Oct 24, 2023 [[read-time]] minute read
The natural hair community on YouTube has been built by creators sharing their journeys and viewers who come looking for inspiration, styling tips and product recommendations about hair that is not permed, dyed, relaxed or chemically altered. Along the way, they have created a space that transcends tutorials and tips, offering validation, affirmation and support to people at every step of their natural hair journey.
Today, the restyled YouTube logo (known as a Yoodle) by guest artist Monica Ahanonu honors the creativity, expressiveness and joy of this community. We chose today since it’s Marjorie Joyner’s birthday — Marjorie was an American businesswoman and hair care entrepreneur who is noted as being the first African-American woman to create and patent a permanent hair-wave machine.
We’ve also collaborated on an original video with BiancaReneeToday, WillOnAWhim, and NaturalReign to highlight how personal everyone’s hair care routine is and celebrate these different experiences. As creators join in a communal discourse and bond over the techniques they’ve learned, wash day routines have become a popular trend — videos with “wash day routine” and “natural” in the title have amassed over 6.4 million views so far this year¹.
There’s content available for all levels of expertise and familiarity with natural hair. This ranges from curiosity about what a natural hair journey might include, to beginning to learn how to care for it, to dealing with questions about natural hair, to starting locs, to tips for laying edges and protective styling. And natural hair isn’t a monolith — many videos reference a specific curl pattern to help viewers engage with the content most relevant to them.
Want to get to know the natural hair community a little better? Head over to our playlist to get started.
1. Source: YouTube data, Global, 1 Jan - 11 October, 2023