Stay true to your roots. This natural hair activist is leading women towards self-acceptance

At 32 years old, Vanessa Cookson’s hair started greying. “I felt that I was too young,” she says. Struggling to accept her approaching crown of silver locks, she repeatedly used dyes to mask the signs of ageing. Cookson spent over 10 years forcing her mane to fit an unnatural mould, until deciding to forgo the chemical lathers and arriving at a point of acceptance. Today, she’s a natural hair advocate working to normalise curls and afros, and allowing it to run its grey course. “I’m a hair activist,” Cookson says.

Living in South Africa’s Cape Flats, she has seen stigmas abound about grey and natural textures being unattractive and tacky. “People making ugly remarks like, ‘Have you checked this kroeskop’, ‘What’s wrong with this ghoema hare?’” Cookson says. “But what they don’t realise is that natural hair is healthy.” Despite the potential backlash, she believes the rewards of self-approval outweigh society’s beauty standards. “Embracing my natural hair freed me,” Cookson says. Soon, she discovered the local natural hair community on social media, and was inspired to help young girls and women stay true to their roots.

Cookson began Brown Girl Kreations, selling bags adorned with engaging illustrations of women sporting their natural hair and texts that reclaim terms aimed at shaming women. She also collaborates with NPOs in the Cape Flats to help others like her accept their hair. From hosting informative talks to giving makeovers, Cookson is mobilising others to celebrate their crowns and wear their greys with pride. “I think by changing the narrative, we would teach young girls and women to embrace their natural curls and to fall madly in love with it,” she says.