By Priscilla Osaje
Mrs Jacquelyn Uchechi, an afro hair enthusiast, has urged women to embrace African natural hair as their identity, for such symbolised “the youthfulness and beauty of woman to a man strength”.
Uchechi gave the advice at a round table event on appreciating the “Beauty of the African Hair” and unveiling of a book titled “My Afro-Kinky Hair; My Root and Heritage” on Friday night in Abuja.
She said the book “ My Afro-Kinky Hair”, aimed at promoting the beauty in the African natural hair(Afro hair), which enhanced our beauty, boost confidence and showcase our identity.
The convener added that the celebration of our African hair, skin colour, fashion, our commitments, strength, passion, resilience, culture and our own kind of undeniable beauty, reconnected us to our roots and African heritage.
According to her, the African hair texture is believed to be genetic, because the texture is nearly absent from other ethnic groups and universal among Africans, passed down from one generation to another.
“ I have consistently for the past six years worn my natural hair. I am excited over it because it connects me to my root.
“It has also helped me to identify where I am coming from, which is my heritage.
“As a young girl, I had watched my parents show up boldly in their African hair. So, I decided to go back to my African hair after decades of wearing texturised hair,” she said.
The convener further said that African hair (afro hair) was beautiful and could go in any form, adding that it was not expensive because it was a gift
“When you wear an African hair, there are handies products within your reach that you can use conveniently and beautifully to manage your African hair.
“Part of my dream on African hair is to encourage the African women to show up in their identity.
“I want them to be confident in who they are; the colonial era tried to sell to us who we are not, resulting to identity situation and crisis.
“The reason why I want to reach out to women is because, I have seen young and older women embrace their identity in the way I showed up,” she added
She added that moisturising of hair with simple clear water, spraying the water on your hair and comb, goes a long way in making your natural hair beautiful.
Uchechi further explained that encouraging the local manufacturers of healthy organic beauty products was not a bad idea, as long as they used the right formulation.
“There are a lot of hair vendors with their different formulations.My advice is that their formulation should not inconvenience people’s hair.
” Maintaining your African hair is not costly because simple palm kernel oil , as well as simple baby shampoo can take you far in the journey of moisturising your hair. You do not need any chemical,” she said.
Speaking at the event, Dr Adebayo Okeowo, the Book Reviewer, commended the convener for such inspiration in embracing her own identity with her hair, in an era when such was looked down upon.
According to him, the hair identifies one in many countries across the world.
He said that people were often discriminated based on the type of hair they wore.
“For the convener to come up with such an initiative that will inspire women on the need to wear African hair as well as promoting our African hair positively, it is a great development”.
Also speaking, Mr Jasper Ikpendu, the Convener’s Spouse, appreciated his wife for going into an area that was not common in a bid to change the narrative.
According to him, the convener’s Afro-Kinky hair journey, is impactful in the adoption of reconstruction of social reality, when people believe that they are certain way someone should dress to be accepted in the society.
“Jacquelyn has broken the genre by making people know that you can have your own personal brand, as well as being a brand to yourself.
” She has made us to know that you can create your own identity and make your identity to sell beyond your centre of influence,” he said.
Nkem Agunwa, Convener’ s Manager, said the convener had proved that one could be audacioused, have a dream and go with it, even when it seemed to be challenging.” I am privileged to work with her on this journey which was not easy; but she has shown to us that anything is possible when you make up your mind on it”. (NAN)