i've been wearing a natural since '91 and i did it for a number of reasons.....i was tired of scabs and burns on my scalp.....i was tired of waiting at the 'shop' for three hours before they even touched my head (yall know how we do, remember make u wait beauty salon on the Chris Rock show, hillarious)......i was tired of having to get a perm every three weeks and having the stylist use a half a tub of extra-strength no-lye relaxer to get my thick bush of new growth straight (me: its starting to burn, stylist: well it ain't straight yet, me: well when it gone be straight, stylist: in a few more minutes) by the time i got to the shampoo bowl, my stylist was putting out a bush fire....the fine men i get to watch and sit next too at the barber shop (just trippin' but they be fine tho').....but wearing a natural has its challenges.....since my features and build is very strong, i get hit on or stared at by other women and not just gay women, straight women have flirted/stared at me also; and men tend to be standoffish, they just don't know how to approach me......and in my opinion black women who wear naturals tend not to be considered feminine and their sexuality always seem to be in question.....so wearing a natural has taught me to be secure in my sexuality and feminity, which is constantly being challenged by the media and other people.......i've known women who have gone back to a perm, because they are just tired of having to overcome the challenges that wearing a natural poses....a woman actually told me that she went back to a perm, because she felt she could get a man that way and she was tired of women hitting on her.....and i felt her pain....because i have to deal with the same drama all the time......but if women find me attratctive, because i am being my truest self, so be it......and if men can't handle the fact that i am being my truest self, so be it......all i can be is who i is.....i believe for me that wearing a natural has forced me to deal with and define my own feminity and sexuality....and for that i will always wear and be forever greatful to my natural....

peace in love,
philia