Sometime between the release of Chris Rock’s Good Hair (2009) and Justin Simien’s Bad Hair (2020), I stopped using chemical relaxers on my curly hair for the second time, forever. But my motivation for “going natural” had nothing to do with the issues Rock or Simien brought up about Black women’s hair in their respective films. In fact, my motivation was entirely unexpected and is probably the creepiest. But I wouldn’t be me without an oddball excuse for doing shit, so here goes:

Around 2015, I was watching AMC’s The Walking Dead (I was new to the series) and a gorgeous brown-skinned woman appeared. Her hair was natural and my first thought was, I swear, “Well, that makes sense because how could you get a touch-up while fighting for your life?”

Even though I wasn’t expecting any zombies to pop out of nowhere, or a nuclear apocalypse a la Mad Max 2, or a superflu like in Stephen King’s The Stand, I did think, “What if something pops off and I’m just out here with half-straight hair and no way to keep it up?” (Hey, Covid! How you doin’ girl?) And with that, I went back to my stylist to have her transition my hair out of its relaxed state, and by March 2016, she gave me my second “big chop”. My first “big chop” was in 2007 and I’d gotten that one done because a) I really wanted to have curly hair and forgot that I did under all those chemicals, and b) my scalp was royally effed because of chemicals! However, frustrated with the process of trying to “get to know” my own hair and looking fruitlessly for products (which weren’t as plentiful and readily available as they are now), I decided to keep returning to the so-called creamy crack. I started seeing a regular stylist and as gentle and cool as she was, the burns were still a thing. But I looked fly so I kept getting the relaxers until I had seen Sasha Williams and freaked out about having to maintain straight hair during an apocalypse.

So, there you go. My love of horror and fear of a possible apocalyptic future that kinda did “pop off” in the form of a pandemic were the basis for my wearing my natural hair for just over 6 years now… and counting. I’m not opposed to donning a dope wig or getting a fire blowout and silk press, but for now, I’m all natural and lovin’ it!