IN THE PAST, my natural hair has been a subject of duplexity. At home, with friends and family, it was celebrated for being long and thick. My big brothers would help me shampoo it, my mum would put ribbons around it for the cutest pigtails; occasionally, my auntie would come and plait it, placing multicoloured beads at the ends. I genuinely loved my hair.
However, when I stepped into school it felt like it stood out for all the wrong reasons. It was often described as ‘bushy’, ‘messy’ and ‘wiry’ by my classmates, who would touch it uninvited and say, ‘Why does your hair feel like that, like a brillo pad?’ This triggered years of confusion about how I felt about my hair.
Growing up in Blackburn, I hated how…
You're reading a preview of
Grazia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 840