Nia Long Quotes

Someone asked me recently, "Do you get sick of people asking you about your hair?" And the reason I don't is because I actually feel like you could chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair. It's a badge of something bigger.

I think for women, especially women of colour, hair has so much to do with our identity and our confidence levels. I've made a conscious choice after growing up and feeling insecure and trying to achieve this look that actually wasn't me, where I've finally stopped relaxing my hair and went back to my natural texture.

I kept extensions in until I finished high school. Although, once I got to college, that's when it all started to shift. I think it was just growing up and moving to New York, where I saw so many different people, vibes, and looks, and everyone really owned it. That led me to feel more free, take more risks, and go back into my natural hair.

I had been getting relaxers since I was eight or nine. I had no clue. It was a personal mission to really find out who am when I'm not altering myself to look like anybody else. Who am I when I wake up and I don't do anything to my hair? Who is that woman? I want to meet her. And that was what catapulted my journey into going natural.

Have the pride of the brown girl and know that you'll figure out your own beauty in time.

As a child, I certainly wanted to have hair that I could grow long and flip around. I no longer want that. My own hair that I have day to day is a fuzzy afro. And that's who I am.

I was really excited to get to shave my head - it's something I'd wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was nice to shed that level of vanity.

I think coming out, for me, is really about tearing down the prison wall.

I've learned to appreciate looking unique and not having long, blond locks... at last.

Before my transition I felt trapped, and now I've been set free.

Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy-we are black and beautiful!

I think it's important to represent black women and our natural hair. Not wearing a weave is totally beautiful and acceptable.

My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough.

I see other black women imitate my style, which is no style at all, but just letting our hair be itself. They call it the Afro Look.

For years I used to try to straighten my hair, but I've reached a stage where I think, 'I've got red curly hair, and it's actually really great.'

People have to learn who they are - you can't have somebody else telling you who you are.

I am a feminist, and what that means to me is much the same as the meaning of the fact that I am Black: it means that I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.

I find, in being black, a thing of beauty: a joy; a strength; a secret cup of gladness.

I love seeing my mom and my daughter embrace their natural hair. I'm glad I've embraced it, too.

I felt totally released from the need to make it as an actress. I had experienced complete fulfillment in something that had nothing to do with me being in the spotlight.

I'm learning to embrace who I am and what I look like.

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.

I decided to start embracing and wearing my natural hair, but there was only one problem; I didn't know what to do with it or how to style it. Growing up, all I knew was my relaxed, processed hair, so I had to go through this learning phase.

Truth is, I cut my hair for freedom, not for beauty.

In the days when I wasn't being taken seriously, I wore long skirts - very conservative. But now, I dress any way I want to.