A Natural Attitude A Naturalista’s Hair Journal Spoken from a Salon Owner’s Perspective By Schatzi Hawthorne McCarthy A publication of Schatzi's Design Gallery & Day Spa, LLC A Natural Attitude: A Naturalista’s Hair Journal Spoken from a Salon Owner’s Perspective By Schatzi Hawthorne McCarthy Copyright © 2014-2021, Schatzi Hawthorne McCarthy; cover photo by Varick Taylor of one12images.com. Embrace the beauty of you. This book is dedicated to God, the Creator, for Your grace, mercy and omniscience: “Oh lord, though hast searched me and known me…” (Psalm 139) Thank you for guiding me, naturally and super-naturally, to this path of self-discovery that was your vision for my life. To the beautiful women in my life who have loved me unconditionally and have inspired me to be a natural woman: Grandma Mabel McMillan Aunt Joyce McCullom Woodbury Dear Mother Greta Lois McCullom Hawthorne At the footstool of this matriarchy, my natural attitude was nurtured and grown. Prayerfully, the world can learn from your rich and wise example. To my Dad, the late Retired Maj. Arthur Earl Hawthorne. You were always proud of me. Without your unconditional love, I would never have had the confidence to be the natural woman that I am. My love for you is beyond all understanding! To my beautiful family--Lloyd, Jela-ni, Jamar, who have supported me in all of my lifetime endeavors. I am privileged to walk this journey of life with you and pray that we continue to grow and learn together with hearts full of love and understanding. Acknowledgements This book has been a seven year work in progress. Over these years, I have been blessed to work with some pretty amazing natural women. Without your influence on my life, Schatzi’s Design Gallery & Day Spa—a Raleigh, NC based natural hair salon, would not exist and this book would surely have not been written. Shaundrelle Todd was truly the wind beneath my wings when I first started. I would go so far as to say that had I not met her during the developmental years of our salon’s opening, we would not still be here today. She is an inspiration and a gift to the world. As I write this missive, she is somewhere in Thailand, grasping the essence of life with the passion of a thousand love songs. She is a lion and a lamb—all at once. I love you, Shaundrelle. But you know that already. Godspeed. Yoneka Trent is my longtime friend and confidant. She is the person who knows all of my deepest, brightest secrets and loves me anyway. She is an integral part of this book because she was the first person to transition to natural hair in our salon in 2006. I feel so privileged to have made your acquaintance so many years ago. Thank you for loving me and trusting me to lead you to and through your natural hair journey. You have now become an expert in your own right and an inspiration to others. May you continue to grow and learn and model natural beauty. But most importantly, thank you for being a wonderful friend who sees me with all of my faults and foibles and asks that I be nothing other than me. Somehow, I know that when my final breath comes in this life, it will be you who sits at my bedside and prays for my soul’s transition to peace. A person could not ask for a better friend. Jaumeiko Coleman and Denise Mbani are two natural sisters who I have come to know and love. They both bring special and unique gifts that have enriched my life immeasurably. Denise is a beautiful woman of humble countenance and perhaps the funniest person that I know!! She keeps me grounded. She is also my walking partner, my regular sounding board and the voice of reason. We have cried and comforted each other through a very challenging period in both of our lives. We were brought together at a very critical juncture. Through our prayer walks, we have grown spiritually and emotionally. Thank you for laughing me off the ledge on many occasions. My love for you has only grown. Meiko, what would I have done if I did not meet you at a conference some years ago? You bring so much joy to my day, whenever I talk to you. It was your hair that first drew me to you. It’s your spirit that binds me to you now and always. Thank you for sharing your light and modeling grace, brilliance, inquisitiveness and openness so effortlessly. What a refreshing gift you are to all who are privileged to know you! Jaime Mitchell, Etheopea Balogun, Tamieka Vick and Mikea Spencer are other women of the salon who have inspired me through their willingness to learn. Ladies, it was not easy to carve a niche on a landscape that had no formal, professional direction or guidance. The natural hair field is only just being recognized by our State! You have trusted me to be the lighthouse in the dark and I thank you for being willing to take a chance on me. I would like to make special mention of Marianne Williamson for granting permission to cite her beautiful and inspired poem "A Return to Love" (Reference: July 19, 2010 email). Your poem has inspired me in so many ways. It is a universal cry of love that I believe the world should read and reflect on. Thank you for allowing me to cite your work. More importantly, thank you for writing. I could go on and on mentioning beautiful people who have inspired me over the years. But this book is really about the business that modeled a natural attitude in many others. So, I choose to focus on those people who made that business possible. With that said, I would surely be nothing without the love and support of my family. To my husband, Lloyd, my sons Jela-ni and Jamar, my sister Jasmine, my brother Earl and my brother Jason: you have listened to me and encouraged me so much through the years. Seeing a vision of the future that others question can sometimes be a very lonely place. Thank you for supporting and loving me. To mom, Greta M. Hawthorne and dad, Arthur Earl Hawthorne, for nurturing within me a profound self-love that was the greatest gift you could ever have given me. What does it mean to a girl to look in her mother’s tear-stained eyes and hear her say, “You were never a day’s trouble. Not one.” Or to look in her father’s eyes and hear, “I’m proud of you. And l love you.” Those moments were fleeting moments of time but they are eternally etched on my consciousness. I will and can never forget them. Because of you, I have always known that I am well loved. As a result, the views of the wider world have ALWAYS been insignificant to me. Thank you for teaching me that greatest love of all. I pray that I can help others see that light of self-love that you shone for me so many years ago. Forward What is a natural attitude? It is a philosophy, a way of thinking which embraces natural beauty as the ideal image of beauty. For instance, a child is born perfect. At no time in life, does that perfection alter or dissipate. Perfection is coded at birth and it endures. It is only the wider social “programming” which seeks to label the perfect child and create an imperfect being. This is true in the physical, intellectual, social, economic and spiritual arenas. We reject the notion of imperfection. So, a natural attitude is grounded in a strong appreciation for God's gifts, a profound love of self, an ever-inquisitive knowledge of history, an admiration for diversity and an unequivocal willingness to speak truth. It is likewise a belief system grounded in great empathy for the intolerance of others but which seeks to cull and destroy the weakness and intolerance within the self. In short, a "natural attitude" seeks soul perfection--a state of being which better aligns with the corresponding image of natural beauty. All the same, this book is not about a natural attitude as a topic for writing or discovery. Rather, it is a collection of works on varying topics, all of which reflect the light of a natural attitude. This book was fourteen years in the making. It began in August 2006 when I opened Schatzi's Design Gallery & Day Spa, LLC, a natural hair salon & spa located in Raleigh, NC. When I consider the professional direction of my life, I would never have predicted that I would own a salon… of any kind. I did not pursue the Cosmetic Arts profession while in school and I've never been a "girly girl." So, this was definitely a stretch outside of the expected career path of my life. But in truth, it was such a natural outgrowth and extension of myself, that the flow in this direction was natural, logical and inevitable. Here's why. I've been a natural woman for over 30 years, which includes all of my adult life. I've been a natural enthusiast for my entire life. Throughout this process, I've seen what embracing a natural image of self can do for the mind, the body and the spirit. And as for the hair…beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder.