Beverly Johnson Shows off her Natural Hair

Natural Relaxed Hair

Natural Blow-Dried Hair (No Relaxers)

Beverly Johnson is the first black model to appear on American Vogue in 1974. In an interview with CurlyNikki, she says: "I don't perm my hair. When I take my hair down, people don't even believe it's all mine! It's so thick and long. It's crazy. Also, I'm proud to say, I have all of my edges and this is how I did it..

Weave

Natural Hair

We, people of color, have had a love affair with our hair since the beginning of time and that's not going anywhere. But what I found is that through all of this experimentation with relaxers, wigs and hair extensions, is that our own natural hair took a serious beating. And the relaxers are just deadly. You look under a microscope at a hair strand from a perm... forget about it... it's amazing that it can exist on our heads. So what I started to do was not to relax my hair at all, use good products, braid my hair up and use a regular sew-on weave, netting the hair. This is what jump started my hair growth. Whenever my hair is out, I'm careful not to wet it too much and I only use wide tooth combs. Once a year I let my hair down for a while and people just can't believe the growth. For me, it's easier with my schedule to have extensions. I like my hair to look a certain way all the time. I don't care what you do to your hair or how you wear it, as long as you feel beautiful.

So you are thinking, what is moral of this long epistle? Ditch the relaxers. Your excuse may be that it gives a  softer texture but the backlash of this is that it will deprive you of your length and volume. Leave-in conditioners and wide tooth combs can help manage our tough African hair.


On weaves as a protective style; If you choose to wear extensions, you really have to go to someone that knows what they're doing. And please, stay away from the glue at all cost. Try the clip ons, you can clip it in, take them out and there is no damage to your hair. The sew ins with the net on top is what I use and it really does protect the hair and your edges. My stylist braids in hair with the edges to reduce the tension and then puts the netting around just the edges and then proceeds. I get my hair done a lot. I don't leave my hair in for long periods of time. And my real hair is conditioned and maintained in between.

On keeping it tight and smooth as we age; Everyday, doing something, moving your body. And we have a generation with the TVs and computers... we sit on our asses a lot and it's not good. Another thing to do is of course eat their fruits, veggies and fish and just about everyone ate meat only in moderation if at all. I've tried to incorporate this into my life. And finally, a place of worship... finding faith in something other than themselves. Those are the things that are keeping me vibrant and young.

Follow her advise to age gracefully. She is 61 by the way...