by
Chinwe
NOTE: Though the word “texture” is actually a term that describes strand thickness (i.e., fine vs. medium vs. thick), it is sometimes loosely used in place of hair “type” (i.e., curly vs. kinky vs. coily).
Several days ago, a video by Jouelzy entitled “So Over the Natural Hair Community & Texture Discrimination” popped up on my subscription feed. Intrigued by the title, I watched her video, which actually raised some good points. To super summarize, she discusses how kinky-haired naturals have much less support from hair companies and fewer clicks/views/shares than curly-haired naturals. You can check out her video below:
Klassy Kinks, another 4C natural on YouTube, recently did a response video, which was also interesting. To summarize her video, she speaks more on the reality that kinky-haired naturals have less support and views because those with the same texture tend to follow more curly-haired naturals. You can check out her response video here:
Not too long ago, I did a BGLH post on “10 Kinky-Haired Naturals You Should Check Out on YouTube.” I, in part, did this post because 4B/4C’s tend to have a hard time finding “watchable” naturals with our hair type. (Remember the word “watchable”; I will come back to that soon.) Many of the ladies I posted – and there are so many more – have few views, few shares, and less than 10,000 subscribers. Alternatively, if you look at curly- or coily-haired naturals like Naptural85 (433,000+), SunKissAlba (366,000+), MahoganyCurls (216,000+), or TarenGuy (204,000+), their subscribers are well over 200,000 and their views are through the roof. Few kinky-haired naturals, probably as much as I can count on one hand, hit 100,000 or more subscribers, and this includes AfricanExport (145,000+) and maybe Nikkimae2003 (151,000+). Why is this, and does it have to do with texture discrimination?
In my honest opinion, I believe both Jouelzy and Klassy Kinks have very valid points on why fewer kinky-haired naturals get product sponsorship, views and shares compared to their coily- or curly-haired counterparts. In terms of views and shares, I also think another factor (a smaller but still relevant one) is the “watchability” of kinky-haired naturals that I mentioned earlier.
Let’s talk more about what makes some kinky-haired naturals less “watchable” (other than the obvious texture discrimination). Well…. presence, personality, video quality, and hair length also factor into whether a YouTuber is watchable. (Yes, I believe there is also a bit of hair length discrimination when it comes to naturals.) If you do a YouTube search on “4B” or “4C” natural hair, plenty of individuals pop up, but few are ones to which I (and probably other naturals) would actually subscribe. Let’s be real; how many kinky-haired YouTubers have the “whole package” of an engaging presence, a good personality, AND great video quality. (Add in super long hair, if you want, but that characteristic is not a requirement in my search for naturals.) Now compare that number to those of curly-haired naturals. The latter is overwhelming. That “whole package” generally does matter when it comes to whether some individuals subscribe to a natural.
So what does this all mean for kinky-haired YouTubers? Yes, I definitely believe that there is texture discrimination; it is very real. Also, yes, kinky-haired naturals do need to support more of our own. However, I am not going to subscribe to someone just because she has kinky hair (or curly hair OR natural hair, for that matter). If the sound quality is poor, the video quality is sub-par, her presence is boring, and/or her personality is bland, I’ll pass. Last but not least, I’m more inclined to subscribe to naturals with great hair style tutorials and/or interesting hair care advice; if they lack those two, I am not as intrigued.
As for other social media (Instagram, Facebook, etc.), I’ll let you all chime in on that one.
Ladies, is texture discrimination apparent on YouTube and other social media? What are your thoughts?
245 Responses
The whole paragraph about the “watchability” of the bloggers is a whole load of bullshit. Well, not entirely. Let me put it this way; texture discrimination ultimately affects the watchability of the content put out by kinky-haired bloggers/vloggers. It’s not that for some “odd reason” kinky-haired vloggers usually have lesser quality videos and content than loose-curly haired vloggers. The cold hard truth is because of texture discrimination, curly-haired vloggers end up receiving more endorsement deals, sponsorships, and higher viewer and subscriber numbers than their kinky-haired counterparts. And because this is 2017, we are all well aware that more views=more youtube income=better quality videos. Because curly-haired vloggers on average have more subscribers, more views, receive more products sponsorships from curly hair care companies and make more money than their kinky-haired counter parts, they are able to buy better quality camera and microphones from the money earned for views, and put out more content including varieties of products sent to them buy multiple companies through sponsorship. That’s the way it works. One feeds the other. The more the black/natural hair community favors vloggers loosely-curled hair, the more views, sponsorships and money those vloggers will receive, thus allowing them to put out better quality videos. That’s the part you left out about kinky-haired vloggers “not putting out equally amazing content”. Kinky-haired vloggers are NOT given the same type of opportunities to put out quality content because of the black community’s bias against kinky hair. The black community’s bias towards loose curls allows vloggers and youtubers with loose curls to make more money through their views and sponsorships, thus allowing them to put out “better quality” content. And the more good quality content they put out, the more sponsorships, views, and money they will receive. It’s all one giant cycle.
That girl has the most amazing mouth. I have lip envy.
MJ Lewis is a new Type 4 natural that is creating a buzz as well.
This youtubber breaks it down!
But I get texture discrimination because the men I talked to only liked my hair because I had tight curls and adorable coils and my mom and brother hates my hair .
I watch those with my hair and kinkier than mines . I’m sorry I’m going to follow coily curly naturals like Naptural85 she has a great personality , one of the few that has my hair type 4a but I’m 3c/4a and she gives me information and tips that actually work !I also Follow Hair Crush and many others .
I saw Jouelzy’s video and I definitely agreed to an extent. I agree much more with the second video and your point in this post. I believe people are just looking for someone to blame . I definitely have come across many many Youtubers with hair ‘like mine’ but the video quality just was not what something I look forward to seeing in my “my subscriptions” list. I subscribed to Mahogany Curls because her video quality, editing and attention to detailed (QUALITY) information is amazing. I subscribed to African Export because her personality is very comfortable and her hair texture felt very relatable but lately her videos just aren’t what they use to be. It looks like – hey I have a minute let me turn on this camera and throw something up -. Obviously I don’t know her life but you can definitely tell she has her hands full so what do I do as a viewer? Move on to the next person who puts effort into videos. I just really believe that a person must come with a certain package for me to subscribe to them especially as a content creator myself, if I can’t learn anything from you, then why am I watching?
xo
Maggie A
http://www.lovemavin.com
I have to say, when I first went natural in 2008, the texture discrimination mainly came from men. That’s why it was so refreshing to be around and communicate with women with ALL hair types. There were very few naturals when I started 6 years ago, and I loved the friendship and bonding I got from the whole experience. I spent countless hours on Fotki skimming through accounts for updates and regimen tips. We were really into it to empower EACH other. No one was worried about texture discrimination. Now all of a sudden, you have self proclaimed gurus that have only been natural 2 years or less ( pet peeve!!) trying to give not so great advice for the sake of getting a check or being sponsored. I watched her video, and she just sounds down right bitter, which is sad because she has such a big personality that could be used for so much more. I want the community to get back to the sisterhood of it all. Corporate America dangled the bait, and a lot of women went natural just to have a shot at snagging it, smh.
I think we are also not taking into account time. It takes time to build a quality channel. The women named in this article have been at this since at least 2009. Also two out of the three for sure are full time Vloggers. This is their full time job. NaturalMe4C is a great. She is the total package. I have fine 4a hair however; I love to watch her channel. No my hair cannot do all the great things that hers can but I genuinely enjoy watching her and her family. As time has passed, you can really see the growth in her channel. CharyJay is also another great 4C Vlogger. She is doing it big with her signature twist outs. I just love her style.
Chary Jay is not 4c, she says shes 4a and you should watch her video with the salon experiences, the stylists tells her that as well
Dephne Madyara is a great “watchable” 4c natural
I watched Jouelzy’s video but not the response. It appears that Jouelzy got into the game for the wrong reasons. At first, it was to get free weave, but when that didn’t materialize, she moved on to natural hair. That gives the appearance of inauthenticity. Is she upset that she doesn’t have a bigger following and is getting overlooked or that she isn’t getting free stuff? FWIW, she mentioned having 80K subscribers and in the month since the video came out she’s climbed to 97K. Who’s to say the video wasn’t just click bait?
Personality also counts. I first saw her on CurlyNikki and while she was personable, I didn’t really like the way she talked about 4c hair. Something just rubbed me the wrong way. Also, in the video above, she does drop some profanity and that might be a turnoff to some.
However, I wonder if she might have a point when I think of Jenell of BlakisBeautyful. Jenell has a few HUNDRED videos, but 88K subscribers. Whitney has far fewer vids, but almost half a millions subs. Why? It could be hair, but it could also be content and quality. But, Jenell has partnerships/sponsorships with companies and she travels for the well-attended meet-ups and events that Jouelzy craves.
All in all, make top quality videos with good information and then see what happens. I’ve never truly believed that Jouelzy knows what she’s talking about when it comes to her hair, much less anyone else’s. The long and short is that if you’re looking for some sort of discrimination, you will find it and you will also be less likely to assess or search for any other explanation.
Awsome explanation! Totally agree Bel.
I whole heartedly agree with your closing paragraph!
xo
Maggie A
http://www.lovemavin.com
I have kinky hair and I have been natural for what is about to be a year now. Making youtube videos in my opinion is not easy and not a lot of people have the time for it. I have watched many hair youtube videos for both natural hair and weaves. Majority of women who have 4c hair and I have seen it even in my own family. My sister has 3c hair and people and my mother who had recently went natural at that time asked her how did you get it like that. How my sister always answers it just grown like that a few days later my mom permed her hair. Why? Because it was not perfectly curly like you see on T.V. and on other women. I know my hair will never be just like my sisters and I am okay with that even if sometimes it takes me longer to get ready because of my hair. In my opinion it’s not all about video quality,personality, but how well does your hair match mines, If you look at majority of kinky haired women on youtube guess what their hair is long as hell. My hair is in the middle stage right now were I am not loving my twist out and braid out but it’s not long enough to do a goddess braid. What the natural community needs is more kinky textures that are willing to make videos in the middle of their stage journey. Not at a TWA or when their hair is almost touching their ass. Those videos may help people with longer hair or people with barely any hair but where are the girls with neck length hair. Or any length besides short ass hell and ass length.
You’re so right! And like you said at first, bc I’m in that stage, WE DoNt have Time! Unless we can really figure out or get help to make quality You Tube videos, you won’t see our MOP on the screen! I’m thinking about it and and I’m like No! Who would watch me day in and day out, how can I Time Manage with all it takes to get my hair perfect, learn all the best products, visit natural hair shows or research, and still pay my bills and feed my 4 kids? We are the lets do it quick and wrap it up if don’t have time for perfection, yet still don’t look perfect to others, Hair types. Boo! Whoever decides to do it need investors and friends on Facebook donations, and already has a huge understanding of Chemical Hair and Natural Hair bf with versatile expierience bf they could make a quality video with hair like mine, which dosent even have a grade or hair type! I’m serious, 4C boo, my stuff is Don King hair type! Spung, Dry, Dandruff, thick, tight coils, Fro only, has huge shrinkage, blow outs please (if I could)! The best styles for my type is dreads that needs heavy oil and maintenance, braids ( but have to flat iron to really grab hold), and up- do’s! I’m not doing all others it makes no sense for me.
I’ve subscribed to African and Nikki just now. I think it’s the lack of knowledge of the good YouTube personalities! I would like my you tube front page to be more customized to what I Favored and subscribed to. I’ve been sifting through videos and after heavy Internet Lagging I get ADHD on You Tube and sign off. Also, it takes talking to other naturalist to know them or reading and surfing the web a lot. I don’t have much time but to work a lot, feed kids,spirituality, run kids, sex, barely clean, health, dress, cook, do my thick springy gray specked treat dandruff coarse yet beautiful if maintained only dry Maine! and SLEEP! So it’s a stress reliever, but I would like to know things faster and easier. Thanks for the recomendations! Forget comparisons, every hair type has it’s frustrations ( I love my hair but I’ve been frustrated just like I love my kids but…) yet we must embrace us and master our look that is us and not someone else. And no one has the right to down us, not even our evil twin, esp. IF MAINTAINED!
And it’s spungy not springy. Dang spell check and no edit options.
Is everyone ignoring the elephant in the room?
Cause its too obvious.
Why are these channels getting the praise while 4b/c are being ignored?
Because everyone wants loose, mixed girl, curls cause its the same mindset of wanting light skin.
Looser curls, means closer to euro beauty, aka white people.
You see it in the comments on videos, you see it on product ads o f the lure of being mixed and looser curls are the only right way to be natural. Its saddening and sickening.
We are still a slave to these euro beauty standards that bombard us everywhere we go. It shows that we as black people ARE STILL brainwashed to believe, whether they know it or not, the closer to white, the better. I don’t wanna hear my fiance with 4b/c hair say sadly that he wishes his hair was looser curls or mixed hair. I think his hair is gorgeous and i love a man with natural afro hair <3
To be honest I dont think its going away because its invading a movement that is suppose to reject those euro beauty standards yet here we are still being influenced by it along with it invading everything else.
I know its a painful topic but if we dont address that euro beauty standard still dictate it will always be here.
Just my $0.02
You are soooo right.
I agree. people are treating it like another standards that most of use can’t reach. going natural went from loving what you have to another divide in our people. why do black people do this to themselves? I will never understand it. i have “3b” hair and i’ll never understand the stink eye i recieve because of it. i didn’t ask anyone to feel a certain way about my hair. when i started my no heat journey the person i followed and watched was naptural. even though her hair is “4b-c” i love her videos, she still have valid advice to give. i think insecure women have poisoned something that was suppose to be good. poisoned what was suppose to make blacks realize they too are beautiful the way they are. if all the women with this so called 4c hair were sharing and liking and watching all the things 4c we wouldn’t be having this problem would we? there are just as many women with type 4 hair that there is for type 3.
don’t make me pick up your slack cuz you are self hating on your own hair.
I agree with you partly. When I first started my natural hair journey 4 years ago, I was trying to achieve that loose curl look, and it took me a year to really understand the purpose of the natural hair movement (ie. Love what you have). However, of late, I have been desiring looser textured hair just for the shear purpose of minimizing tangles. I have 3c/4a hair and I spend a LOT of time detangling. I have to wear protective styles 90% of the time to prevent tangles. It’s very frustrating. I love my hair, I just to love working with it. So my desire comes from convenience, not Eurocentric standards of beauty.
Omg i have the same hair type and I spent months trying to get a looser curl like 3a 3b . I love my 3c 4a hair but sometimes I wish my tight curls were looser and that I had silky edges . Now i just accepted my hair and love my tight curls and coils . I get alot of tangles too and not even a year natural yet I braid my hair on cornrows to minimize tangles .
I really like your $0.02 because it is true.
For a lot of people, beauty and self confidence comes from validation from men and society in a general. Until the darker melanin, cotton haired young ladies like myself find it within ourselves to rise and break through that glass box fighting for that validation will forever be a lost cause.
maybe it has something to do with naturals going natural to be cool/trendy rather than for getting to like blk features.
there is some photo i saw of a youtuber who made a set of photos. one she had her kinky texture and was looking all sad. she then did a twist out style and her expression was like THANK YOU JESUS. smh. the funny part is instead of a twistout it was a relaxer ppl would call her self-hating.
Jenell B Stewart from Blakizbeautyful and kinkycurlycoilyme.com is a popular self proclaimed 4C Natural blogger.
I personally watch and follow videos of youtubers with a similar hair type as my own (3c). I NEVER subscribe to a youtuber’s channel that I cannot apply to my own hair (that goes for kinkier hair textures and looser hair textures). It just doesnt make sense to me.
I agree with what was said in this article. However, I do think you missed one element. Youtubers that are more attractive tend to have more views and more subscribers (regardless of hair type). The more pleasing to the eye a person is the more likely they can have a successful youtube channel. There are a few exceptions to the rule, but I’m sure we can all agree that there are several youtubers with massive followings based on looks alone.
Like me, most of my favorite 4b-4c youtubers find it best to wear long lasting protective styles. For a lot of people this means wigs, weaves, and braid extensions. 3a-4a you tubers like naptural85 will redo their hair every few days, giving them a lot of different styles to show off for the youtube community. The 4b-4c youtubers who have tried to mimic the 3a-4a naturals and give a continuous stream of interesting styles tend to loose their hair (ex. glamfun). Many of the 4b-4c youtubers compensate by giving less hair tutorials than the average 3a-4a youtuber and makeup/workout/life/style videos. But for some reason even those videos don’t get as much attention as a 3a-4a person’s makeup/workout/life style videos.
I disagree with the comment about 4b-4c naturals not having good cameras or engaging personalities. The proportion of 4b-4c naturals with good cameras and engaging personalities is probably about the same as for the 3a-4a naturals. The difference is that there are less 4b-4c naturals on youtube as a whole.
I guess the point I’m trying to make is that there is a reason why there are some differences between 3a-4a youtubers and 4b-c youtubers. And many of the other reasons seem like imagined excuses. In the end the 3a-4a videos get more views because people see pictures of long curly hair and click on the video. A 4b-4c natural usually dose not get the same consideration. 3a-4a people get more subscribers because they can rework their hair for videos every week (including practices between videos to get the style right) and still retain length.
FACTS! If us 4c mimic that we end up with a clump of hair in the bathroom floor! We can’t be out here redoing our hair every week
I responded to one of these video rants yesterday, prior to reading this post. You took the words out of mouth! I told this young lady the same thing you wrote here–people subscribe to YouTubers with great personalities and high-quality videos among other things. Also, I stated that kinky-haired YT’ers would get more views, if women with a similar hair texture would support their channels.
This obsession for curl is really interesting…I am from Martinique (Caribbean) and I actually never heard of it before reading nappy blogs. Many 4B or 4C talking about defining curls, using curl activators and doing wash and go’s…and I was like “my 4C hair does not curl? is that normal?”…well duh! It does not curl because I don’t think it can but it does so many other cool things so why bother ? I believe it’s an african-american thing, in the Caribbean I never had talks about “curl définition”. I would like to have Caribbean, African or South-american black girl confirming (or not) what I’m saying.
I’m from Barbados and in the past we didn’t care one bit. Even now the majority don’t care. However, there are a few (mostly 18-30 year olds) who have or are now jumping on the bandwagon of defining curls. But no matter where you go, the 1,2, and 3 hair types will always be praised as being “better” or “prettier”.
African here and yes, I can confirm that this whole ‘curl definition’ business is very much related to the current natural hair movement. When I went natural I didn’t know (or care) about typing, curls, etc, but as I started watching YouTube and reading blogs I saw it everywhere…
Agreed. I’m of Caribbean descent. The curl definition craze of today in the U.S. reminds me of the obsession with jheri curl and leisure curl from back in the day. There seems to be an obsession with “fixing” what isn’t broken and I think it harks back to many not being truly comfortable with their hair’s natural state. It is probably to be expected as the result of wearing and seeing one’s own real locks for the first time after years and generations of societal conditioning, along with a particular cultural obsession with aesthetics and “perfection”.
Being someone who has Type 3 hair, I notice I do have less trouble finding really “popular” youtubers w/ my hair type than my type 4 friends; and after listening to this girl’s rant, (Joulezy)I completely agreed and proceeded to check out her page. I then saw a majority of non-hair related videos, wig videos, straightened hair videos, etc. Yes she did have natural hair videos but I can see why she wouldn’t be a girl w/ type 4 hair’s first pick to subscribe to. You have to remember quality does count as well. (Not saying that there aren’t type 4 naturals w/ quality videos b/ there certainly are) I just think she should have a little more to back up her argument
“Type 4” here….and I kind of agree. Jouelzy and Ijeoma both have valid points in some areas (e.g. there is texture discrimination, it comes from companies and within the NHC, etc.). But why would I watch wig and weave videos (I’m subscribed to Ijeoma though) when I can do a bit of digging, and find someone whose channel fits me? This entire conversation inspired me to look for “type 4″* youtubers to watch, because as I previously stated… I don’t really watch YT unless I’m looking for a style. I found a couple YT channels I’m now in love with! The veteran natural I’ve been meaning to look up forever, cynthiarf and one by the name of Hallease. They’re both type 4, and Hallease is 4B/C in fact. Hallease has got nice lighting and editing. Her personality is genuine and awesome from the 4 or 5 videos I watched of hers today. I don’t think she has the number of views she deserves, and I think this community can change that 🙂
*
*I really believe most natural heads are multitextured, and single textured hair is a rarity. Thus, typing is really useful for identifying strands…and that’s it. Behavior is unique for every fro, regardless of type 🙂
I wish some black women with natural hair would stop waiting for a “brand” to support them. These “brands” paid for the propoganda that convinced generations of black women that using lye to straighten their hair was the truth and the light. Now that black women have flipped the script, companies like Dark and Lovely create a line for natural hair. Child, please. These “brands” don’t care about supporting black women. They care about getting money from black women.
Jouelzy and others need to stop waiting for a “brand” to show interest in her hair type and create her own. In the black-hair-care business, black women did and should continue to reign supreme (e.g. Madame C.J. Walker). Instead of using youtube to voice a complaint, I would like to see Jouelzy create a product for 4b and 4c hair types, then use youtube as a platform to promote it.
I know this is a cliche, but “be the change you want to see.”
Spot on.
I mainly subscribe to naturals with my hair type on YT because I’m learning to embrace my curl pattern and I dont want to watch styles that my hair cannot do. Now I think that Jouelzy and Klassy Kinks made some good points, there is definitely texture discrimination but this is a issue in the whole black community, let’s be real ! Now I feel that the main reason why Jouelzy doesn’t get many company deals is because her personality is really a hit or miss : you can love her , like I do or hate her.
We answer to everything and we allow everyone to categorize us they feel!
We also allow any insect to speak to us anyway…
Most black women are 4b-4c and a few 4a’s. So to the people claiming “people watch the texture that is like their’s is BS”. The problem is, the companies online PROMOTE those people and put them at the top of the list in searches etc. So therefore you can’t help but to see them first. I personally agree that people tend to watch hair type like their own. As a 4c natural with long thick hair that new very little about this “natural hair” movement until recently. When googleing “natural black hair styles” the women appeared DIDNT have my hair texture. I even started thinking that there were 0 vids out there about my hair texture. And especially any with my length. I was tired of wearing the same style and wanted something new. So then I found out about the hair texture stuff (2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4b, 4c, etc) and so then i could do a SPECIFIC search for my hair type on youtube or google. When i did that, it was even more disappointing because the women there didnt have tutorials, they just had their natural hair long and pics of how they grew it long(something i wasnt interested in). I recently came across a few youtubers that have my texture(not as long as my hair) but still long enough that they can do styles,i subscribe. Honestly when your hair is long, you can’t do the easy cute styles shorter haired women can do(i know i’ve tried).
How do you know that most black women have 4b-4c hair?! I have 4A hair and a lot of naturals I know personally do also. a number of 4C’s seems to be women who are disappointed with their natural hair texture after believing that cutting relaxed ends would result in curly and coily hair. I’ve rarely if ever seen someone with 3c-4a hair complain on YT…
I don’t really like the way you imply 4B/4C are always complaining about their hair texture and suggesting that most of us are disappointed about it. This is insulting to me.
My hair texture was not a surprise to me as I saw pictures and remember touching my true hair as a kid. I am very happy with my kinky hair even if sometimes I have “bad hair day” because of its thinness. The same way I am sure 3B or 3C have bad hair days because of bad products, bad weather, bad mood etc.
Most black women do not have 4b-4c hair. Most black women have 3b-4c hair with a smaller amount of 2-3a. Perhaps this faulty, but commonly stated, perception is the principle reason that people seem very confused when they ask me — a very dark-skinned black women with no Eurocentric features — “How do you get your hair to do that?” or ‘What do you put in you hair to make it do that/curl?” and then drill me with questions about whether I twist it, set it on rods, etc. when I tell then I natural and I just use a leave in.
I’m so ready for our collective understanding of hair types to become like to our collective knowledge of skin tone — we know that there are plenty of fair-skinned people who are not biracial; now if we could only learn that there are plenty of black women who don’t have 4b/c hair.
I cannot agree more…personality and presentation go along way…hair length also inspires…
I think it depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a style that you can currently do on your own hair, then you will probably look for someone with your current length of hair. I wouldn’t always choose by ‘texture’. I am multi-tex and choose styles that I think that I can achieve or manipulate my hair to look similar to. I have to admit that I don’t watch a lot of ‘wash n go’ videos because my hair shrinks like crazy if I do one and I don’t like lots of shrinkage.
I most deffinantly agree. I recently became a natural for about year if not 18 months as a result of hair coloring and perms ( and my damage was done with a perfessional!) Either way I noticed I couldn’t follow the exact styles looking at these naturals on YouTube, and I realized it was a result of my hair texture is not theirs BUT putting in key words doesn’t bring up these young ladies (joulezy and others) so is there another problem?.. I still haven’t figured out my hair type yet and would love help with that but I am currently on the search for others with thick and long hair, length is almost past the middle of my back.
I subscribe to YTers with hair that looks like mine-thick, coarse, coily, medium length. My daughter has fine, curly, soft hair so I also watch vids by YTers whose hair looks like hers. I like vloggers who offer content and character, not into the folks who make vids so folks can fawn over how beautiful they are, or who wear 10lbs of makeup or a store’s worth of bangles and bobs. I don’t look to YT for substantive information bc so many of the vloggers offer fluff nonsense or regurgitate the same silly information. Some folks are on YT just bc they’re cute and have long loose hair that brings in the viewers, sponsorships and money. Folks who don’t love their hair texture or type or skin color or looks or body type gravitate towards people they feel have those attractiveness markers that they lack.
I accidentally posted this as a reply in earlier conversation, but I agree 100% with portions of this entry. I think it is of high importance to find comfort in and strive to love YOURSELF as is vs. projecting dreams as a reality by striving to be exactly like your hair crush. I’ve been on my natural journey as a mixed textured natural (mostly 4A/4B) for almost two years now with some success, finally past shoulder length. I found myself addicted to natural hair media. Calming my YouTube obsession was key in learning and loving my own hair and texture. “Watchability” is not only a factor in this instance, and I don’t think that issue is isolated to JUST 4C natural vloggers….
What a controversial topic! I have not read all the posts but what I can see there is a lot of frustration and tiredness coming from 4B and 4C women…
There is a real need to be more represented on YT and to get more attention from brands too. Being a 4C myself, I totally agree with many of the reasons that have been evoked to explain the situation.
The only thing I can say now is that the change is in our hands. We seem to be quite a high number of kinky-haired nappy…some with long expérience in taking care of their hair…instead of complaining we should be out there on YT creating channels and filling the needs for the one who suffer from lack of knowledge.
I hope that something good will come out from this debate and that some of us will have the gut to start filming, editing their journey keeping in mind that YT and blogs users have now high expectations…u cannot just sit down in front of a camera and expect subscribers and viewers. Stop the attitude, put some sense of humour, some love to ur followers, jewels? clothes or makeup tips ? why not like a nice duo mother and daughter…my mom became natural 2 days ago and she is looking for some hairstyles more her âge and less original than things like frohawks…there are so many ways you can make a différence. Be regular in your posting, try to answer the comments…nice music…
The kinky hair has a special place in the afro community…let’s make it special good! Stop thinking about what our hair cannot do like floating, curling etc…and let’s starting about what it does and does very well.
I completely agree that length plays a role. It does with me. I watch youtube videos for something to aspire to. The girls in the video have hair at a similar length to mine so it has no appeal. The key word is ‘appeal’. Secondly, the other thing not mentioned is style. I don’t care what texture you have. If I don’t like your personal style I’m not watching it. As far as their youtube videos are concerned it’s because I don’t like either of their personal style. With social media though it’s a different ball game. There it’s not about hair. They need to up their selfie game and improve the visual appeal. I don’t think they understand how to navigate social media quite yet. We go on different platforms for different things so would only respond to the relevant content. And another thing, why is everyone so quick to call discrimination. People throw this around too lightly.
I have multi textured hair- mainly 4a, 4b , 3c and a touch of 4c so I subscribe to Iknowlee as she has a very similar curl pattern to mine. I usually watch videos based on hairstyles I would like to copy. I actually thought I was a 4c all over until I went natural 3 years ago. So shameful that I hadn’t seen my own natural hair texture since childhood! Most girls I know with tighter curl patterns rock kinky curly weaves in 3b and 3c textures! I guess if you can’t achieve it, weave it!
I think the package idea does play a role. Show me a kinky natural with long hair, a consistent regimen, quality videos, and knowledge, who has found many ways to style her own hair, and I’m sold. I can’t really think of any. Maybe I haven’t found them yet. Personally, I think that I am 3c-4c. Whatever my pattern is, it has definition. I follow all different types of naturals on YouTube. Especially if they offer skincare and makeup tips. Sometimes I just enjoy watching their hair videos too because they have little ideas in their regimens that I want to try, and even though they are not the same type as me, I use them.
I actually have the same natural hair texture range as you! 🙂 And I do the same- with Naptural85 (the main natural I follow), I follow her for hair styling ideas/tips, reviews and tips for hair care overall, even though I don’t use her product/ home-made mixes and can’t put some of her styles into practice yet because of my length. Every other natural I follow I do it because they have something to offer- entertainment, a warm personality, something I can relate to (not necessarily similar texture alone but like other Caribbean naturals or people on a holistic health journey etc).
What about Beautifulbrownbabydoll?
BBBD pulls a lot of her viewers based on her weight loss and motivational videos, not solely on her hair. And although, beautiful, I think her hair brings the least drawing (if that makes sense).
As a black woman with 3c-4a natural hair, I’m naturally inclined to watch videos from women who have my hair type. I have seen videos from SunKissAlba (doesn’t do a thing for me), Tarenguy (hit or miss), Naptural 85 (closer to my type but can’t use the same products, but love her styles). I watch different women for different reasons. The only reason I would be inclined to watch a kinky hair review is if it was for style suggestions, but each natural is so different you never know what you can take from it. There is also the possibility that there are non-black women watching these videos. If there are that means that they are more than likely curly-haired women and not kinky. That could also add to the looser types’ numbers.
I never thought about the fact that there are non-black subscribers with curly hair watching these youtubers. That’s a valid point.
I have to ask. Are we really surprised about this so-called “texture-discrimination” when most black women with kinky hair never leave the house with a wash n go? Heck, in the natural hair community, people claim that natural hair *can’t* do a wash n go! And don’t you DARE talk about a natural’s weave because you know she likes to have “options”, straight, fake hair options. Jouelzy in particular wears fake hair in many of her videos or otherwise she uses negative undertones when talking about her natural hair. Naturals want companies to promote their channel? Well wear your own hair out. You see tons of youtubers who wear weaves who get support from, you guessed it, WEAVE COMPANIES. If you’re wearing protective styles and have sworn off water for the past 4-6 weeks, no company will promote your hair. If you wear your hair out and rock it non-stop, you get more promotions (i.e. like 4cHairChick, CharyJay, Naptural85, NaturalMe4c, NikkiMae, etc…). I believe Jouelzy doesn’t have as many views because her personality is marketable to a very small audience. People who can speak to a wide audience and have an approachable personality get more support and videos.
I agree with this. I can think of a lot of beautiful, articulate, women with kinkier hair that do a good job with lighting, editing, and keeping their videos down to a reasonable length (ambrosia, thechicnatural, etc.). But if I had a company and wanted to sponsor someone, it would be the one who gives off the impression that styling their hair is effortless with my product. Wearing a lot of weaves gives the impression that natural hair is problematic and requires frequent breaks or that the person is often tired/bored with their own hair. I think that kinkier haired women could do the hair porn if they wanted to same as anyone else, but they’d have to project that same confidence all the way through the video. (We know that a lot of 3c/4a women are spending hours on wash day but they edit it down to 4 mins and smile the whole time). I was surprised that Jouelzy said that people wouldn’t find her hair pretty to watch from beginning to end. The idea that kinky hair isn’t “pretty to watch” is a problem.
Why are we letting likes follows and shares create more seperation for us? Its just social media and likes dont add any value to any of these ladies lives. I just dont think that deep into instagram i guess. I follow hair pages based on whether i like their hair nothing more nothing less. I dont want to be them i just like their hair lol
There is a difference with videos that give tutorials on how to do certain styles vs. videos that only show results or review hair products. I look at similar textures 4a-4c to see if that is a style I can accomplish with a quick lesson. Maybe that is something that needs to be factored in the above discussion. Although I’m a multi-textured natural 4a in the back and 4b on top youtubers like Nap85, Aliia James and Fusionofcultures teach your how to accomplish similar styles. I hate when I watch a video and the majority is just talking about “there story” and flirting with the camera.
I remember when I first started watching natural hair videos on YouTube. There were about five ladies that I watched (NajahFace, Ladypknyc, RusticBeauty, Cynthiarf, and MissKrisNew). I really liked them because they had hair that was close to my own texture(especially KrisNew) and they seemed more genuine in my opinion. Then it seems they kinda just fell away when more vloggers came on the scene.
When I started my natural journey, I watched Kimmay and Naptural85. Both are very informative, but I found myself discouraged just like I would on this website with all the women with long thick hair. I have 4c hair and been natural for about a year and half and although my hair isn’t past my neck, I’m learning to embrace whatever God gives me.
Just my two cents, I dont subscribe to You Tube videos and I only watch folks I can relate to hair wise. I dont watch the popular Nap85, Taren, & those with hair texture/type not like mine. For the simple t what works for them wont work for me & vice versa. I have only been fully natural a year after a long transition. So I prefer naturalistas on You Tube who transition.
And, yes those with much looser hair patterns get more subscribers because some naturals like to fawn over th hair they will never have. But for some reason if you read the comments and listen to folks some think if they use the same products as Nap85 their hair will look like hers. And, not all kinky hair You Tube channels have poor quality just check out DiscoveringNatural and Iknowlee.
I have been natural for about 6 years now and over the past year began viewing videos on YT. When I first began looking at YT videos I did not think there were any 4’s on YT, because even in my “suggested videos” box, folks like Taren Guy, Naptural85 and other popular curlies would pop up. I enjoyed their vids but I could not relate to anything about their hair journey. Taren does not have enough protective styling in her regimen and Naptural85 has more hair that I have to work with although their vids are enjoyable and sometimes knowledgeable to watch. I think that these vids appeal to 4’s because they have a lot of non-protective styling tutorials and a lot of big, loose-haired natural styles are most coveted amongst naturals of all hair types. The truth of the matter is that type 4 hair is best served in protective styles most of the time. We don’t want to hear that we can’t wear these beautiful styles regularly.
I had to search find type 4 people who either were doing one off videos and few kinkies had channels. I had used a couple of Joulezy’s styling tutorials.I recently discovered GlamFun who has my same hair type, length, and hair issues (manipulation limitations, vertex/ crown area fragility, etc.) and thought I had found my kindred hair spirit, but alas, it was not to be. I will NEVER perm my hair again, so it’s a wash to subscribe if she is going back and forth between naturals and perms.
Have you ever heard of Naturally High? She’s a UK natural with waist length kinky (4) hair who mostly protective styles. I like her because she’s down to earth and seems to be disconnected from all of the glitz and glam competition; her channel is more about hair maintenance than styling.
To be completely honest, I only watch YT when I’ve got an itch to try a specific style and I’m not sure how to do it. “Professional” YouTubers are actually a huge turn off to me–sometimes “professional” videos to me seem mostly like “Hey everyone! Look at my amazing hair and life! Aren’t I great?”, and it totally rubs me the wrong way. I’m not subscribed to Naptural85 or any of the main ones because while they have great hair and give sound advice, I feel like they’re super guilty of the above. I’m subscribed to Naturally High, Nalia (can’t remember the rest of her tag), and NaturalMe4C. Of those, the only one I’m not really watching for hair is NaturalMe4C… and that’s because she and her husband are hilarious!
I’m in complete agreement with you on the type 4 protective styling thing. I really feel like most type 4s just want the freedom of out hair that 3s have, more than anything. Some do have some serious curl envy, but for me, I love my coils and zigzags, I just wish I could wash n go and retain length. Perhaps that might be a portion of the source of texture discrimination within our community–people have an ingrained idea of “out” hair as the pinnacle of beauty, when really a lot of us would benefit greatly by getting more creative with our updos and viewing them as equally beautiful.
‘“Professional” YouTubers are actually a huge turn off to me–sometimes “professional” videos to me seem mostly like “Hey everyone! Look at my amazing hair and life! Aren’t I great?”, and it totally rubs me the wrong way.” You said exactly what I was thinking. It is really a huge turn off.
And you came to this conclusion how? LOL
My hair 3C/4A and I have hair longer than Naptural and did so without protective styling. Curlynikki just posted some article on protective styling vs. low manipulation.
Again, people stop trying to ‘police’ other naturals and what we need to do, accept, can’t do. Get a life damn.
I agree that people need the whole “package” to be watchable. However, I also think that people will watch channels with styles that they can do themselves. Women with 4c hair can literally go all the way from kinky to straight. A straight-haired girl can never do a 4c hair style. A woman with 3c hair can’t get the kinky look. I think that matters a lot. A woman with 4c hair can do straight, 2c, 3c, and 4a styles. That is why women with 4c hair may be interested in people with looser textures who still have good advice or styles because 4c ladies can try them too.
I personally wear styles that are worn by ladies with type 4 hair. I have 4c. Women like Naptural85 (Whitney) have the entire package and then some. Naptural85 in particular has the best hair advice that even women with straight hair admire.
I understand where she is coming from! but whenever I am on youtube I always watch naturals who don’t talk about hair, they just show it off and talk about other things not hair related. https://www.youtube.com/user/janise158 this young girl talks about games and about bullying and standing up for you. I like that she doesnt talk talk about hair, she just looks like she isnt ashamed of it. If i want to learn about hair this is what I have bglh for..not youtuber celebs. we should give it up for naturals who aren’t as noticed as natural85, taren916 etc..
Girl I watch her too, I don’t see any black proclaimed female nerds and I found her videos by scrolling on youtube, I don’t play video games but she caught my attention with her hair, she wasn’t ashamed to show it off as she talked about things that would be considered “white folks stuff” I am captivated by her and I feel like she will become pretty big one day and so I continue to support her!
Oh wow to be mentioned.. thank you! I try even though I am awkward and not use to talking in front of camera.. I hope to one day have a following as natural85 or joulezy but the link you posted is old one. but Thank you sooo much nioma and jujuluv for the support, hope to continue having it on my new channel 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/user/Thenerdynatural
I watched Joulezy’s video and though I agreed with the sentiment, I thought she rambled off the point and into another tangent. I am prolifically on Pinterest and love pinning natural hair pictures. I remember when I was first natural it was difficult to find truly inspiring natural hairstyles that weren’t helped by weaves or scurl texterizers. I am so happy I now have banked a variety of hairstyles and textures. Yet, I am seeing a trend of women with 4c hair who I follow pinning pictures of 3c-4a hair that does not resemble their own. I start to wonder is it because they just like the hair style or is it texture envy? Even in Instagram, I notice that the pictures that get shared are usually the prettiest, curliest girls with beat faces. Rarely do I see just regular girls like me with short well styled hair that represents well. Yes I love a big curly head of hair. But the constant barrage of the same thing is starting to push the message that we used to get when we were all perming and pressing our hair in the past; you will never be loved unless your texture is like this. I did not decide to stop pressing my hair in order to have 3c hair. I want to work with my god given hair and see it as enough, and beautiful. One piece of advice I recently got was to seek those who reflect the place you are in and headed toward. They give you guidance on your path. Please do this when you are on your natural journey.
You are absolutely correct about women 4c hair following and pinning images of women with 3a-4a hair types and it can absolutely be attributed to hair envy. A couple of years ago, I used to follow a Tumblr called F-Yeah CurlsCurlsCurls and I stopped because although the hair was beautiful, they NEVER posted pics of girls with anything more than a 3c.
Quote:
“I notice that the pictures that get shared are usually the prettiest, curliest girls with beat faces. Rarely do I see just regular girls like me with short well styled hair that represents well.”……
This is the problem…insecurety…
Despite the fact that I have 4a/4b hair, I find myself constantly putting 4c behind everything I search on YouTube because I feel they go more in to depth about styling and explain trial and error while the bloggers with looser curl patterns make it look so easy that I get frustrated with them lol.
I think Natural girls are obsessed with length and curl pattern for sure. When I am looking for a good interesting style I tend to look at the bloggers with kinkier shorter hair because those styles seem easier to acheive and when I look for health and care advice I always look for somebody with longer hair in my hair type because the health of their hair makes me feel like they must be doing something right.
I can understand why bloggers with longer hair have more views and subscribers but I don’t understand why bloggers with kinky hair don’t get views. I admire them and their abilities the most (not to be bias)
The people saying that Jouelzy has a bad attitude are clearly newer viewers. She has been on YT for a minute now. I will say that it seems like she changed her personality in the past maybe 6 months.
When I first started watching, she would make short, beautifully edited videos with great soundtracks. She was the only watchable 4c who looked like she had tight hair without that sheen and cottony appearance that other YT 4cs have. Other 4cs seemed to have poor videos, not enough vids or hair like my blakizbeautiful and CharyJay which although it has no real pattern, it doesn’t shrink up or appear to tangle badly. Jouelzy’s hair looked like mine and she was styling it with curlformers, rollers, twist outs, Bantus etc.
She has always seemed to embrace her hair despite wearing weaves and wigs. With Glamfun, you got the impression that she disliked her natural hair because she struggled with it (last time I checked she seemed to be returning to natural) whereas Jouelzy has always seemed very practical and able to style and manipulate her hair. That’s not to say that she might not have gotten fed up with it recently.
Her hair may not seem like it’s grown because she cut it into a taper and prior to that, well let’s remember that not everyone retains like the YTers who are the ideal in the natural community. Her hair was actually healthy looking even if it wasn’t an enviable mane as most are used to looking at.
Jouelzy is educated and she used to be quite eloquent, always do voice overs etc. I think she would have built a massive following over time with that persona which seemed real to me but it wasn’t quick enough. Later she started to be a bit snarky in her comments section with people who asked admittedly self explanatory questions. Then that irritated, fed up attitude turned up in her videos and I really think certain people tuned in more for the attitude and new coarseness she showed on later videos. That’s probably the direction she decided to go in since the hair alone didn’t get her the viewership she wanted.
I think that was her problem with Youtube, when she was all about the calm, collected well edited hair videos, she still wasn’t getting views so she changed things and some people like it and many don’t thus limiting her popularity. People expect YTers to be very grateful for views whether you’re genuine about it or not (many of them aren’t). Jouelzy didn’t want to play the game that others play so well on there and it’s good that she decided to move away from hair and diversify even if that well made content on 4c hair will be missed.
Truthfully, when searching for YouTube videos I’m looking for the woman whose hair closely resembles my own in terms of length (shoulder length) and texture (fine-med 3C-4A). What can I possibly gain from following/adopting hair techniques which vloggers like for e.g. Taren Guy may use when it may not work for my own hair type? There’s no harm in checking out those who are known for their big, lengthy, glorious heads of hair, but we still need to keep it real in terms of what our own hair can and can’t do. I know I’ll never have the thickness of Naptural85 – and that’s OK cos I work with what I got, but I am also aware that we do have a similar hair type and what tends to work for her hair, has proven effective for mine also.
I personally do not think you are understanding what the article is trying to say. I believe the article is trying to say that woman or men who DO HAVE 4B or 4C hair are not following the YouTube vloggers who have the same 4B or 4C hair texture. The article is not saying that woman or men who DO NOT HAVE 4B or 4C hair should or have to subscribe to those specific YouTube vloggers, they are just trying to say that people with the same hair texture should start to support people with the same hair texture and to stop discriminating against their own hair texture and start loving and embracing their own natural hair and the 4B and 4C natural hair community.
Why the assumption that if you watch someone with a different texture you hate your own?
Does this ONLY apply to women with tighter type 4 hair? Or does it apply to those like me, with 3C/4A hair who watch youtubers like whitney whose hair is more uniformer, and much tighter than my own overall?
Do you even know how that sounds? YOU guys are the ones projecting YOUR insecurities about your supposed “bad” hair onto others who are taking and applying tips and reviews and adjusting them to suit their own hair.
Whitney’s hair styles wont look the same on my hair because my hair is looser, has less shrinkage, and less density than her’s. But they have still helped me more so than many other youtubers with similar hair types to my own who mostly do Wash n go’s (like taren)
Exact the same here…i live Nap85 vids but her hair is NOT like mine. Therefore “PictureMEnaturai” is more so, but she does not make videos on a regular basis.
I have 3c/4a hair and I watch YT’ers with tighter hair patterns, too! One of my fav YT’ers is a 4C natural (NaturalMe4c). I love watching her because she has a great personality, do reviews on products that I find helpful, and do vlogs with her family (all are entertaining) once and a while. In my opinion, she is not boring and she accepts and embrace her natural hair type, which is something I can respect.
Kinksgalore’s response to the original video raises various interesting (and I believe legitimate) points.
Apologies if it has already been posted (couldn’t hurt to make available at a different point in the thread though, right)but I couldn’t co-sign with her on her lack of promotion/ sharing point and not share with others.
I agree 100%. It goes back to loving ourselves…even in the natural hair company..the looser texture was always reign supreme. Wigs, weaves, and etc do not model their textures to nappy texture. They model their products to the same old game (looser curls, straight hair).
Type 4 girls, raise your glasses and love yourselves.. stop wanting hair like someone else (Type 2, 3). Love yourselves and show it. Stop praising and buying products that delude your natural hair texture. Otherwise, whats the point of being natural?
Okay, here’s the deal. I am a teenager of the 70’s. When me and my buddies cut our pressed hair and started sporting our Afro’s hair type was not even in the lexicon. We could care less. It was such a grand time among African-Americans. We just loved the fact that we were wearing our hair the way it was meant to be. All this 4B or something C is way too much overkill. This is rooted in slavery and master’s preferences. Get over it please. I had locs for seven years and I am now back sporting an Afro. Got some gray and loving it. Don’t know what the “official” texture category I’d be in. All I know is I’ve got hair like my dear daddy and my hubby and family think I’m a cute older lady who rocks the 70’s again.
I actually find it hilarious when I see my friends with 4C posting pics of Taren Guy as their hair goals. And I disagree that there aren’t women on YT with 4C hair with just as much personality.
The only thing that makes 4C YT bloggers unwatchable is that unfortunately too many black women still aren’t comfortable in their own hair texture.
Woah that is a big assumption. Joulzey doesn’t have the right to lambast all kinky haired naturals as self-hating because they don’t watch her videos. News Flash! Curlies and type 3’s make crap videos too. Anyone can make a video now. Even sisters with seriously damaged (and in need of a good trim) hair, are making videos!
I hate the hair typing thing. It’s ridiculous! It’s not enough that black women have had the straight n silky look stuffed down their throats for decades. Now there has to be an exception taken to hair type. To someone of my age that sounds so damn stupid. Ah you are not your hair type! There’s a love of labelling as a way to identify oneself. If you’re black you’ll likely have nappy hair, go figure.
What will give you healthy hair is good hair practices, good diet patience. I wish the wealth of information that is available now, was around in 97 when I first went natural. I only lasted 8 weeks because I couldn’t cope with my hair and hadn’t really planned my transition. Any naturals who have been on YT for a shorter period of time are just not going to get the same number of hits as those who are more popular. Simple, it’s how you tube works. Anyone who thinks they can just stand in front of a camera and wave around a jar of whatever, chat ish then upload isn’t going to be that popular. Tough. Popular videos are easier to find, leaving the less popular just where they are.
With really kinky hair, patience is truly the key and what it takes to learn to love your hair, as it will not behave like it did in a processed state. However the freedom from the salon and the chemicals is worth the journey. Let it be.
-Boom- I agree 100%. I think it is of high importance to find comfort in and strive to love YOURSELF as is vs. projecting dreams as a reality. I’ve been on my natural journey as a mixed textured natural (mostly 4A/4B) for almost two years now with some success, finally past shoulder length. I found myself addicted to natural hair media. Calming my YouTube obsession was key in learning and loving my own hair and texture. “Watchability” is not only a factor in this instance, and I do not feel that that issue is isolated to JUST 4C natural vloggers….
Someone mentioned our mindset being ingrained. That is absolutely correct. Most of our beauty ideals have been instilled in us since birth. Asking someone to articulate WHY they find something beautiful is like asking them to explain why they love their favorite food. You know you love it, but you don’t really know why.
So, if you tell them there is texture discrimination, while their CONSCIOUS mind knows it’s wrong to say one texture of hair is better than the other, their SUBCONSCIOUS mind will steer them in one direction over the other. And they’ll have no clue they’re doing it.
I’m new to the natural hair scene. To me there seems to be remnants of our history that is alive and well. I thought the natural hair movement was about celebrating and embracing ourselves. It is very disappointing that this community appear to still hold European beauty as the standard. We don’t really appear to want to be natural, we want to be as close to white as possible. We seem to celebrate curls and waves which can only arise out of a non African heritage. Maybe I’m wrong but I sense the pangs of ‘ye olde self loathing’ and categorization that appears to reinforce that some hair is better than others in a community supposedly established to reject this discrimination by others. But I’m new so maybe I just don’t get it.
Yes because there are lack of videos on 4c hair. Its only type 3 and 4a. Not saying black girls cant have type 3 hair because I live in south Africa but most black women whether black American African or afro latino have type 4 hair.
Realistically, there are very few (comparitively, at least) black women in the world with hair below 3b and above 4b. The women with the most subscribers fall within the 3b-4b range because that’s what most black women have. It’s that simple. It has nothing to do with texture discrimination.
If a natural haired youtuber has informative videos, an engaging personality and actually wears her natural hair (as opposed to wigs AfricanExport), then I’m going to watch their videos, and I think most women would agree with me.
If, in fact there is any texture discrimination going on, I think looser textured naturals get the brunt of it. They have the lowest number of subscribers (though like I said before, that may simply be because most of us don’t have type 2-3a hair), and many of them get bombarded with hate comments calling them liars, saying that their hair is fake, or that they’re mixed, or that their hair is texturized. And most of these comments come from natural haired black women.
Those kinds of tendencies definitely need to be addressed in an article.
*w-wut?*
We must live in different worlds…
I have 4b/4c hair and I see and understand most of the youtubers have way too much talking and not enough information. I subscribed to Naptural85 to, at the start of my natural journey, not because of her hair type but because she does have awesome and informative videos. She doesn’t talk for a long period of time about absolutely nothing but, her own opinion about a situation. I don’t have hair envy, I know what my hair can do and what it cannot do. I have looked through a lot of Youtube videos and most of them are useless in terms of giving me what I need from them personally for my hair journey.
In my opinion Jouelzy was not fully embracing her natural hair to me. She was mostly always wearing a wig or a weave. Jouelzy wished she had a looser curl pattern. In mostly every video she uploaded she was totally negative towards her on hair type and that negative attitude pushed me away from watching her.
The writer should take the Implicit Association Test (IAT) because I detected some underlying (being kind) anti-black sentiment. Basically, she validated Jouelzy.
It is video quality, personality, and content… Make me excited to watch your video…. Be happy on your video… Happy about your hair and not have an attitude of this is the best I can do… I want to leave your channel uplifted and inspired and not uninspired and slightly uncomfortable… Professionalism plays a big role also… Speeding up the video.. Cheesy voice sound affects…
Speaking specifically about Jouelzy, I can understand why a company would chose to not brand themselves alongside her platform. It’s very apparent that she has an assertive and outspoken personality that people either like or dislike. I personally dig it and find it funny most often, but the manner in which she communicates just simply isn’t for everybody. I believe I’ve heard her state this as fact, and I appreciate that she’s authentic despite. With that said, to beauty and hair companies that are trying to increase their brand power, she’s just not the most appropriate “youtube guru” to align themselves with when there’s a sea of likability to chose from. Does hair texture disrimination exist? Clearly, yes. But in jouelzy’s case, I think it’s more so the residual effects of having an aggressive personality that ppl divisiviley appreciate or can’t stand.
Also why is everyone ignoring the elephant in the room?
Does it affect the ‘success’ of naturals on youtube and social media?
What success? If you’re joining youtube with the goal in mind to just obtain free crap, and hopes to do sponsored videos….good luck, because it is saturated already and the majority of these broads have no business sense. (i.e. trash talking and ‘calling out’ type 4’s like Whitney who could easily put you on….burning bridges real early people)
What’s amusing is how damn entitled both of those idiots sound, why are you entitled to adoration and popularity on youtube? are they disabled and unable to get a job? Oh well.
When Taren, Whitney, and Fran…and hell even Michelle Phan first started posted on youtube they didn’t have millions of views and subscribers. These idiots in the video sitting there crying because they aren’t getting sponsored product offers, and free shit…why should you when the companies can be SMART and offer it to someone with a larger following? LOL
Idiots, no business sense what-so-ever.
I hope Naptural doesn’t mention these two videos, or youtubers – EVER. They are leeches, enjoy that bridge you burned because really nap is the only one I could see helping to put on newer youtubers. But now? why should she? she’s a ‘good hurr’ heathen who started out with ass length curly hair…not a clear type 4A natural who started out with a TWA …just like them.
Thank you and thank you again!
why these people crying over why people not watching free videos on a free website that noone forced to upload (regardless of the reason) is beyond me.
Some of these upcoming “natural hair gurus” think they makes videos and now entitled to be on natural hair red carpet.
How many different hairstyles can there be? I mean damn.
Thank You!
I just want to point out how ignorant, immature, and hurt you *sound calling these women idiots. SMH.
Waah Waah! I’m playing the world’s smallest violin for these people.
Yes there is the whole hair texture issue we still deal with but nobody owes anyone anything in this Social Media game.
Jouelzy seem to think just because she making YT videos with subscribers she entitled to be some mini celeb getting free products.
NHC always whining bout something or the other.
*sits back for the next ridiculous complaint*
uh…i only follow mynaturalsistas, naptural, and this i forgot her name but she has type 4 hair. Anyway, I’ve found alot of vloggers boring. I’m jus like.. um.. yeah. IDK how to respond to this post. There is a probability that people watch ones with looser textures because they admire looser texured hair. I know naturals in real life with my texture who are always assuming my hair is dry and tangled when it’s not. They project what they think of their own hair upon me which is strange to me. In short there are kinky haired naturals who are not so accepting of their own textures. But personally, texture doesn’t determine the videos i watch.
So are you suggesting that women with looser curls have better videos? Please clarify.
Firstly, thank you for asking for clarification rather than jumping to incorrect assumptions/conclusions, as a few of the commenters have. I don’t bother with clarifying anything to someone who has already made up their mind so strongly about something, hence why I haven’t commented in response to them.
To answer your question: No, I am not suggesting that at all. In re-reading my post, though many people did understand my point of view, I could’ve chosen a better way to express what I intended to get across.
The clarification: What I am saying is that is it more difficult to find “watchable” naturals with kinky texture than it is to find with looser curls. That is just my reality when I do YouTube searches. I will literally do a search for 4C/4B/kinky natural hair (especially when I’m looking for material for my other posts here), and stumble on videos that I can’t bear to watch because of lighting, personality, presence, content, etc. Now why is this? It is not because curly-haired naturals are genetically disposed to produce more professional videos, or anything ignorant like that. It could be because of a number of possibilities:
1) As some commenters mentioned, some of the first several videos that will pop up are about attempting to get curl definition/clumping on kinky hair. That is not at all what I desire to watch, and in some ways seems to show a desire to achieve what curly naturals have.
2) Because there aren’t many kinky hair gurus on YT, some kinky-haired naturals (and understandably so) want to post videos on YouTube to inspire other naturals of the same texture. However, they don’t consider the effort that goes into making a watchable channel. It is almost as if some say: “I have a camera, I have kinky hair … Off to YouTube.” There’s way more that goes into making a video. There are a few kinky-haired naturals to which I have subscribed because of their healthy hair, but the lighting and video quality are just so bad that it is painstaking to watch (but I push myself through it) each time they post. Others, I have to pass on.
3) I also mentioned length discrimination as a factor in watchability for some naturals (me not being one of them). Some kinky-haired naturals will be quick to subscribe to someone of their texture with longer hair than someone of their texture with shorter hair.
This all being said, my main point is that watchability also plays a role (though a much smaller role than texture discrimination, as I mentioned in the post). I hope this makes a little more sense.
:o)
I agree that there are many more curly-haired ladies getting love on youtube, but I feel like it’s important to note that Naptural85, one of the most popular vloggers mentioned in the article, has type four hair. She keeps it stretched and moisturizers better than I may ever hope to, but her texture is definitely in the 4 range. She has a few videos about it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrKnYQ6z1hA and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQEAUNj0Exw. That’s not to say that there isn’t any discrimination, and perhaps people don’t realize that her hair is type four and subscribe because they like whatever they think her hair is, but I definitely think she is an exception and shows how versatile type four hair can be.
I was subscribed to Jouelzy and I had to unsubscribe because her personality just bugs the shit out of me. Personality is a big factor. That rant was incredibly obnoxious.
SOOOOO True i had to stop watching her she was way to negative!!!
honestly, to me it seemed that she was more pissed that she wasn’t getting the partnership opportunities with companies that she felt she deserved, and that’s not a very good portrayal of why you are doing hair videos on youtube i think.
i liked what both jouelzy and klassy kinks had to say. i’m definitely inclined to agree with klassy kink’s perspective on it and that the type 3s tend to cater to both type 4s and type 3s whereas the type 4s serve primarily type 4s, which makes for niche viewing and a limited audience. another note i have is that it’s easier for type 3s, relatively speaking, to have crossover appeal, particularly if they are biracial. i’ve noticed, scrowling down the comments of type 3s of mixed race that their comments reflect much white as well as mixed race and black viewership, which adds to their views and subscribership potential. i do think that naturals will control how companies market, and that if we continue to fall head over heels for the notion of springy loose curls, then the issue won’t go away. it’s up to us to change how we promote ourselves. as i mentioned in other comments, i myself subscribe depending on a variety of factors having nothing to do with hair type. i think most of my subscriptions are to naturals with type 4 hair.
I watch youtubers with many different hair types, not just my own. I learn a lot from all of them. I have 4b/c hair but I have learned useful techniques from Naptural85 and HeyFran because I like to use natural products. I can learn something from people who have different hair textures. No one will have the exact texture as me anyway.
Pshh who wants to watch a vid of a person with boring Afro hair that anyone can make by picking out their hair instead of the various curl patterns someone else can display?
erm, trolling, much?
Seriously, I refuse to believe that kinky-haired vloggers generally have inferior quality when it comes to videos. This is that same bull that Hollywood and Corporate America try to pull when they refuse to support or hire black people. There are not many talented leading man/woman caliber black actors, or there are not many upper-level management ready black people to fill the roles. Come on, really, those statements, as well as this article are cop outs for not exhausting your searches. Its as if to say that curly/coily hair automatically means your video will be of a certain quality while being a 4B/C equates to sub-par….reminiscent of the baby doll experiment. This article further perpetuates the mess. I’m disappointed.
Totally agree with you.
Well, I actually have mentioned to my friends that I sometimes struggle to follow the advice on looking after natural hair because I feel very few have my hair type which is the coiliest 4c hair you can imagine. So I will be checking out some of your recommendations.
Excellent article! By the way, who are the two models posted in the beginning of the article?
I agree with Joulezy ( a bit). I have gone to hair shows and what not and they have all this stuff for the curly, wavy ladies, but not much for the kinky curlies. I mean I saw a few demos, but all of the models were not kinky curlies, so I didn’t stay long. I also agree with the author of the post. I have subscribed to a lot of 4c and 4b ladies, but I prefer to watch ladies that actually do their hair with the product or show you how you can do a hairstyle. I’m not really down for the ones that hold the product and shake it all over creation, smack, and what have you. We get it you’re into this particular product. Also if they curse a lot then I can’t continue watching it. I want help with my hair I don’t need attitude a long with it, so I just stop watching. I found out that I’m 4a, but I watch and follow 4b and 4c videos. I feel for the ladies who are upset about the discrimination, but a lot of them are not all that engaging. I love me some Naptural85. I watch her constantly. There are other ladies too that I’m liking because thy do their videos pretty much the same way. No offense to the other ladies but I don’t really want to be their for ranting. But I do have to say that pointing a finger and saying its the natural nations fault isn’t going to get them any more subscribers. I do have to say I did buy a lot of products due to YT, but its all good I keep the receipts. I also have found that a lot of products that others rave about just don’t work with my hair. But I also have found a couple of products that work GREAT. No matter what we do or where we go, or even what we wear, people have a preference. There is nothing that we can really do to change it. Just keep putting it out there and hopefully enough 4b and 4c’s will see the videos. That’s all I can say.
Look at Whitney’s (naptural85’s) earlier videos. She said Ambrosia (xgoldn) was one of the natural hair gurus who made her consider YouTube herself!!! And now look. Whitney is close to 500,000 subscribers, yet Ambrosia is stuck at less than 100,000. Why? Interactivity. Both Whitney and Ambrosia have well produced videos but Whitney goes a step further by actually interacting with her viewers. I’ve never felt alienated when watching that lady. I’ve never ever seem Ambrosia reply to a video or even an Instagram comment. Modern viewers don’t like that. It comes across as standoffish.
I loved longhairdontcare2011. May she rest in peace. Even though she did everything against the grain (long videos, rare uploads), that girl knew her stuff and she was so genuine. It’s a shame she deleted her newer videos of better quality because I actually think she was the best on YouTube but never really met her full potential (subscriber wise).
Mynaturalsistas channel is up there for me too. Very likeable, relatable girls who interact with their viewers.
P.S. Whitney’s hair may not be like naturalme4c’s but come on it’s not like mahoganycurls’ or sunkissalba’s either.
I love natural4cme! I emailed her and I was SHOCKED, I repeat SHOCKED that she emailed me back! So I watch her and Naptural85 as well as 2 other ladies a lot. There are a few over ladies that I subscribed to, but they aren’t as great as the ones that I watch all the time. I agree if they can’t take the time to answer your questions then I tend to not watch them because its like they are saying, “Hey natural watch my video… that is all”.
I agree with everything you said. NaturallyGG also has good videos (when they actually post). The person who inspired ME to go natural was Chime Edwards and we KNOW she does NOT have coily ringlets. Haha!
Even though she long-term transitioned, she has some really inspirational videos. The one that actually MADE me go natural was “Do you know your hair’s potential?” She talks about how many of us (I was in this category) don’t know what our hair’s potential is because we’ve been getting relaxers since the dawn of time. I was 4 when I got MY first relaxer, and 19 when I decided to go natural. My hair is longer and healthier now than it’s ever been and it’s because someone on youtube (doesn’t matter that her hair wasn’t exactly like mine) told me my hair had potential.
interesting, I don’t see Xgoldn as standoffish…relate more to her than Naptural85
There is absolutely texture discrimination. The hair used to represent the natural community is often curly, shiny ringlets. That undoubtedly impacts companies’ willingness to sponsor certain naturals.
Further, if you know anything about marketing, you know that a company’s aim is always to promote an aspirational image that you can only attain through the use of THEIR product. While we’re embracing a shift in our ideas about natural hair, people are always going to be excluded, that’s how companies make their money
I think some people thought there would be less of a division once lots of ladies began to return to natural but, alas.
Soft, ringlets are still the closest thing to ‘good hair’ as you can get while being natural, so of course this discrimination is still going to exist.
And to the poster Princess, yes we should be having a conversation about who gets the most video hits. At this point we know the impact of the media and representation, and whether or not a company sponsors a YouTuber increases their visibility.
I think this is apart of a larger issue within the black community, in my opinion.
Lemme go make a turkey sandwich, though.
Well I know what you mean about marketing and there is a few of us out here that knows that marketing is often full of crap, so we just go through the product hording (at lease I did). I don’t look at things for I desire something that my hair won’t do. For me I just know that its common knowledge. I guess for the ones that aren’t really being realistic may get duped. I think that the BIGGEST problem is the hair typing. It was supposed to help us find products that work for our hair, but now its further dividing us. I have no issue with the Wavies and the Curlies. Cause I know that there are things that their hair can’t do that mine can. Also I have experienced that it also depends on where you live and who is around you. I live in San Diego, so what ever style hair you got is in. When i was relaxed everyone was like, “Oh pretty hair”; not that I am natural everyone is saying, “You’re hair is so big and fluffy I love it, it’s gorgeous, I wish my hair could do that”. I am addicted to Naptural85 and she is pretty big in the natural community and to my knowledge she is about making your own, so (shrug).
Honestly I follow a few kinky haired naturals but for me personally it’s all about personality on YouTube. Most natural youtubers have knowledge but they have a tendacy to either be blah or annoying. To me Taren Guy is dope, inspiring and knowledgable that’s why I follow her. Naptural 85 changed the game by literally only using all natural products. So their hair texture played no role in my choice of subscribing to them.
Check out http://www.curlskinksfashion.com
Taren? Inspiring? I suppose if sleeping with and getting impregnated by a married man while simulateneously neglecting your own children, including 2 with special needs (allegedly) while globe trotting is inspiring then sure, yeah Taren is the queen of inspiration. Puhleez.
Ok. There’s no need to trash talk.
We don’t need this type of cruel and coward remarks in this community. I seriously think there should be a moderator on this site to block people making personal attacks. As Dr. Brene Brown says it well, “if you are not in the arena, also getting your ass kicked, I am not interested in your feedback”. So “the Lovely one”, sign with your real name first, and also show us your youtube channel and how you do it better than everyone else, and only then, you can start commenting on other people’s work.
Taren’s business has been put out on the street for quite some time now and it’s not trash talking if it’s the truth. I was a faithful subscriber for years until I found out the real deal and based on the amount of thumbs up I got and thumbs down you got its obvious that I’m not the only one that got the memo. I went easy on her trust me. Don’t proclaim yourself to be a role model for young girls when you’re on your 4th out of wedlock child and 3rd baby daddy by a married man and don’t have custody of any of them. Child please.
Whhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa?! How do you even find out about stuff like that?
I’m sayin! Oooowweeee! That’s some drama. I can’t lie though. I kinda love it. Sometimes a good bit of gossip (about people I don’t even know) is just what the doctor ordered. I’m not even ashamed. HA!
Really? That was immature of you and uncalled for.
Whoa what does her private life have to do with you? How petty (and weird, why do you care?)
Texture discrimination? OMG what is going on? People are not happy unless they’re labelled and divided. I have 4zzzzzzzzzzzzzz hair. Forget categorising it even.. it’s the dry frizzy, kinky coily kind. I love it and that has taken a while. I do not actually see a problem because I don’t watch all the you tube videos. Most of them have way too much talking and not enough information. I subscribed to Naptural85 2 years ago at the start of my natural journey, not because of her hair type but because the girl does great informative videos. She doesn’t talk for 10 minutes about absolutely nothing but her own opinion. I don’t have hair envy, I know what my hair can do and what it can’t. I have looked through a lot of YT videos and most of them are useless in terms of giving me what I need from them personally. YT is saturated now with videos or varying quality on natural hair. If you want more hits, up your game. I’m serious! I really am laughing at this. In fact the videos get on my nerves so much I’ve returned to blogs for my information. I don’t care about who has curls or kinks. I just want healthy hair. Think we need to take a step back from all the products too. Our hair doesn’t need all that shiz, do we really need to be having a conversation on who gets to have the most video hits talking about it too, Sheezus!
Yes, exactly! I’d watch any video regardless of hair type, but some of them just talk too much. On and on and on and some of them in either a monotone, or smacking their lips in between each long winded sentence. I’m not waiting through five minutes of dialogue just to see how a style was done, whether the YouTuber has 4Z or 2b hair. It just will not happen!
Agreed. If anything, Naptural85 gives AMAZING advice and DIY product tutorials. There are too many labels out there. We need to give it a rest.
I personally don’t like to jump to conclusion, where there is a lack of tangible and reliable evidence. The question is texture discrimination apparent on YouTube?
My personal answer is No. I can’t support a Yes answer based on the number of subscribers. Just because a person has over 200,000 subscriber means, What? That I am going to conclude that a lot of 4abc or subscribers? Or that the only ones subscribing or people interested in hair? Hmm
For example: I had season tickets for the LA Lakers, sellout game. While there were all races present blacks were in the minority. Am I to conclude that blacks or not supporting their black players because they did not buy tickets?
I watch hair YouTube videos. Period. I subscribe to NONE. I watch them when I want to, when I want to, and who I want to watch. Guys, just because you see a number does not mean that number is Represent the race and gender of who is watching. The internet is tricky business when it comes to ratings, website hits, subscribers, etc. lol there are tricks to the trade. I only say this because my husband works for a very well known internet company. I’ll stop here. Lol
I agree…high numbers means nada…you can have a lot of subscribers but no VIEWS which honestly is more important to the person? There are ghost subscribers, people who sub but never return to watch your videos. Like me, I have like 180 subscribers but over 20K views on my modest channel so it tells you right there, subscribers mean nada really. People need to make vids for the love of it not for products and endorsements.
Thank you Neesh!! You made my point with less words. : )
After having conversation with husband I’ll add these points (over 20 years experience computer /internet)
The real magic behind growing your YouTube audience is being consistent. All of the superstar YouTubers share this in common, they are committed to a schedule and churn out quality, authentic videos.
Some became famous in a matter of days or weeks. For others it has taken months or longer. The key, they all stuck to it and eventually succeeded. So, stop complaining and get out there, start cranking out some videos, to grow your audience no matter if it’s kinky curly, 4 abcgk, fashion, etc
You don’t just make some twist out video expect to get 300,00 subscribers without some effort and hard work. Not that it can’t happen but really how often does it happen to the point of true success?
Some basics of creating and sharing a good video.
Keyword research
Transcript
Bookmarking sites
Social Media Engagement
Your Blog
Ask questions (example BGLH) : )
Embrace other YouTubers
Encourage video replies
These are the basic guys.
Yes BGLH is very good at the above and that why I visit the site often. Good job guys.
Great now I feel even worse . I have 4a coily hair similar to Naptural 85 except I just went natural and I big chopped . I have short hair but not everyone likes our hair . Most people like my hair but my friend who has a weave and my brothers hate my hair . They said I have nappy curls and that no guy liked nappy curly natural hair . This article just made me feel even worse . That’s a lie us with 4a coily hair get no support at ALL . In the media , all you see is straight , wavy , and loose good curly hair . Only reason Naptural 85 gets support is because she has long hair down her back , a good personality , and a lot of good hair tutorial videos to do many natural hair styles. So unless you have our hair you can’t dictate how others feel about our hair !!!
Naptural85 clearly didn’t start out with long hair at the beginning, and still developed her fanbase of people in awe of how much progress her hair made over time.
Also…Jouelzy has stated many times that she only began making videos because she wanted free hair, I respect her honestly. I like her channel but it seems that now she wants to rant. Her channel started as a wig and weave channel. Lets be real with ourselves. You have to genuine or people will see right through you.If you’re only doing it for free stuff…well that’s just sad.
Hmmm…I watched both videos when they were uploaded and I somewhat agree that there may be texture discrimination but there are some deeply embedded issues within some of us that adds fuel to the fire. If someone wishes that they had a looser curl pattern then that’s what they will be drawn too. I also think that if the vlogger has a stank attitude, it does not matter what her hair is doing…no one will want to view her videos lol.
In any event, I think that people need to realize that most of these women are not really hair experts with degrees and licenses to even have any company sponsor them or give them an endorsement deal…so we should all support one another and be happy that all these beautiful brown girls are being seen. That’s my take on it. Just because you can do hair does not mean that you should be paid for information that you googled or found in another youtube video lol.
I find this so interesting. I actively turn away from “Gurus” that don’t have hair like mine. Why would someone follow someone for hair tips if they didn’t have hair like them? I am most definitely a kinky-haired natural and I tend to only follow kinky-haired natural. I just assume, maybe incorrectly, that what works on someone’s big spiral curls will not work on cute little kinks. Shrug. Of the ones listed, I follow naptural85 because her techniques are amazing,joeulzy maybe for entertainment, and nikkimae. I unfollowed africanexport because although her hair was like mine, I didn’t like her presentation and there was too much of a focus on wigs.
My hair goals aren’t aspirational they are practical if that makes sense. I want the hair that grows out of my hair to look wonderful so I seek tips from people whose hair looks like mine.
Stories for women of color: http://www.shadesofthemuse.com
Naptural must be doing well, you guys are forcing a type 4 woman now into the “good hurr” box because you’re jealous of her success. LOL
i had to lol at this. when i keep reading all these comments talking about how loose nap85’s hair is, i’m actually checking back on her vids wondering if i’ve been looking at the same hair everyone else is referring to. if nap85 doesn’t have kinky, black hair, then who the heck *does*. jeezus.
i look at her hair and i don’t see curls except the ones manufactured by the curlformers and flexis, but mostly her hair is stretched and wavy. and it’s clearly cottony in appearance. CLEARLY. i think people have a tendency to subconsciously think, even on this website it’s true, that if you have long, thick luscious hair your hair is not type 4. same with kimmay, and people talking about her hair is not *that* kinky. welll, her hair is almost identical to nap85’s, so far as i can tell. they both are 4a, kinky cloudy tresses, the only difference being that nap85 has enough hair density to swallow the earth whole (kinda like haircrush, taren and mahoganycurls). Kimmay’s hair lacks in density, but apart from that, both are solid coily naturals. so yep, they both are now in “da good hurr” club, tee hee.
Girl …OK..LOL Whitney’s hair is the texture I see on the majority of Black women in my own family, including my own mother. They must be mad because they didn’t join YT with the intention of getting ‘e-famous’ and sponsored products, free stuff, etc. and actually had the integrity to avoid doing ANY sponsored videos until just this year actually….and yet is still the most popular natural on YT. LOL They are jealous and therefore whitney is now one of them “loose hurr heathens”
I’m so tired of 4c-4b chicks trying to police the natural hair game. My hair is a mix of mostly 3C with some 4A and I am actually from West Africa….don’t sit here and talk to me like I’m not Black enough when I bet these chicks in the video couldn’t even point to where I’m from on a globe. Just a mess. Whitney’s hair is even kinkier than mine and I adjust her styling to fit MY hair, as most people should.
Like isn’t that common sense?
I learned how to better french braid my hair from a white woman on youtube braiding straight blonde hair, LOL. I adjusted her method for keeping the braid tight, and actually in the middle on my head to fit MY HAIR, my density, my thickness, etc.
The second girl is daft if she thinks everyone is watching these videos lusting after looser curls when some of us are watching these girls with tighter curls than our own…But I bet she would never claim that we want their ‘kinky’ hair…she has some deep deep self esteem issues that stem from seeing those with looser curls.
wait! hold up…how are 4BC naturals policing the natural hair community? ya’ll kill me…
Thank you! If Nap’s hair was ear length, no one would be making such remarks! Her hair is in the 4 category and shrinks like crazy, if she does a wash ‘n go. People fawn over her hair, because the love it when it is stretched out to the max! Black women love looking at long, natural hair. That’s why she’s so popular! Of course, she is creative with her videos and has a great personality to boot. Combine all these things together and you have a winning hand.
Ohh there is so much, so much, so much.
Though I don’t doubt that companies discriminate, I think there are a lot of factors that come into play when it comes to actual popularity.
When I took a brief look at her account I noticed many of her videos aren’t even about natural hair— but tech, life, fashion,etc. And as she said, she started her channel off reviewing weave. When you look at Naptural85 her channel is clearly dedicated to natural hair, and she has just a small amount of videos that are off topic and those seem to be with her husband for that “q&a” thing that you tubers like to do. TarenGuy has a ton of videos only about natural hair aswell.
Also she only has 135 videos. TarenGuy and Naptural85 have well over 300 videos!
But yet SunkissAlba though only has 108 videos so WHY is she popular?
YET MiniMarley has just 12 videos and she is already at 50,000+ subscribers.
KyssMyHair has only 23 videos yet she has 30,000+ subscribers
Also who is she blaming in this “natural hair community”? Black women? Well what about the biracial, Latinas, East Africans, and white-curly-girls— who are they looking at these videos??
Also if we type in “natural hair” on youtube, we clearly see Black women who I highly doubt identify themselves as “biracial” —- and they don’t have 4c hair. So MAYBE we should step away from the idea that 4C hair is the “most Black” (most common) natural hair in the Western World?
I don’t know why she isn’t as popular as others.
I really liked your comment and agree with everything you have said!
I think a YouTuber’s popularity has a lot to do with their personality. I LOVE watching Sunkissedalba’s videos, I think she is so popular because she is so warm, sweet, friendly and sincere. She also has beautiful hair. If you haven’t see her stuff check her out!
Lawd have mercy!! I am so sorry Cee Cee, I meant to “thumbs up” your comment, but on this iPad, my finger horrifyingly clicked the “thumbs down” gesture. This is the second time this has happened to me on this site. Clumsy me. My apologies.
At the end of the day, natural hair community is reflective of our society as with all matters. We have these same issues in the media when it comes to skin color etc, so it isn’t surprising at all. I think youtubers should support each other more. If all youtubers are promoting each other, we can bring more unity and awareness. For example, I love the collaboration videos that CharyJay did once. She would do a style and collaborate with a looser curl pattern natural to show how the style would look with a different type of hair.
What is a kinky haired natural? Maybe people need to stop making up the categories. Whatever happened to using the word natural? Some are making this enjoyable journey complicated with nonsense.
I gotta watch this on my break and come back to y’all lol
Check out http://www.curlskinksfashion.com
People need to remember that most of the really popular vloggers have been doing this for 5-6 years. Regardless of hair type, they are the ones with 10s or 100s of thousands of subscribers, because they were giving tutorials at a time when the information wasn”t as widespread as they are now. I think some of the youtubers with kinkier hair who feel ignored are more recent vloggers, and while there are still plenty of black women just beginning hair journeys and learning things we learned years ago, they also have the rest of us around who now know a lot and can answer their questions as well. Plus the competition is more widespread, cause there are so many black women starting their own new little channels. Very few, if any of them, will catch up to Naptural85, Kimmaytube, AfricanExport or TarenGuy’s level of popularity. These women have a very LOYAL audience at this point that has been with them for years. I’ve noticed the only way to stand out is to make your channel about more than just hair. Make it about makeup, diet, exercise, or even life advice. Or vlog about daily interactions in your life. You have to offer more. So either you’re ok with that, or you’re not. But its up to you.
I’m going to try to keep this really short (for once):
Texture discrimination predates YouTube. It predates the Internet. It’s been around for as long as black folks have believed that certain hair types were “good” and others were “bad.” It’s not surprising, therefore, that those beliefs would appear online.
I agree with the person upthread who mentioned “hair porn.” MahoganyCurls’ most recent set of videos is one of the more egregious examples of this. They’ve got all the elements: soft focus, slow-motion, sexy music, etc. Keep in mind I ain’t mad at her…but it’s obvious that she knows her audience. Sadly there are people in that audience who really believe that they can make their hair look like her hair (or Taren’s hair, or some other loosely-textured vlogger’s hair). However, aside from the vloggers’ disclaimers (MahoganyCurls and Taren have both put these up), there’s nothing they can do about that.
Finally, I’m uncomfortable with the suggestion that the lack of 4c views has something to do with the video quality and presentation. It almost sounds as though it’s being suggested that there’s a connection between looser-textured hair and refinement. Slippery slope…but again, it’s one we seem to keep sliding down.
As a veteran natural, I don’t watch videos to imitate the look of a certain style. I watch them (usually) to learn about a product or technique. I already know that my hair won’t look like their hair…it’s going to look like MY HAIR, if that makes sense. That doesn’t mean I can’t learn something from their demonstration. Again, I’ve been in this game for a minute; someone who’s new needs to apply some level of discernment if they’re going to stick it out with this natural hair thing.
“it’s being suggested that there’s a connection between looser-textured hair and refinement”
THIS
Beauty is deeply ingrained on our psyche. Sometimes it is an obvious choice but most times it is just a strong reaction or emotion we have when we see something. It is mainly based on our environment and culture. Most Blacks, were raised in cultures that said, the closer to White, the prettier. Even if our families told us different, the media at large said something else and this goes deep into our subconscious. I will not lie. As enlightened, open minded and free as a see myself, when I see someone with curly, thick hair, my brain immediately says beautiful even though that persons hair looks nothing like my fine, 4B hair. It is a slow reprogramming that I am making a conscious effort to work on. I went and followed everyone of the young ladies you featured in your article because it will help in this programming and help me to accept what is. Thank you.
100% agree that texture discrimination. And to further that point, I generally notice women with 4b/c/whatever hair don’t style their hair as much. I think that is because they don’t have proper inspiration.
They try these routines that people with type 3 hair have been successful with, it doesn’t look good on them, and then another type 4 hair person sees that and assumes its because type 4 hair is ugly.
I think it is very important to look at people with SIMILAR hair textures for inspiration because you are really doing yourself a disservice by not finding out the potential your hair has.
I’d also add that it’s also because of the perception of beauty. Curly hair is still favoured (even by some kinky girls) over kinky hair. We’ve been taught (by communities, media etc.) for a long time that longer hair or looser curls are prettier. We’ll also find that light skinned curly naturals potentially have more views than darker skinned curly naturals.
Having said that, I prefer to watch YT videos of women who have not only the same texture as I, but the same length as well, it just makes the hair journey more worthwhile and less frustrating.
I suppose it’s a matter of taking the kinks out of our head…
Finally, an article on this site that wasn’t redundant and inspired me to comment!
First off, as far as the natural videos I watch: while in the beginning of my Natural journey (3 years in Oct.) I did gravitate towards the more popular naturals (who happened to have looser textures; I’m 4c) because that’s who’s names were pushed the most. As I came to understand my hair v type & realized I wouldn’t be able to manipulate my hair exactly like theirs, I took the time to search out more kinky-textured naturals. Jouelzy, 4chairchick, keythema, glamfun are a few that helped me learn how to work with my hair that best suit MY hair type. I really don’t find myself watching Taren or Mahogany Curls because I can’t relate to their techniques (I still watch Nap85, though for her daily vlogs). Even now, as I consider sisterlocks, I’m gravitating towards P.R. Charles on YouTube. So I don’t follow the “who’s hot who’s not” trend.
As far as watchability, I feel is totally unfair to allude that the woman I just mentioned have lower quality videos than the popular naturals, that is simply NOT the case. While I admit Jouelzy can be acquired taste, everyone else makes just as good quality videos that are informative & personable. I DO indeed believe it is an popularity & texture contest, and even though us 4c ladies are breaking into the game, we still have a fight ahead of us…
For a while there Kimmaytube was actually the most popular natural hair vlogger on youtube(polo razing personality and all) and she has kinky hair. Even when her hair was shorter she had a good following. The thing about her is that her videos were professional, high in quality, and succinct, she always got right to the point. Add to that the fact that she never pushed product on her subbies(contrary to popular belief many of us aren’t pj’s) and she provided science. She had a baby and stopped posting for a year and people forgot about her that is when Naptural85 picked up the baton and never looked back. She filled the void Kim left and has a more likeable personality which is why her following is so huge.
PrettyDimples was also one of the top yt’ers at one point(years ago) but she got left behind because she did not evolve with the times in terms of video quality, short videos and regular uploads. Same goes for cynthiarf who I believe has provided some of the best information for kinky haired naturals out there.
I agree about Kimmaytube and Pretty Dimples but if Nap85 didnt have very long hair and curls for days folks would not be subscribing to her in droves! Its not about the information IMO folks like to look at her hair, what gets me she has all those followers and she doesnt answer ONE question on her videos!
Am not sure about the true motive why other type 4b, 4c naturals do not watch or subscribe to 4b, 4c you tubers. But personally I am constantly searching for people with texture like mine 4b, 4c and most times, I don’t enjoy their videos. They are constantly talking about what 4b 4c hair cannot do for which jouelzy is guilty of. And you have pointed out in your post above that kinky textured naturals such as African export and nikkimae get views and should I add kimmaytube to that list. These are you tubers that have put in work to their channel, producing quality videos and content. Showing us what we can do with our kinkier textures. I personally do not think length is such a big factor as most people started following kimmaytube and nikkimae when their length was shorter. I being one of them and at the time I was relaxed and still contemplating going natural and these two women made me see that I could do it. That being said length places a role but to some extent. There are shorter length kinky naturals that I subscribe to because we have the same length hence would provide styling options for my length.
Listen Jouelzy was never negative about 4c hair but she was getting comments from girls who wanted it to look a certain way I.e like Naptural, Kimmaytube(who doesn’t even have particularly kinky hair) etc. They were asking Jouelzy why their styles weren’t turning out a certain way and the best video she did as a result was the one where she laid out the realistic expectations for 4c which I believe was much needed. Prior to that, the kumbaya section of the natural community were saying that everyone could do everything while naive 4b/c girls tried to define curls that weren’t there and wondered why their twist/braid etc outs didn’t turn out like Taren and cos and why their wash days with loose hair were taking the whole day.
Jouelzy is a realist, frank and maybe even a blunt talker. I love her hair videos but I think some naturals hate the truth, love sugar coated, one sided journeys where everything is positive. The truth is that being natural is not always easy and our hair will do what it can do and still look nice. The more we say that all hair types can do the same thing, the more 4b/cs head into weaves and relaxers because the things that their hair is ‘supposed’ to do thanks to this flower power natural movement, it can’t do.
Thank god for the punks who killed hippy flower power and thank goodness for the Jouelzy’s on YT who show another side to being natural.
She’s helped me with my hair more then Naptural85 ever could because lovely as she is, her hair does things that mine cannot and retains in a way that my fragile 4c cannot.
I never considered it a texture war or discrimination. You like what you want to watch on YouTube. I always admired and appreciated ALL hair types and textures. I am sure I am being naive in some areas. We still have a long way to go. HHJ!
poor video quality? I remember when I first started watching YT videos 5years ago, all those videos would be classified as poor as women simply filmed from their bathrooms, san make up and fancy camera. but with competition and high expectation, they’ve had to step up their game. We should also keep in mind that some of those women are making a living off YT, so they can afford to have frequent high quality videos.
I think naturals tend to follow women with long hair in general, and I don’t know of a whole lot of 4Cs with long hair on YT. As I don’t have a lot of time to waste on hair porn, I stick to tutorials that’s similar to my hair length and texture.
I think there’s still a strong hair inferiority complex in the NHC, I had a newbie natural call my hair, along with other women’s hair sh**y on another website. I guess she was expecting loosely curled hair.
http://www.themanecaptain.blogspot.ca
I don’t follow anyone on youtube so I find this argument to be pretty stupid. Lol..let’s stop making up problems
Ladies…I have to tell you all that I recently celebrated a birthday…I turned 57 years old May 10, 2014!!! As I age another year as gratefully and gracefully as I can completely admit that this “natural hair journey” has NOT been all that great for me…..just trying to figure out the hair type thing gave me a headache for quite sometime. So far ..and I have been “natural” since Dec 18, 2008(got seriously ill and my hair fell out as a result of illness and medication) I really can not tell you what “type” my hair is …some days it looks 3c..some days 4a..some days..some letter that has no number. Having said that I can’t say I watch the more popular naturals channels and follow their routines or advice to the letter because my hair tends to not fall into one category. Being 57 gives me the added advantage of something I call “Look back”..meaning..I been here for so long and seen so many things come and go I can say with great clarity and honesty that “many old things are new for now” and “many old things were good then and they remain good now.” “Back in the day” many ion my age range remember the horrors of the pressing comb and being told how “nappy and bad” our hair was. Our mothers slogged thru wash and comb days and sometimes you waited until a few days later to get your. hair pressed and styled because all of it took up most of the day and a whole lotta energy. Many of us were ‘naturals” long before many of you younger ladies were born!..we were natural because we were poor..did not have the money to go to beauty shop or buy a perm kit and quite frankly in my day no one would dream of “wasting such hard earned money on a child’s hair “just wash , grease and braid that hair up and send her out to play ” was the order of the day. It worked for me then and sadly after watching I don’t know how many You Tube videos the old “wash,grease( the terminology has changed a bit..now we “moisturize”, or lock in our moisture then braid or twist up out hair and we call it a wash and go) STILL WORKS FOR ME!!!. I love watching Jouelzy, AfricanExport, Naptual 85, MahoganyCurls, and so many others….I admit that I never ..ever …thought my hair would turn out like MahoganyCurls or Naptural85 or AfricanExports or anyone else’s because my hair is simply my own AND I have never been the greatest stylist no matter what I did to my hair period!!..I love so many of the home made hair products and I find they work best for me….not a product junkie any more. I can recall going back and watching the early work of all the previously mentioned ladies and one thing for certain..things change rapidly in the Natural Hair Community…some use Tresseme Products…and that is the “one product I will always use no matter what” and of course that changes many times over…well I guess that’s what happens as we grow and learn….some use all home made products or products from companies that are all natural…and I appreciate that as well. They grow also in popularity and companies approach them and they end up showcasing products…which is ok as well. Over all..all of these great and inspirational women have added to my experience in a positive manner. I do unfortunately feel that all of us that have “nappy hair” do not look positively on it and long for the “easy styling and beauty of say a Mahogany Curl” which for the majority of us the hair will never look like Mahogany curls no matter how long you massage what ever product you are using into your hair. She has found what works for her and her hair…chances are it will NOT work as it did on her for many of us just watching. What I really need and I have written to almost all of the popular Naturals on You Tube and never heard back from any of them is this..I need workable styling that will not take up my entire day or evening and won’t cause me to have to take a muscle relaxer and a nap afterwards. I need advice on all levels that speaks to the ” middle aged and older Natural woman” I also need a large majority of You Tubers to STOP smacking, chewing, cussing, eating, eye rolling, acting as if filming the video is a big inconvenience for you, poor attitude, etc..etc.. while you film your work. There is a great deal that needs to be said for good lighting, camera quality..etc..but the over all personality of the person making the video is what gets our attention!!!. I can get through a long video if it is interesting..but if it is full of long silences, fussing and cussing about any number of things and issues, please editing out long , long, long portions of you doing things like using a blender or hand mixer as you create what ever product you are making..or long periods of “parting your hair” or long application sessions in or out of the shower. Well, that’s all I have for now..and just so ya know..I am going to keep watching You Tube and all of the various videos simply because it is GREAT that we have this way of connecting with sisters all over the place..I would be lost without all of you!!
I don’t really get the point of the article. Are kinky-haired girls genetically predisposed to providing lower quality videos on YouTube? Or are we just less likely to have a “shiny” personality than our curly hair counterparts? God! Who did write this article?
That’s nonsensical to me. Go check out Taren Guy’s videos when she was just debuting her channel on YT, it was actually really poor in quality! But she already had thousands of followers though!
Why? Because everyone wants her hair. Naturals be like: “Embrace your hair” and blahblahblah but then, go on any website, tumblr, IG that promotes and claims love for natural hair and the only girls you will come across are ethnically ambiguous curly chicks.
Please, let’s stop with this hypocrisy and let’s just admit that we have strong beauty standards in the black community that I can sum up in one sentence: The lighter the skin, the looser the curl, the closer to the white, the better. Period.
PS: Sorry for the english mistakes, that is not my mother language.
While I do believe texture discrimination exists I personally don’t pick a channel to subscribe to based on texture solely but for other reasons like
1. how correct or useful is the information given
2. try before buy…if I do one of your styles and it comes out well I’ll come back but if after following your instructions even taking into consideration texture frizz shrinkage etc and I look a hot mess which has happened I won’t subscribe
3. Personality l won’t follow if there too much was going on in the video or I simply didn’t like the sound of the girls voice. Whats up with all the smacking? Is it too much to ask for you to enunciate? Do you have to sound so ignorant? Or why is the music in your background so loud I can’t really hear you? And can you stay on topic do you have to ramble in every video you make?
4. organization of channel… I don’t want to have to search though all your videos when I’m looking for something in particular.
5. video quality… I can handle not properly white balanced videos with a yellow tinge as long as I can see your hair and what you’re doing clearly.
Naptural85 is my favorite because she meets all those things. Her channel page is organized. If I want a recipe theres a playlist for it same with hair care or braid outs etc. And while we may have the same texture my hair rarely comes out as good as hers but they’re not disasters either because her instructions and tips are so on point that I always get complements when I style my hair after one of her videos vs somebody else’s. And for me that huge because I know if my hair is a little off from a Naptural85 style its because I did something like used too much product or didn’t detangle well enough etc.
I agree with the theories on poor video quality and overall personality, but, from what I’ve noticed, here are a few more…
1. While the number of 4c naturals embracing their natural hair is growing, there are still fewer 4c naturals overall. Therefore, fewer watching 4c natural videos.
2. Despite our best efforts, the concept of good and bad hair still exists and some 4c ladies just don’t feel confident about their hair. Their channels are devoted to installing hair extensions and sewing wigs to their scalps all under the guise of protective styling. They emanate negative vibes about their hair that’s just not very inspiring.
3. Some of these women don’t engage their audience…unless it’s to be condescending or sarcastic. It’s in the description box…
Definitely agree with #2. I need a natural hair channel, not a weave/wig channel.
I think a lot of it has to do with the obsession for longer hair. The vloggers with longer hair tend to look as if they have looser curl pattern. However, if you watch them from the very beginning stages (TWA), their curl pattern appears tighter. I know myself, I was not able to determine my curl pattern until my hair had achieved a certain length, not that I am concerned with curl pattern. It always amuses me when I see someone proclaim that a vlogger is their hair crush. I AM MY HAIR CRUSH. I just want to see what my hair does.
::sigh:: Basically what you are saying with this “whole package” idea of yours is that less women on YouTube with a tighter curl pattern have it compared to women with a looser curl pattern. I think that is really backward thinking and straight up BS. So that is strike one for me and your blog.
Back to the topic at hand, I think that women with 4a-c hair are more likely to still fantasize about having hair like Taren Guy. But most women with 3a-c hair could care less about having a more complex hair like BlakIzBeautyful/ Janelle Stewart. So basically you have more different types of curly headed women subscribing to the looser curl vloggers and more of a niche group subscriber to the tighter curl vloggers.
The young lady in the second video has an excellent point to which I agree 90%. When I first went natural, I was already aware of the importance of building myself up as a 4b/c textured girl. Why? Because many black people of both genders (and others who are non-black) are still mentally enslaved when it comes to their image in the eyes of God. I would only expose myself to women with my texture of hair or kinkier. Fotki photo albums with 4b/c and 4c women was all I looked at. I may see a curly haired 3c, 4a girl, but I would double up on images of 4c women to counter any desire for my hair to be “wavy, curly, etc.”. You have to literally recognize the enslavement in yourself and nip it in the butt with heavy exposure to what uplifts you. Constantly doing this helps.That is the only way things can change for black women and black people in general as we have been told Lupita is the most beautiful, and still when her hair and skin reflects our image, we don’t want to or resist believing it. Youtube was not my place of choice because 4c girls were not well represented at that time (5-10 years back). Now I see more, and I gladly subscribe to their channels as well as encourage other 4c girls to watch their videos. My 10% of disagreement comes from companies who still choose to slap a curly haired or at most a 3b or 4a haired girl on the front, and expect 4c’s to just hide somewhere in the back unless our hair is closely cropped. I shun companies like that. Even if their products are great, my image is important and my beauty must be recognized on a grand scale! What message is that sending to my future daughters about their beauty? Women have an uphill battle already when it comes to asserting our claim to beauty, we do not need companies that relegate us invisible or worthy of the background to dig us into a deeper rut. A crucial part of our beauty is our 4c hair texture. It must be seen! The majority of black people in this world have 4c hair. There, I said it. If you market heavy to 4c textured girls, you can profit big time. The deliberate side stepping or half stepping from companies (black owned and non-black owned) when promoting their products is because they are lazy and would rather not. It’s the same dynamic with makeup companies only having one “deep” foundation that is supposed to fit all blacks. Meanwhile there are about 5 or 6 shades for whites. The world has so many brown skinned people, they could stand to profit big time by including browner shades of various hues. They choose not to. And the most silly thing, is you will see black women promote that foundation while in the same breath complain that they wish more colors were available. No hun. What you do is you don’t buy the product at all. Even if it is a good match for you. Why? because your dollars serve you more when you invest in companies that already invest in you like Iman, Black-Up cosmetics, Becca, Fashion Fair, Black Opal, etc. Back to hair, I have only a few product lines I stand by and that is because through thick and thin, they have proudly used the image of 4c women, and have consistently supported 4c girls on blogs and youtube. Perhaps a distinction needs to be made not for skin color, but for hair texture as to what is black. then when the definition of black resides with the natural 4c texture, others will realize they are normal and quite fine, rather than spend endless time idolizing that which they will never be 3b, 4a, etc.
Sooo… the whole of YT, naturals with tighter curls, kinky hair etc aren’t as appealing…or don’t have that ‘watchability factor? Wow…
I wouldn’t think to go –>there<– but you did.
Sounds dangerous to me.
Sounds like the author of this post and a lot of blacks are still awestruck of looser curls, attractive faces… and those blacks with tighter curls, who are less 'watchable' well, too bad too sad?!
Call an baby an ugly baby…
So, because a girl has type 4 hair or kinky hair or tighter curl pattern she does;t have a watchable personality and the videos are of bad quality? I know I’m SUPER paraphrasing but I don’t think that it is necessarily true. In terms of Jouelzy, I definitely think she knows that she has a love her or hate her type of personality but she stated in her video that people like NaturalMe4c has a super sweet personality and clean family friendly content but she still doesn’t get the recognition of other Natural Hair vloggers. It’s frustrating. I have a YouTube channel and honestly, I think I put out decent content on a fairly regular basis. I don’t have a ton of subscribers which I’m okay with but then I see girls with super loose curl patterns with 6 videos who post every 3 and a half months with 50k subscribers. I definitely think there’s truth in her statement that girls with hair that looks “pretty” from start to finish, get more views. Just my thoughts on the matter…
https://www.youtube.com/user/myfashionforreal
http://www.jadorejoelle.com
I look at Naptural85 and it seems like her hair is kinky to me. It’s very think, but kinky nonetheless(to me). Personally I like CharyJay blog the most, but think ALL the ladies do a great job!
It is kinky but curly. Kinky curly. Thus not 4C
how can hair be kinky but curly? what is that? please…
Because one it’s her texture (kinky) and the other one her curl pattern (curly).
The other day I saw a comment on Mahoghany Curls’ page saying “you have a good grade of hair” I wonder where these people come from that make comments like this and don’t see anything wrong with it.
I think ” watchability” is important but a lot of these women with looser textures are boring and not “watchable” as you say. I really don’t think it’s the personality. I think people like watching these girls for the “hair porn”. So they can gush over their hair. People underestimate the power of looks. Possessing a desirable physical trait makes you appear more interesting.
i agree. there are “watchable” 4s on youtube, just as there are uninteresting looser textured women. it’s actually a bit insulting to dismiss kinkier-haired youtubers as not presenting well on video. it reminds me of people who justify discrimination [against hiring blacks, for example] by claiming said group is not qualified, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
I think we should avoid name-calling people (such as “boring”), especially when they are simply doing the best they can. Plus it’s so easy to be mean when we write anonymously!
What are you talking about? Who am I being mean to? I didn’t mention any name. My comment wasn’t personal or mean spirited. Looks do play an important role in people’s impression of you. Some of the looser hair textured women have the hair and not much in the way of personality and some do. Relax. It’s funny how you think I’m “name calling” but say nothing about the author blantantly saying 4c chicks aren’t watchable. Gtfoh!
What in the hell? Boring hurts your fee fees? GTFO, that’s ridiculous. And half of them aren’t trying their best- they get online simply to show off their hair.
I think I prefer her response over Joeulzy’s original video. I originally subbed and followed many 4c types on social media and YT, but I just wasn’t feeling them. It was NaturallyGG who first inspired me to go natural. I have type 3 hair and I follow everyone from Blakizbeatiful to Naturalme4c. The biggest thing for me is in fact personality and creativity. I don’t wear a lot of wigs so those videos are a turn off. IDK I think some of the YTubbers need to do a self reflection and check how they are presenting themselves before they blame the community, that they want support from.
Naptural85 has type 4 hair and it’s more noticeable in her older videos. She has a lot of subscribers because she’s consistent with her content. She’s one of the few you tubers I know that’s video views usually match the amount of her subscribers. A few years ago Nikki Mae was probably the most popular and talked about hair gurus.She doesn’t have as many subscribers because she doesn’t make videos consistently ( I think that has to do with her being in school) not because of her hair type. I remember unsubscribing because she hadn’t made a new video in almost a year so I thought that she wasn’t doing the YouTube thing anymore.
Personality and the quality of your content has a lot to do with the people having interest in your videos.
She isn’t listed in the original post but the chicnatural has over 300,000 subscribers and a lot of her subscribers are due to her hair tutorials and she has a 4bc hair type.
She’s got a point.
I’ve watched Naptural85’s videos a couple of times. And while I think she has beautiful hair and great videos, I haven’t subscribed because her hair is vastly different from mine and I honestly don’t think I could learn all that much from her besides maybe how to do updos.
When I search for people with 4b/4c hair, tons of videos pop up, but the video quality is often not very good (which sucks for when you want to see close ups, sometimes the sound is wonky, or they won’t speak clearly, they’ll put really long captions that only stay up for two seconds so you have to keep rewinding and pausing to read all of it; it’s not appealing.
In my six years of being natural (and I’m about to start a loc journey), I have thought about making a channel. But I wouldn’t want to do it unless I had some decent recording and editing equipment, and a ample amount of time to make detailed tutorials that anyone can follow. I’m finishing up school, so I don’t have those, but I’m hoping to get started later.
The market is out there. There are tons of 4b/4c girls out there who would love tutorials. I think that some are just too scared to go all out. I think we coilier girls subconsciously psyche ourselves out, lol.
In the mean time, I love Breanna Rutter from Howto Black Hair. She’s got 4c hair and her videos, though really long, are awesome.
I look at Naptural85 and it seems like her hair in kinky to me. It’s very think, but kinky nonetheless to me. Personally I like CharyJay blog the most, but think ALL the ladies do a great job!
her hair is very coily and shiny…wouldn’t call it kinky. It just looks curlier now because of the length weighing it down. You can see her “real” texture in her older videos when her hair was still quite short.
I don’t understand the inclusion of the last point… at all. I mean I do understand the claim that is being made about *the need for ANY vlogger to have personality and “the whole package” to be successful* but that is not pertinent to THIS conversation. This conversation is about HAVING the “whole package” and still not achieving the same reception of that received by naturals with “tamer” hair types and textures.
When I look up 4C naturals on youtube, on the contrary, I DO find naturals with the whole package. You mentioned them in this post. There may not be as many, and this may be for many reasons (fear of not receiving a positive reception, or having received negative reception upon first attempts and deciding it wasn’t worth it for personal reasons),
but still, even when naturals can have their FILL of women with the same ole spray a bit of water, or put up in 2-4 braids, or 10 min style time, or wet and go out the door, or twirl around my finger, or down my shoulders, or my hair grows down and not straight up, curly and coily hair types all the while STILL avoiding “frizz” (frizz is another element of this conversation but I won’t get into it), we still can’t seem to find a single subscribe or like (read f***) to give to charismatic, beautiful, hilarious, intelligent women like Joulzy, AfricanExport, and NikkiMae, which I believe together, one can make an argument, trump all the personality you can find anywhere else on the YT Natural circuit. *ok*
That’s what this conversation is about.
The last part was quite a bit reductive and indeed suggested that 4C YTer’s were to blame for their lack of reception. It’s without out a doubt the viewers. I hold not a single reservation. Our community suffers from some serious internalized s***, and we shouldn’t have to give anyone an “out”.
Ashay!
Even if I do agree that we can find some really talented 4C vloggers with charisme, sense of humour, knowledge etc. Don’t you think that they are underrepresented in comparaison with other hair types and that the 4C community also is less represented. My hypothèsis is that when the nappy hair movement burst, it was easier for curly girls to embrace it as their hair type suffer from less bad perception from society and does not have the same préconceptions about how to handle it.
If you listen to M. Walker who created the hair typology…it basically promotes all type of natural hair…except for 4B/4C to whom he says : “for this type you have to perm, relax your hair” suggesting than it’s ok to go natural but 4C hair is kind of a lost cause.
I think if we keep that in mind…4C girls may have embraced the philosophy of the natural hair movement but have been more reluctant to joint it from the beginning and probably still are…therefore they accumulated less knowledge in how to have long, healthy (whatever u want) 4C hair in comparaison with curly haires girls who already have accumulated a lot of knowledge on their hair type. Therefore they also have less expérience in filming and editing…maybe causing less appealing vidéos…and it is just a question of time before they catch up with ôter hair styles.
I don’t think we should start a curly VS coily VS kinky…of course our community still have to fight some post-slavery, post-colonial, post-apartheid,white-centric vision of beauty…I want to believe people who are part of the natural hair movement have made peace with all of that.
Lack of knowledge of hair type does not equal a lack of talent for video editing.
It’s hard to compare a lot of vloggers to naptual85 and taren guy. These two have different hair textures and offer different content, yet I watch them both. I also watch glamfun, alicia james, mahoganyknots, s1mnicity, and fabulasityisme, the last of which primarily does weaves, wigs, and fashion although she has natural hair. Despite their differences, all these vloggers take care in their appearance, put effort into their videos, and have personalities that I can jibe with. I was introduced to Jouelzy when she did an interview with glamfun about relaxing her hair and I checked out her channel. The few videos I saw, she was ranting at the camera. Because of this, I chose not to add her to the list of youtube channels I watch. So, while I empathize with her, I have to say that if anybody (anywhere) wants people to gravitate toward them, they have make themselves approachable. Unfortunately, we can’t gain contacts and followers just by demanding them.
I agree I find that Joeulzy does a lot of complaining. I got tired of it, so I unsubbed, and stopped following her and Glamfun.
yes, she complains
She wasn’t like that in the beginning – I used to find her fun and engaging, then I guess disillusionment got the best of her and that came through in her vids, so I too waved ‘bye!’
Is it really texture discrimination? Or the fact that looser haired naturals tend to have or look like they have longer hair? Or hair that isn’t as shrunken? I think people look at the flowing hair of MahoganyCurls and get inspiration from that, more than looking at Jouelzy whose hair is almost always in a protective style or would probably be shrunken when she lets it down.
I’m just trying to figure it out. Maybe there are some who prefer looser curls, so I hope they look inside themselves and try to adjust their attitudes. Especially if their hair is different from that type. All of our hair is beautiful.
P.S. I don’t have this probably, in fact I’m already subbed to Jouelzy and others like her. She’s like me afterall. 🙂
“I don’t have this probably” was meant to be “I don’t have this problem”.
Why is my comment getting thumbs down. I am not putting anyone down or belittling the issue, I’m just wondering if there’s a chance we’re misdiagnosing it. Wow, some people here are addicted on using the mouse clicker to thumbs down people, whether it even makes sense or not.
good points. i have several criteria for subscribing when it comes to natural hair channels, and texture isn’t one of them (not necessarily, although i do try to avoid subscribing to the looser variety ones unless their channel just has that *it* factor). I think i have a good balance, so far as texture goes.
“Must-haves”, although if it’s a newbie channel or just doesn’t have a lotta vids, i do cut it some slack, but otherwise…:
1)lighting- a given
2)straight-to-the-point- no aimless chitchat for five minutes or seven prior to the actual subject as evidenced by the title. that annoys me to no end.
3)less wig/weave-wear (preferably none at all)- i don’t wear weaves and wigs and never have, so a channel full of them is not for me
4)less product reviews- not a fan of them, like, at all. I avoid them on blogs, too.
5)articulation- no mumbling, extreme profanity (preferably, although i will make an exception if the person otherwise strikes me as intelligent and intellectually inclined, etc.), etc.
6)focus/professionalism- a lot of uploaders go for the ditzy appeal (i notice this a lot with mainstream uploaders as well) and i HATE that. i prefer the jouelzies and kimmays because they are all about making that point. they don’t go on a video and be like “oh, what was i saying?” and just vague, as though they just woke up.
7)less talk about one’s personal life- i’m not one for gossip anyway, and i don’t care to know about a good chunk of the personal life yters bring up in their vids.
8) fakeness- if the person’s personality is just…too much, i won’t watch. one such creature is this girl called Jadahdoll, who is a model, i reckon. but her personality is soo not for me, because she goes out of her way to act just like a friggin doll. can’t stand it. it annoys me both in anime and “real life” of YT. so even though some of her content is good and her production quality is flawless (i begrudgingly acknowledge. bleh!) i barely tolerate her girly dollish voice and mannerisms. but hey, she has an ish-ton of subscribers, so i guess someone ( a great many someones) must find it attractive
9)music quality is a big one! a video doesn’t have to have music at all, but the music it does have cannot annoy me. i’m usually against rap and heavy metal. i tend to go for ambience-type music, low key and relaxed, which is why i love naptural’s vids. music being too loud to the point of distracting or unbearable is another turn-off
10)long hair- since i’m trying to grow my hair long, i’m less likely to be interested in the hair videos of someone with hair my length or shorter. preferably the hair should be somewhere between MBL and TBL, since WL is my goal length. I’m pretty biased, unabashedly and unapologetically so. With that said, i appreciate YTers who started when their hair was shorter, so you can go back and document their progress. Now i have made an exception on this point for a good number of naturals to whom i’m subscribed (Joulzy included), and i subscribed to Nap85 back when her hair was the same length as mine. So it’s not necessarily a determining factor for me if all other points are satisfied.
oh wow i am soo picky and i forgot to add one:
11) video length- BIG ONE! my attention span has incidentally worsened since college (how the heck is that even possible?!? must be all those 3-hour long lectures i had to sit through in the evenings lol), and i’ve gotten to where i consider a video longer than about seven or eight minutes long. i find myself skipping through a great deal of most videos i watch on YT of any subject, but especially hair. i’m less inclined to do this with Jouelzy or Nap85 because, again, they are usually straight to the point. and i didn’t do it with kimmay when i was subscribed to her.
Yeeaah! I might have to admit to the discriminatory view expressed by Jouelzy. And believe it or not, my “texture” is closer to Jouelzy than it is to a SunKissedAlba or a Mahogany Curls. The later two are who I click on the most. I got my wash and go technique from Bianca alexa. I am extremely multitextured, and find myself yearning for the “curlability” of a Mahogany curls or a bianc alexa while I proclaim my pride in my 3b/4abcz texture. You cant help it, it is a function of what we see every day and what is considered beauty in this society. This natural journey is a process -it is a slow process, but nonetheless working–e.g., i would never go back to relaxed hair. I don’t even like my hair straight anymore. In addition I am embracing the 4z and the shrinkage. it is coming along. even the fixation on length is changing. short natural hair is a beautiful thing. there are some natural hair bloggers whose length is absolutely too darn long. i will not mention any names, but they look old lady like–dragged out. I’m rambling, but the image of what is considered beautiful or desirable is changing. Trust.
i think the problem with our community is that we still draw towards the curly haired tutorials rather than kinky haired DESPITE MANY of the viewers having kinky hair (4b/c) themselves. Why? Because in the back of many black girls minds, we strive for that hair because with that hair brings acceptance and perhaps that acceptance will bring happiness. I know it has crossed the minds of many and perhaps most kinky haired naturals where they wished their hair was less “kinky” and not seeing the beauty of it. That is why I disagree with the idea that kinky haired tutorials do not seem to have the “Whole package” perhaps they do. But are black girls looking for those? No. Because in looking for those means coming to terms with who you are and saying “this hair is my hair and its beautiful”. But alas, that truth is yet to manifest in all minds of young black girls. It is our job to teach them in. Maybe in future years, the kinky haired tutorials will catch up in ratings.
YEP!
You said it, honey!
Well, it’s a visual medium, so the successful vloggers are going to attract more people when they have conventional, universal appeal. More people than not like defined, shiny, slickable hair. That, or super thick hair gets the votes. And these popular vloggers aren’t the average heads of curly and coily hair.
I use YouTube for hairstyle ideas. I prefer to see hair that will have closer outcomes to my own. The only YouTuber I’m subscribed to whose hair is really different from mine is Naptural85 – she’s relatively consistent and the production values are great. Kimmaytube did well – & she had a polarizing personality – I’m sure if she’d continued, she would’ve had all the things Jouelzy coveted. That woman was about business. The Monroe Sisters also seem to be pursuing business.
You know Kimmaytube is back in the game, right?
I’m still transitioning, but I’m almost 10 months in and my hair appears to be 3c/4a with a mixture of pencil to pen spring sized curls, and small s-shaped “waves”. Therefore I personally try to watch videos of women with similar hair to mine. Hair that is much looser or much tighter than mine don’t get a lot of views from me unless they have a tutorial for an interesting hairstyle I’d like to try (although I know my results will look different obviously). I completely agree that the most popular YouTube naturals tend to be of the type 3 variation. I agree that I’ve noticed people following them with much tighter curls, seemingly in hopes to change their hair into theirs. I see that on Instagram comments too, such as “What products did you use to achieve your look? I want my hair to look just like that!” when that look happens to be a wash and go of their natural texture and the person asking has a completely different (usually kinkier) hair type. I just wish more people would try to find beauty in ALL hair textures 🙁 Wishful thinking.
I was wondering when this topic would show up here lol. I saw Jouelzy’s video and several of the reponses. I do agree that many are still hung up on curl envy and “silkier” textures. Overall I don’t care about dazzling personality. I want to see hair tutorials and product reviews. BUT I’d like to point out a glaring problem I have with my 4b/c youtubers:
1. too much wig and weave reviews- Um if you have issue with accepting your texture an are looking for ideas of how to be confident and cute with what you have how is a wig or weave review/ tutorial gonna help somebody? I like Jouelzy’s channel for the most part but its too much faux hair for me. Ain’t nothing wrong with rocking faux hair from time to time but if you are suppose to be reppn 4c hair then I’m gonna need to see your real hair more often.
2. Poor attitude about our hair texture- If I hear that darn phrase “the struggle is real” one more time from 4b/c hair youtubers/ vloggers I’m just gonna scream. So much moaning and complaining about what we can’t do or our limitations that all the fun and life is sucked out of enjoying our hair. Our texrure is what it is. Its not the problem but how we view it mentally is. I’d like to see more upbeat attitudes about our hair. Evelyn from the Internets and Klassy Kinks do a wonderful job in this area.
Re: #2 LOL That’s because, apparently, the Struggle IS Real. I’ve known quite a few kinky girls who are committed to staying natural, but they style their hair & are unhappy with the results (& the social feedback they receive). I agree, though, that I don’t want my inspirational YouTubers to be reinforcing those kinds of views. Especially, if they want to be a guru of some sort. Even if they have to fake it ’til they make it.
I totally agree with #1!
I am not interested weaves or wigs. I don’t care too much for product reviews since most products are not available to me, I have products that are working for me and I am on that there college student budget.
So when a channel produces videos that are 95% of the above, I just can’t subscribe to it. No need clutter my subscription feed. =/
Yuuup …I agree with you. I come from lusaka Zambia , so me subbing to a channel with a million products n reviews I’ll never see this part of the world makes no sense. Naptural85 is simple, shea butter, flaxseed gel a few oils and I can relate. Curly hair or not…its all about relevance and content.
Oh, and a large number of straightening videos. I am not interested in straightening my hair, so I don’t subscribe to any textured lady who caters largely to that.
I agree 100%. I am a 4b transitioning girl and am always looking for similar hair types to learn more about hair care in general on the yt, but it’s difficult because the 4bc ladies I find are wearing wigs and weaves which I Do Not like and on the rare occasion that they wear their hair it’s referred to negatively. Or they just stop making videos after a while. I’m transitioning not only my hair but also my way of thinking about my hair and these channels are less than helpful. Back in the day yt videos were more genuine, made to help others.Videos today are like mini movies, to me they seem disingenuous. Like Jouelzy. She seems in it for notoriety and less to dispense knowledge and help others and it shows. To me her personality is off putting. What company wants that kind of personality to represent their brand? It is a Business after all.
There maybe a “texture discrimination” issue but I believe the “watchability” of the bloggers remains the biggest problem. But why is it ? Are the 4B/4C genetically less talented than the other hair types ? Of course, not! Up to me…when the natural hair movement started, the curly girls where more prompt to embrace it as their hair type was – how could I put it?- 1-not viewed as unprofessional hair 2-not so “unmanageable”.
I am a 4C hair and when I wanted to be natural 8 years ago…I went to locs because I thought that having my hair free would not be easy for me. As much as I wanted to be natural, I understood than curly girls could do it but was somehow sure than with my coily hair the journey would be much harder. And I think this is the essence of the problem…the coily entered in the natural journey later than their curly peers because they had more anxiety in what their journey would be. Therefore they have accumulated less expérience in knowing the natural hair, especially because what apply to curly does not alwaysapply to coily so the knowledge still has to be built. And also less expérience in filming, editing, confident in front of a camera and all the qualifies to be a good blogger.
At the beginning, I was watching curry girls and I thank them because they gave me the confidence I needed to cut my locks and start a journey where my 4C will enjoy freedom.
In conclusion, I think we 4B/4C, experimented ones have to take the problem in our hands and go out there to create blogs or YT accounts and be great bloggers with the inspiration of our curly sisters!
Wow! Klassy Kinks PREACHED!!! *dropsthemic*
Chinwe, this is such an awesome post! And I want to chime in with a perspective from the BGLH community. Our most popular style icons tend to be Type 4 naturals with medium/long hair.
Top style icon list of 2011 https://bglh-marketplace.com/2011/12/natural-hair-style-icon-of-2011-poll/
Top style icon list of 2013
https://bglh-marketplace.com/2013/12/black-girl-with-long-hairs-most-popular-style-icons-of-2013/
I subscribe to naturals with similar textures to mine, nap85 & charyjay, but I have noticed the favorability of those with looser patterns. I have also noticed some YT’ers typing their hair incorrectly, almost like they don’t want to have kinkier textures. It reminds me of girls who say, “I’m not darkskinned, I’m brown!”
Yes there is still texture discrimination in society and the Internet is made up of citizens who make up our various societies. Of course there is texture discrimination on Youtube. There are many reasons and while it is true that the kinky haired Youtubers often have poor video quality, a lack of presence etc, that’s because many of them have just started out on youtube and while people eagerly wait for the curly with 2 ins of hair to grow a tumblr/instagram worthy head of hair, kinky haired girls often take longer to achieve that goal or never do because it’s not in their genetics or they don’t know how to. Nobody gives the 4c girl time to grow on YT because people are impatient for the easy, perfect natural hair journey that tells them that everything is going to perfect in their own journey. 4b/c girls are the ones most likely to have our ups and downs while being natural, to gain length and lose length not have one inch in May and 24 inches 6 months later like some looser haired naturals have.
Many 4cs have said that they won’t invest in the top of the range camera/filming equipment because they don’t have the views to justify it. Meanwhile many 4c viewers are tuning into Taren, MahoghanyCurls and more so Naptural85. Fine if you are 4a but if you’re 4b/c you must understand that your hair is not going to do what Naptural’s 4a does. Sometimes it seems that because some YTers wear undefined hair or manipulated curl styles despite being 4a or 3c, 4b/cs latch on to them as having the same or similar hair.
There’s also an ignorant assumption that a person cannot have nice, lengthy or pretty 4c hair as evidenced by a new YTer who had long hair that she said was 4c and had people saying she wasn’t. She later did a video where she wet a section of hair to prove she was 4c, it really is quite sad. How many times do we see girls label that unruly crown or hair that they haven’t cared for very well as 4z? Everyone knows that 4z is code for kinky tightly coiled hair.
4b/c youtubers have come out to say that they are disheartened with how they are being ignored by what they feel is their demographic yet their demographic is all over Taren, Naptural85 and others comments sections, liking and giving views. I feel that you can like the loose haired girls but we must support the girls with hair like ours even if you just sub and wait for their videos to improve.
Not everyone thinks like the author regarding quality being of utmost importance as long before Jouelzy was known for being the girl with a bit of a ‘tude, she was the first 4c to come through with videos with great quality, short, snappy to the point tutorials and bags of personality. She said she didn’t have as many views, endorsements or as much interest from the natural hair companies and viewers. You could say that it was her personality that wasn’t for everyone but which one of the YT girls is an angel? Many have proved to be scammers or have less than great personal lives yet people still watch and some watched because they had a certain kind of hair. There’s one scammer that people still defend because she had a certain kind of hair.
We, those who make videos, those who create tumblrs and blogs, those who put 4b and c out there as beautiful are changing society’s way of thinking and it has changed a lot. People are more confident to wear their hair out or show their 4c as 4c rather than in the early 00s where everyone was looking for Miss Jessie’s kinks to curls miracle. I think it will continue to change with future generations and one day even if people still love that picture perfect journey and hair, there will be more love and more room to love tightly coiled kinks and people will say that it’s beautiful without caveats.
I’ve actually watched all the you tubers you mentioned above except Klassy Kinks, and that’s because I’ve never heard of her. But when I’m finished here I’ll definitely watch her videos. I don’t classify my hair, or even put limits on my hair, which some people use to determine what videos to watch – I look at everything, if the style looks interesting and I want to try it out on my hair – then I look at it. Of all of the people mentioned above, I’m subscribed to Naptural85; and probably Nikkimae2003. I’m also subscribed to Naturalme4C. But my hair looks like neither of these women. I think textured discrimination does exists, because they’ve been times that you never heard of some people and then when you stumble across their videos – you have to comment on the fact that although these videos are really good -you never see them unless it’s accidental. Then you wonder if some You tubers are showcased more than others. Another thing I would mention is the person’s upbeat attitude, although my hair looks nothing like Naturalme4c – I just like her upbeat attitude and I do watch her videos. I also like Joulezy though i’m not subscribed to her, and I do watch her videos too. But then they are some individuals and you can tell that they really hate their hair, and it comes across plainly in their videos- in fact one lady was complaining saying negative stuff about her hair, and then the people who were watching the video in the comment section was commenting about how she had a bad attitude about her hair – The You tuber was bemoaning the fact (in her opinion) that she couldn’t get curls or she had to do so much to get curls, and she didn’t like that.– but in my opinion (MINE) if it looks cute, I’m going to try it or tweak it, it doesn’t matter what texture the person have – I love my texture, but i’m not going to put limits on it – if it wouldn’t do it, it’s not the end of the world.
So looser textured ladies just happen to have a better personality and overall package than tighter textured ladies? Hmm…
I think we have to consider that looser textured haired ladies have had the support from the get go. You know, when they too didn’t have much personality and used their iphone camera to record. The support they’ve garnered has helped them to improve and expand their channel. There hasn’t been as much support for tighter textures.
Also, we are dealing with a market that has become over saturated. People are sticking with who they’ve already gotten used to. And a lot of people do not care about the texture of the YouTuber, because they dont think it matters. So it’s a choice between the established, popular YouTuber with plenty of video content, or the newbie with not much and poor quality video.
But everyone starts from somewhere. Quite frankly, if we want to see better representation, we have to start supporting what’s already there.
I have mostly 4b hair and I’m subscribed to both kinky haired and curly haired individuals. When I was transitioning, I will admit that my go youtubers were naptural85, chime edwards, and nikkimae although my hair is more coarse than theirs. I think it was because I had the goal to grow long hair and they already had the length I wished to obtain. With 4b/c hair, its harder to see the length unless the hair is stretched. 2 years later, my go-to’s are xgoldn, caribbeauty, fusionofcultures, naturalme4c, chary jay.. people close to my texture. I still watch naptural85 and nikkiemae03 for their twist out techniques. Also, personality does play into whether I watch a video or not. All of the people I watch are engaging.
Of course there is texture discrimination. Its not just on YouTube and social media. It is a real life occurrence that has plagued the black community for years so why would it not permeate social media? We, at least me, have been taught that the tighter your curl pattern, the less significant you are and your hair is. Add shortness or rather the appearance that your hair does not grow long to that and you are not as appealing in appearance. We have been trained to long for, desire and adore long, thick, curly hair. Throw skin color into the mix and, well, you know the rest.
This article is very appropriate. I watched Joulezy’s video and found it very true. I honestly am soooooooo over the entire hair typing system. Even here on BGLH, there are women who do style icon articles saying they are 3C who look like 4a/b. It’s so arbitrary and useless. I subscribe to a variety of Youtubers from Naptural85, iknowlee, to Nikkimae2003. I am not interested primarily in their hair type but tips for healthy hair, making my own products and styling options. You have to be smart to know what will and will not work on your head. Length is a big issue that I see. You see very few Youtubers do videos for the stage between TWA and long hair. That is a stage that needs a lot of tutorials for what do to keep hair healthy and growing. I find that no matter what the issue skin color, hair type, or eye color we find ways to be divide ourselves. It is a mindset that goes beyond Youtube and is rooted in our history.
I noticed that myself, ladies on here saying they are 3C when they are clearly of the 4 range. I get that hair typing is not a fo proof system, and many don’t subscribe to it (and that’s perfectly fine) but when some women are WAY off, it ends up coming off like they are wishing for something they don’t have, and it’s sad 🙁
fool proof*
My hair is similar to naturalme4c, so I subscribe to her channel. I have noticed people with tightly coiled hair becoming product junkies in a quest to look like Kelis or Tracee Ellis Ross.
Texture discrimination does exist but I honestly don’t think it affects natural youtubers, or rather affects them as much as was implied in Jouelzy’s original video.Unfortunately the problem with alot of 4c youtbers is the quality of the videos/tutorials, and also how frequently they upload – I am subscribed to sooo many kinky textured youtubers but most of them haven’t uploaded a new video in the last 5 months. Another thing is video length – 20, 30 minutes sometimes for a tutorial[ most of which is full of irrelevant chatter], whereas people like Whitney keep her videos down to 12 minutes at most…the way I see it curly or kinky, if you want to stay relevant on youtube you need to be a consistent both in your upload time and content.Also since when did having sponsorship from companies make a person a succesful natural youtuber? Naptural85 had gained success for years before her most recent Carol’s Daughter collab.
Re:Sponsorship
Since many mainstream(read white/Asian) YTers and to a lesser extent black YTers were able to end up releasing product lines, travel the world and avoid getting real jobs while renting or buying flats and things that matter in the real world. If someone is going to devote so much time to cultivating an online presence and giving out important information out to people then I guess that is great compensation/reward for it. I find the natural YTers way more vital than all these teenage boys with floppy hair putting out half baked videos and earning thousands or playing video games and being the most popular person on YT netting them 100s of thousands. It seems like some people think that as long as certain YTers are winning the popularity contest, hang the rest. Then you wonder why some are complaining about lack of support.
“Most of which is full of irrelevant chatter…”
THIS! I cannot stand watching a product review that spends 5 minutes reading the ingredients (post a pic for goodness sake) or doesn’t even show them using the product and then is wearing a style in which they did not use the product. Take a hint from CharyJay and Jouelzy and everyone else.
Let’s not get into lighting where I can’t even see the hair that is being styled.
While I’m subscribed to quite a few natural hair channels on YouTube, I primarily watch videos from those whose hair texture is similar to mine, like My Natural Sistas, NaturalMe4C,NikkiMae2003, and Jouelzy. I’m not subscribed to TarenGuy, Naptural85, etc. because their hair textures don’t resemble mine and I rarely wear the hair styles they put up on their channel. I also know that if I did try a hairstyle that say, Naptural85 did (like curlformers), my end result would be different than hers because our hair textures are different. I actually prefer to subscribe to natural hair channels that are not really popular, because I’ve noticed that that YouTuber is more likely to respond to comments. With that said, I do believe that there is some texture discrimination with the natural hair community.
Another problem, for me at least, is finding long term kinky haired transitioners on Youtube.
Also, I watch hair style tutorials if I like the result, but I try to stick in the type 4 range so that the result might be similar for me. What matters the most is the technique and whether I can mimic the style with what I already have lying about the house
“Let’s be real; how many kinky-haired YouTubers have the “whole package” of an engaging presence, a good personality, AND great video quality”……I am so ready to read the comments for this post.
AkushikaGoneNatural
The only person that I subscribed to is Naptural85. I also used to visit longhairdontcare2011 (R.I.P) on occasion. But mostly I go to Naptural85. Stumbling across their channels was accidental, but they were engaging and I could see myself and my possibilities in them.