The debate in the African-American community between what is “good hair” vs. “bad hair” continues and celebrity hairstylist and salon owner Annagjid Kee Taylor is here to settle things with one simple answer- “as long as the hair is healthy, it’s good.”
In her new children’s book, “All Hair Is Good Hair,” Taylor is hoping to change the community’s perspective on how we see hair.
“The book came to mind in 2015 after starting my YouTube channel,” Taylor told Essence Magazine in an interview. “On YouTube, there are people from all over the world looking at your channel. And most of my clients in my YouTube videos have pretty tight hair when it’s wet. And I was getting some mean comments. And some were self-hate because they were coming from Black women. And if grown-ups are saying stuff like this, [it makes you think about] the way children are being raised.”
That is when Taylor jumped into action and penned “All Hair Is Good Hair,” which follows the story of ten-year-old Samaya as she struggles with loving her natural hair. Samaya believes she has “bad hair” and expresses her insecurity with her mother. Samaya’s mother is determined to instill self-love and influence her both by what she says and what she does. Samaya finally realizes that, All Hair Is Good Hair.
“I think we have to remind children every chance we get of how beautiful they are and how beautiful their hair is,” Taylor continued in her Essence interview. “It’s important for children, and especially children with 4c hair, the tightest texture. That’s why I created Samaya (the main character in the book). I wanted her hair to be tight. I want children to look at her and say, ‘My hair is like hers.’ And I wanted them to see that there are beautiful ways to style 4c hair.”
So just what is Taylor’s overall message to Black girls in the world? Well, here it is and it is full of true #blackgirlmagic.
“The world is better if you just contribute your beauty and your natural, original self to the world the way that you are. You never want to fit in and conform to what everyone else is doing because like I wrote in a book, that’s not fun if everyone is the same. And you don’t have to feel less than anybody because God created you for exactly who you are. And it might sound corny and it might sound cliche, but that’s literally the whole vibe. It’s okay to want to change up your hair. You can always change it up, but don’t hate your hair because it is yours. And there’s really nothing you can do about the type of hair you have. All you have to do is embrace it and embrace it well. You’re beautiful, you’re amazing and you are God made.”
If you want to add a copy of this amazing book to your collection, click here to order your hard copy or ebook! It is definitely worth the purchase!
