My Natural Curls are Perfectly Imperfect

“I like the flexibility of being natural and that my hair does not have to look perfect before I walk out the door. ”

Barbara Sanchez

Age: 39

Occupation/field: Communicator/Writer

Why did you Decide to wear your hear natural?

It was not a conscious decision. It was more a decision that I made overtime without being truly aware that I had made a decision. My hair journey has been both painful and rewarding.  My hair has always been an issue for me ever since I was a little girl. The question of how to manage my hair was a big deal for my parents when I was kid and began going to school. I had a little afro from age four to nine. My hair didn’t grow down but up. I am mixed. My mother was born in Jamaica and my father in Canada – with Irish and Scottish roots. My hair was in between fluffy and wild. My Dad’s Dad had bright red hair and the funny thing is that in my hair, I use to have one strand of solid red in my hair (not anymore – too many hair dye jobs for me).

Over the years, I have gone through many hair stages from relaxing my hair (the process of chemically straighten hair to change the hair pattern to a softer more relaxed texture) wearing it straight, blow drying and flat ironing my hair myself, and then in high school I began to embrace my curls. From childhood my hair changed from fluffy to spirally curls. As a teenager, I actually prayed for curls – and I got them. In high school I become friends with a girl who had super curly hair and she showed me some of the tricks or hair techniques that she used from her curly hair routine. She taught me about hair mouse (it was the early 90s), how to blow dry the hair and flip it from side to side and up and down to get bouncy curls (thank you Georgia). This real life hair tutorial paved the way for me to embrace my 3B curl pattern.

When I was in high school, I use to straighten my hair and I remember a male class mate, said to me, “you are trying to be white.” I asked “why do you say that?” “Because you straighten your hair,” he replied. At that moment I realized the way I wore my hair was a statement of my racial identity.

Much of my hair journey has been shaped on the opinions of others. Some people say it looks better straight. Some say it looks better curly. In the end, I chose to wear my hair curly because it works for me. I like the flexibility of being natural and that my hair does not have to look perfect before I walk out the door.

What do you dislike about being Natural?

Right now my hair is in this funny state where I am starting to get to know it all over again. It’s like we just met and I have to figure out by trial and error a hair routine that works for me because the products I’ve used before do not seem to be working. I find the products are no longer managing my curls like they use to in the past. So I’m kind of re-learning what products (leave in conditioner) works in my hair.

What do you like about being Natural?

I like that it’s carefree. Each hair strand can take its own shape and it’s cool. I really like the texture of my hair. I often run my fingers through my hair. This is the number one rule of curly hair – thy shall not play with thine own hair. But I am a rule breaker of sorts. I like that’s it’s mine and that I’m embracing my true self.