• My relationship with my hair (yes, it’s a full-blown relationship) is the most tumultuous, forgiving, difficult, loving, shady relationship I’ve ever had. Some days it respects me, other days I wear a headband and pray for the best. Some days I worry so much about the decision I’ve made, other days we coexist beautifully.

• Many see my natural hair as a political statement, but most days it’s simply a deeply personal decision that also happens to be displayed for the world to see.

• I’ve found that support and encouragement will come in big and small ways, often unexpected but always appreciated.

• I’ve found that criticism and judgment will come in big and small ways, often accompanied by someone tryna put their grubby hands in your hair without asking (*major side-eye*).

• I try to take both compliments & criticism with a grain of salt. Mostly, I try to remember that someone’s feelings about my hair is often more of a reflection that person than my actual hair.

• I have grown to love my coils. This was an unexpected event. To get here I had to work through a lot of internalized bullshit and misconceptions about natural hair. Before I went natural, I assumed there were only two types of natural textures; one being more socially accepted and beautiful than the other. But I was so, so wrong. There are millions of iterations of natural hair, as many as there are women of color on this Earth. I could never have known what texture my coils would be like until I took this leap.

• My bathroom looks like I robbed a hair salon.

• Cutting my hair off was an act of courage I never thought I had in me. But I am so grateful I did. There’s something about my hair that feels like who I want to be: soft, wild, ever-changing, and rooted.

 

“You have to kind of really have conviction with it because there is so many pressures to straighten your hair all the time. But the result is a beautiful thing, you know? And it’s funny because I always think it’s interesting that to keep my hair the same texture as it grows out of my head is looked at as revolutionary. Like, why is that?” – Tracey Thoms, Good Hair (2009)