As a young adult who has been taming her curls by herself for almost a decade, I can say, it is not easy. All women with textured or curly hair can attest to the struggle of getting to know your own hair, finding what products, styles, and routines work for you. But, before this journey and behind every natural haired woman stands an adult who spent hours detangling curls, deep-conditioning, styling braids, and all so they could it again the next day. To the moms who managed our hair before we were old enough to, we thank you.

No matter what way you chose to tame our hair, we appreciate you. Whether it was straightened, slicked ponytails, messy puffs, space-buns, fros, twist-outs, braids, or any attempt to style it - we applaud you. Now, at the moment, our tender heads might cause us to cry and whine or the long hours spent sitting between your legs might make us fidget but years down the line we will look back and see how that built character.

At an age where we're too young to weave our way through the kinks and curls of our hair, you were our only hope. For every event, big or small, you were there to tend to the most feminine and beautiful part of us. You were there, brush, comb, scrunchies- a million products in hand- to assure that we looked and felt our best.

And now I can say, from experience, I know it is not easy (or cheap) and there were days where it was too much work and you settled for a second-day messy bun. I'm here to say, even that we thank you for. Every snapped comb, broken hair tie, a glob of shea butter, and that one curl that always stuck out, is part of who we are now (and who your little girl will grow to be). We learned what works and what doesn't, what we like and what we don't, all because of you.

To the women behind every 6/7-year-old curly haired little girl, to the legs they sit between, to the fingers that move through their knots, thank you for maintaining what will become these little girls' favorite part of themselves.