Real Talk: Should We Still Trust Natural Hair Influencers?
Image Courtesy: All Things Hair
For years, influencers have been at the forefront of the natural hair community. With the increased popularity of social media, more people are comfortable sharing their natural hair journeys, product recommendations, styling tips and more.
The growth of natural hair influencers is truly groundbreaking. Because of this increase, more and more consumers place their trust in these “haircare pros” for healthy, longer hair. I was one of those many consumers, constantly waiting for the next best styling tip. However, a recent Twitter thread forced me to question my current natural hair habits and consider the impact influencers made on them.
The first thing I noticed was every account that was giving advice was a licensed stylist and/or specialist: they color, style and treat clients of multiple natural hair textures. Their reliability lies not only in their ability to style hair, but their versatility, and apparent credibility listed in their Twitter and Instagram bios, Facebook reviews and their websites.
Image Courtesy: Instagram
Most natural hair influencers, if not all, gain their platform because of their own personal hair journey. Unlike stylists, influencers’ earnings are based on what works for their own hair and how their hair care routine could potentially affect that of their followers’. Stylists are different: they know what will work and are trained to learn what’s healthy for all types of hair, not just their own.
Another hair professional providing styling advice is Camille Janae, a texture hair specialist. Jennifer-Rose is a master colorist and hairstylist. She’s one of the professionals providing advice in the Twitter thread.
Another thing that surprised me in this Twitter thread was that most of the tips provided countered most of the trends in the natural hair community. Because influencer voices are so prominent, their followers adopt their routines, thus popularizing certain styles and methods. Among these popular natural hair methods are deep conditioning treatments, knowing your hair type and its porosity, oiling your scalp, using a leave-in conditioner, and plenty more.
These stylists, however, shut these methods down. Take one of the most widely used practices in the natural hair community: using deep conditioner. For years, it’s been encouraged to deep condition your hair every single wash day, however often that is. We’ve been told deep conditioning is the key to healthy hair, as it prevents hair damage and strengthens hair strands. However, licensed stylist, Jennifer-Rose (@JenniferRoseNYC via Twitter), says the complete opposite and provides her stance:
Image Courtesy: Twitter
The same stylist opposes the idea of leave-in conditioner, oils, and curl creams by providing a simplified guide to healthy natural hair in another tweet going against the masses. People in the natural hair community are so used to layering products (shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner, leave-in conditioner, curl cream, gel, and oil), only to find out that the process, in reality, should be much simpler. According to these stylists, deep conditioner is not necessary and doesn’t really provide much for your hair. If that’s the case, there’s no need for popular deep treatments such as this mask and multiple more. Perhaps one of the most popular natural care lines, Cantu provides a huge variety of products, one of its most popular being this leave-in cream. However, after reading how simple natural hair care routine should be, this product is potentially unnecessary.
Image Courtesy: Target
Image Courtesy: Target
The Twitter thread doesn’t stop there: there are plenty more recommendations, meaning that there’s even more to consider and to doubt. This thread pushed me to ask questions. Is my current hair care routine working effectively? Is my hair actually healthy, or am I just adhering to an influencer’s idea of healthy?
Ultimately, the Twitter thread starts a conversation by challenging users to really consider their hair’s health, and what they can do to promote it. Believe it or not, there was a time where influencers weren’t the trailblazers of the natural hair community – hairstylists were. Perhaps the goal of this thread is to reignite trust in stylists and to leave influencers false accreditations in the past.
Strike Out,
Writer: Shelby Wingate
Athens
