Curling through African scapes

AMANDA CARPEDE IS MORE THAN A NATURAL HAIR ACTIVIST. SHE'S ONE OF THE FIRST SOUTH AFRICAN AMBASSADORS FOR NATURAL HAIR - KINKS AND ALL! WE MET UP WITH HER TO CHAT ABOUT HER INSPIRING JOURNEY

- SAADIQAH SCHROEDER

Very few people love haircare as much as Amanda Carpede, founder of Curly Q Africa, a platform for cultivating a united appreciation and awareness of natural beauty. For her, the feeling of freshly washed hair, the deep conditioning and the 25-hour-long drying process is what make her soul smile the most. She began her journey more than ten years ago and has become a motherly figure to young African girls through her social media content and blog, Glowing Up.

Our beauty as a woman is constantly policed and criticised, forcing us to keep up with the ever-changing demands of trends and beauty standards. Eventually, Amanda snapped when she realised that her own experiences were repeating in her daughter's life. She talked to us about her self-love journey and letting that self-love gleam over other young women.

WHAT HAS YOUR HAIR JOURNEY BEEN LIKE? WERE YOU ALWAYS IN LOVE WITH YOUR LOCKS?