Maraji questions why black women hide their natural hair with wigs

Content creator Maraji has shared a personal reflection about her experience with natural hair and how her views on beauty have changed over time.

She explained that she once questioned why Black women often felt the need to change the texture of their hair before feeling beautiful. For her, that question led to a deeper journey of understanding and accepting her own hair.

In a video posted on her page, she said:

“Why are we the only group of people who have to wear another texture of hair to feel beautiful? Why are we the only people who have to protect our hair? Like, put it in cornrows and then wear another texture of hair.

Like, why did God decide that Black people would not have good hair? That was a thought. That was a mentality that was in my head.

That made me want to know my hair. That made me want to understand my hair. So I started wearing my hair.

I started putting it in a bun. It was really short, but I just wanted to wear my hair. I was washing it as much as I could, and then I started to enjoy my hair.”

Maraji said that experience changed the way she looked at the idea of “protective styles.” While she appreciates many traditional hairstyles, she explained that the constant idea of needing to protect Black hair is something she struggles with.

She said:

“And that was when I started hating the idea of protective styles. Genuinely. Every time I hear that phrase, it annoys me.

It really does. I understand that you might want to put your hair in cornrows. Cornrows are beautiful. All-back is fine. Shuku is nice. Those are beautiful, elegant hairstyles. But the idea that we are constantly protecting the hair annoys me because no other group of people keeps their hair locked away 12 months a year. The idea that they are protecting it. From what?

Most Africans have the thinnest hair. We cannot afford to be wearing the kind of attachments we are wearing. But we are the ones who do the most when it comes to our hair”.

She also reflected on a moment when she appeared on Rubbin’ Minds and wore her natural hair styled into a bun. She recalled how people immediately attached assumptions to her appearance.

She continued by saying:

“Years back, this was when I went for my interview with Ebuka on Rubbin’ Minds. Because that day I packed my hair and put on a fake afro bun, people were like, “Is she Deeper Life?” I’m Deeper Life because I want my natural hair?”

Maraji said what bothers her most is seeing people judge others for choosing to wear their natural hair while placing value on expensive wigs and extensions.

“And what really annoys or irritates me more is when I see people who think that because they have the most expensive wigs, they talk down on people who decide to actually wear their own hair.

That’s why when that billionaire lady who was recently interviewed by the white guy had shuku on her head, everybody was like, “Ah-ah, billionaires do shuku? Here in Ghana, I meet a lot of rich women. And when I mean they never have a wig on their head, it’s always me. Me wearing a wig makes them laugh.

I’m the one always wearing the wig, and the people I’m talking to, who have assets, lands, cars, and houses, are wearing locs. They have locs. Or they have natural hair. Or they have it in a bun. Or they have relaxed hair. Like, it is the one that grows on their scalp.

But me, my whole head is “rich aunty,” yes”, she concluded.

For Maraji, the conversation is not about rejecting wigs or specific hairstyles. Instead, it is about questioning the idea that Black women must hide their natural hair in order to fit certain standards of beauty, professionalism, or success.