TIM ROSS: I LOVE NATURAL HAIR ON BLACK WOMEN

US-based author Tim Ross (@upsetthegram) said he never tires of seeing Black women’s faces brighten up when he showers them with compliments for wearing their hair naturally, in kinks or curls.

Black activists in the United States began donning their natural hair as iconic afros in the 1960s, with braids and dreads also becoming increasingly popular among the Black masses. However, chemically relaxing our kinks remained a mainstay. Then, in the past decade, Black women began shunning relaxers en masse out of concern for health, as an expression of self-love and to reclaim our African identity.

In the United States, as much as 40 per cent of Black women said in 2021 that they would wear their hair naturally using no heat, according to Mintel. The marketing firm added that chemical relaxer sales had dropped by about 22 per cent since 2016.

European beauty standards imposed on colonised Africans have caused Black women around the world to change their hair texture to fit into European institutions and to avoid criminalisation. But chemical relaxers to straighten our kinks have long caused burning scalps and hair loss. Plus, scientists say they have found a link between these relaxers and a spike in cancer, fibroid tumours and infertility.

Do you think it’s a sign of power, confidence, love and identity for a Black woman to leave her hair natural? Let us know in the comments.