Love yourself.

Black women in the diaspora are discriminated against more than anyone else. First, we are told our skin colour is too dark or that we are not as pretty as the White, Asian and mixed-race women around us. Then, we are bullied for our hair texture and length, the women with small afros are told they look ‘too manly’ or ‘messy.’ Whilst the ones who wear wigs are called fake or ‘self-hating.’ It is almost impossible to not be insecure as a black woman, this is why we at Natasha N Hair Care find it so important to talk about how necessary self- love is. Especially as a black woman.

Self-love is defined as “regard for one's own well-being and happiness.” This means always making sure you are appreciating yourself and just loving yourself. This is difficult for most African women to understand because In African Culture it is rare for parents to tell their children “I love you” or for siblings to express their love for each other. Although this is overlooked and a ridiculously small part of our culture it is difficult for young black men and women to grow up knowing what self-love is and just how important it is to show yourself appreciation at all times. You are amazing and beautiful, and you should never forget this.

These are some affordable self-love practices that we should all be doing.

• Looking in the mirror and telling yourself that you are beautiful. You can do this every morning starting with complementing your hair all the way to your feet. Remind yourself that black is beautiful, black is powerful and black is excellence.

• Another form of self-love is spending time with no makeup or wigs, just going to the shops or out with your natural beautiful face and hair. This helps you really fall in love with your true self and learn to value your beauty.

• Face masks and hair masks are another good form of self-care and self-love. Put on your favourite music and spend time tending to yourself. Cheap face masks and hair masks can be found in Superdrug and Savers.

There are a million different way to make sure you appreciate your blackness and the most important thing is doing something that makes you feel beautiful and happy. It is amazing when our loved ones tell us how beautiful we are, but you have to do the same to yourself. Self-love is so important for us black women who always feel belittled by society and it is time to act and tell ourselves WE ARE BEAUTIFUL.

#thatgirlcan #yourbeautiful #selflove