Chime // Natural Hair Style Icon

When you change your thinking on what beautiful hair is, it changes the way you look at beauty in general and that is extremely important for Black women in today’s society. ~Chime

Where are you from and what do you do?
C: I am from West Point, Mississippi. I recently stopped working at The Department of Human Services to pursue two creative endeavors; one including Sunkissed, the line of graphic tees I design!! Wish me luck!!

When and why did you decide to go natural?
C: I decided to go natural my Junior year of college. I transitioned for 6 months, but when I ran to be the queen of my college I relaxed my hair. Mentally I don’t think I was ready yet.

I transitioned again my senior year in October 2006 and never looked back. I decided to go natural because I realized I was conforming to what society says is beautiful. I did not relax my hair until I was 17, but I pressed it. I always heard negative comments when my hair was “puffy” so I had a desire to have bone straight hair like everyone else. If I would have recognized why I felt the way that I did and realized it was a problem with the way everyone else thought and not my hair, I would have never relaxed it.

Were you crowned queen at your college?
C: Yes, I won! I went to Rust College, a small HBCU.

I know you probably get this question alot; you had gorgeous long hair when you were relaxed, why switch to natural?
C: Actually, it broke off a significant amount. I have been meaning to post pics on my fotki page, but my hair went from being waist length all over to shoulder length in the front and bra strap length in the back. I couldn’t get it to grow and it was thinner and I was used to having thick hair. Natural was the best way to go.

When comparing your relaxed hair to your natural hair, why do you like natural more?
C: It’s thicker, which means it’s bigger and I looove big hair!! I think it fits my features better. And there is so much pride that comes with natural hair!! I just love it!

Your t-shirt designs are lovely. Tell us a little about that. How did you get started?
C: I wanted to make fashionable tees that I would wear. I saw tees about natural hair in the past with many sayings and images that were usually cliche so I wanted to make designs that were original.

Business is going great so far! I have had quite a few buyers. My main buyers are women with natural hair.

I notice that you have T-shirts and bags for members of the AKA and Delta sororities. Do you see a lot of natural hair in sororities?
C: Usually there is one or two ladies in a chapter with natural hair. There is still only a small percentage of Black women who are natural in general. I have seen natural Zetas more than any other sorority. I am working on a design for a Zeta tee now. I like to combine aspects of people’s lives that they were proud of. In this case, their sorority and their natural hair.

Why are you pro natural?
C: I see so many young girls with unhealthy hair that is badly damaged. I know how beneficial natural hair can be not only to the health of a woman’s hair, but to her mental health as well. When you change your thinking on what beautiful hair is, it changes the way you look at beauty in general and that is extremely important for Black women in today’s society.

To see more of Chime check out her fotki; http://members.fotki.com/lifesacatwalk/about/
Also check out her T-shirts here; http://www.cafepress.com/naturalgirl