Texture comes in all shades of type!It’s been a little over a week since we stormed NYC Fashion Week with our “Texture on the Runway” show. And, as so many of you who were following us from your living rooms on our NYFW adventure know, texture was present in all forms. The entire presentation was dedicated to coifed manes, curly tresses, TWAs and afros. It was truly a monumental event, but in light of recent arguments that the texture at “Texture on the Runway” was forced or faked, let me explain.
The texture revolution that all of us naturals are a part of is a massive movement. Despite some industry arguments that natural hair is a trend, it isn’t. I’ve been rocking it since 2002, so help me fashion gods if it were merely a trend. What we are doing, and what we have accomplished already as a community, in forcing haircare companies to make natural, non-sulfate ridden products that will make our natural manes coil up in healthy happiness is unprecedented. It has been a long road. NaturallyCurly was started 14 years ago, but our time is finally here, and industry leaders are taking notice.
Soon you will be able to walk in to a Walgreens, Target or any other drugstore and search for haircare products by your hair type. No longer will haircare products be segmented by ethnicity — which never worked out well for anyone. All of us as a community of conscious consumers have made that possible. However, when you walk in that drugstore of the future and look for your 3c products, you’ll also notice that there is a large section for type 1 hair.
Straight hair, while often being the cornerstone of supposed beauty for centuries, is also not a passing trend. It is part of the natural hair community as well, given that many women naturally do have stick-straight hair. And just as all of us sometimes enjoy opting for straightening our curls, kinks and waves to get a different look, straighties also desire our texture. The grass is always greener, I suppose.
At “Texture on the Runway,” ALL hair types were represented, and many models with type 1 hair had their hair put to heat to create a textured look. So what’s so wrong with that?
Yes, embracing natural beauty and loving what you have been given is important. But would you toss out that red lipstick you love to wear with your little black dress just because your lips aren’t naturally that red? We’re women, and most of us enjoy playing around with different looks and styles. Straight haired women are no different.
After centuries of curlies being put down as the beauty outcasts, I sincerely hope that we don’t do the same to our straight-haired friends. Texture is a look and style that might come naturally to us, but it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Bottom line: do YOU, and remember that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
Love it, embrace it, support it, #teamnatural is a movement for curls, kinks, waves and board straight strands.
