Relaxed hair, weaves, crochets braids… I tried it all!
Younger I went to a school that was predominantly white and now adult I tend to see my past hair alteration attempts as an internalised willingness to look like my white counterparts.

In university, everything changed as I started to notice all these different hair textures worn proudly. Then Instagram came up, with this tremendous wave of natural hair bloggers who were beyond inspiring and encouraging.
This was a time when I knew I needed a change. My skin was getting worse which meant that I was covering it with foundation, I was wearing expensive weaves that I couldn’t even afford at this time of my life, but what for?
It simply wasn’t me. I had to find ways to treat my hair and skin a bit better.

I remember going to the hairdresser to have my hair relaxed and eventually had it shaved. They really tried to convince me as my hair was long but also limp. There was no way for me to change my decision.
Shaving my hair off was like starting my life all over again. It was just me accepting to be me, without make up, with no need to cover up.
Shaving made me feel liberated, especially after going through all this battle and trying to conform to something that couldn’t be further than who I actually am.

My family was very supportive in this process, even though I felt like I looked like an egg for so long! Their support really helped bringing the best of me and building my confidence as well.

If we had better representation of black women with natural hair, maybe I wouldn’t have felt the way I felt about my hair most of my life. Still today, loose curls and fair skin is what we see everywhere. This can change but we clearly have a role to play in this.
Let’s create our own businesses and let’s choose to represent what we really want to represent, in our own terms.