I absolutely don't mean for it to sound like I'm anti Afro. I think they are absolutely beautiful. Few things catch my attention when I see someone with a big, gorgeous afro. I guess what’s coming through when I talk about my afro is I had a terrible experience with mine when I was young. First, when my hair was an afro, it wasn't actually my natural hair. I had double processed hair (a Jheri curl on top of a straightener on top of my natural curl), so the hair I experienced was not soft, lovely natural hair. It was stiff and crunchy, the softness of a loofa pad. So when I talk about how unhappy my hair was, and how unhappy I was with it, I’m talking about the chemical hair (but at the time I mistakenly thought that was my natural hair.

I love our curls, and I want to make sure everyone can see how beautiful they are in all their forms. For me, I also wanted choices in how I wore my hair. But at the time I didn't know how to care for my natural hair, and I damaged it even more by dry brushing it. That and it was double processed, so it was a mess. What I had in that photo was chemical hair, not my natural hair. Back in those days, I thought having natural hair meant my only option was that crunchy hair I once had (not realizing that actually wasn't my hair, but the chemicals that had been put in it). I don’t want anyone else who experienced what I did to think that is what our natural hair is like.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I love our hair in all it's beautiful forms. I didn't like my hair back then because I didn’t know how to care for it, and felt I had no choice about it. And since it was terribly damaged by chemicals, it wasn't a soft, pretty afro but loofa-hair, so my experience with it was bad (and unfair to it). All I want to do is to show people with curls there is a way to love and care for their natural hair. Too often we think our only choices are an afro or braids (or other styles considered “political” that may not be appropriate on the job—not that I agree with that, or simply may not be our personal preference) or to straighten our hair. I want to help those who very much want to celebrate their natural curls. The techniques I describe emphasize our stunning curls, no matter how tight they are, all of them are beautiful, and that is what I’m trying to express.