Watching the docuseries from Oprah and Tracee Ellis Ross, The Hair Tales, and listening to the stories of so many black women I admire, I felt as though, for the first time in my life, I was not alone.
For years, I have silenced my inner thoughts and dismissed my experiences around my hair and existence as a woman of colour. But after hearing their stories, I now see they're not only my experiences, but those of us collectively as women of colour.
We're not meant to be filled with shame or silenced. We need to wear our natural hair as the 'majestic crowns' they are.
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All my life I have tried to assimilate and fit into the profiles I saw in magazines.
Being a South African so-called 'coloured' woman, who left her home country as a six-year-old, I have spent my life unsuccessfully trying to blend into a land where very few girls look like me.
Whether it was going back to South Africa on holiday as a young girl and walking between my inter-racial grandparents, or strangers coming up to me asking, "What are you?", I’ve spent my life running away from being placed into a box.
By the age of 10, my mum had taught me how to blow wave my hair to look like a fresh salon blowout.
When I looked at the hair of the women around me, straight was better, and blow waving my hair to look the same gave me a sense of belonging.
