To My Curls: Inspiring Change

Taking a break from regularly scheduled programming to share share a few of my thoughts that relates back to what's being discussed nationwide right now.

It doesn't cover a lot and is reflective of my own experiences and interpretation of the system we live in. I've thought and researched a lot over the years, but I'm always learning. <3

I take photos of myself all the time, yet last week I found myself staring at this one much longer than usual. I wasn’t focused on the colors behind me, rather the state of my hair. For some reason, I began to think harder than I had in a long time about what natural hair means to me.

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Perhaps it was the realization upon looking at this photo that a few years ago, I would have NEVER dared to post it to social media or honestly, even keep it in my camera roll.

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I realized on this day that I hadn’t checked in with myself and these thoughts in a while. This may sound strange, but I told my hair: I’m sorry I didn’t love you sooner. I’m sorry I thought you were imperfect and “bad.”

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A few days later, racial conversations like never before flooded my social feeds.

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Not only anguish over blatantly cruel and unjust actions, but expressions of deep issues within our systems. Yet I found myself again staring at and thinking about my silly little photo.

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I feel as if there is no coincidence that the day I realized my hair was different than my friends and family was the same day I realized my skin was different, too. (For context, my family is a beautifully racially diverse group)

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I promise that I know in the grand scheme of everything going on, the hair on our heads may be insignificant. My point is that the little things matter because they can hold implications of the system around us.

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I started my hair journey cause of the promise of growing longer hair. I continued cause I discovered an oppression of freedom way bigger than myself manifested in beauty ideals. Disguised by selfies, hair journeys are a cry for the normalization of such a simple, natural thing.

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I have been inspired over the years watching others embrace their natural curls, find freedom in the choice (consciously and unconsciously!) to straighten/flatten their hair…or not to. Yet, I still hear stories of little girls touching their hair with tears in their eyes. Why must we feel inferior, imperfect, and bad for something assigned at birth? We shouldn’t.

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I feel challenged to do my part to check my biases & practice anti-racism every.single.day. It starts with the little things🤍. #blm

-MK