Under South Africa’s apartheid laws, a hair pencil test was instituted. A pencil was pushed through a person’s hair and how easily the pencil fell out of the hair determined into which racial group they were classified. Under South Africa’s apartheid laws the majority of the population fell into four main raciall groups ie. white, coloured (people of mixed race), black and Indian.

Many people had themselves reclassified into other racial groups as a result of the pencil test. In pre-1994 South Africa people with ethnic/natural hair were considered to be of a lower class.

Leslin Jones works in the international travel industry and has embraced her natural hair. Jones believes that by transitioning from straightening her hair to embracing her natural hair she came to terms with who she is.

Andrea Lewack owns a salon in Mitchells Plan called Hair on Fleek and caters to clients with natural hair. Many of her clients have decided adopt the natural hair look as it’s affordable and does not require constant chemical treatments.

Candice Fielding is a salon owner and natural hair activist who owns a salon called Boskop Republic in Strandfontein in Cape Town. Her salon focuses on and caters mainly to women who wish to grow and wear their hair naturally.