Going natural for a lot of women has become a monumental time in their lives. Deciding to no longer accept the definition of beauty through the eyes of society. Deciding to take matters into our own hands and define beauty for yourself. Deciding that you are going to appreciate and love what you were born with is beautiful… especially if you decide on going natural after 50!
Meet Renee. Renee is a 50 year old women who decided to go natural. Renee found herself wanting something different. Something that spoke to who she was. So going natural was a tough decision but one she knew she wanted to make!
Renee, thank you for sitting down with me today. Tell me a little bit about yourself?
Thank you, I’m excited to be sitting down with you! My Name is Renee and I’m 50 years of age. I’m a mother, wife & entrepreneur. I hail from Tulsa, Oklahoma but have resided in Denver, CO for most of my life.
Why did you decide to go natural?
Deciding to go natural was not an easy decision for me. You have to understand that I’m 50 years old. I say that because at my age I had a lot of years of damage done. Damage meaning, I was fully programmed to believe that my natural hair was not beautiful.
When the thought of going natural came up, I struggled with not knowing how to style my natural hair. What would people think? How can I style it so I don’t look like a child? The list goes on and on. But at the end of the day, I knew that going natural would be the best option for myself mentally and the benefits to my hair were an added bonus.
So I decided to throw my flat iron away and start my own journey to finding what beauty was to me. By going natural, I was able to become true to myself!
So, how did you do it?
Simply put, I JUST DID IT! I had stopped chemically altering my hair for over a year without knowing I was going natural. I stopped because I realized the older I was getting the thiner my hair was getting. So I stopped chemically altering my hair for over a year, but I couldn’t let go of the flat iron. My beauty lied within the flat iron and I did not want to give that up. My hair has always been thick and full of volume, but seeing my hair thin away as time went on really put things into perspective for me. So I decided to throw my flat iron away and start my own journey to finding what beauty was to me. By going natural, I was able to become true to myself. True with who I was and loving myself for who I was.
What has been some of the hurdles you face with your natural hair journey?
A lot of the hurdles I experienced were early on. I didn’t know what to expect or how to even style my hair. I wanted to find something for me that complimented my age, but no longer damaged my hair. Learning to be patience and accept what was growing out of my scalp was my biggest hurdle. Early on I found myself becoming impatience and irritated with not finding a style that I felt was beautiful. I wanted to find a style that complimented my style and age and this was not happening over night! But through trial and error I began to find styles that I Loved and that complemented my style. I truly believe that finding the right style wasn’t the real issue, I think the underlying issue was me learning to see myself beautiful with what God blessed me with.
What are your go-to hair styles?
I don’t like to limit myself to certain styles. Now that I’ve learned a lot and accepted my beauty. I love to try new things and experiment. However, I do have a few go-to styles that I would love to share with you (see below).
RENEE AND HER BEAUTIFUL HAIR
