In this day and age, it is celebrated that black people all over the world are feeling empowered by their natural hair. It hasn’t always been like this, though. The Black Student Union at Kempsville High School has decided to shed light upon the history of natural hair by hosting a Trill Talk.

The Trill Talk was led by Black Student Union member Jada Jones on January 20. Jones started the discussion by first showing a few slides on the history of natural hair.

The slides consisted of what the origin of natural hair is, coming to America, and the afro. One of the main themes of the presentation was that natural hair is a way of self-expression.

Jones began the open discussion with the question: “What does natural hair mean to you?” Participants followed suit by sharing their stories and beliefs surrounding their natural hair.

“Natural hair is freedom of expression and connecting with your heritage,” said sophomore Joi Burgess.

The Trill Talk continued with Jones asking more discussion questions and the attendees speaking to one another in a socratic seminar-style dialogue. Lots of students shared their positive and negative experiences with their natural hair, and it was a really open environment for everybody to share their opinions and stories.

The attendees spoke on learning to love their hair, how society treats them because of their hair, how they used to conform to euro-centric beauty standards, and more.

“I used to hate my hair because I had a particular white beauty standard in my family, and what I really wanted was straight hair. So I used to get curl softeners, and it was really bad because it chemically damaged my hair,” said Burgess. “Then the summer before 9th grade I stopped doing curl softeners and started taking care of my hair, and now I’m all natural.”

The Black Student Union plans on doing a part two to their natural hair Trill Talk, so keep up with them on social media (on Instagram as @bsuchiefs and Twitter as @bsuchiefs_) to see more information. People of all ethnicities are invited, and the Black Student Union is encouraging students to bring a friend of a different ethnicity so that everyone can learn about natural hair, even if they don’t possess it themselves.