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I am the creator of the hair and beauty blog, Seriously Natural. I have been blogging for over five years. Blogging was not about me creating a journal nor was it just a hobby. There were a few reasons that came together that brought me to the blogosphere and I’m grateful to be here. Blogging was not a huge business over five years ago as it is now, and while there were many big star bloggers, blogging itself was not synonymous with making money. For many it can be a great way to earn some extra cash or simply become a business, but it takes more than just writing some interesting content and collaborating with brands. I am a full-time blogger and freelance writer and could not be happier, but I sort of fell into blogging and I am excited about being here. This is what motivated me to start creating content.
I wanted to create a voice for the ‘older natural’
The older natural who is 35 and older really did not see much representation back when I started blogging over five years ago. We saw the young college-bound or first-real-job-having natural running around with her carefree curls. Our hair had different needs. I have been relaxed from age 13 to 35 and that’s a lot of years of dealing with chemicals.
I also wanted to address some things that our younger sisters were not dealing with like graying hair, menopause, perimenopause, going natural while going gray, dealing with aging, hair loss or even thinning hair. I was 41 at the time and knew my body was going through some changes that affected my hair and I wanted to learn more about it while sharing that information with other women in my age group. I wanted to give a space to the older natural and share our experiences with other older women to educate, inspire, and support.
I wanted to learn more about natural hair
When I went natural I had no idea I was even going natural. We moved from New Orleans to Denver and the thought of going from a humid climate to a dry one scared me out of my relaxer. I stopped relaxing my hair and simply rocked braids and wigs for the next three years. I took very little care of my hair and even began getting thinning edges due to excessively wearing of box braids that were too tight. To make matters worse, I never gave my hair a break in-between. I big chopped before knowing what it was and I had damaged hair as a result. I scoured the web and found sites like this one and CurlyNikki that aided me in learning about my own hair and what products and techniques that would make it healthier.
I wanted to share that knowledge and discuss topics that centered on what I was going through without giving a day in day out account. I think a lot of women in my age group felt the connection because the blog grew and so did my workload for creating content that they would find helpful and interesting. At the end of year two I decided to make this a career and started seeing the opportunities that this line of work could afford me.
I love writing
I have been writing creatively ever since I was seven years old. I enjoyed fables and nursery rhymes and loved to read, so I decided to create a play. My mother was so proud. I have written short stories and poetry and always felt (and still do”> a novel was in my future. I pushed that part of my life aside after college and went from job to job, industry to industry never finding my home. It was not until I created my blog it hit me I was putting my true passion on hold for over 20 years. My sister was always telling me to just start writing but I never did until I became natural and found a purpose to share my skills.
Ask anyone working on a blog that posts regularly (at least a couple of times a week”> and you will find out it takes commitment, time, and passion and did I mention time? I do this along with freelance writing full-time and it is a full-time commitment that I love doing every single day. Blogging came into my life when it was supposed to and made me recapture my love of writing and expressing myself through words. So, like I said, I did not get into this for the most obvious reasons but I am here now and couldn’t be happier.
