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The flyer for the first meetup!

Naturalistas came about as a means for me to earn class credit by means of creating an “Action Project” which would create awareness for a gender issue. In my discussions with my class, I found natural hair is very much so a gender issue as it is black women and not men, who face the multi leveled problems that arise with the concerns of our hair. To perm or not to perm, is indeed the question we all face at some point in time. Maybe not. Some of us never face the question because our mothers slapped relaxer on our head before we ever understood the meaning of choice.

I arranged for a natural-meet up on my campus at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. I believe this meet-up was unique from the ones  most often advertised online in that it was not marketed to the online community of naturals most of us may be familiar with. Online naturals have a plethora of knowledge literally right at their finger tips. Those of us who have been apart of this community for years (personally I have been apart of it for the better part of a decade) may at times take for granted pertinent information which those who are unfamiliar with the online hair culture have no clue about. Most of the naturals who attended my meeting had never heard of a natural hair meet up but wanted to be there.  They also had no idea that products existed exclusively for natural afro-textured hair. In the end, the were eager for more.

I have opted to take my vision to the next level and am creating, out of the meet-up, a campus RSO to address the concerns of naturals on campus. College is a unique time when young people began to create their identities and for many African American women, it is the time when they decided to try the natural thing. I think having an established network of people who support these choice and can provide advice to one another is important in helping people stay natural. Yes, I think it’s important to stay natural because I DO NOT consider relaxed hair as a choice due to preference but the alternative due to lack of knowledge, cultural mis-education, internalized hate and grossly morphed aesthetic appreciation.

On this website you will find reports of what is going on with this RSO starting at it’s very beginning. Opportunities to start your own RSO on campus and host similar events. There is even a Naturalistas store where you can enhance your natural beauty with accessories and other items.