If the cries from the natural hair world haven’t, up to this point, yet been heard as we sit and wait for celebrities to jump on board and support the causes, challenging society’s idea of beauty and encouraging young girl’s to embrace their own…well then it is now that someone finally has.
Tracee Ellis Ross hasn’t been a silent voice in the movement. Her multiple interviews with CurlyNikki alone will prove that. She has talked about her early years as she tried to figure out exactly how to take care of her hair. She has talked about 3 a.m. wash sessions that gave her hair 3 hours to dry naturally before she would need to be on screen. She has talked about her love oh both a wash-n-go and a flat iron.
In fact, Tracee Ellis Ross is the naturally curly woman, with all of her complexities, confusions and hair care expertise all wrapped up in the limelight where she can really make a difference. And, that is exactly what she has taken to doing.
Beginning with a post she saw on Instagram (really, she is us!”> that showed a young girl wishing that she had Tracee Ellis Ross’ hair, Ross took to the Internet meme, giving her comments and thoughts on the image. While for the most part Ross saw the humor in the post – “Seriously, I was crying with laughter.” – she also admitted that seeing the post reminded her of her power in the natural hair community, and how her hair wasn’t always the big beauty that we now see.
On June 14, Ross took to YouTube to talk about the Instagram post and to encourage women to hop on as well and talk about why they love their hair. And, 23,000+ views later in less than a week, the response has been unreal.
See, what websites and blogs have been trying to do for years, Ross has done in less than a week. She encouraged conversation and showed her vulnerabilities, allowing the community to jump in with their own. Multiple campaigns on sites across the web, including on NaturallyCurly, have worked hard to help women embrace their curls, coils and waves for all the good moments and all the difficult ones, too. Yet, Ross’ participation and engagement in the conversation proves just how powerful a celebrity voice in the sphere can really be.
As of now, the YouTube post has had nearly 400 comments, each a testimonial to why someone loves their hair. And Ross kicked it all off with her very own personal accolade: “I love my hair because it’s big. I love my hair because it’s big. I love my hair because it’s a reflection of my soul. It’s dense. It’s kinky. It’s soft. it’s textured. It’s difficult. It’s easy. And, it’s fun.”
Only about a week into the video upload date, and with nearly 400 women feeling happier and more connected with their curls than ever before, let’s make sure that this video doesn’t stop here. Do what you can to participate. If the natural hair community is nothing else, it is a community built on support.
Share this video with your daughter, with your friends, with your partner, with your mother. Show that you support the cause and tell your hair, for the world to see, what it means to you. Natural hair is beautiful, and as bigger and bigger names jump on the curly bandwagon of sorts, it will be our participation now that will allow our daughters to never have to say that aloud. It will just be known, felt, understood and activity promoted in our commercials, our movies and our lives.
We would love to see your responses to Tracee’s campaign, so if you create a video response be sure to tweet us @NaturallyCurly so we can share them too!
