My hair is a representation of who I am and I feel very strongly about it as a woman.

Younger, I hated it and was obsessed with straight hair. It’s so sad to think that I couldn’t stand my curls at the time.

There weren’t a lot of black people where I grew up, which made it difficult to see people with curly hair, people to look up to, people to refer and identify to.

My own mother used to relax her hair, I never really saw her with her natural coils.
I don’t blame her but because of that, she didn’t know how to deal with textured hair.
She wasn’t in a position where she could talk me through curly hair techniques and routines, simply because she wasn’t applying these to herself.

When I realised what I was making my hair go through I decided to stop straightening it.
Social media played a strong role in this hair acceptance journey as seeing so many beautiful women embracing their naturally curly hair was very inspiring and encouraged me to take that route too.

Social media has definitely changed the game for all of us.
It has the power to make us feel more confident with our own selves.
It has the power to challenge the fact that mainstream media aren’t representing women of color. The fact that they use tokens instead of showing real diversity!