4C hair is always coined as the “bad hair”. People view it as nappy and can’t stand its shrinkage. Out of all the hair types out there, 4C hair definitely takes the most time to deal with. But why do people hate on 4C hair? BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE STUPID! Of course, if you want a more detailed explanation read on.
No Representation In The Media
The media will always be my scapegoat when it comes to representation. The media has power in who gets glamorized and unfortunately 4C hair girls don’t fall into this category.
When black girls are in music videos, they usually have straighter weaves as opposed to their curly kinks. The worse part is that there are a ton of black men who prefer us to have the straighter look due to internalized racism. When we contrast to how the media wants us to look like with how our partners may want us to look like, it creates a reason why people may resent their 4C hair. If society is constantly telling you that your features aren’t good enough and don’t even bother to show them on T.V, then of course people are going to feel insecure.
This goes back to the Eurocentric qualities being glamorized. 4C hair is farthest from the “beautiful standard European straight hair” look that society pushes. Therefore, it gets the most hate as people aren’t familiar with the texture and it’s true beauty.
Natural Hair Hijacking
The main issue I have with the natural hair community is that looser textures get more love and views than kinkier hair textures. No one gives love to type 4 hair and in particular 4C hair.
I’d see compilation of mini natural hair videos only to see that these girls have looser hair textures. It’s frustrating because I’m on the other side of the screen thinking why can’t my hair curl like that, part like that, or get shiny like that. The truth is that my hair is just fine. 4C hair is just as fine and equally as beautiful as all these other textures. The shrinkage, although I have admitted that it can get annoying at times, is just a part of your hair’s nature. I just embrace it at the end of the day.
Misinformation on How To Take Care of 4c Hair
Lastly, I think this is an unfortunate impact of everything I just typed out. Yes 4C hair is a lot to deal with, but fixing your regimen can be very effective. I think when we see what’s working for other people, we tend to copy it and try it on ourselves not knowing that we have two completely different textures.
And another thing I noticed that I hate is that people think 4C hair is just cottony dry hair. IT’S NOT! This is a huge misconception I see online and people think that 4c hair doesn’t even have curl pattern. It does, it’s just very very very very tight. If you were to define, moisturize your hair, you’d see some curls pop out.
The crap I see annoys me and it often leads to people having insecurities/ignorance related to their 4C hair. A few months ago, the lovely Rachel Nelson reacted to my blog on how to love your Type 4 hair. We discussed how certain hair textures don’t get the recognition at all. So she wrote a blog declaring all the great reasons why kinky hair is amazing. If you ever feel insecure or want another reason to boast about your natural hair, check this blog out and check out some of her other work https://www.coilguide.com/.
Most people are oblivious to the fact that fast hair growth amino scalp therapy shampoos (obviously with no sulfates, no parabens, no DEA) are a thing. People now may have longer hair and possess more alternatives. Surely worth checking out.
If you’re going over alopecia, hair damage, avoiding scalp disorders, hair growth, hair care normally, similar thoughts come to mind.
As a rule of thumb, you want to steer clear of hair treatments and products that contain chemicals such as parabens, DEA or sulfates.
What is beneficial for your hair is good for your skin all the same.
For obvious reasons the content above is so accurate for multiple reasons. It avoids the usual mistakes and pitfalls so many fall into: utilizing horrible alternatives. Thank you!
I agree completely. I use to be so obsessed with looking at ingredients when I started my journey. But so many ingredients out there are harmful for our natural hair and when I eliminated that, my hair was in a much better state. I was thinking about redoing this blog or at-least explaining things better. But, thank you for checking it out and I’m glad you enjoyed it!!!