Mass Return of the Curly Haired Caos!!!!!

My mother, a lover of relaxer, made a statement that made me think. "All these Afro's I see on a daily basis remind me of the late 60's and 70's. Stephanie, I have always told you, everything old is new again". Thinking on that for a second, I realized that this is not the first surge of women going natural. Natural hair was a huge thing in the 60's to then die down in the 70's... lets take a look at it for a second.

Black Power! A movement in the 1960's that prompted women of color to embrace their naturalness and start rocking their Afro! To those involved in the movement, their naturally curly hair was a sign of the love that they had for themselves and the end of white oppression. Everywhere you looked you'd find an Afros and cornrows. By the 1970's, this movement began to dissipate and there was the return of the hair straighteners, the white lye, the creamy crack.

Recently, everywhere you turn, you can find a woman of color, embracing her God given curls with pride. Again, you are finding Afros, corn rows, twists, bantu knots, twist-outs and much more everywhere you look from CEO's to house wives. The fact is "Natural is in". Question is, is it in to stay? Is this just a fad, as in the 1960's, or is this more than a political movement, a statement? I've questioned other women who have taken the big step and I have heard everything from " I want to prove black is beautiful" to "Its time for me to love me for me". Truth is, a lot of women are realizing that the reason women of color have more issues with hair loss than any other ethnicity, is because of the creamy crack that we apply every 6-8 weeks. I'm seeing more of us with receding hair lines, bald spots, split ends and hair breakage. Truth is, that women are realizing that this thing that we do to ourselves to fit in to this image we call beautiful is causing more harm than good.

Whatever your reason is, natural hair seems to be here to stay. Only time can tell, but in meet-ups around the world, online groups and blogs such as this one, there are hundreds and thousands of natural supporters that seem to not be going anywhere soon.....




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Beware of beautiful packaging.....

Yesterday I decided to visit Ulta and check out some of the products they carry, the size, the packaging and the ingredients. They watched me the entire time! I guess its quite suspicious to see a woman reading the back of every hair and skin care product and taking pictures with her camera phone. But, keeping up with what is going on is my job!

Well, I checked out all the top brands from Miss Jessies and Carols Daughter, to Mizani natural collection and Halo, which I use to love... well, to be honest, I love the packaging..... You know we get all caught up in the look of the container and not the quality of the product!

I made several discoveries, but the main one was that none of the natural products were natural! They were relatively expensive and was full of chemicals! If you notice, on the back of the Mizani container, Aqua is the first ingredient.... The cost of the Mizani is $38 and its majority water! Furthermore, if it contains water, its definitely gonna contain chemicals!

All of the products also contained alcohol and fragrance and the Mizani and Halo also contained Petroleum and/or Mineral oil.

One thing that stood out the most to me in the entire store, is that there were NO all natural hair products! It may have said, "for natural hair" but none were natural products....
There are good all natural hair care companies, you just have to search for them. Normally, they don't have the funding of the larger brands, therefore, you won't find much advertising and you probably wont find them in stores. They are totally dependent upon the internet, word of mouth, bloggers and social media for customers.

I did all this just to say that you need to check and double check the ingredient list of your products to be sure they don't contain anything thats unhealthy for your mane. I've beat this into your heads, but again, stay away from Alcohol, petroleum, mineral oil, sulfates, parabens, fragrance, any thing you can't pronounce (its probably a chemical), and any product that the first ingredient is water (water will be the majority of the product and it will then have chemicals somewhere in the product)....

You DO NOT have to cut your hair to take out your loc's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok.... so Im searching youtube and I come across this video saying you can take out locs without cutting hair. Im thinking yeah right, but after watching the video, its true, you really can! Take a look!

My story and the Story of Queen Natural Beauty

I am Stephanie D, the creator of Queen Natural Beauty! I initially went natural 3 years ago after the birth of my son. I wanted to go natural for years and was having a hard time with the transitional process. There were no outlets to help me out with this! Eventually I went back to the lye! After giving birth, my hair began to break really bad and I knew this was my time. One day, feed up with having to wear wigs and scarves to cover my embarrassment, I took scissors to my mane, never to look back. It has been a long road up to this point. I've made many mistakes, that I'd like to prevent others from making.

I started flat ironing my hair in 2008 and because of heat damage, realized in 2009 that I lost my natural curl pattern. So, in Feb 2010, I did the BC once again! So here I am on this journey again, hoping you will come with me!!!!

On this hair journey, I decided to give you an inside look to the natural life through Queen Natural Beauty. Info on the product I use that has my hair growing 2 inches and more per month! Queen Natural Beauty is an outlet for other Natural Beauties where you can come to find inspiration to go on this natural journey,to stay on this natural journey, a place showcasing the versatility of natural hair, help you through transition and much more! Having started out with only a facebook page, between the personal facebook and fan facebook page, we have over 1,0000 fans and this is in only one week!

I see now that Im not the only person that needed and wanted support in the Natural community! So thats what Queen Natural Beauty blog, facebook page, twitter page, and vimeo is all about! Being a support system for you!

Finally!!!!!

Well, I finally did it! I created a blog! I've been using facebook as my outlet for reaching out to our fan base because I like being able to interact with the fans. If you post a question, I can immediately answer. A place where you can post your pictures, tell us your stories, etc... I love getting to know everyone! Its a few of you that participate daily in my polls, comment on my status, pictures and discussions. And though I've never heard your voice or seen you in person, I feel as though I know you! I feel as though all of us on the Queen Natural Beauty page have formed a natural hair family! I want to bring that over here to the blog! On this page you will continue to find helpful tips, how to tutorials and much more! Thank you so much again for your support! You really don't know how much its appreciated