You might not know her title, however the putting work of self-taught hair artist Elisabeth Anayes Niouky is actually turning heads.
Niouky, primarily based within the West African nation of Senegal, crafts trendy African hairstyles for editorial picture shoots, style reveals and superstar appearances. She has labored with magazines together with Dazed, and Afrique Noire, and produced eye-catching styles for celebrities akin to Malian music legend Oumou Sangaré.
Thanks to Niouky, Senegalese magnificence queen Camilla Diagne walked onto the stage on the Miss Universe pageant in Thailand final yr carrying her hair towering excessive above her head in a lion’s mane-inspired afro sculpture — a departure from the straight wigs or extensions typically chosen by Senegal’s previous contestants.
Niouky’s TikTok videos, displaying her styling course of for each extraordinary hair sculptures and extra wearable braids or afro styles, obtain a whole lot of hundreds of views and feedback, and thru her work, Niouky leads a rising motion, inspiring women to embrace their natural hair texture in a rustic the place it’s not all the time celebrated.
She says that in West Africa, lengthy, flowing, clean hair is the present “beauty standard,” with wigs, weaves and chemical straightener all common.
It is a typical notion amongst Senegalese women that their natural coily hair is “unprofessional” or “unfashionable,” Niouky informed NCS.
“Salons here will ask you to use product to change your hair texture (and) make you feel bad for having natural hair,” she stated.
In 2025, Niouky formally based the Afro Babies Movement, her on-line following of women embracing African-rooted hairstyles. A yr earlier, Afro Babies began out as a collective of associates — stylists, photographers and fashions — showcasing natural hair and posting their photoshoots on social media. But it grew into one thing greater.
“Every day, we received messages from girls who wanted to join, to be part of this space, to be seen. And that’s what confirmed for me that this needed to grow beyond us,” she stated.
Through illustration of African hair and styles as trendy and trendy, Niouky says she is “encouraging (women) to really come back to reconnect with their natural hair and their natural beauty.” Even when she makes use of extensions, she ensures they are textured or braided in ways in which honor the “rich history of ancestral hairstyles.”
According to Kandace Chimbiri, British Barbadian writer of “The Story of Afro Hair: 5,000 Years of History, Fashion and Styles,” braids, twists and dreadlocks will be traced again to historic Egypt.
To many, the afro coiffure as an emblem of resistance is synonymous with the Black Power motion of the Sixties, however Chimbiri presents a reminder that what we now name afros is solely carrying Black hair naturally, a method that’s been worn “since the first people with this hair type appeared on Earth.”
American journalist Lori L. Tharps, the co-author of “Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America,” stated in pre-colonial African communities, hairstyling was “important to signify your status, your role in the community.” Hair might talk if you happen to have been mourning, married or going to warfare.
This modified with the arrival of colonialism, Tharps stated, explaining that whereas hair’s significance remained, its language was corrupted by White supremacy. Black hair turned one thing to be tamed to keep away from discrimination.
“We are all needing to get back in touch with pre‑European‑contact African relationship with the hair,” Tharps stated, “where it is revered, where it is lovingly cared for.”
Growing up in Thiès, Senegal, Niouky stated she would quietly observe her mom — a braider who styled shoppers’ hair at house — whereas practising on dolls. Niouky later started braiding hair to fund her grasp’s diploma in supply-chain administration, however ultimately, styling hair reworked into an artwork, one thing she felt known as to do.
“Even when I’m sleeping, my mind is still working and visualizing,” Niouky defined. “When I begin to bring it to life, it feels natural.”
Niouky makes use of wire, glue, thread, and even metallic mesh from the ironmongery shop to obtain her boldest appears. Being self-taught means she has no set technique — she may use a plastic bottle inside a consumer’s hairdo to help a towering, sculped afro, or conceal a wire inside braided hair extensions to maintain the form of a removable hairpiece.
In the US, the natural hair motion was pioneered by American civil rights leaders akin to Angela Davis who wore her hair natural as a type of resistance and Black pleasure. The early 2000s and the introduction of social media noticed exponential development in natural hair pleasure and entry to info through on-line communities, empowering Black women to cease straightening their curls.
In 2019, the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, was handed in California and later adopted in different states, prohibiting racial discrimination primarily based on hair texture and protecting hairstyles in faculties and workplaces.
But in Africa, the chemical straightener, or “hair relaxer,” business remains to be thriving. According to the latest figures from market perception company Mordor Intelligence, Africa and the Middle East accounted for the biggest market share of hair relaxers in 2022, anticipated to be price $928 million by 2030.
“Despite the growing visibility of the natural hair movement, the hair relaxer market across Africa remains structurally resilient,” a Mordor Intelligence analyst informed NCS.
Growth of the African hair relaxer market is slowing regularly, in accordance to the analyst, however utilization ranges stay “significantly more stable compared to North America,” which has seen a pronounced decline.
Tharps attributes Senegal’s delayed adoption of the natural hair motion to the extended results of colonialism — the nation gained independence from France in 1960.
“When you consider it took almost 150 years for the (natural hair) movement to take hold in the USA,” Tharp stated, “it would follow that it would take a similar amount of time for African people en masse to rewrite the narrative of their hair.”
Tharps says globally exported photographs of Black women thought-about stunning nonetheless typically have straightened hair — “Beyoncé, Oprah, Zendaya, Rihanna, Princess Megan Markle, just to name a few,” she stated.
She added that deeply entrenched markets for wigs, extensions and chemical therapies make these choices extra accessible, whereas information of natural hair styling stays restricted.
Niouky herself had chemically straightened hair, however upon pursuing hair artwork determined to do a “big chop” and develop it out naturally. She meets many purchasers hoping to recuperate their hair after years of utilizing chemical substances. “Products are damaging a lot of women’s hair here in Senegal,” she stated.
Beyond damaging hair, studies show chemicals in hair relaxers are linked to an increased threat of growing breast most cancers, which is greater than six occasions larger for Black women. A 2022 study found common use of hair relaxers elevated threat of uterine most cancers.
Afro Babies Movement was formalized by internet hosting an inaugural hair styling occasion in Dakar in October 2025, for breast most cancers consciousness. Partnering with clinics and medical professionals, women realized about prevention and early detection, and have been guided by how to carry out self-examinations. Attendees additionally obtained free natural hairstyles adorned in pink equipment. Niouky hopes to convey her group offline with extra in-person occasions.
In Senegal, folks are taking discover of her work. The Afro Babies Movement was nominated as a Top Female-Led Business — and Niouky highlighted among the many Top 20 Inspiring Women of Senegal — by the 2025 Only Woman Awards, recognizing African feminine excellence.
Clothing boutique Meya Boutique traditionally used fashions carrying wigs however has employed Niouky to model its fashions, and he or she was invited to final yr’s Forum Invest in Senegal, a convention aimed toward overseas funding, to symbolize Senegalese future artistic innovation.
Niouky says that when Diagne wore her hair in an African-rooted model on the Miss Universe stage, it signaled a shift in what hair kind is taken into account stunning within the nation. The unapologetic form of Diagne’s lion-inspired afro in some ways mirrors the Afro Babies Movement itself: rooted in historical past however rising towards one thing new.