Many people will attest to having learned profound life lessons during quarantine. Morgan Bethea developed a deeper appreciation of her natural hair.
Bethea, a North Carolina attorney, spoke to Good Morning America about the journey to embracing her God-given texture when most salons were not servicing clients for the better part of 2020.
“I started soon after lockdown in March 2020,” Bethea said. “I started because hair salons closed, and I began working out more, so I was sweating, and the upkeep became too much.”
Bethea explained that the legal field is very proper and demands a more polished appearance. Therefore, she had been wearing her hair straight when she went to work every day.
She had gotten relaxers every three months and washed and straightened her hair every week since she was 13.
But, amid the quarantine, when fewer people would see her, she felt comfortable letting her true style come to the surface.
“I also wasn’t going into the office, so I didn’t feel the need to look presentable,” Bethea said.
As troubling as that concept is, in 2021, there are still plenty of Black women who believe that natural hair is not professional or “presentable.”
Unfortunately, research buttresses that belief and keeps many Black women in a cycle of hair obsession even when they want to go natural.
Bethea decided to do the big chop in Dec. 2020. Although she admitted that she was afraid to go through with it, it dawned on her that the hair that grew from her scalp could not look bad.
She has now settled into her Type 4 coils and is learning acceptance of the texture but the marked increase in the time it takes to care for it on wash day.
Bethea has found that not only do people not react negatively to her hair but that natural hair can make the simple pleasures and wonders in life much easier to enjoy.
“I can work out without worrying about sweating out my edges or my roots,” said Bethea. “I can get caught in the rain.”
Just under a year in, she said she loves her natural hair and made the right decision.
Black women loving themselves is always the best decision.
