What people think about my Type 4 hair

Danielle Barnes
Jul 19, 2017
2 min read

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at my desk at work when a woman… let’s call her Samantha, raised a conversation that has been circulating the natural hair world for quite some time.

One of the ladies in my office had recently gotten beautiful faux locs in her hair. (We’ll call her Tony.)

Tony’s edges weren’t laid and her baby hairs were sticking out for the world to see.

In an office surrounded by women with perms and weaves, I wasn’t surprised at what came out of Samantha’s lips.

“Y’all need to tell this girl to sleek down her edges,” she said. “She shouldn’t come to work like that.”

The other ladies in the office proceeded to laugh in agreeance and discussed what they considered, the unflattering appearance of Tony’s natural hair.

Luckily, Tony wasn’t there to hear her co-workers degrading her. Being the only other natural girl in the office, somehow their words managed to fall onto my laps. A million thoughts rushed through my head.

“What were they saying about my hair?”

“Were my frayed edges being criticized too?

How is it that her freshly done locs were considered unkempt just because her edges weren’t caked down with gel?

The natural hair movement has skyrocketed over the years. Now, women of color aren’t afraid to let their curls flow. We see more and more bloggers springing up, advocating for the beauty of natural hair. But when we look at these bloggers, why aren’t we seeing those with kinks and coils making it as big as the girls with looser, wavier curls?

When I go on YouTube and search hair tutorials for natural hair, I’m immediately directed to mixed women with luscious curls. A page or two in, I spot a girl with type 4 hair.

Don’t get me wrong, all grades of natural hair are simply beautiful, but when our tresses don’t flow down our backs or immediately sleek down with the touch of a brush and water, is our natural hair still considered beautiful?

Can I walk around with my type 4 hair in a messy bun and expect to be looked at the same as a girl with looser, wavier curls in the same style?

When will we normalize the kinks and coils that stand up? Why can’t tighter curls be recognized under the same standard of beautiful natural hair?

Slabbing on that eco styler to make your afropuff acceptable doesn’t have to be the norm. We shouldn’t have to gel our edges and baby hairs down for it to be accepted in society.

The next time you look in the mirror and see your kinks or coils, remember that that hair – as strong as the blackness that runs through our veins – refuses to stand down. It is not “good hair.” It’s our hair. And that is pretty damn beautiful.

If you're like me and want to support type 4 hair bloggers, here's a few experts to look out for: