Hailie Campbell
Age: 25
Occupation/ field: Commercial Real Estate
Ethnicity: Mixed: Jamaican, Canadian, British and German
Toronto, ON
Why did you decide to go natural?
I decided to go natural about six years ago. I had just started Ryerson University and I noticed a lot more inter-racial and black women embracing their natural hair. Seeing this, coupled with me growing as a person and becoming more confident in my own skin, made me transition to natural hair styles. Wearing my hair in a ponytail, bun, half up/half down or braids felt more like me, than wearing my hair straight. I am still not 100% comfortable with wearing my hair fully down because I have like six different curl patterns, so my hair can look very choppy (almost mullet-ish lol) when down.
Mackenzie (my sister) and I are very close and our hair is always a hot topic of conversation. I realize I have to accept how my hair is in its natural state. You see all these girls with long straight hair and having a White mom with long blond hair, who didn’t know how to do curly hair and being raised around mainly White people, I started to feel like I hated my hair. At this point in my life, I am learning to accept myself. That means loving all parts of me including my hair. I am still figuring out my hair journey and although I wear my hair natural, I do like to change up my hair styles every now and then. Sometimes I wear it in braids if I want the length but it’s just that my hair is never going to be long and straight.
In the past, I straighten my hair with a flat iron but it would last all of 30 minutes before it turned frizzy. I would put all this work into straightening it and it didn’t even look good. Also straighten damages my hair and leaves my hair limp so I decided to begin wearing it naturally curly.
What do you dislike about being natural?
I am still struggling to find that right curly hairstyle that suits me. Some days I wake up and I am so happy my hair has grown half an inch. Other days, I wake up and feel that I would be happy to shave off all my hair because it is such a struggle. Many times, when I need to get out the door in a rush, I just put it in a sleek bun.
For natural hair there is a lot of preparation involved. For example, if I am going on vacation and it’s a humid climate, with ocean beaches my first thoughts are what am I going to do with my hair? I know these conditions can be tough on my hair so I have to plan ahead. Should I braid it? Get extensions? Should I buy a wig? The good thing is I am a planner by nature and I am always able to find a solution. I think about special occasions and my hair. For example, when it is my turn to walk down the aisle, I have already accepted that I am willing to pay an obscene amount of money for the perfect hair on my wedding day. I know I want my hair to be beautiful on that day. I don’t know what the texture is going to be like but I’ve already accepted it’s not going to be mine.
What do you like about being natural?
I am still working on that. I like my hair. I like that is curly but I don’t like the fact that it has so many different curl patterns and it takes forever to grow. So I am still at a point in my life where there are more cons than pros. I do think me with my natural hair is the most me. Even though I like my hair straight, it’s not an accurate reflection of who I am as a person.
____________________________
Mackenzie Campbell
Age: 23
Occupation/ field: Office Manager
Ethnicity: Mixed: Jamaican, Canadian, British and German
Toronto, ON
Why did you decide to go natural?
After I got out of high school in 2014, I like to say I finally got in touch with my Blackness. Like Hailie said we were brought up in a White neighbourhood. Our mom is White and as kids we grew up surrounded by her family. Our parents divorced when we were really young. As kids we didn’t have a relationship with the Black side of the family so we grew up not knowing how to accept or style our natural hair.
All our friends were White too – many will long brown or blonde straight hair. Our naturally curly hair was foreign to them and internally we felt some pressure to fit in. I remember when we were younger some family members would call us names like wild root, or would say “did you stick your hand in an electric socket? Because it looks like you’ve been electrocuted”, because when we woke up in the morning our hair was frizzy naturally while theirs was straight. As a kid you are young and impressionable. These comments at the time seemed like just jokes but looking back it did hurt. When I was old enough, at around the age of 13, I began to straighten my hair.
It became a routine to straighten my hair on the week days but on the weekends, when I wasn’t around my White school friends, I would wash it and straighten it again on Sunday nights for the upcoming week. I didn’t feel like I could go to school with my natural hair. Also I didn’t know what else to do with it besides put it in a bun. I wanted to have more variety when it came to my hair rather than be that girl wears the same hair style all the time.
After high school, I went to a diverse college that had a lot of Black students and it was the first time in my life I was surrounded around more Black people than White. The experience enabled me to embrace my Black heritage and feel more confident about my natural hair. I remember this light skin girl in my class had the same curl pattern as mine and I remember thinking I love her hair. I loved that it looked healthy and full, her curls were super bouncy, and it made her stand out. It was just naturally beautiful to me. I realized if I had not straightened my hair all those years, in high school, I would have that exact same hair.
Like Hailie mentioned, hair is always a topic of conversation for us. She wanted to cut her hair but she was so hesitant because she thought she would look masculine. I was considering cutting my hair as well to get rid of all the damage ends caused by years of heat damage to my tresses. Then I talked to my boyfriend about it. He is dark skin and very pro Black women and he made me feel very confident. He said “I think you would look really good with short hair.” I was telling him I want to start feeling more comfortable with my curly hair and become more accepting of who I am.
I have so many different hair patterns. My hair was dead from flat ironing it for so many years and it wasn’t growing. So I made the brave decision to cut it. I would never do it again but it was a good experience and now I am getting more at ease with it. Also we have the internet so we are exposed to so many styles for curly hair and information on how to care for your hair.
What do you dislike about being natural?
You can never just wake up and go. There always has to be some water sprayed on the hair to calm it down. Or it needs some type of product to ensure it stays in place. I just cut my hair so I am dealing with it as it grows because it’s really short. When I first cut my hair I hated it because I didn’t know how to deal with curly hair – let alone with short curly hair. I didn’t feel feminine with really short hair. A lot of women can wake up and go with their hair and sometimes I wish I could do that. For me I have to prep my hair the night before and then midway through the day it’s like oh my bun fell, my fly a ways are everywhere, my edges aren’t laid anymore.
What do you like about your hair?
What I like about my hair is I realize there is so much I can do with my hair without having to put heat on it that would damage my curls. There are so many options we have and I feel not a lot of other races have as many options as Black women when it comes to hair styling.
I find it fun and it’s become a hobby of mine to watch hair tutorials on YouTube to learn new hair styles for my natural hair. I make an evening out of it, at home, and will set up my hair supplies/ tools and practice how to do new styles. I have learned about protective styles for my hair – like how to put in box braids, or how to add in hair extensions for a dramatic long pony tail. It can be frustrating when trying a new look but when I get it right is feels so rewarding.
Diverse Women Collective 