I was discussing hair with a colleague of mine whom I will call M for simplicity. M is natural and has been for at least 7 years, although she is not on an official ‘healthy hair journey.’ She keeps her hair in kinky* twists (with fake hair added) year round with a few short breaks in between. M cares for her hair, like most Black women – keeping it well groomed and clean, but is not particularly knowledgeable about styling or growing it.
So during our discussion she expressed that she was going to start doing her own hair more and rely on the extensions* (kinky* twists) less. M went on to say that she was looking for some good products that worked well on her hair which prompted me to tell her about Bee Mine.
I told her that it was the primary moisturizer I’ve used for nearly three years, and she’s witnessed my hair growth for 2 of those years. On this particular day, my hair was curled nicely having been set on flexirods*. It was full, shiny and obviously healthy. But before she asked anything further about Bee Mine Products, she cocked her head to the side quizzically and said “But that’s not for natural hair though, right?”
I had to swallow my sarcastic retort because I understood that to her, that was a legitimate question. Her natural hair hasn’t been a “journey” and she doesn’t spend countless hours online researching natural hair, curl patterns, product reviews, etc. So she completely ignored the progress my hair has made and the obvious health of my hair when I recommended a product simply because I’m relaxed!
And even some ladies that DO all the research, sign up for various forums, and follow a variety of hair blogs still have that same attitude and ask those same questions. I’ve seen plenty of ladies who belong to online hair forums and communities that have populations of both relaxed and natural ladies post a question titled “What products work best for 4b hair? Please NATURALS only respond.” I don’t get it. How on earth does the product know if your hair is relaxed or natural? So you think that if a relaxed woman suggests a moisturizer, that when it touches your natural strands its gonna bead up and repel off your hair because it hasn’t been chemically processed?!
