Sophia

When I was growing up in school, you never saw black British women in the media. I only ever saw white girls with straight hair, and that was what was seen as pretty. I looked completely different from that, and it's hard not to spend your time wondering if your hair isn't pretty. So I spent my time straightening my hair. I used to put weave in.

I actually only stopped having weave at the beginning of last year. I just cut my hair and thought 'no more' and it's been a revelation. I've never felt more me. It's strange because I come from a strong background, but I've been suppressing my ethnicity, my natural self, my hair, unknowingly. My parents are Jamaican, but I grew up in the countryside.

I have sisters, and we've all had weave since we were little and we've all gone natural recently. It's funny, my mum has never worn extensions. I looked up to my older sisters and we'd gotten into this cycle. The music we grew up with, those pop stars all have weaves. I used to say "I'll never not wear a weave! I'll be in my coffin in a weave!" And now I can't imagine ever going back.

Last year I was sat in the hairdressers, and I had two bags of weaves and I was about to have them put in and I felt so annoyed because I couldn't really afford the hair – it's so expensive – and then I just thought, 'I should shave my hair.' I turned to my hairdresser and said "Shave it off!" So she gave me a buzz cut. I disconnected from myself for half an hour while it was done. Afterwards I thought, 'This is great.' I'd spent all that time without my hair. I literally hadn't touched my scalp, or had water from the shower hit my head in maybe 15 years. When I got home and showered, I felt this euphoria.

I'm an actress, so I'm in the public eye. I feel like it's a political statement for me. I wear it with so much more pride. I want young black girls to look at me and see it's fine and it looks beautiful and it's acceptable. When you type in "unprofessional hair" into Google you get an array of black hair styles. That needs to change. This is why young black girls feels this way. These latent undertones make up the collective attitudes that suppress a culture. For me, this is a personal movement to let young people know they can wear there hair however it comes out. I wake up and afro pick it, and I'm done.