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Black hair can doalmost anything.
CourtesyTolani/Anima Agyeman
With the right technique and amount of heat, it can besilky-straight.
And ofttimes, that means finessed, swirled, gelled-down edges, ora slicked-down basethat blooms into a puff.
Where’s the Black girl version of a messy bun?
Faith Cummings/Instagram
Where’s the Black girl version of a messy bun?
People with Afro-textured hair spend aloton beauty products.
Our hair naturally wants to puff up and frizz.
Anima Agyeman/Instagram
ItisOK to have a lower-effort look.
I love the look, I think it’s super fun and innovative.
That’s the simplicity of it.
Courtesy Rahel Haile
I’ve always loved my hair in its most natural state the most shrunken, kinky, coily state.
And it’s usually because they’re not in love with their texture.
Many of us have not been taught that our hair is beautiful from its inception.
TolaniaV/Instagram
That all ties into why certain styles, practices, and hair techniques are popularized now.
I don’t have an edge control brush I just don’t!
I don’t believe in that.
Afrikaa/Instagram
It’s so interesting that they even pick up on those things.
I just think it’s important to be unapologetically Black in everything that you do.
I’ve been very cognizant of that since I went natural five years ago.
Chizi Duru/Instagram
I made sure to guard my natural self and my natural aesthetic.
That was well before theNew York State lawwas passed that you cannot discriminate against hair in the workplace.
I’m so thankful that I’m able to express myself freely.
We learn our hair is unemployable and unattractive.
I got tired of and angry about these unspoken rules.
The bigger, the better you’ll always have to make room for it.
I’d say about 95 percent of the time, I’m rocking my natural hair.
I don’t slick down my edges.
In fact, this year alone, I’ve only slicked my edgesonce.
Even the name edgecontrol…like, why do we need to control our edges?
I want to keep on rocking my unlaid edges probably until the end of time.
On some occasions, I do go for that look.
But the majority of the time, my edges are unlaid and I’m happy doing with that.
One of my little cousins got more comfortable wearing her natural hair because of me.
One of the reasons why I started my platform is that representation was always important to me.
I grew up wanting to be like the women I saw in the media.
That has so much power that I think many of us don’t realize.
We don’t really talk about how much that affects us.
I know just how important it is for another Black woman to see that.
Interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.
