Exactly What Is A Polished Natural Hairstyle?

[BlackHoney746]

I noticed a lot of posters on another thread said that India Arie's Grammy hairstyle wasn't polished. Cynthia McKinney's chunky fro was also deemed inappropiate for Congress.

So my question, What is a refined natural do? Because truth be told the same can be said for any natural hairstyle.

I mean really are twist-outs and braid-outs favored because in some way they make nappy hair look naturally curly (and you know what I mean when I say naturally :rolleyes: ).

I think this goes beyond a question of personal taste.

[Mae]

You know, I was going to ask that question too. Not to be judgemental, but to ask folk what they thought polished, appropiate hair looked like. I am not expecting folk to admit here that they have some "issues" about hair, but I think it is important for folk to really think about what they consider acceptable and unacceptable and why..someone here has a quote from Salma Hayek in their siggie that say something like, "if beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then what one considers beautiful says a lot about a person..."

[JCoily]

Symetrical hair is a start.

What I found hard to stomach about India's hairstyle was that it was rather chaotic. My theory is if you're going to do something with the right side of your head, do something similar or at least complementary to the left side.

Otherwise you end up with the hair equivalent of **** eyed ness. (no offense to my **** eyed sistas)

[LALove]

In the India Arie thread I said that I likes sleek hair styles and I guess that could be a synonym for polished so I will try to explain. I like buns, twist pinned up in a french roll or a tucked under ponytail. I personally do not wear wash and goes but that is because my hair tangles but if I did I would probably wear a head band or something in the front. Also, I like twists. I honestly do not think I have "issues". I currentlyy have my hair twisted in the back with cornrows in the front. My twist are currently in a bun. I guess my view on what is "polished" has formed from being in the military. I do not have the option to wear my hair like India Arie at the Grammy's. I guess because it is a habit it has turned into what I like. I hope that explains it.

Honestly, for me it is not a straight hair thing. I see girls with straight hair do the "messy" bun thing and I just want to hold them down and brush their hair into a sleek bun. :lol:

It is just my preference. Hope that explained it.

[AuNappturale]

IMO, polished = buns, neat up-dos, fresh twists, low puffs fresh comb coils.... (I'm rather un-polished nowadays and love it. Let the hair do what it do.

ETA: Symmetrical. I like that from another poster, so I'll add that to my definition. I also want to add hair-dos low-fros, and TWAs.

[taniseka]

I don't know how anyone can define what a polished natural hairstyle is since it's so subjective. I didn't like india's hairstyle because it looked too synthetic to me and dull instead of fresh with a nice sheen. I think if she twerked her hairstyle a bit more I would have loved it. Anyway this pic below is one example of what I would consider polished...definition does not factor in for me.




-Sheen
-healthy-appearance
-Proportion

are the factors that influence what I like. I think the look above is polished. It's not a perfectly round fro, but there is consistency in its shape.

Just my two cents

[watercolorz]

I am dead serious when I say this... if you can’t tell the difference between the two Cynthia pictures or the 2007 and 2006 Grammy pictures...

If you can’t discern the polished from the unpolished then you just don’t get it.

And if you don’t get it then I can explain and post pictures til the cows come home... because truth we would get into a circular... so what’s wrong with that type of discussion... and I'm not going there.

So I will try and articulate this in one take... you ready?

In the movie HOODLUM Lawerence Fishbourne’s character Bumpy is having a conversation with Lucky Luciano.

Lucky asks Bumpy why is it that Dutch Schultz (another character) is still wearing boosted $50 dollar suits when he can afford much better... especially since he is a real big time mob boss, why would he choose to dress like a cheap hood.

Essentially Lucky ask Bumpy why does Dutch look a hot azz mess...

Bumpy replies: “If you don’t know you don’t know”.

If my reply sounds snarky I will own that because I am tired of people acting as if they don’t know the difference when the truth is they don’t feel like making the effort.

I wear a chunky fro when appropriate... the same way I wear jeans when appropriate. But I would wear neither to the Grammy’s or if I were addressing congress.

A twist-out/braid-out on my hair type truthfully isn’t to “imitate curly” but it is a way to get my hair type to coil and clump around itself so that my hair retains moisture.

A chunky, shrunken fro on my hair type... which is very close to India’s would be all over the floor if I wore my hair like that regularly.

But that’s not what you are really asking so I will take this one for the record since I posted the pictures and was the first to say that the look was “unpolished”

First her hair looked DRY AND DAMAGED... if you want to wear a shake and go shrunken look the difference between it being polished and unpolished should start with HEALTHY HAIR.

If the hair is HEALTHY it would take no more than some water spritz through, and some caster and jojoba oil warmed in the hands and pulled through to help the hair retain moisture and give it some shine without compromising the natural appearance.

As for Cynthia all she need to do was run her wet fingers through her hair to arrange it a bit to keep it from looking crazy.

Both would create a more "polished", cared for appearance instead of one that looks like you have just been ridden hard and put up wet.

But if you can’t see that... then I can explain til the cows come home but you won’t get it.

Lastly... a twist-out or braid out on NAPPY HAIR only resembles curly to other nappies and black folks... “others” don’t see any difference it is all nappy to them.

I am probably one of the laziest people when it comes to my hair... I will do a twist/braid out about as often as I drink champagne, eat red meat or put on an evening gown.

It is something that I do when I want to make a special effort but if I decided to roll that way every day it would be because I had a reason to want to rock that look.

That reason would most likely depend on what activities I would be engaged in that day, what I would be wearing or the "look" that I was going for.

But maybe you don’t get that... because like Bumpy says “If you don’t know... you don’t know” ~W

[Chyna Black]

Nevermind......

[Kamikak]

First her hair looked DRY AND DAMAGED... if you want to wear a shake and go shrunken look the difference between it being polished and unpolished should start with HEALTHY HAIR.

...As for Cynthia all she need to do was run her wet fingers through her hair to arrange it a bit to keep it from looking crazy.

Both would create a more "polished", cared for appearance instead of one that looks like you have just been ridden hard and put up wet.

... I had a reason to want to rock that look.
[/b]

I agree with Watercolorz whole post but these parts stood out to me. IMHO a polished style is only a part of a put together look. It's about the whole look. Hair should be clean, well shaped, symmetric, well trimmed, styled with thought and effort, and shiny. Not shiny in the straight way but for us nappies have that sheen to it.

I'm bothered when I see nappies with dull dry looking hair that's flat in the back and poofy in the front because that's how they rolled out of bed.

Nappy hair should also be appropriate. If you work in a corporate environment a chunky fro or shrunken fro is appropriate and polished if it fits the above parameters (see paragraph 1 :rolleyes: ). But a BAA is a no no! Same for a twist out. A polished "corporate" twist out should not fall all in your eyes and or be Kelis wild. But a polished hanging out twist out can do that, especially when you have on the right clothes to match.

It's about the whole look. You can have banging polished hair but dress like a bag lady and folks will call your hair desheveled.

[Mae]

I was trying to come up with what I consider to be polished, and I think I have it...polished hair is free from fuzzies and frizz, probably has more product, and has been manipulated more. For instance, at times I can get my do to look polished, if I put more gel or oil in it to make it glossy instead of the natural, rather dull look it can have (just my personal opinion of it, even though folks have marvelled on the sheen in my looser hair while frowning on the duller look of my kinker hair)...brand new twists look more polished than twists that I have had in my hair a few days...a slicked back puff looks more polished than one that is done on dry hair or without gel...I am not really a polished type of woman though; I have accepted my frizzies and fuzz for what they are, I no longer want to define all of my curls, I don't care if my kinky hair isn't has shiny as my looser hair (well, maybe I do care about that a little, lol)...I don't work in corporate America, am a bit of a boho, nature type girl, so that works for me....I tend to think that India.arie is like that too, so it works for her as well....I guess its like I said, what you see beauty in does say something about you...