Hair Stories: The Journey of women of colour accepting their natural hair

By Barbara Sanchez

I wear my hair naturally curly. To some this doesn’t mean much but as a Women of Colour (WOC), you could say it takes courage to rock one’s born given hair texture. I have given a lot of thought to the natural hair movement: A movement that encourages Black women and women of African ancestry to embrace their natural kinks, curls and coils. As a mixed woman, I know that my relationship with my hair has been complicated and that it took time for me to embrace my 3C curl pattern.

Over the years, my hair has been relaxed, texturized, blow dried and flat ironed in the pursuit of straight, long hair. I did this because there was a time in my life that I thought I looked better with straight hair. But the energy, time and cost it took to maintain my straight hair became exhausting. Plus there was the constant shade I received from my mom when I wore my hair straight with comments like “you just don’t look like you”, attributed to my subconscious decision to accept my natural curls. In doing so, I felt like I also made a choice to accept myself.

As the natural hair movement began to gain momentum in the United States and Canada in the early 2000s and the rise of YouTuber’s giving on-line tutorials and promoting products on how best to manage natural hair, I felt missing from the conversation was why Black women were choosing to wear their hair natural. Hence, I begin The Hair Stories Project.  The goal is to explore why Black and Mixed women decided to go natural.  Through my lived experience I know my hair journey has been both a painful and rewarding one. I wanted to find out what it was like for other Women and girls navigating through self-discovery and re-defining their perception of beauty within the dominant (White) society.

I have had the opportunity to interview some phenomenon women and girls (some are my family) who have decided to go au naturale. The project asks three questions: Why did you decide to wear your hair natural? What do you like about your hair? And what do you dislike about your hair? These are simple questions but it uncovers deeper issues of self-esteem and self-acceptance.

I thank each one of these amazing ladies for sharing their stories. It is my intent these stories will shed light on the beauty double standards of WOC – particularly Black women in a Canadian society that at times, is not as accepting as we think.