Natural Hair Day on Twitter

Today women and men all over the country are making an effort to make natural hair a trend.  No, no, no.  Not a passing fashion trend, but a trending topic on the popular social networking Website Twitter!

About a month ago and unknown source designated June 1st, 2010 as the day natural hair lovers and wearers would spend the day tweeting about natural hair styles, products and their love of kinks, coils, curls and naps.  Starting at midnight in their respective time zones, Twitters posted 140 character messages to pass on transitioning tips, quotes, declarations about why they've chosen to "go natural" and their appreciation for the support they've received in the community, all attached to the hashtag #naturalhair.

The signal for participation has also gone on on Facebook, where status messages alerting natural hair wearers of the occasion have been posted throughout the day.  Even Columbus author M. Michelle George put out a call to arm via her Twitter and Facebook accounts.  Although it has been speculated that the call for a Natural Hair Day was an effort to demean or discredit women who choose to chemically straighten their hair, that is not the aim. The mission of the occasion is to help spread the word about and dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding African-American hair in its unaltered state, and to encourage natural hair wearers worldwide while inspiring those who may be on the fence to take up the journey.

Although the effort has been a valiant one, natural hair has yet to hit Twitter trending topic list because not many are aware of how trending topics work.  According to an entry at Dailybloggr.com, trending topics are set by not just how often a hashtagged subject is tweeted about, but by how many different individuals tweet about it.  In addition to that, the variations in time zone also factor into the regional popularity of that particular topic.  So although many have expressed disappointment about natural hair not trending, a lot of tweeters suspect the effort will receive a boom as the day passes and many more natural hair wearers leave work and become able to tweet.  Additionally the post offers tips on how to successfully get a subject to trend such as gaining the support of influential tweeters and opening use of the hashtag to persons outside of the direct circle relating to the topic at hand.

An unexpected source of support for this first ever Natural Hair Day on Twitter has come in the form of an article about it on Essence.com, which has come as a wonderful surprise to many natural hair tweeters who felt their efforts were in vain.  Although the inclusion was brief it seems to have breathed more life into the movement as the natural hair tweeting regulars are seeing more new faces taking up the hashtag and spreading the word.

Although there are just two more hours left in this first day of June, many are still trying to see natural hair reach the trending topic list.  If you'd like to help with the effort, whether you're natural yourself or simply admire the styles, simply log into your Twitter account and tweet questions, comments, quotes or affirming statements using the hashtag #naturalhair.  Also, help spread the word with a post on your personal Blog, like Indianapolis natural Candance has done, through your Facebook status or other social media platform.

Best of luck to all putting their best tweets forward for such a unifying cause.

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