I genuinely became natural out of laziness.
Straightening my hair became too time-consuming and I could also see my hair falling off as a result.
I eventually decided to grow my hair to see how it would look like in its natural state. I was 17 at the time and didn’t look back since.
I absolutely love my curls, only because I feel like it gives me this look that is very captivating for people. I am looking back now and have no idea why I made my hair go through this!
I used to live in a predominantly white area where people could easily notice the difference between my straightened curls and my natural hair and would always compliment me on the latter.
This positive behaviour towards my hair encouraged me to move forward and embrace it even more.
However, growing up with my natural hair was a real battle. I was and still am surrounded by family members who are convinced that curly hair isn’t beautiful and who are being very vocal about it.
I am Eritrean and in my culture, the white girl’s hair is clearly the main standard of beauty. I would commonly hear things like: ‘don’t go out like this, people will think that you’re ugly’.
Luckily I am bolder now, and my response to this is and will always be that curls are beautiful, and I am keeping them as they are whether they like it or not.