Skip to Content

Thirty Black Women’s Natural Hair Quotes

If you are starting to feel overwhelmed or discouraged by your hair journey, I invite you to reflect on these 30 Black women’s natural hair quotes. I have grouped these quotes into four categories that you might relate to you. I encourage you to share your favorite quotes with friends on social media and feel free to add additional ones in the comment section below.

Relaxing the Hair

1: “Relaxing your hair is like being in prison. You’re caged in. Your hair rules you. You didn’t go running with Curt today because you don’t want to sweat out this straightness. You’re always battling to make your hair do what it wasn’t meant to do.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah

[Tweet “”Relaxing your hair is like being in prison. You’re caged in. Your hair rules you.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie”]

2: “My mom didn’t believe in putting chemicals in hair. But when I got to college, we didn’t have A/C in our dorms freshman year. So after several days of waking up looking like a Chia Pet, I was like ‘OK, I’m gonna get a perm.’ And then my hair revolted and fell out.” – Keshia Knight Pulliam

3: “I have worn fake hair since I was 17 years old.” Tyra Banks

Wearing Natural Hair

4: “I actually love my natural hair when it’s in a twist out and it’s been slept on for five days and revived by the steam of the shower.” – Solange Knowles

5: “My natural hair texture is very kinky.” Tyra Banks

6: “I am a bit of a fundamentalist when it comes to black women’s hair. Hair is hair – yet also about larger questions: self-acceptance, insecurity and what the world tells you is beautiful. For many black women, the idea of wearing their hair naturally is unbearable.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

7: “Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me. I’d been starved for images of myself. I’d grown up watching a lot of American TV.” – Lupita Nyong’o

[Tweet ” “Whoopi Goldberg looked like me, she had hair like mine, she was dark like me.” @Lupita_Nyongo”]

8: “In particular I want to talk about natural black hair, and how it’s not just hair. I mean, I’m interested in hair in sort of a very aesthetic way, just the beauty of hair, but also in a political way: what it says, what it means.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

9: “The funny thing is, people only know me for having straight hair for work, but I live in Atlanta where it’s hot and humid in the summertime. So when I’m home, I wear my hair natural. My hair is naturally curly; I don’t have a relaxer.” – Keshia Knight Pulliam

10: “I loved being a redhead! I always wanted to try it. I was obsessed with Lucille Ball growing up. I really wanted to try it but I always thought that doing it would ruin my hair.” – Tracee Ellis Ross

11: “Whenever something went wrong when I was young – if I had a pimple or if my hair broke – my mom would say, Sister mine, I’m going to make you some soup. And I really thought the soup would make my pimple go away or my hair stronger.” – Maya Angelou

Self-Confidence 

12: “I’m a big woman. I need big hair.” – Aretha Franklin

13: “For me, hair is an accouterment. Hair is jewelry. It’s an accessory.” Jill Scott

14: “I was shy but it came out in a big personality. My turning point was when I let my hair go naturally“. Tracee Ellis Ross

15: “When I cut my hair, the whole sound changed, my style changed.” – Rihanna 

GET IT HERE

16: “The first time I cut all my hair off was when I was 19. I just got fed up going to the salon every week. I’d had enough! On a whim, it was off. It’s low-maintenance.” – Lupita Nyong’o

17: “In grammar school, some of the girls had problems with me. My face was too light. My hair was too long. It was the black-consciousness period, and I felt really bad.” Whitney Houston

18: “As Erykah Badu, it has nothing to do with me, the way I look, my hair wrap, my style, it’s about you and what you feel for my music. If I can make you feel like the way that people who influenced me made me feel, that’s completion.” – Erykah Badu

19: “My father identified as a black man. No one asked him because he was clearly black. But people always ask me. If we were together, people would look at us in a really strange way. It sucked. As a little girl I had blond hair and they’d look at me, look at him, and be disgusted.” – Mariah Carey

20: “No matter what your hair looks like once it’s wet, it’s about embracing it and loving yourself for you and all that that entails.” Keshia Knight Pulliam

21: “Here’s the thing, men have to also mature in how they see women, too. Because they need to understand that it’s not just about how we look, it’s about who we are. And I am going to tell you like this, If you can’t love me with short hair, and you telling me I got to have long hair to be loved, guess what, I ain’t the one for you.” – Jada Pinkett Smith

22: “We are often told we can’t have brains and beauty, and I really hope that my message is that you can put on that red lip and curl your hair and put on that power dress – you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other.” Tyra Banks

23: “When I’m not working, I’m really, really low key. I don’t wear makeup unless I have to; I don’t get my hair done unless I really need to.” Gugu Mbatha-Raw


On The Versatility of Black Hair

24: “I always get bored with my hair. That’s why I would always change it throughout my career.” – Janet Jackson

25: “When I’m not working, I spend a lot of time on my hair. When it’s time for my hair to get some rest, I either wear it in a ponytail, bun or my favorite ‘milkmaid’ braid.” – Tracee Ellis Ross

26: “Having Black hair is unique in that Black women change up styles a lot. You can walk down one street block in New York City and see 10 different hairstyles that Black women are wearing: straight curls, shortcuts, braids – we really run the gamut.” – Queen Latifah

27: “By age seven, I used to comb my hair for performances, just pull my hair up into a bun. Granted, it wasn’t a very intricate hairstyle. Still, to be that responsible and disciplined at age seven is unusual”. – Janet Jackson

28: “I’ve always been intrigued by color and by interesting hair. I was one of those weird little girls doing my own hair at the age of 9. I was, like, getting weird gels and new brushes and cornrow holders. I would tweak and perm at the age of 13.” – Nicki Minaj

29: “I like to walk around with bare feet and I don’t like to comb my hair.” Beyonce Knowles

30: “I’m not really sick of people whipping their hair. It doesn’t really get old. They’re fans and I love them! It’s just a fun game to play.” – Willow Smith