Have you gone from spending hours styling your hair every day pre-pandemic to rocking up to meetings these days sporting your natural tresses? If so, you’re far from alone. According to research by All Things Hair, 65.5% of the site’s readers prefer to wear their natural hair all day long. Around a quarter of readers opt for an effortless updo instead, as they’re on the move all day long. Just a small percentage of people now make the effort to sport glamorous tresses every day or to follow the latest hair trends in their daily styling efforts, according to the survey results.

So, has natural hair become so popular?

Several factors feed into the rise in popularity of natural hair. The pandemic has certainly played a part here. Lockdowns around the world have wreaked havoc with our ability to get to the salon. Many parents also found that between remote working and home schooling, they simply had a whole load less time available to spend styling their hair – other priorities took over.

But this isn’t just about laziness or new routines – it’s about how perceptions of beauty have shifted as a result of these enforced periods of managing without professional haircare. Attitudes to everything from wearing makeup when attending meetings to sporting natural hair textures during Zoom calls have changed dramatically as a result of so much working from home. Going to the office without makeup and a perfectly styled glamorous updo was once unimaginable. Now, when the office is at home, turning up fresh-faced and with natural hair (and oftentimes a child or two in shot!) is entirely acceptable. The world has changed and women’s attitudes to their natural hair have changed with it.

Building on solid foundations

That’s not to say that natural hair has only been embraced since the Covid-19 pandemic. Far from it! The natural hair movement can be traced back to the 1960s in the US. It’s just that the pandemic accelerated and shone a light on a trend that was already there.

Built on the solid foundations of the natural hair movement, which is all about embracing natural beauty in all its forms, rather than trying to fit to a very narrow perception of what beauty actually is, women are also pushing back against the excessive use of chemical treatments. This is doing wonders for the condition of women’s hair, as well as for the environment, through reducing the use of harsh chemicals.

Easy living

The other element that appeals about natural hair is how much time can be saved by sporting it. Not having to spend hours straightening and styling means freeing up hours to spend on other things. And with the pace of modern life being what it is, who could possibly complain about that?