As a mother of two children with mixed curly hair, I find that it's important for them to have a positive self-image and self-acceptance of themselves.
As a young girl, growing up, I had a hard time accepting my personal image specifically my curly, textured hair. I would always wonder why I didn't have the hair that all the other girls in school or women on commercials had. I wanted my hair to blow in the wind, run my fingers through it effortlessly, while instead to me it seemed I had bushy, untameable, unattractive hair.
My mother had a hard time maintaining my curls as she had long straight hair. There were often times when I'd hear her complain about how difficult it was to keep up with it. I couldn't blame her as it was a new world for her to experience, none the less that amongst other things surrounding me lead me to believe my hair wasn't desirable.
After years of growth, struggle, and learning to understand myself I then learned how important it was to accept and love my mane. Now that I have two beautiful children of my own with their unique hair I had to be conscious about the way they might feel about themselves. So in regards, to their curly hair, I've taken the time to help them embrace and understand the love for it. We've created a family bond over the love of our curls.
While their hair is different from mine and I am going through a learning process to better understand what works for them individually, I started involving them in the whole journey from a young age. We touch base on why we have the hair we have, what makes it so special, why it's important to love it and ourselves, and how to better care for it.
I'll admit that they enjoy every last bit of it, which brings me joy to see them so actively involved and happy about their cultured roots. I have opened up a path of positivity in themselves that I didn't have when growing up and I feel a sense of fulfillment as a mother. In all, this is just the beginning and I am extremely excited to share more stories regarding their growth and love of the natural hair community.
How were your thoughts growing up about natural/black hair? What helped and what needed improvement? Let's start a thread in the comments sections below!
Author - Shernette Williams
@hi_shern
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