Your Crowning Glory 101 - Introduction

Just A Note

My inspiration for going natural is primarily my husband. He is the one who supported and even encouraged me to go natural. I began my journey almost three years ago and have had many ups and downs; but now that I have experienced a measure of success; I will never go back!!! I would like to say to all of you who are permed - (a.k.a. relaxed); I am not anti-perm. I do not believe that every Black woman who has a perm is trying to be White. I also do not believe that natural hair is for everyone. Going natural requires time, patience, and a thick skin. I simply want to be an encouragement to those who are natural and need some help and a good word. I want to be an encouragement to those who want to go natural and for some reason feel like they can’t; and for those women who are parents of biracial children with kinky, nappy hair; I would like to let them know how their child may feel and how they can care for their child’s hair. I also would like to say that I am not a professional anything! I do love to learn and have put in a lot of time and research into this project. I also have a new motivation for learning more about caring for hair. My daughter Aaliyah was born with more hair on her head than I had two years ago! I want to teach her to take good care of herself. This book is a conglamoration of things I wish I had known about hair many years ago.






The day I decided to write this book was the day I was holding my five-month-old, beautiful daughter in an office where two other young, Black mothers of beautiful daughters were. One of the babies was 18 months old and had a perm. The mother of this child admitted to me that she found the baby’s natural hair easier to manage. Later stated that she would not go back to natural hair. The other baby was only one year old and had very little hair; but her mother had a very negative spirit about the texture of the hair her daughter did have. According to her, her daughter did not have “good hair.” My heart was broken. Some may say, “It’s just hair!”, but it isn’t. A woman’s hair is a reflection of her.


My hair has grown significantly since I have been natural. One day I two-strand twisted my hair when it was dry so that it would show some of its length. I wore it like that to church and I felt some people staring at me. Two children asked me if it was all mine. Of course I said yes, and one of them said, “I don’t understand.” To which I replied, “I know.” Our children, at a very young age, are being permed and/or given the idea that the hair God gave them is not good enough if it is “nappy.” We are being taught that Black women can only grow their hair to about shoulder length, and in order to do that they must be bi-racial, they must have a perm, or they must grow dredlocks. These statements simply are not true. We must stop this maddness! If you are an adult and you choose to wear your hair relaxed, natural, in braids, locs, weaved, or to wear wigs for the rest of our life; it is your choice; but no eighteen-month-old child needs a perm! God does not make any mistakes! The texture of hair we have is a gift to us from the Lord and it is good, no matter what type it is. I find it hard to believe that our Creator said that a woman’s long hair is her glory (1 Corinthians 11:15) and then He would give every race the ability to grow their hair long except one; or that He would expect that one race to chemically change their “glory” in order for it to be considered beautiful. Whatever God has given you, Accept it. Love it. Learn to take care of it !!!