It was refreshing coming across a children’s book about LOVING YOUR NATURAL HAIR.  The book is titled, “Jamie Loves Her Natural Hair”, by Ariane Roberts and it helps to appreciate the uniqueness of what curly/kinky hair can do!  It allows for young children to respect and understand that it’s not only acceptable to wear your hair in the texture that you were born with, but to show there are different variations and that you can even have fun with your styles too!  Messages like these are the correct programming that children should have from the start because it instills their beauty and their self-esteem around the way they’ve been created.

I have a niece that’s 3wks young so it’s definitely a must read for her NOW!  Yes she isn’t too young to at least hear these words because voices are still spoken around her and her brain is still developing 😉

Now on the other hand, I have a niece that’s 13yrs old and recently, she told me she wanted “bundles”.  I was in disbelief!  I’m not a fan of having fake hair but fake long hair on a teenager is a NO NO for me (& her mother too).  Children nowadays are bombarded with images and this fixation that weaves, straight hair, and relaxers are the way to go…it suggests what’s “beautiful” and normalize NOT being comfortable styling your own hair.  My niece wears box braids (extensions) or ponytail puffs.

Interestingly enough in our immediate family, my mom is the only one with a perm (that she got in her 50s); my niece’s mom (my older sister) NEVER added weave nor permed her hair and my younger sister NEVER permed her hair either.  Me on the other hand, I’ve been natural for 5yrs now and had numerous perms but never sow in weaves… so my niece has 3 examples close to her of naturally beautiful women embracing their hair!

It’s very important for me to continue to demonstrate to my niece and other children that beauty isn’t one sided.  We live in a culture that places more emphasis than needed on hair texture, length of hair, and certain styles that are “correct” to wear.  And in Jamie Loves Her Natural Hair, Roberts’ really addressed that curly/kinky hair still tends to stand out even with a mix of different races in a given setting; and the fact that straight hair has been commercialized.   Well we are in a time where more and more women are speaking up and speaking out against buying into looking like someone else that they’re not.  I truly commend Ariane Roberts and her efforts with writing this book!!

I LOVE MY CURLS, MY FRO, MY THICKNESS, MY BUSHINESS, MY TWIST OUTS, MY WASH AND GOS, EVEN STRAIGHTNESS, AND ALL THE VERSATILITY MY HAIR CAN DO!  THIS IS THE “AGENDA” that needs to be pushed and just accept the uniqueness of each style because it’s WHAT. YOUR. HAIR. CAN. DO! 😉

PLEASE ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY to share with your child/children and definitely add this to their book collection!!  Also check out Ariane Roberts who is a full-time blogger at BlackNaps.org and she is AMAZING with hair care tips and hair styles too!!