Host: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for joining us. On today’s segment we’re talking about natural hair, specifically their transition on how natural hair has become more common. Joining me today is Jada Johnson. She’s with me today because I think of her as a natural hair connoisseur. How long have you been natural?

Guest: I’ve actually been natural my whole life my mom, she never wanted to put any relaxers or anything in my hair. So I’m being natural has always just been a part of my lifestyle.

Host: Why did you decide to make this change?

Guest: It really was never a change from being relaxed to natural for me. It was just more of embracing my natural curls instead of wearing my hair straightener all the time.

Host: Why do you think natural hair has become more common over the past few years?

Guest: I think it’s become become more common because Black women are just starting to embrace being wholeheartedly themselves. I think in the past, we used to conform to a lot of Eurocentric beauty standards of wearing our hair straight in in relaxed styles. But now I think as society has progressed and as black women are progressing as well, we’re starting to embrace the natural hair that we’ve been given.

Host: what are the benefits of being natural?

Guest: I think the benefits of being natural is one, you learn more about yourself through the process, because it’s going to require a lot of time and patience. But also you get it fully embrace like who you are, naturally and that’s like a major part of the whole natural hair movement or lifestyle, you could say is just embracing your curls and learning how to make it work free.

Host: What are your advice to people who may be transitioning are on the fence about going natural? I know I never thought I would go natural.

Guest: I think my best advice would just definitely have to be this journey is you’re so like, take your time, don’t compare yourself to other people’s journeys. It’s your hair. So do what makes you happy. But definitely just look for resources like on YouTube and stuff and talk to other people to kind of figure out what’s best for your hair and just figure out your own thing. Because it’s going to take a lot of trial and error as well and what works for everybody else may not work for you. So that’s just going to require a lot of patience, like I said earlier, to figure that out.

Host: What are your staple must have, I’m sorry, what are staple must have when you are natural?

Guest: I think the wide tooth comb is one of the most amazing things I could have used for my natural hair. It prevents a lot of snagging on my curls and things like that and but it also like releases the tangles from my hair. a spray bottle is very important. So you don’t have to, you know, go under the water each time you want. to spray your hair while you’re styling, I also think maybe like a Denman brush or something is also very essential because it helps like clump your curls together and define them. If you’re doing a wash and go twist out, braid out any of those types of styles.

Host: What are crucial things to know while being natural? For example, for me, I know it’s very common to have bad hair days. And my solution is just to lay my edges and everything will be okay.

Guest: I think the most crucial thing to know is that you need to be confident with the style that you’re wearing. Even if you used to wear your hair straight all the time. Maybe that’s how you were comfortable. But natural hair is about how you rock it, how you wear it, and the confidence that comes with it. So if you’re having a bad hair day, do a style like that makes it work for you. So like I’m having a bad hair day today. So I put it up in a puff. But you just have to be confident with it and make it seem like you know, I’m having a good hair day even though I thought it was a bad omen.

Host: Before we go Are there any other final thoughts you had natural hair?

Guest: I would just say to enjoy the process of natural hair, whether that’s transitioning or if you’re just growing out your natural hair and you’ve been a natural all your life. Just enjoy that process because you’re going to continually learn about yourself, learn about your hair, and you’re going to be able to connect with a bunch of other people that have natural hair as well.