I didn’t start wearing braids because I wanted to follow a trend. I started wearing them after experiencing uncomfortable moments at work where I felt my Blackness was being used against me. I found myself being questioned every time I did my work, and over time, it made me question how I was being seen and how much of myself I felt safe to show.
Instead of allowing those experiences to make me hide a part of who I am, I decided to embrace the culture I am most proud of.
Being Black, for me, is strength, history and resilience. It is knowing that my power did not begin with me. It comes from the generations before me, from the people whose strength, survival and identity made it possible for me to stand proudly on my own.
That is when braids became more than a hairstyle to me. For me, braids represent who I am and what I am made of.
Every time I choose to braid my hair, I feel like I am making a statement without having to say a word. I am choosing to be visible. I am choosing to celebrate a part of myself that I will never again allow someone else to make me question.
There is something powerful about looking in the mirror and seeing yourself represented in the way you want to be seen.
For many Black women, hair carries a significance that goes far beyond beauty. It can hold memories, traditions, identity and self-expression. We change our hairstyles depending on how we feel, where we are going, what we want to express or simply because we want to see ourselves differently.
But braids carry something particularly powerful for me. They remind me that my identity has a history.
When I sit down to have my hair braided, I think about my ancestors and the strength they carried. I think about everything they had to overcome and the fact that their stories did not end with them. I am here because they were here.
My braids become a connection between who I am today and the ancestors whose strength lives within me.
There is also an artistry in braiding that deserves to be recognised. A braider is not simply doing hair. They are creating. Every section has to be precise. Every braid requires patience, skill and attention. Hours can go into creating a style that someone might see in a few seconds.
Today, braiders have become artists, entrepreneurs and creators in their own right. Through social media, their work can reach audiences far beyond their local communities, showing the creativity and skill behind a craft that has existed for generations.
The braid has become a language of its own.It can represent culture, confidence, femininity, creativity, individuality and resistance. It can tell people something about you before you have even spoken.
For me, the power of the braid is not simply in how it makes me look. It is in how it reminds me of who I am.
Someone else’s actions once made me question whether my Blackness was something I should make smaller.
I chose the opposite,I chose to make it visible and I chose to wear it proudly. Because my strength did not begin with me, and it will not end with me.
Black is power, Black is history, Black is who I am.
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