Terri Huggins

After leaving a NYC fashion show, you would never expect to walk away with a life lesson. Yet that’s exactly what happened when I left the “Texture on the Runway” event Saturday, February 11. Yes, I learned about hair care tips. Yes, I saw first hand how versatile a set of curly locks can be. But most importantly, I learned how essential it is to work the hand dealt to you in life — and that includes your hair.

Most of us kinky curly heads have heard throughout life that our hair is so unmanageable, and the complete opposite of what “good hair” is supposed to be. “Texture on the Runway” is proof that those statements couldn’t be further from the truth.

Good hair is healthy hair and healthy hair can be achieved once we find the right products that work for our hair. Many of the stylist teams echoed the importance of keeping curls moisturized and detangled. Luckily, there have been influxes of hair care lines on the market that do exactly that. All that’s left is determining what you want your hair to do, and options are endless. That means accepting and getting to know your curls for what they truly are — a work of art. And of course, those works of art can be made into a masterpiece.

The creative teams at Matrix, Curls Unleashed, Arrojo, Minardi and Hair Rules brought those masterpieces to life as the lovely models with hair ranging from type 2 to type 4C hit the catwalk — all of them looking equally fabulous.  From up-do’s to afros to elongated curls, all types of texture were represented. Of course, that brought home the point that we’re all in this together, fighting the same battle and learning to love our locks one curl at a time.

In the words of the lovely Kim Coles, “I have a curly soul. It’s time everybody knows it.”

What started as a way to free yourself of chemicals and a financial burden became the next big fashion statement. Or at least that’s the way it appeared. Little by little, more and more women seemed to be joining a society of naturally curly girls. That was fine until people began questioning our motives, finding new ways to segregate us and using our plight as a way to make money.

Quite honestly, I hated it. I hated being accused of joining the bandwagon. I hated people referring to all I’ve been through as simply the hottest new fashion statement. Mostly because it seems to diminish the plight of my hair care journey, I always hated being looked at as a trend follower. And that’s how a lot of people seemed to view it – as a trend. However, when things become a trend, they start becoming commercialized. And once things get commercialized, it tends to diminish their significance. That’s exactly what happened in terms of the natural hair community.

Texture Becomes Mainstream

As natural hair became more mainstream, there was a sudden influx of companies who coincidently decided to care about us once they realized there was money in the natural hair community. It seemed like everybody and their mother wanted to come up with some new fabulous product that revives our curls with their all “natural” ingredients. And then there were those who really wanted to act like they catered to us by making products according to hair type.

While I can understand why there is a hair typing system, it seems to bring more drama into the natural hair community by segregating us. In some ways, I feel like hair typing brings to light the whole “good hair” argument that many African Americans have had to deal with. Rather than having someone with 4a hair bond and compliment someone with 3c hair, the kinkier hair type diminishes the hair journey of the looser curl pattern because they have easier hair to manage. The hair typing trend also seems to have brought on hoards of curly stylists who feel entitled to charge more per hair type because one type is easier to style than another – an example of segregation and diminishing peoples feelings and experiences. In some ways, it takes away from the unity and bond curly hair girls should share with each other.

The Cult of Curly

On the other hand, there are those who treat the curly hair world like a cult and look down on any person who chooses to chemically straighten their hair. I’ve even seen some curly haired girls frown upon those who chose to temporarily blow dry their hair straight. According to them, straightening your hair in any form is a sin and denying your true identity. There’s even a natural hair sorority, Pi Nappa Kappa, dedicated to educating and uplift natural hair boys, girls and women around the world.

And then it occurred to me, what started as a trend became a lifestyle of self-acceptance. So for me, “Texture on the Runway” is not simply another style event during Fashion Week. It’s an event to honor all the differences of women today, curls and all. So I am proud to be a part of something that marks history and finally encourages women to embrace their natural selves from roots to tip. It’s about time people began to see what we already knew: curly hair girls rule the world!

In 2008, after nearly ten years of trying to erase all traces of kinky curly locks from visibility via relaxer, I decided it was time for a change. It wasn’t to follow a trend. It wasn’t to make a statement or to embrace my “true self.” It was because, like most college kids in America, I was broke. As much as I loved the way my hair looked straight, I couldn’t afford to give up $50+ every few weeks for my fabulous stylist to make it happen. And so my road to curly-hood began.

The big chop was never an option in my mind. For starters, I always admired short hair, but I was convinced my face was too round to pull it off. Most importantly, I’m style challenged, so I didn’t think I would be able to make it look presentable once it grew into that awkward stage of “too long to just leave it alone, but too short to pull it back.” It became my mission to transition from relaxed armpit length hair to natural armpit length hair. So I simply stopped getting my relaxers. Much to my surprise, the whole process was much easier than I thought it would be.

That was until I had a big mixture of kinky hair and straight ends. I was at a loss and felt I was destined to look crazy with two drastically different textures in my hair until it all grew out. On of top that, I was getting discouraged with my curl pattern. After being relaxed for so long, I had no idea how I would look with natural hair. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated and started to rethink the whole thing.

Finding a Support System

Luckily, I stumbled upon great advice from my friends of LongHairCareForum.com and Naturally Curly. They suggested protective styles for girls with two different hair textures. From time to time, I got a deep conditioner and a blowout from my stylist at Jul’s Studios. But because I didn’t like using excessive heat on my hair for fear of heat damage, I lived in a bun to hide the textures and protect my ends.

In less than a year, I finally made it to armpit length completely natural. However, I continued to keep my hair in a bun because I didn’t know how to style kinky hair and wasn’t comfortable with it once I realized my texture was different from the girls on television. I admired big hair and decided the only way for me to admire my own hair was to enjoy it and LIVE with it.  Slowly but surely I began to embrace my curls while sporting puffs and defined curls until I was brave enough to rock an afro. It took some getting used to, but I finally LOVED the big hair I was born with.

I learned that being natural wasn’t just about a new hairstyle. It was about accepting everything about me. I loved the skin I was in and realized nothing else was necessary. And of course, I always knew this, but at that moment, I truly believed all the lessons my mom gave me about good hair being healthy hair.

Learning to Live Natural

My mother has always been into accepting true beauty and doing things the “natural” way. Therefore, it was no problem for me to totally revamp my hair care products from mostly synthetic ingredients to all natural ingredients. I went from using products such as Just for Me and Paul Mitchell to Shescentit, Kinky Curly, and coconut oil. I really saw a difference in the health of my hair once incorporating them. And I felt so much healthier for some reason.

Now my focus is on retaining length, rather than maintaining the same length. It’s been my dream to have long curly locks for my wedding day. That day is in a little more than year, which doesn’t leave much time for me to actually make the progress I desire since I seem to have a split end problem. Hopefully, in time, my religious use of natural hair care, eating healthy, and weekly deep conditioner treatments can help that. But for now, I’m enjoying the cost-cutting practice that changed my lifestyle. Turns out budget cuts can do a lot more than keep money in your wallet.