Nathalie Emmanuel has spoken candidly about her “complex feelings” towards her hair, as she recently got a major haircut.
In a video posted to Instagram on 24 April, the 33-year-old actor began to cry as she was getting her hair cut off. According to Emmanuel, she was sharing this “personal” clip as a way of relating to other people who have also had a “tough journey” with and felt discriminated against because of their hair.
“It’s not my usual vibe to post very personal videos of my life… especially of me CRYING,” she wrote in the caption. “But I wanted to share this for those who have experienced any kind of feelings of othering or hair discrimination and then had a long, tough journey to self acceptance or feelings of having no autonomy over yourself… or… worrying about not fitting certain beauty standards.”
“Anyway… please be kind,” she continued. “Me and my lil crop cut will be over here getting to know each other.”
She then thanked her hairdressers “for holding her hand” and all the people “who encouraged and cheered [her] on” throughout the experience.
As her stylist, Neeko, was cutting different sections of Emmanuel’s hair, he asked her: “Do you feel the devastation or the release?” In response, the Army of Thieves star said she had a lot of “complex feelings” about her hair, as there is lot of “celebration connected to it” but also “trauma” she had to face because of it.
“I’m just letting go of a lot of really complex feelings, you know?” she said. “There’s so much joy and celebration connected to it. But then also all this pressure and trauma, like, all these things I have to overcome because of it, you know?”
She then noted how “beautiful” it was for her to feel so much “empowerment” through her hair.
“I had to unlearn so much,” she added. “It’s not a problem. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. You know? And then, I’ve also had this, it’s been a real ‘f*** you’ to a lot of things, so it’s been a real empowerment that’s come with my hair as well. And then people being like, ‘Oh, I love your hair, I went natural because of you.’ And that’s a lot.”
Although Neeko said that it seems like that can be “a lot of pressure” when someone tells Emmanuel that they changed her hair because of her, she acknowledged that she was still “always so proud of that”.
Emmanuel also recalled how she had “always wanted to cut [her] hair” when she was little. However, when she went into acting at the age of 15, her “job dictated” what she could do with her hair. But now, she’s finally had the opportunity to cut her hair “completely on [her] own”.
“This is the first time in 33 years I’ve had, like, I’ve made the decision for my hair that’s completely my own and that’s like a really big deal,” she added.
At the end of the clip, she shared photos of her new hair cut and noted how she “wrote a letter to [her] hair because [she’s] dramatic but it was also really cathartic.”
Emmanuel has previously opened up about her hair and the importance of embracing her natural curls. “My hair is big and it always feels like a statement,” she told The Zoe Report last November. “When I wear my hair out I feel powerful. It’s an indication of my heritage and pride and I’m really passionate about getting the next generation to feel that.”
