In the late 80s, very few people went natural with their hair. At that time, I grew up with a role model in my mother, but I didn't look to her for what was cool. It doesn't matter if your mother is Diana Ross or not! Natural hair was never "in" for me. It wasn't something that looked sexy or that boys liked.

I had curly hair, gravity-defying, electrifyingly beautiful. Every Saturday I went to the salon to get a wet set with big rollers, sat under the dryer, and waited in line to have it blow-dried. The rest of the week I slept on sponge rollers and woke up with a creaky neck. Occasionally, my mother would re-curl my hair or put the iron on the stove top to trim the edges of my hair. On Thursdays or Fridays, my hair would be pulled into a very tight ponytail and I swear to God I had a headache.

By the time I reached 10th grade, my hair was a wreck. Everything I did to give my hair bounce and body was counterproductive. I used too much heat and lost my curl pattern. So I started gathering information and learned how to protect the unique pattern that gives my hair its magic and life.

When I started working on Girlfriends, I was in my late 20s and had my own tools and products to set my hair. No one on set could do it! In the early 2000s, most hair professionals, even those of color, only knew how to use heat. They did not know how to support natural curls. For the first two seasons of the program, she got up early, showered with the right products, and dried her hair for three hours. That was all Tracy did with her hair. No one else touched it.

I didn't realize it at the time, but there were so many women on the same journey; in 2008, I wrote my first brand pitch, but it took me 10 years to launch my line, Pattern. The decision makers in the beauty world didn't understand the size, importance, beauty, and breadth of the curl community. I am not saying that everyone should be curly. But treating your hair with love, nurturing and allowing your own personality to flourish, is the most important journey of all. Embracing one's beauty is a kind of activism. [This article appeared in the February 2020 issue of Marie Claire.

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