Khalyla Warrington

My name is Khalyla Warrington and I have curly hair. I feel like there is a common misconception that naturally curly hair looks “unkempt” or “unprofessional”, and it took me a long time to realize that that isn’t true at all. As a child I had beautiful, long, curly hair that was super healthy. Both of my parents are mixed, which makes my hair more complicated than someone who is just biracial. My mother grew up in an environment where she was encouraged to keep her hair straight, so she had no idea how to handle my hair other than to just tie it up in a ponytail. Eventually she left me to deal with it by myself. In the world around me there was the constant portrayal of straight hair being the desired look. The few times I would get my hair straightened I was always told how much “better” it looked. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the lack of representation of natural curly hair was incredible damaging to myself image. I figured it was better to have hair that looked “good” and was easier to manage, so I let my mom perm away the texture in my hair. After several years of regular use, the perm turned my hair into a lifeless pile of split ends with no curl pattern whatsoever. Finally, at some point during my freshman year of high school I realized that I missed my natural hair texture and also how terrible my hair was looking at the time. It took a lot of courage, but I came to the conclusion that I would have to cut off all the dead hair in order to let my natural hair grow out healthily. This is referred to by many as the “big chop”. It’s been about two years since the first cut and it’s still a work in progress definitely. As it continues to grow longer I am able to reflect on this hair journey I’ve been on, and I think the number one lesson I learned from it is to never be ashamed of who you are. By accepting my hair, I have also learned to love and accept myself for who I am.