Like a lot of women, Kerry Washington decided to stop chemically relaxing her hair and start embracing her natural hair texture. While reasons for women doing so can range from rebelling societal pressures to desiring a different overall look, Kerry shared her own reasoning with Redbook and it’s very relatable.
“I’d been relaxing my hair since I was a little girl, so part of it was just wanting to see what would happen if I didn’t. Quitting has been such a timesaver, and my hair feels much healthier now. It’s been fun getting to know my real curls,” she explained.
For those who aren’t familiar with hair relaxers, the process can be time-consuming, painful and expensive. From personal experience, getting my hair relaxed became a very tedious practice in itself, and I did it for 17 years. I would head to the hair salon every eight weeks and have to go through about a four to five hour process each time. My scalp experienced everything from burning to dryness to slight scabbing at some points—but at the time all that mattered to me was having hair that was more manageable than my curls.
Today, I see it a lot differently and, echoing Kerry, I have to say it saves a lot of time. My hair also feels a lot less damaged and is growing out in a much healthier state. However, it is important to note that none of this means that women should stop straightening their hair or that they should prefer curls. What’s most important is for everyone to feel satisfied with the way their own hair makes them feel, whether that be straight or curly.
