I grew up with curly hair.
Leaving it loose and curly was not an acceptable thing.
All throughout school I had to either brush it into a tight ponytail, braid or straighten it.
When it was not straightened, I was not allowed to untie it at school, while girls with straight hair were.
I grew up hating my hair.

It was very painful when my mother,
Would try to brush it.
Whenever I tried to be okay with it,
People at school, family and family friends would make fun of me.
I was always made to feel as if my hair was a mistake.
As if I deserved pity for having hair such as mine, especially considering my mother is fair-skinned with naturally straight hair.

As a child I always got comments such as,
“Too bad your hair isn’t more like your mother’s,”
“How sad, you got your dad’s hair.”
It made me feel awful about myself,
I needed to keep my hair either straightened or hidden all the time.
All throughout high school,
I straightened my hair every week, causing extreme damage to it.

When I went to university,
I finally decided to embrace myself, my curly hair, my African roots.
I’ve gone heat-free for 2 years.
And while I still get comments from my family and also random comments on the streets, such as, “Your hair looks like it got caught in a blender.”
I have never felt more confident and more in love with myself.
I spend so much effort and time on my curls now.
I refuse to let it get to me when other people don’t appreciate it due to the eurocentricity they’ve been subjected to and have been practicing their entire lives.