A Hair Love Story: Falling for Your Natural Texture

It’s not always love at first sight. For many of us, the relationship with our hair has been... complicated. Years of relaxers, comments like “neaten that hair,” and subtle comparisons to Eurocentric beauty have left deep impressions. Learning to love your natural texture—your coils, kinks, curls, or tightly-wound strands—isn’t always an easy journey. But it’s one worth taking.

This is your hair love story—and it starts with unlearning, healing, and discovering beauty on your own terms.

 

Chapter One: The Disconnection

For too long, we were taught to see our hair as a problem to fix. Shrinkage was "bad," volume was "too much," and certain curl types were labelled as more "manageable" or “desirable.” That conditioning doesn’t disappear overnight. If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and wished your hair was straighter, looser, longer, or easier—you’re not alone.

 

Chapter Two: The Turning Point

Something shifts when you start seeing your hair not as something to tame, but as something to understand. You begin to recognise the uniqueness of your pattern and the versatility it offers. It may start with a twist-out that actually turns out right, or the first time your fro gets a compliment—and suddenly, you’re curious. You begin asking questions. You start thinking “maybe, my hair can be beautiful?”

And if it can be beautiful, what helps it remain beautiful? What does my hair actually need?

Enter a new phase of curiosity, intrigue and hope.

 

Chapter Three: The Spark

Loving your hair is a practice, not a moment. It’s like how several-colours Sunday lunch became a tradition over many Sundays and generations. Loving your hair begins with finding something you like about it. Then it turns into curiosity about what it can do so you start experimenting with new styles. Then you decide that curiosity is best matched with care so you start giving yourself scalp massages, and learning what your hair enjoys.

Chapter Four: The Support

If you’re used to straight, relaxed hair, natural hair can be overwhelming and underwhelming all at the same time. This is why you need to call in for reinforcement. Enter protective styling. A true love story would be nothing without tension and a challenge to overcome. Your tension is transitioning from a forced-straight texture to your natural, coily and sometimes unruly texture. This requires so much self-love and also, support. You need to take mental breaks and this is where protective styles come in to offer you this grace. Protective styling offers an opportunity to just, pause and continue on your journey without being in the driving seat for a bit. 

And like all good love stories, the love grows deeper over time. As your hair grows, you gain a bit more appreciation for it. You find a little more joy in your gravity defying curls. You realise that your texture wasn’t something broken in need of fixing.

The story isn’t just about hair—it’s about our identity, ownership of our beauty and finally taking back the narrative. And perhaps we must soften our approach but not our texture.Here’s to falling in love—with every strand.

Love, MPL

Your Hair Doctor.