Autumn writes;
It’s still strange to me that there are more and more natural-haired women on television, yet 95% of the women in MY everyday life are still relaxed (I’m the ONLY one in my ENTIRE building at work)!! In this case, life does not imitate art and art certainly isn’t imitating MY life!
Is it the same for you?
Just was watching Snapped, so funny how I am starting to notice it in the media too. Saw a few commercials of AA women with natural hair. My favorite one was a Time Warner Cable ( Career Day)one, where the women was being encouraged by her Husband (So sweet) to not be afraid to go out and talk to their daughters school on career day. The daughter had natural hair as well.
I noticed the same thing. I dedicated an entire blog to it, where I post advertisements featuring natural hair in the media. Matter of fact, I just saw a Netflix advertisement with a natural haired woman.
Check out my post!
95% of my friends are natural but at work I am one of a handful. I work with a lot of black women and I see weaves/wigs/extensions most of the day.
I live in Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas. There are 7 african american women in my office. Only 1 has relaxed hair. Natural hair rules in my office.
I was just thinking this exact same thought…I live about an hour outside of Los Angeles and naturals are few and far between.
I have noticed an increase in naturals in commercials, but I believe that this is due to marketing. Since you almost have to have digital cable in order to watch TV, and most cable companies have high speed internet, I think that if you frequently use the internet to get info regarding natural hair, the info is transmitted into the cable box, and due to demographics, they will show your commercials that you can identify with. When I was relaxed and living in a predominately white neighborhood, I heardly ever saw commercials with black women, let alone a naturalista….but now that I'm natural, it's all I see now. When I lived in a more diverse neighborhood, I saw commercials with people of all ethnicities. Although I'm very happy that natural women are given work in commercials, I feel like this is just to get me to buy products for natural hair, like Pantene. I only support hair care lines from black people so that I know where my money is going. This is just my opinion though.
When I went natural in college (at Duke), it seemed like naturals were popping up everyday. Girls would come up to me saying, although not always verbally. "Look! I big chopped!"
And I never asked them to go natural or even discussed it with them. I just did my thing and others followed or maybe there was some other natural on campus who people wanted to be like. So many naturals at Duke, at least compared to pre-2007 Atlanta. Then when I came back to Atlanta from college, my aunt went natural, my mom, women at my church, so many. Although I did go to this really ghetto club in Atlanta called Club Esso and not only did the women there all have relaxed hair and weaves, but I got weird stares from them. Although, quite a few men wanted to dance with me, not that I wanted to dance with them, but it's a good sign that men actually do like natural hair in Atlanta, or at least they do not mind it.
i agree with brianna – naturals have been on tv a lot longer than they've been walking the streets, especially in commercials. i noticed this about 4 years ago because i commented about it to my husband. as far as real life, i see some where i live, but not really any at work.
I live in NYC and there isn't a day that goes by where I don't see at least a couple of naturals. At my job, besides myself, there are about three other naturals, two of whom are loced. There used to be at least two others, but one of them started sporting wigs and weaves awhile ago and I think the other one got laid off, because I haven't seen her in awhile. Among my circle of black friends(I have to qualify because I have friends of all different nationalities), I'm the only natural that wears her hair curly. A couple of them flat iron and the others relax. Among my family, my sister is loced and two of my cousins are natural, but one of them flat irons. So life isn't exactly imitating art in my experience.
I live in Georgia, and there has been a huge number of women natural, including myself. But I must admit I've always noticed that black women with afros dominate television and clothing ads, over black women with permed hair. There is this "mystery" about our hair to other races, its our own unique things. For a long time it seemed that everyone but black people were willing to accept natural hair. The only place I never saw natural hair was BET, which is another discussion for another day.
I have to agree with the poster. I don't see lots of natural women in my day to day, but I see tons on tV.
When I go out shopping, I see a ton of naturals. In my neighborhood, it's the opposite. I live close to St.Louis.
lol! I'm the only natural teacher at my school, but there are about 7 female custodians at my school who are. Mind you, they are from Ethiopia, and I live in the Middle East. LOL! I'm the only African-American in my school. Last year, I was the only one in the whole school. A lot of my teachers hated it though — being nappy ain't cool in Arabia . . .
I see way more on TV–especially those rockin' the afro looks.
This isn't true for me. I see a lot of naturals at work. I'm also probably one of the last people in my circle to go natural. It's a wonder I haven't done it sooner.
I see fellow naturals every time I go out now and I live in Oklahoma. I went natural 2.5 years ago and I didn't see many women other than the ones in the media who were natural. I think there's a lot more out there than there was before.
At my workplace, I'm the only one. I don't mind though. And at some point, they really don't either. I think they're still fascinated by all the things my hair can "do" when in reality, my hair's not "doing" anything, which is the point. lol
in my inner circle there are a lot of naturals, but they flat iron their hair.
when i am out and about in the ATL, i am surrounded by naturals of all lengths shades and textures…sporting their hair proudly.
but, work and family, it is mainly flat ironed straightened hair.
At the shelter where I work, every single black woman(5 OR 6 plus me) is natural-and not new naturals! They all either have giant fros or longs twists or big afro puffs.
every single black woman in my life is natural now 🙂
I am surrounded by a lot of naturals but you would never know unless they tell you because their natural hair has never seen the light of day. They all wear wigs and weave and never wear there natural hair out in any form.
Living in the Washington, DC area, naturals are all around; however I can say that at work, I knew of myself and maybe 2 other women who were natural. As I've been working there and gotten to know more and more people; some of the women wore weaves, wigs and braids; because they were natural and I guess they assumed it wouldn't be accepted. They always commented on how they liked my hair etc. So slowly I chipped at the "block" encouraging them to forgo the braids, wigs and weaves for a while and rock their naturals…I can say a few have taken the leap…I've made sure to complement them on their hair to keep them motivated and encouraged.
I don't know. I've seen a marked increase in naturals in real life and I feel like I don't see an increase on TV. lol, maybe it just the TV I watch.
Ummmm…..somewhat….I attend an HBCU so I'm surrounded by a lot of naturals, but I'm also surrounded by a lot of perm and weaves lol!
Now when I go home, I'm from Auburn, AL (predominately Caucasian town), I'm not surrounded by many naturals at all, basically just my Sister and I lol.
oh its VERY true! But honestly i like it… it seems to offend some people though