer retouch. More than once, I’ve wanted to point out that washing your hair and letting it air dry doesn’t mean you’re natural, but I refrain.

I can see why they think that though because when I look around, it seems that being natural just means wearing your hair curly. That’s why some of these celebs can throw on a kinky curly wig and become the poster-child for the movement. Meanwhile, I’m on the side thinking wait…isn’t that weave? If I point out the ridiculousness of celebrating a curly sew-in as “natural hair” then I’m accused of throwing shade, when in actuality, I’m just confused.

The other day, I was telling my friend that defined curls seem to be the goal, yet my hair just looks wild when I don’t wear it straight. In response, she suggested I try a twist-out while I’m transitioning. I had no clue what a twist-out was so I went to Youtube. I watched two ten minute videos of a girl demonstrating how to do a twist-out. I was floored by the sheer amount of time, patience and product it takes to achieve that style. Silly me, I thought all these girls were wearing their hair in it’s natural curl patterned state, but really it just looks like the natural hair movement has exchanged using time, products and styling tools to get your hair uncharacteristically straight for using time, products and styling tools to get your hair uncharacteristically curly.

Further, what if I don’t want to wear my hair curly? What if I like being able to feel my scalp? What if I like being able to brush my hair up into a ponytail? What if I like my hair hanging as far down my back as it can get?  What if I can’t afford the trial and error of trying different products? What if I just want to grow my relaxer out completely, yet still use heat to straighten my hair from the root and whip it back and forth Willow Smith style? Am I still “natural”?

Don’t get me wrong, these kinky curly fro chicks’ hairstyles are hot! Looking at some of these blogs often has me seriously considering chopping off the remaining chunk of relaxed hair, retiring my flat irons, spending mortgage money on the natural hair products at Target, highlighting my hair beyond recognition and living a life unfazed by precipitation and humidity, but I’m not quite there yet.

I’m still “going natural” though…right?

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink or check out her blog This Cannot Be My Life

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