Ms. Guity, LCSW

This is meaningful progress. 💗

New York now requires textured-hair education as part of cosmetology training for new licensees: an important step toward more informed, inclusive care for curls, coils, locs, braids, and every texture in between.

And still, we know one requirement cannot undo years of exclusion or guarantee that every person will receive competent, affirming care. Education must continue. Practice must continue. Listening must continue.

As an LCSW whose work centers IFS, I think about the parts of us that learned to brace ourselves before sitting in a salon chair: the parts that remember being misunderstood, judged, or told our hair was somehow a problem. Structural progress matters because it can help create safer experiences for those parts, while also affirming the beauty we have always carried.

With Afro Day approaching on September 15, this feels worth celebrating: our crowns deserve knowledge, respect, skill, and care. 👑

What would more culturally competent hair care make possible for you: or for someone you love?

That judging part of you didn’t invent its voice out of nowhere. It learned it somewhere: from comments, beauty standards, comparison, family, culture, or moments when belonging felt conditional.

In IFS-informed reflection, we can get curious about that part without shaming it. Notice the message. Honor what it may have been trying to protect. Then decide whether it still belongs in the truth you carry about your crown. 🌱

Your hair is not a test you have to pass.

LinkedIn adaptation: The way we evaluate our appearance can be shaped by early feedback, cultural standards, and social or workplace expectations. A reflective pause can help us separate inherited messages from our own values: and create a healthier relationship with self-image.

Download the free 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal at msguity.com.

What message about your hair are you ready to question?

Hair is never “just hair.” 👑

For some women living with PCOS, hair thinning or other hair changes can affect identity, confidence, body image, and emotional wellbeing. If this has been your experience, your feelings are valid. You do not have to minimize the grief, frustration, or uncertainty that can come with seeing your crown change.

During PCOS Awareness Month, we’re making room for the whole conversation: physical health, emotional wellness, self-image, and hair esteem. Consider sharing your concerns with a qualified healthcare professional, and seek emotional support from a therapist, counselor, trusted loved one, or community that allows you to feel seen.

Your hair journey is not a measure of your worth. Holistic care can include learning about your body, tending to your emotional needs, and practicing compassion while you navigate change: one moment at a time. 💗

The free 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal is also available as a reflective resource to help you notice your feelings, fears, goals, and hair-esteem journey. It is not a treatment; just a gentle space to pause and check in with yourself.

What has your hair journey taught you about the relationship between your crown and your emotional wellbeing?

A braid can be a braid.
A wig can be a style.
An Afro can simply be Tuesday. 💗

Your hair can hold culture, history, creativity, joy, and resistance, but you are not required to explain its meaning every time you enter a room.

You’re allowed to change your hair because you felt like it. You’re allowed to keep it simple. You’re allowed to wear your natural texture without turning it into a lesson, a debate, or a statement for public consumption.

And yes, discrimination is real. Hair-based bias affects access, opportunity, safety, and belonging. That is why protections like the CROWN Act matter. Naming hair autonomy does not erase the systems that police our crowns; it reminds us that our humanity is bigger than their expectations.

As Afro Day approaches on September 15, may we celebrate the Afro without placing another obligation on the women who wear one. Your crown can be powerful: and it can also just be yours. 👑

What would it feel like to let your hair be yours today, without explaining what it means?

W When beauty marketing repeatedly frames certain textures as weak, dull, unruly, or in need of fixing, it can shape more than a shopping list. It can shape hair esteem: the way we see, speak to, and care for our crowns.

This is part of the broader conversation about texturism: how beauty messaging can place more value on some textures, features, and appearances than others. No single ad tells the whole story, but repeated messages can still leave an impression.

Through an Internal Family Systems-informed lens, we can get curious about the part that internalized the message:

What was it trying to protect you from?
When did “fix it” start to sound like “be acceptable”?
What would it be like to meet that part with compassion instead of criticism?

Your texture is not a problem to fix. Your worth was never waiting on a smoother, shinier, more “manageable” version of you. 👑💗

Comment TWISTED for your 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal and begin noticing the messages, fears, goals, and feelings shaping your hair journey. Start where you are. 🌱

That voice judging your hair? It learned that somewhere.

Family. School. Work. Beauty ads. A partner. A stylist. A standard you absorbed before you had words for it.

An IFS-informed, non-clinical reflection invites curiosity: not a fight. The part repeating that message may be trying to protect you from rejection, scrutiny, disappointment, or standing out.

You can notice where the message came from, pause before repeating it, and choose a kinder truth.

Your crown is not a problem to solve.

Comment TWISTED for your 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal

What message about your hair are you ready to meet with curiosity?

“I’m not my hair” may have helped us separate our worth from outside opinions: but sometimes, it also taught us to disconnect from a meaningful part of ourselves.

The truth? Our hair holds memory, identity, culture, and story. So much of what we’ve lived happens through our crown: the styles we wore, the standards we were measured against, the moments we felt beautiful, scrutinized, free, or unseen.

From an IFS-centered lens, the part of you that learned to distance from your hair may have been protecting you from rejection, pain, or unwanted attention. That part isn’t wrong. It deserves compassion, too.

And you can honor its protection while gently reclaiming your connection to your crown.

Your hair is not your entire identity: but it can be a meaningful part of your story.

What does your hair journey hold for you?

Download the FREE 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal at msguity.com and begin exploring your hair, your emotions, and your hair esteem from the inside out. 💗👑

Wash day doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be a soft place to land. 💜

Sometimes the critic shows up: “This should be easier by now.”

The perfectionist may follow: “Every curl needs to behave.”

The overwhelmed part might whisper: “I don’t have the energy for all of this.”

And then there’s the playful part: the one who remembers that wash day can be a whole vibe. 🫧✨

Instead of judging these parts, try meeting them with curiosity. What is each one trying to protect? What does each one need?

Slow down while you detangle. Massage your scalp like you’re reminding your body, “I’m here.” Breathe while your deep conditioner works its magic. Let this ritual be about more than definition, moisture, or length. Let it be a way to return to yourself: and remember the woman beneath the hair.

Your crown deserves care. So do you. 👑

Download the free 3-Day “Don’t Get It Twisted” Journal on Payhip and explore your hair journey from the inside out.

What part of you tends to show up most loudly on wash day? 💭

Maybe we’re on the cusp of another natural hair movement. 🌱✨

This time, it may be less about proving your curl pattern: and more about caring for the whole woman beneath the crown.

Density. Porosity. Scalp health. Nutrition. Stress. Self-image. The emotional layers underneath it all.

Because your hair is not a test you have to pass. Your beauty is not a pattern you have to prove. And caring for your crown can be an invitation to care for your mind, body, and spirit, too.

The next chapter of natural hair feels like self-love from the roots up: learning your hair, listening to your body, nurturing your joy, and releasing the pressure to look like anyone else’s version of “natural.”

That’s the sweet spot where behavioral health and natural hair meet. 💜

What has your hair journey taught you about YOU?