The 'Black-ish' actress says her journey to love herself as a black woman is not easy partly because, growing up, it's hard to find the best natural care products for her afro hair.

• Aug 30, 2020

AceShowbiz - Tracee Ellis Ross found learning to love herself as a Black woman "painstaking."

The "Black-ish" star opened up on her journey to self-acceptance in an interview with Kerry Washington for Elle magazine, during which the two women discussed Tracee's haircare line Pattern.

The collection features a range of products aimed at women with curly, coily and textured hair types, and includes shampoos, conditioners and serums - something the star wishes she herself had as a teenager.

"It started as such a personal relationship with my own hair, and feeling like I didn't have the support to find what I needed," the actress shared, clarifying, "Not just in terms of products, but in terms of how to love myself."

"All of the things that I was taught from the media were like, I was supposed to have easy breezy beautiful hair. Bouncin' and behavin'. My hair didn't blow in the wind! All of these things didn't match up."

Tracee launched the line after a server in a beauty store told her, "You don't know the amount of people that come in here with a picture of you pulled out of a magazine and they want your hair. If you were to do a line of products, you'd be a millionaire," and she admitted, "The importance for me in the journey has been encouraging, inspiring, and making space for people to go on that journey with themselves."

"To have the courage to dive into their own legacy of hair as a way to love themselves and be revolutionary," she continued. "It's so hard. It's a painstaking daily journey."

Confessing she relied on a strong support network to get to the place she's at now, in terms of her relationship with herself, Tracee added, "As a woman, and as a Black woman, advocating for yourself is actually a form of resistance. It is how each of us push the world to make sure that the real estate matches the reality of who we are and what we deserve."