Natural Vs. Relaxed

There are a lot of words that can be used to describe the natural hair journey. "Empowering, beautiful, high maintenance, uplifting, exhausting, afro-centric, nappy, etc." The words that hurt the most or uplift the most are those that come from your closest friends and family members. Recently, we held a GIVEAWAY on the blog where contestants competed by stating their most outrageous natural hair story. The winner, Jade Palmer shared her delightful story:

This guy once said to me, "Your hair has ENERGY." At first I just asked, "What do you mean?" It sounded psychedelic. He replied, "Any thing that defies gravity, that doesn't lie flat, has ENERGY. It reaches toward the sun rather than toward the earth. It's beautiful." And ever since then I've had another reason to be proud of my 'gravity-defying' hair :)

There are less delightful stories out there and a lot of women struggle on their journey because of the negative comments from friends and fros. The idea behind the "Kiss My Kurls" t-shirt was to combat those negative comments. By uplifting those on their journey, who struggle with negative comments about their hair. Kiss My Kurls which is comparative to Kiss My A$$, tells the world that "I don't care what you think about my hair. It is on my head and not yours..so you can kick rocks!

Most of the bashing that I've received when it comes to my hair are from relaxed or weave haired women. I can't seem to figure out what it is that they have a problem with...Are they bashing my hairstyle, hair texture or overall look? But to be honest, the only opinion that matters is my own.

Corinne Bailey Rae said it best...."There's a lack of confidence when it comes to relaxing your hair. It's like you're saying, 'My hair is not right in some way.' As though other people will think it's weird, or that you won't fit in."


It takes a lot of confidence, patience and courage to go natural. We not only have to deal with negative comments from those around us but the struggle of caring for our new found hair. Finding a style that suits our face, mastering the art of twisting, tucking and knotting, and finding products that work for our hair texture. If these women knew what we really went through, I believe they would think twice before opening their mouths. As a new natural, it is important to join a support group to gain encouragement on managing your hair texture.

In the meantime, tell those haters out there to "Kiss YOUR Kurls" cause you ain't got time. :) 

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