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Nappturality has been online since 2002. Dedicated to all the women in the diaspora who proudly wear their highly textured hair naturally. Nappturality.com is the place to find photographs,, forums, information and links about the care, maintenance and politics of natural hair. Natural napptural hair. Here you will find photos of all natural styles, comb coils, two-strand twists, afro puffs, afros dredlocks (dreadlocks), locs and many other natural styles. Styled by natural napptural haired women on their own hair.

Blogs

Patricia Gaines

Changing Names of Ingredients

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Do you check the ingredients when you are looking for hair products? You should. I have already written several articles about the dangers of certain chemicals and ingredients used in creating Black hair care products and which to avoid. You can find one here and another one here.  Always check the ingredients Watch out, some companies ar...
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Patricia Gaines

Sisterlocks on SCOTUS -- Representation Matters

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Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson swears Oath at Senate Confirmation Hearings
First, I got goosebumps first, then the tears came. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has made history. Her induction to the highest court in the United States brings with it the aspirations and dreams of Black women throughout the country. Not only from those of us who aspire to achieve greatness in the legal professions, but all of us. From the young w...
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Patricia Gaines

Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock: My Take

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Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022
"At your highest moments be careful. That's when the devil comes for you." Those were the wise words of Denzel Washington about that slap. You know, when the rotation of our Earth paused, just for a second – and paused even longer for us Black women watching the Academy Awards in 2022.   This was a moment, when one Black man took it upon himse...
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Patricia Gaines

Musty Loc Syndrome- Freshen up your Scalp

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Funky sour musty danky sticky loc scalp. You best get onto that before it gets out of hand. Not enough thorough cleansing of your scalp is going to cause this problem –but it's a mistake that can be fixed yourself, if you catch it early enough. I know I have written about scalp issues a lot. Like here, and here. But it's im...
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Patricia Gaines

The Diluted Natural Hair Sisterhood

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I want to say something about the current iteration of the "natural hair community" and I am going to be blunt. Fractured -- that term came to mind because of all the splits into tribal factions on Facebook and other platforms. Maybe it's more diluted than fractured - or maybe a combo of both. Everything changes and evolves, sometime...
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Patricia Gaines

Tackling ​Congested Scalp and Hair

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First, I need to explain what I mean by this term. It's not a medical term – nor something I found on the internet. Congested Scalp and Hair (CSH) is a condition I have found that happens with my own natural hair, and can cause all types of problems. But it can be reversed and prevented if you know how to do it. Remember back in the days of Bl...
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Patricia Gaines

Nappy: The Word Debate

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A couple of times a year, this subject come around. Like a comet, it blasts through natural hair groups, discussion forums and social media. Is the word "nappy" good or bad? Should we use it or not?  20+ years ago it was unheard of to call yourself nappy. The word was that bad a connotation for hair. Also, 20 years ago it was rare to see a Bla...
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Patricia Gaines

Natural-Haired Job Applicants at a Disadvantage - New Study Shows

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A new study conducted by Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, a management professor and a senior associate dean who conducted the research at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, has been released with not-so-shocking findings: Black women with natural afro hair are less likely to be offered job interviews. This study detected bias against Black women ...
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Patricia Gaines

The Toxicity of Hair Shaming

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You know, people have ALWAYS been up in Black women's business when it comes to our bodies, our hair. Too skinny, too fat, short, too nappy, too whatever. And you know what? Leave us alone. There is a trend emerging in this *new* nappy hair movement. Yeah, another one. And it seems to be coming from OUTSIDE our regular women-space. It's coming from...
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Patricia Gaines

Understand Shea Butter

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We all have heard the benefits of African Shea Butter for decades. Centuries. And it has rightfully earned its place at the apex of nut butters. But what is it, where does it come from and is it for everyone? What is Shea Butter?  Shea butter is the fat that has been extracted from the nuts of the Shea Nut tree which is native to Africa and sp...
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Patricia Gaines

Curl Definition on Afro Hair

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Challenges of Texture Definition
Curl definition really isn't the right term for use with actual afro hair. Afro hair is more tightly coiled that curly. Curls are a loose pattern. Afro coils are a tight pattern. So, I am going to refer to this as coil definition. STEP ONE: DETERMINE YOUR HAIR TEXTURE First, you need to HAVE coils for them to pop. Some of us don't have co...
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Patricia Gaines

3 Natural Hair Bloggers Reminisce About The Early Days Of The Movement

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These hair bloggers shaped the discourse around Black hair and beauty.
by Tatiana Pile, On Assignment For HuffPost02/03/2020 09:00 am ET   What started as conversations on hair care forums evolved into a full-fledged online community over the last 20 years. Twenty years ago, Patricia Gaines had a terrible hair experience with a chemical relaxer and was left with extremely short hair. For decades, she'd used ...
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Patricia Gaines

Going Natural with Afro Hair is a Big Deal

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Afro natural hair
This natural hair revolution has meant different things to different women. For some it changed their lives by giving them a reason to stop destroying their hair. For others it didn't play a big part but created a little sense of more freedom and acceptance. For me as Nappturality's founder – it became my life's work to help empower Black women by ...
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Patricia Gaines

Smelly Scalp Syndrome

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You are in the car and lean over to grab something. When you lean back to your seat, you get a whiff of something, and it's not pleasant. It's like a musty, sweaty or sharp smell. Where is it coming from? What just happened? Repeat the motion, same result and now it hits you. It's coming from your hair! Or more likely, from your scalp. Smelly Scalp...
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Patricia Gaines

It's Not so Scary to Cut it Short. The TWA

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Nothing, and I mean nothing – is as fierce as a cool, sharp and on-point teeny-weeny-afro. And I mean that. I have worn almost every style out there on my natural hair. And the one that gave me the most power, was my TWA. Choosing to keep it short has its challenges but if you can manage it, the TWA can turn out to be your best friend. But.... "I h...
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Patricia Gaines

Does Going Natural Stop with Just Hair?

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For those of you who have been chemical free for years (or your entire lives), did at some point you transition to a more natural lifestyle like maybe switching to organic products or being vegetarian? Transitioners and newly naturals, do you plan on striving for a more natural lifestyle? I was just thinking about this today as I was washing my hai...
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Patricia Gaines

The Newest Face of L'Oreal - Viola Davis

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Back when I wrote this article about Viola Davis and her big beautiful afro at the Golden Globes, I was super excited. No one had dared to wear their natural hair so OUT and so BIG before, and she absolutely stole the show. It shouldn't be a big deal, but because it was so rare to see, it was. And not just for me, for everyone there. Now Viola Davi...
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Patricia Gaines

Transitioning the Natural Hair Product Market

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9 years ago, (I know, time flies) we discussed how big hair companies (Revlon, Pantene etc) were jumping on the new Black natural hair bandwagon. Back then we were concerned that they were deceiving us by adding shea butter or coconut oil and rebranding the same products by putting someone with an afro on the packaging and calling it "Natural." And...
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Patricia Gaines

What NOT to do With Natural Hair

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Petrolatum
This is an EPIC thread with almost 4000 replies where real women with natural hair tell you their mistakes and give you their best tips on what NOT to do. You can't get any better advice than this https://www.nappturality.com/forums/threads/80061-The-what-Not-To-Do-Thread
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EPIC EPIC thread
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Patricia Gaines

Cheap Tricks: Natural Hair on a Budget

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When I first went natural, I was really on a tight budget. And I had no idea about styling natural hair let alone what products to use. There weren't any products for natural hair anyway because it was 2001 and no one had any products specifically formulated for my type of afro, kinky hair. So, what I did was started to make my own. During this tim...
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Your Natural Hair is NOT a Fad

Wearing natural hair is not a fad. It is not a fashion trend. It's the natural hair you were born with. So why can't you wear it?
Don't believe the negative hype..

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