The term Natural Hair is weird for me. More especially because it’s used when referring to the natural state of ethic hair (someone of African ethnicity or decent). Isn’t all hair natural hair? But, before we get into it, this blog isn’t about hair politics.
My personal natural hair journey has been a long one. My hair and I have had a complicated relationship, but we are deeply in love. I feel as if this is the general hair relationship plight of those with a kinkier strand.
BORN… A NATURAL
I was born to two beautiful parents on March 11 of 1992. My mother, a mix of Cape-Malay and Japenese, met my father, a mix of Irish-English-Zulu-Griqua-Xhosa, a few years earlier on her first day at work just over 30 years ago. They stepped on to the bus to the school they taught at, started chatting, and were married before the end of the year. The first product of their love, me, has curly and coarse hair. Or, at least, I have the coarsest strand of my two younger sisters.
A Christmas Story — My Younger Sister Jordyn & I With The HairStyles Our Aunt’s Often Gave Us
My mother, who had inherited a straight strand, had no idea how to deal with my hair.
Haircare was largely left up to my dad’s sisters and my best friend’s mother who would oil it and plait it every Sunday evening after a long day playing at their house. Time forced me to develop my hair skills and I became as nifty as I could have at that age with no Youtube or Instagram tutorials.
A Very Young Eden Myrrh. Feeling Herself, As Per Usual… 
Born To Be A Diva & Love Lilac!
At age 11 or so, my aunts relaxed my hair because it became too unmanageable to put into a style for an upcoming wedding, and thereafter I was sent to hairdressers often.
THE BIG CHOP
As soon as I entered my last year of school, I requested the opportunity to cut my hair off to start my natural hair journey from scratch. I had done what the Natural Hair community calls The Big Chop. The Big Chop is a big thing because it’s not only about hair. It’s about self-worth and identity. I soon found this out, and battled through an ocean of new emotions I had no idea would and could be induced by changing my appearance in that matter. Now, having worked through it all, I tend to do The Big Chop every four years or so.
2014 — Just After My 2nd Big Chop. This Time, I Kept Chopping For About A Year And A Half 
2013 — Nearly Three Years After My First Big Chop
It’s been almost 11-years since that first big chop and I’ve been through it all with my hair. At the moment, I’m growing it for the unforeseeable future (Sophia Roë is the goal)…
As you can imagine, because of all of the above, hair (and its care) is near to my heart. And so I was super excited that Mario and I got down to sit with My Natural Hair before COVID-19 and Lockdown.
My Natural Hair is a well-established South African organic haircare brand that has been operating since 2016, and we were happy to sit down and share ideas between us.
As naturalista’s ourselves, Mario and I, not only had insight into the market but had a genuine passion to innovate (read: do something different) in this space.
COMING UP WITH ‘THE ROOT’
When COVID hit, however, a few of the original ideas that we had had got pushed out and we subsequently came up with THE ROOT Live Discussions.
THE ROOT is a fortnightly online talk show (podcast/vlog), produced and hosted by MSIZI Agency and powered by My Natural Hair. We chat about everything natural hair and get down to the nitty-gritty of it all speaking to Influencers in the Natural Hair community and industry experts alike.
On Friday the 26th we launched the first episode called, Natural Hair… And It’s Community and we spoke to Carissa Cupido, Nonzwakazi Gambushe and Boitumelo Nxumalo.
It was great to hear each woman’s natural hair story, why she started sharing her natural journey online, and how she sees her community developing in the future.
Watch THE ROOT — LIVE Discussions, Episode One, here…
The first season is made up of 6 shows where we hope to cover the following topics…
- Natural Hair… And It’s Community (Released)
- Natural Hair… Trend or Real Shift?
- Natural Hair… And School
- Natural Hair… And The Beauty Industry
- Natural Hair… And The Corporate Space
- Natural Hair… And All ‘Round Wellness
I’m super excited about the release of this series, the depth of discussion, and where it may lead. I’ll be blogging about it all the way through and hope that you’ll follow along for the journey.
All my love!
Eden
#TheGoodSis #TravelLight
