Gabrielle Jones is an average teenager. She is a typical educated, family-oriented girl and possesses all the criteria that place her within the American standard, except one detail, her hair. Gabrielle is of African descent and has maintained her natural hair texture for almost 12 years. Occasionally, Gabrielle sees the models in the magazine as a symbol of beauty because they have straight, manageable hair unlike her kinky curls. Ultimately, Gabrielle decides to make a drastic decision that would change her hair, she decides to relax it. He looks in the mirror and what does he see? She could have kept her curly hair that has been associated with her for many years, but she didn't recognize herself, she simply criticized her features for not being standard according to society? Even though Gabrielle is a fictional character, her story is reality for many girls who have thick, curly hair. Although 65% of African Americans relax their hair (ebony), there has been a growing movement toward the natural hairstyle. Through personal research from surveys, books, and other types of documents, I have concluded that relaxed hair is no longer a popular choice for African American women as it has become an attempt to reestablish natural beauty. I performed a convenient survey of thirty-five women of African American or Caribbean descent between the ages of 16 and 25 on the topic of relaxed hair. Of the thirty-five women I interviewed, 71% of the women were relaxed, while 29% were completely natural. However, through this survey I found that 17% of those who went natural took 2-3 hours to comb their hair, while 31% of women who relaxed their hair took 0 to 30 minutes. However, 29% of those reporting... middle of paper... 2013."Healthy hair = protein and hydrating PH." Organic Hair Dye for Salon Professionals Healthy Hair Protein Moisture Comments on PH. Np, nd Web. 3 December 2013. "Biography of Madame C.J. Walker." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television and Web. November 18, 2013."Natural Afro hair." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, April 11, 2013. Web. November 16, 2013."RELAXER INSTRUCTIONS." Instructions for Roots of Nature Relaxer. Np, nd Web. 03 December 2013. Ross, Janell. “Natural or relaxed, for black women, hair is not a settled issue.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, August 4, 2011. Web. November 19, 2013. Sherrow, Victoria. Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006. Print."Types of Relaxers." Design essentials. Np, nd Web. 01 December 2013. "What You Need to Know About Chemical Hair Relaxers." The truth about hair relaxers. Skin Biology and Web. 10 December. 2013.