For years I admired women who embraced natural hair. I wanted to do the same but didn’t have enough self-esteem, and when I think about my childhood, it doesn’t surprise me at all.

I grew up in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. My mom is Czech, and my biological father is from Guinea. As you can imagine, I was the only mixed kid at the elementary school and later at the high-school.

To say that people were always fascinated with my skin color and my natural hair would be a euphemism. Their …