HairTroversy: The Natural Divide?

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The more natural hair becomes "mainstream," the more I wonder if there's a growing natural hair divide between straight and permed hair.

But, as more take the natural hair plunge, I'm starting to wonder if the whole, "I'm naturaler than thou attitude" is catching on. I'm feeling some kind of way about this, especially after this conversation last week:

Talking to a fellow natural  (she wears Sister Locs) and a co-worker with weaved hair strolled over -- no, our convo had nothing to do with hair. She half jokingly said, "Oh, us weaved girls aren't welcomed over here."

I told her, "No, we are not like that."

And I meant it.

Natural Hair Drama?
Natural nazis aren't new --- they lurk on blogs, forums and on YouTube, calling everybody out who THEY feel isn't natural, whether they wear hair flat ironed, colored or God forbid, relaxed. It's really not that serious.

It's almost as if we are sniffing shea butter and coconut oil, because many of us have hair amnesia when it comes to this. Most black women have had perms at some point or another. But we act all brand new, as if we've never had a chemically processed, straightened hair on our head. And we put down other Black women if they have straight hair, almost as if there's a natural superiority because we wear our kinks, coils and curls.

When Straight Hair is on Someone Else
How soon we forget: The same attitudes that we detest in others about the opinions they project onto us about our natural hair, we now project on others with straight hair. Natural hair is a journey, but that doesn't mean that relaxed or straightened hair is no less of a journey than ours.

Hair is not just hair. If it were, naturals who wear flat ironed hair or relaxed hair girls wouldn't feel the need to apologize or justify their straight hair choices. Put downs ain't never cute. Really, it's a sign of insecurity. You don't have to make a woman with straight hair -- whether she's natural or relaxed -- feel like she's less than because she chooses to wear straight hair.

I love short, fly cuts and I love a long, layered cut on straight hair. Always have, and that won't change just because my hair is natural. Healthy relaxed hair looks good. And so does healthy natural hair.

There's enough room in the hair world to appreciate straight hair and natural hair.

Do you think there's a natural hair divide? Have you felt you had to apologize for relaxed or straightened natural hair?