Is Natural Hair Only a Fad? What Do You Think?

Many people have asked me lately if going natural was just a fad. I'm not ready to concede to the fact that it's a fad because I look at the situation a little differently than most. I think it's important to realize that everyone was born with natural hair.

If that's the case, then maybe the actual fad was getting a relaxer in the first place. Maybe the relaxer will eventually go away, just like the Jheri Curl did and many other hairstyles of yesteryear.

Read on to dive into the topic of "Is Natural Hair a Fad?".

Remember when different items were popular, like Cabbage Patch Dolls, or those cinnamon flavored toothpicks? Talk about awesome!

Also, does anyone remember the haircut poster in almost all barbershops around the country? As I grew up, I always looked at it while waiting for my haircut, thinking to myself whether to get a right-side parted high fade or just go with the simple left parted brush cut. The decision always felt enormous when I was a child.

Reminiscing now, it is evident that decision was based on temporary fads, and isn’t relevant today.

Many people have wondered whether or not the sudden obsession with natural hair is just another fad like others in the past. Rather than just discussing my opinion, we need to think about what a fad is.

According to Wikipedia, “a fad is any form of behavior that develops among a large population and is collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period, generally as a result of the behavior being perceived as novel in some way. A fad is said to “catch on” when the number of people adopting it begins to increase rapidly. The behavior will normally fade quickly once the perception of novelty is gone.”

Keeping those technicalities in mind, now we can answer the natural hair fad question.

The definition specifically says that for a fad to exist a form of behavior must develop among a large population. I would still acknowledge women wearing natural hair to be large, relatively speaking, even though the number of women wearing relaxed hair may be larger.

Next, the definition states that the fad then must be collectively followed with enthusiasm for some period of time. Even though a period of time can differ between every person, most people would recognize the natural hair movement has grown in following and enthusiasm over time. Using the definition does make it seem like a fad, but we can still go further.

The definition goes on to say that generally a fad is regarded as novel, and as soon as that novel perception fades, so does the fad.

This is the most crucial point in the definition, and brings about some questions: Do women just want natural hair because it is something different and unique? Like many of these natural hair product subscription services? What will happen when the novel perception begins to fade? Will women with natural hair soon return to the world of relaxed hair?

We are still left without a definite answer when using the definition of a fad.

Personally, I think there is a different question that should be asked. I think that question is, was relaxed hair just a fad, too? Everyone starts out with natural hair, and some made a choice to switch to relaxed hair. It is the same as some choosing to get that right-side parted high fade or Jheri Curls; both of which were fads. Maybe relaxed hair was only a fad, in and of itself.

My opinion has been given, but everyone has their opinions. Let me know what you think about these things as well. Is natural hair just a temporary fad? Please respond in the comments.