Casey Elisha x London 360 - Interview Highlights It's funny, because some people approach me with a side eye and a "how can you have a book called #LoveThyFro but your hair isn't natural" type face. Lol I get it, I don't mind the question (even though my hair is actually natural underneath). The manner in which some people ask it is what bothers me sometimes. I don't feel I have to explain myself to anyone tbh, but I will address it. Again. Firstly. Just because my hair isn't out doesn't mean I can't tell a little girl to love herself. #LoveThyFro focuses on hair but the message is wider than that. The book sparks a dialogue around loving thy self. Lol. Secondly. I wrote this book as a message to MY younger self, in the hope that it would help prevent other young girls from going through what I did in terms of not truly loving myself and feeling I wasn't beautiful. When I was younger, I was bullied and made to feel ugly. I had a low self esteem, plenty of insecurities and often wanted to be someone other than myself. I did so much to my hair over the years; relaxed it, texturised it, abused it with too much manipulation, all because I was trying so hard to conform to society's definition of beauty. To the point that my hair broke and was so unhealthy that I had to start to show it some love again. That's why my hair is put away right now, so that I can give it the tlc it needs and nurse it back to health. That's not to say that when my hair is all the way healthy again I won't wear my wigs or weaves when I want to. Hair is an expression, an extension of who you are and I like the versatility and ease of wigs and weaves, so I'll rock them whenever I like. (But I do also look forward to feeling the wind blow in my scalp more often lol) I've said it in interviews; I am not a natural hair advocate in that I don't think you should HAVE to be natural or HAVE to wear your natural hair out. Everyone should be free to do what they want to their hair when they're grown. I do, however, feel that it's important that YOUNG girls learn the beauty in who they naturally are early on BEFORE they grow up and start experimenting because, if they don't, it can lead to many of the issues that I faced. And I want to do anything I can to save at least one little girl from feeling how I felt. I wanna inspire young girls to be unapologetically themselves. And it seems I already have. So, yeah, that's why I wrote Love Thy Fro while rocking 18" Malaysian hair with blonde highlights š And with that being said; catch me at #NaturalHairWeek tomorrow in Earls Court š Oh and save the date; July 30th - Children's Empowerment and Literary Festival 2016. More info out tomorrow!
