The Definition of Natural
Leela James is fierce. She’s beautiful, and she’s redefining R&B. She speaks from the soul, and I only see big things coming for her. I adore her voice, she’s got a beautiful, bruised melodious instrument that really captures the listener’s ear.
For proof, check out her soulful cover of No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”, or my favorite video of hers, “Good Times.”Just let it do what it do, baby!
But I wanted to highlight this video for a different reason (unfortunately my video embedding software is acting the fool, so click on the link above to see it). This was the video that made me realize – ding, ding, ding! That fabulous mop of curls apparently isn’t Leela’s real hair. **
That just goes to show what was so obvious in my Conya Doss post – I am wig and weave illiterate.
Although, let the record show that in this interview with VH-1, Leela says “I started growing it out two years ago. My hair has pretty much always been either braided up or something that’s really easy to maintain. One of my stylists wanted to play around with doing something different and I’m always open to whatever’s funky and free and fly. It’s easy to maintain. There’s nothing to do.”
I want to make it clear, I don’t have an anti-weave agenda! But I am kind of fascinated that women who could well have beautiful curls of their very own would choose to wear artificial hair. I really hope to hear from some weave-wearers today, share your experiences and explain the natural-looking weave phenomenon to me.
Now I don’t mean to take Leela James to task at all, I just love big hair and I think she wears it so well. She reminds me physically of a young Chaka Khan, a petite dynamo with a righteous mane. But I see her picture posted in many of my readers’ Fokti pages as a “natural hair inspiration,” which got me to thinking – what exactly does natural mean, anyway?
I know many women who define themselves as natural also wear human hair extensions, braids, sisterlocks, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
I had a friend in high school who insisted that her hair was natural, even though she admitted to getting it “texturized” with chemicals every three weeks. Um, ok. To this day I can’t figure that girl out. (I stopped trying years ago).
But perhaps natural is more than that. Maybe natural is a state of mind that only begins with shunning chemicals. To me, natural has always meant no chemical fire cream, no purchased locks to be attached, just the hair that grows from my head. To me, natural means no additives or preservatives.
So I want to know how my fellow afrobellas define natural. What does it mean to you?
** edited at 8:00 a.m. on December 1 – Some readers are asserting that Leela’s hair is 100% her own. I personally do not know either way, but if the opportunity presents itself to interview Leela James, I would love to! Holla at your girl, Leela!
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I was reading everything everyone said …and I had started growing my natural in the beginning of 06 its been a year now…and like three weeks ago I threw a texturizer in it because some DUMMY told me it wouldn’t take it out of its natural state but now I regret it…..but my hair still is VERY VERY kinky..you guys think I ruined my natural journey..I will never do this again.
i am so disappointed learning that leela James’s hair is not the real deal. she was here in South Africa last month and she said that the only way she maintains her afro is by braiding it at night and comb it with her fingers in the morning. she says she never uses a comb.
i am so disappointed.
I, too, am discovering just what it means to have natural hair. I had relaxed my hair for years thinking that this was what I’m supposed to do! Natural hair was not acceptable and meant a lack of personal pride. When I decided to stop using chemical straighteners, I received much criticism from my family and friends. It’s a learning process, but I finally broke down all the mental conditioning and psychological programming that we as black woman have been force-fed from birth! I understand that my real hair is beautiful and that I don’t need to “European-ize” it to feel like a woman. I define my hair, not the other way around!
Entertainers entertain, they don’t wear their real hair, they act, sing, they play dress up…now if you want to talk bout people wearing their real hair then how about talking about politicians and things like that.
Condoleeze wears her real hair a press and curl with but no weave (lets be honest it’s not about the texture, its about the lenght, this isn’t mississippi circa 1950, nappy, straight as long as it’s long)…the irony…lol…
If you’re looking for lace wigs make sure you get the authentic ones. They have the lace wigs in Afro texture at http://www.myhair24-7.com.
And it’s a woman thang…all woman of all colors wear them.
Well, natural means chemical free as my sisters said before, but I’m not against adding braids,weaving or coloring locks.I’m a hairstylist and I never put in relaxer in my hair,but in my island(st-maarteen west-indies) people tend to think that u cannot do anything with nappy hair,which will look decent,It’s been 10 years now, that throughout the many hairstyles I’m creating in my own hair(dread locks,coils, cornrows…),each year I’m convincing my clients to go back natural, and to believe that u can be classy,natural n beautifull.However, the process aint that easy ,so I have to say that adding breads, or weave in my work has been an alternative for my clients to accept their own hair,I really do hope that one day my siters from all over the world will cherish their natural hair and that they won’t need all this to be proud of their roots,Bless ya all Love this website
I consider myself natural and I wear braid extensions. Two years ago, when I started the natural transition I did wear it out and played around with it. Braids help my hair to grow. I love taking the braids out and seeing how much it has grown. To me natural is both a state of mind but also about being chemical free. While in braids I have been reading and watching videos to learn how to take care of my natural hair. I’ve been using herbs, oils, and have even gone vegetarian. It’s a journey for me and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with experimenting with extensions.
Over the last 30 years I cut all of my hair off from time to time (every 5 years, went natural) but only for 3 months max then relaxed again when it became too difficult to manage. I have been natural- short afro – since July 08 & decided to keep it like this for a much longer period, however, I wanted to find out what was going down with natural hair as I noticed some great hairstyles on the street but was too shy to ask about them! When I bought black hair magazines (in the UK) hoping to find a large section on natural hair, judging from many people I saw around me, I was horrified to find that it did not even get a mention and most of the styles were for weaves & a large percentage of adverts were for skin lightening. I cannot believe that after all these 200+years since emancipation black women have not come to terms with our skin colour & natural hair. It does not bother me how other people look or think of me so I am happy to be nappy when I eel like it. Also, the problem seems to be with us black people as my white or other colleagues do not treat me any different because of my hair. I’m not saying I won’t do something different in future, however, I feel that if black magazines had the bravery to put models with natural hair on the covers or in the main body of the magazines on more pages giving them equal coverage, instead of hiding them in small sections in the middle of the magazine or making a passing reference to them as if they were ashamed but were obliged to mention it, perhaps we would learn after all these years to stop being such slaves to weaves, wigs etc… and be ourselves and in the process enjoy life more!
I think she does in fact have lovely natural hair but being in the entertainment biz she probably uses wigs and weaves to give her hair a break and to add versatility. Atleast she is rockin’ a natural looking texture regardless. Her style is fab. I have long natural hair but sometimes I use wigs for that very reason but I don’t think it makes me any less natural.