SimplYounique Did Her Second Big Chop! A Follower’s Perspective

Remember this post? Well, it seems the YouTuber has made waves again because she did her second big chop, which surprised alot of her fans – including myself. I literally was looking at her picture saying, “Omg! Omg!!! OMG!!!!! Wow, she completely cut her waist length hair off!”

I remember when I first followed Kerry aka SimplYounique back in 2012 (when I started my natural hair journey). I looked up what styles to do for short natural hair, and I found her. She gave so many beautiful examples and styles that I could do for myself. She made the step by step process look so easy, and I was and still am so glad I had found her. For two years I have followed the YouTuber, and then one day she just vanished off of YouTube, and there was no video made by her for a long, long time.

Then one day she posted a video on July 23, 2014 showing that she got her waist length hair relaxed! Oh wow!!! I was so shocked! Her relaxed hair was the talk and gossip of the natural hair community on all websites, blogs, and other posts – even here on BHI. Her hair was the main topic of discussion for days to weeks, which is not an understatement.

She was also the topic of discussion on a website I follow, Kinky* Curly Coily Me by Jenell Stewart. Jenell explained on her blog that when she first went natural, SimplyYounique was the one she would watch for hair tutorials because they were easy to follow and her personality was very relatable.

But then Jenell went on to say that she was going through her YouTube subscriptions, and saw that SimplYounique posted a video and she was quite shocked at her decision to relax as well.

I was pretty upset; not at the fact that SimplYounique got her hair relaxed, but that there was no update before that or any thought leading up to that decision. Of course she doesn’t have to explain herself to anyone, but it did not mean that I didn’t feel some type of way over the way it went down.

From my perspective, what really started the heated discussion about her relaxed hair on KCCM, SimplYounique’s Facebook, and her YouTube, came down to the two opposing sides; one was that she started as a natural hair advocate and a natural hair public figure for a long time. The other side was that she can do what she wants to her hair because it’s hers.

It was a crazy, heated, boiling, over the top discussion on YouTube from both sides – even from people who were accepting SimplYounique’s new style and decision. To be frank, I was sad but I did not go all “natural nazi” on her. I was just glad she started posting more videos.

On that day, I did read up on the comments about her relaxed hair.

“What about protective styling?”

“I can’t believe she did that smh.”

“What’s the point of going natural if you are just going to get a relaxer because you can’t deal with it no more?”

“Okay, life’s hard! Why go for the relaxer?”

“What does this teach our new naturals?”

“So this is what I have to look forward to?”

“It’s her hair, but I personally wouldn’t do it!”

“Straight cop out!!”

And so on and so forth. There was confusion going on with the comments and her subscribers. Many unsubscribed and completely disowned her, but I chose to stay with her despite my disappointment. Others stayed with her because of her bold decision to relax her hair, and to them that was commendable.

Fast forward to August 19, 2014. Now I see SimplYounique declaring her 2nd big chop! Wow!!! Like I said, I am so speechless and “wow’d” by her boldness to take her natural hair back. I can’t help but give it to her for the bravery she showed us – the whole natural hair community! You must admit that is was a surprise to see her cut it all off and start over.

The comments have surely switched gears this time around:

“Beautiful!”

“Ready to travel down the hair journey with you again…”

“Welcome back.”

“Why????”

“Your burden has been released!”

“I hope this wasn’t because people were hating on your relaxed hair smh.”

“You go girl!”

“Do what makes you happy!”

Whether she was relaxed or natural, there will always be the two, three or fur sides of who loves your decisions, and who won’t; of who supports you, and who won’t.

Personally, I love the cut and I love the fact that she shared that with us on Facebook. You can see her smiling greatly, while holding her relaxed hair in her fist, showing it off to the world. I’m on board with her new style.

I think what I have learned from this whole thing is that you cannot please everyone. You always have to do what is best for you, and we can’t allow our emotions to get so tied up in what someone else is doing. The neutral comments that say, “Hey, I love you either way!” are the ones that mean the most. I am no longer sad; I love her either way.