London-based hair and beauty journalist Sue Omar is hell-bent on celebrating the black woman's crowning glory: her hair.

She is exploring the beauty of Afro hair in a special six-part series for Stylist.co.uk, with her fourth edition explaining from first-hand experience why ‘going natural’ has become somewhat of a curl revolution.

I vowed to give up my addiction to ‘creamy-crack’ the moment I realised chemical straightening was causing more harm than good for my hair. However, putting this decision into practice was more difficult than I could have possibly imagined.

My relaxed hair was broken in several areas from the scalp to the tips. My ends had split to the extent that witnessing a giant chunk of my hair tumble down towards the shower drain had become the norm. My naturally thick, healthy and strong Afro hair had been transformed into bone-straight, wafer-thin tresses that lacked lustre or, to be honest, any sense of life.

But even though I knew the hair on my head was dead and lifeless, the thought of reverting back to my natural Afro hair terrified me. Where would I begin? I didn’t have an action plan, nor did I know much about the process. All I knew was there was nothing more beautiful than my natural, unprocessed Afro hair that I had denied so profoundly in my attempt to blend in with society. What a learning curve!

All About Afro: uncovering the natural hair movement