Growing up, I never really had any desire to wear my hair naturally.
I grew up in private schools with a majority white student body. Even outside of school, white beauty standards still haunted me from billboard ads, to magazines, to my own TV screen. The few black women I saw in the media were always portrayed with relaxed or straightened hair. Thankfully, in recent years, this has changed!
More and more women of color are being represented in the media and entertainment industry every day.
In the last decade, there have been social movements advocating for the freedom to wear our hair in whatever state we want and enforcing normalcy behind our ethnic styles. Whether it's extensions, wigs, braids, or twists, these are beautiful protective styles that we wear with the added bonus of turning it into a fashion statement. Growing up with such a limited view of beauty in the media was difficult. Today, while it is still sometimes criticized, our natural hair is one of the most fascinating and celebrated traits we possess.
These are just a few of the amazing ladies who have fearlessly represented the natural hair community whilst under the gaze of the media!
1. Ajiona Alexus
4. Chloe x Halle Bailey
5. Lovie Simone
6. Riele Downs
9. Storm Reid
10. Tati Gabrielle
11. Willow Smith
12. Yara Shahidi
13. Zendaya
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