Before We Become Extinct: How Do I Get the Confidence to Wear My Natural Woolly Hair? (Paperback)

Many of us black women grew up hearing that our hair was “too difficult,” “too much,” “unprofessional,” or not as pretty as other textures. Some of us were even teased because of it, leaving us with a traumatic association with our hair. And while all this was happening, we rarely saw women with hair like ours represented in beauty spaces — magazines, films, music videos, or beauty campaigns.

So many of us turned to alternatives — wigs, weaves, sew-ins, glue-ons — trying to feel more comfortable, accepted… attractive. But those options can become expensive, stressful, and, more importantly, damaging physically, emotionally, and yes, mentally.When we finally decided to wear our natural hair in a loose style, then came the pressure for it to look “perfect.”

Pressure for every curl to sit right.
Pressure for it not to look “messy.”
Pressure not to be judged.

After years of experiencing hair rejection, many black women are frustrated, tired, and still don’t feel confident or pretty in their natural hair — even when they genuinely want to. The ever-present anxiety about the way their hair is perceived is simply too much for many to bear.

Introducing Before We Become Extinct: How Do I Get the Confidence to Wear My Natural Woolly Hair? — the answer you’ve been waiting for.

In this book, sisters T.C. and D.U. Okonkwo explore the average black woman’s hair experience and provide guidance on how to break free from hair anxiety and follow the road to lasting freedom.

Before We Become Extinct: How Do I Get the Confidence to Wear My Natural Woolly Hair? was written for every black woman who feels the need to hide her natural woolly hair from a world that made her believe it wasn’t good enough. It is also for black women who currently wear their natural hair while carrying that ever-present hair anxiety.

The authors trace the roots of this struggle by looking at love, fear, lies, and rejection, and walk you through seven steps to wool confidence and ten practical tips to help you reclaim the hair confidence that should always have been yours.

This book is for you if:

• You’ve relaxed or straightened your hair to fit in — not because you wanted to, but because the thought of wearing your natural hair in public makes you anxious
• You’ve been told your natural hair is “unprofessional,” “messy,” “too much,” or that it “needs to look good”
• You want to feel free — but don’t know where to start

By the end of this book, you’ll have the tools to finally feel at home in your incredible hair.

The authors wrote this book because they lived the journey to hair freedom. They know what it feels like to be made to feel ashamed of the hair growing from your own head… and they now know what it feels like to finally be free from those ideas. They want that for every black woman who reads this book.