Feeling the Natural Love

Stuck in the middle of central Wisconsin can be tough for any young black woman, but especially a young black woman whose made the decision to transition to a natural hair life style. Products have to be purchased online if they can't be found in a Targets or Walmart and there's no other black women around to commune with about the trials of transitioning.

So if you could, imagine the joy I felt this weekend as I vacationed for 4th of July weekend in Chicago. Never at any one time had I experienced so much love for my natural hair in two days:

1. 1. My best friend/bff (who I hadn't seen since August, before I made the official decision) loved it and is now seriously considering going natural. 
2.  While at the Taste of Chicago, my friends and I took a rest from all of the chaos that is heat, food and too many people, under a shaded area. Suddenly I heard someone say, "Do you bantu?" I looked over my shoulder and could see a young black woman with pretty thick and dark curls talking to me. I responded, "No, just a braidout and twist." She said, "It looks nice. I bantu." I told her, her hair also looked great. 
3. Friday night, hanging out with friends at a Chicago nightclub. We're near the bar, in a particularly crowded area, when a young man taps me on the shoulder and says, "I love the curls."
4. My friends and I meet up with my bff's Chicago co-worker and her sister. Both ladies are rocking natural hair. They both made the decision about two years ago and are rocking pretty puffy 'fros. So, as we leave the Taste to do a little shopping on the Mile, an older woman walks pass us and says, "Yeah to the natural girls. Looking beautiful ladies!" We all throw a thank you back to her.
5. Had a great 8 minute conversation with my bffs natural friends on transitioning, products and why it took us till our 20s to learn how to take care of our hair. This may be my first time having a face-to-face convo with natural sistas outside of e-mail, phone, Twitter, Facebook and G-chats. And as much as I appreciate social media, there's nothing like having that 1-on-1 (technically 2) face-to-face.