The topic of fake natural hair can be quite controversial. I am of two minds on the issue of fake natural hair since there are both positives and negatives to the usage of it.
On the positive side, using fake natural hair is a very quick way to achieve a specific look without waiting the required amount of time it would take for your own hair to grow to that length. Sometimes you may want a quick style for an event or a party, and using the quick method will let you achieve exactly what you want.
Another major positive is that using fake natural hair can keep some ladies from reverting back to the old creamy-crack habit. It gives them something to shoot for while giving them a style in the meantime.
People may get discouraged because of the amount of time it can take for their own hair to begin to flourish. Mind you, they may have been relaxing their hair for decades, but get frustrated if they don’t have Naptural85’s hair length after 6 months of being natural. But don’t even get me started on that!
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Some of these ladies find that using fake natural hair allows them to have the styles they want while their own hair is being given time to breathe (so to speak) and grow.
Using fake natural hair also highlights the beauty of natural coils, curls and kinks. It’s seen as beautiful and chic enough to be reproduced and sold all around the nation. It’s a style which fits all occasions and not just for some political or “sporty” (read: “unprofessional”) reason.
However, there are some major negatives also associated with the usage of fake natural hair.
It can set up incredibly false expectations about how your own hair will look once it starts to grow.
Although I HATE hair typing, I need to give people something to go by. For the sake of argument, if their own hair is 4b or 4c, but they’ve been wearing 3a fake natural hair weave for a year, they may view their own hair as not ‘cute’ or pretty enough.
Since their own hair isn’t abnormally shiny and every curl isn’t automatically in place regardless of the humidity — like the fake hair — they may get completely discouraged and seek out unnatural ways to recreate that look.
Another negative is that only a certain type of fake natural hair is seen as desirable. The thick, looser curl pattern type of fake natural hair is very popular. So when someone who wants that type of hair doesn’t naturally have it, they may become even more reliant on using fake hair.
This leads to another negative which is some ladies become reliant on fake hair. Sometimes ladies ‘go natural’ but they become reliant on using fake natural hair until theirs grows out. Some (probably a minority) may not be taking the time to learn how to care for their own hair day to day.
If what I’m about to state doesn’t apply to you, then I’m not talking about you specifically so don’t take offense. There are some people who have no idea how to take care of their own hair once they remove the fake hair.
They have no clue which oils work best for their hair and scalp. They may not know that just slapping some shea butter up there isn’t a fix-all. They don’t know how to do the day-to-day maintenance of their own hair or how to work out the timing of caring for it within their busy schedules.
All of these things cause frustration and makes them even more likely to continue to use the fake natural hair.
So I see both positives and negatives. What do you think?
