Throughout Women's History Month, starting today, a new weekly series called The Hair Tales will highlight black women's personal stories about their hair. The series, created by writer and image activist Michaela Angela Davis with a creative team made up entirely by women of color, will feature prominent figures like actresses Regina King, Kim Coles, Tasha Smith (in the first video, above), as well as Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, writer and producer Mara Brock Akil, and other women discussing the different ways in which hair played a role in their identities. "I'm most inspired by the beauty, ingenuity, and creativity of Black women, and our hair is a metaphor for all of that." Davis tells ELLE.com. She partnered with celebrity hair stylist Dickey of Hair Rules, whose consultations would always have clients end up in tears or hysterical laughter. "I knew this was a thing, like the Vagina Monologues but about our hair," she says, "It's full of drama, love, tension, oppression, history, liberation...all good story-making elements."

Amidst media coverage about Sandra Bland and the Charleston church shooting, Davis explains, "Stories around Black women have been so hard. So painful. I wanted to create some stories that will bring Black girl joy." The series also celebrates Madame C.J. Walker, the first self-made female millionaire in America who created products for Black hair, whose legacy continues with a new product line launching in Sephora this month. 

"Hair Tales will affirm the Black girls, inform the non-Black girls, and delight all the girls," Davis says, "I hope it does what all good stories do, connect people, delight people, educate people. The more we know about each other the faster we will evolve. It is important we archive our stories. We are our stories."