Growing up with naturally curly hair, I was conditioned to believe that my hair was some crazy monster I needed to tame, straighten and tuck away. Wash day was a prison and detangling was its overseer. As I've gotten older, I've realized I'm really the lucky one for being blessed with hair as vibrant and bouncy as my personality. I no longer look at my hair as a burden but as a visual celebration of my culture.
I was originally inspired by Tracee Ellis Ross’s Pattern Beauty haircare brand and their guiding ethos around hair positivity for kinks, coils and curls. I wanted to create a set of imagery surrounding that ethos. I wanted the images to feel regal, powerful and beautiful.
With laws like the Crown Act (a law that bans discrimination against race based or cultural hairstyle in the workplace and schools) only being passed in California in 2019, we still have a long way to go when it come to normalizing natural hair acceptance with not only in the Black community but in the larger society as well.
My goal with this project is to put more imagery out of beautiful Black women with confidence in their hair in its natural state, no matter the texture or type.
