IL

Age: Under 18

Occupation: Elementary School Student

Today’s generation of children brings new hope for accepting and appreciating Black hair.

Black people before them ignited a push for Black hair love, media representation of Black hair is becoming more diverse, and Generation X and Millenial parents’ experiences motivate them to nurture their children’s confidence in their natural hair. As a result, young Black children of the 2020s seem to have fewer insecurities about their hair, in comparison to older generations.

IL demonstrates this phenomenon well. Her mother takes care of her hair and styles her hair, and IL loves it.

“I like how it curls,” she said.

IL sees people with hair like hers often, both on television and in person. She likes when people change their hairstyles. Her favorite style is braids with extensions, because it is fun and different.

IL is working on learning how to do her own hair.

“I’m still kind of learning. I’ve gotten up to washing it and braiding hair. I still kind of need to learn how to do twists,” she said.

At only nine years old, IL has the hair wisdom sought after by many older women for decades.

“Everyone’s hair is different, so you don’t have to make your hair one way or another,” she said.