For many people, caring for Afro hair can feel complicated. What products should you use? How often should you comb it? What's the best way to take down braids? And why does it seem to tangle so easily?

World Afro Day ClevelandCosmetologist, Afro Hair Science educator, and author Ladosha Wright, who owns Reverence Design Team Hair Salon in Cleveland Heights, wants to help answer those questions—and have some fun along the way.

Wright is bringing World Afro Day Cleveland back for its third year on Saturday, Sept. 19. The free, family-friendly event will run from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Community Garden, 3535 Central Ave., at the corner of East 36th Street and Central Avenue.

The event is part of the 10th World Afro Day, which takes place today, Sept. 16. The annual world celebration was founded by Michelle De Leon, a former television producer and journalist in the United Kingdom.

Wright chose to hold Cleveland's celebration on Saturday to make it easier for people to attend.

More than just a hairstyle
For Wright, the day is about much more than celebrating a hairstyle.

"Afro hair is not something you can just talk about—you really want to get people in it," she says. Wright says attendees won't just hear about Afro hair care this weekend. They'll work with their own hair and learn practical techniques from professionals.

Participants at World Afro Day Cleveland 2025.This year's theme is "Your Hair Is KNOT the Problem," a play on the knots and tangles that can make Afro hair seem difficult to manage.

"What we aim to do this year is to really explain the phenomenon of why the hair tangles," Wright says. "And then we're going to teach them how they can manage their hair."

Three workstations will focus on everyday skills: how to comb Afro hair, how to take down braids and how to clean it. Hair professionals will offer demonstrations, and attendees can take home combs, clips, and hair-care products.

The goal is to give families tools they can actually use at home. "Just like real stuff that they need to be able to manage their hair or prep them for a salon or a barber shop visit," she says, adding it’s especially important for families trying to make hair care fit into a household budget. "Barbershops and salon visits can be a little costly, especially if you're on a budget.”

Always an outreach worker
Wright's interest in teaching Afro hair care grew out of her career in outreach as a social worker. She says she saw how little information many people had about caring for Afro-textured hair when it wasn't chemically altered.

"So, I opened up a salon to really teach people how to take care of their hair," she says.

World Afro Day Cleveland 2025.Her commitment to education has continued into her work as a cosmetologist. World Afro Day Cleveland, she says, is part of her way of giving back to the community.

"Since my career started off as outreach worker, I always say, ‘once an outreach worker, always am outreach worker.’ I can't get rid of it."

The event also gives Wright an opportunity to push back against what she sees as oversimplified narratives about Afro hair — including the idea that "natural" hair requires little care.

"The word ‘natural,’ it kind of makes you feel like you really don't have that much to do," she says. "Like a garden that doesn't require tending to all day, every day."

Her message is simple: Afro hair requires care, just like any other type of hair.

"There is no such thing as carefree hair," Wright says. "You know, there’s not when it comes to natural hair."

She also wants people to move beyond the sometimes-confusing language and categorization surrounding hair types. "They try to classify it like 4C and 4A and that's very confusing for the consumer," she says. "It's just too much. It's very overwhelming."

The right stuff
Instead, Wright says, she focuses on three things: "The right products, the right tools, and the right techniques."

Participants work on styling afros at World Afro Day Cleveland 2025.Wright says World Afro Day also gives her a chance to talk about the history and diversity of Afro hair and the many ways people have styled, altered, and cared for it across generations.

"We just have to give the public all of those narratives," she says.

She points to the history of hair care and styling as evidence that changing or styling Afro hair isn't necessarily about rejecting one's racial or cultural identity.

"People were exchanging ideals," Wright says of this history. "None of it was colonialism."

She says science is a way to cut through some of the assumptions and misinformation that surround hair.

"We like to use that type of science to just kind of calm people's neuroses,” she says, “and then they can get down and focus on what they need to focus on—which is actually, what does this hair [need for] care? What does this fabric require? What do I have to do with it?"

Learn and have fun
World Afro Day Cleveland will mix that education with plenty of celebration. Along with hair-care demonstrations, organizers are planning music, poetry, line dancing, chair massages, community activities and giveaways.

Dress for Success Cleveland is expected to participate, and RevAir—a Macedonia-based company—will provide a prize for Cleveland's Biggest Afro Contest.

There will also be plenty of hair-care products to take home.

"We have a plethora of giveaways," Wright says. "And there's enough to give away to a couple of hundred people."

A family affair
"Of course, this is for the entire family," Wright says. "So if they want to take some to their cousins or something, or if they have more than one child, there's enough [giveaways] for them to take home, for the entire family."

As winner of the 2025 Cleveland's Biggest Afro Contest, Lady Ciera received a RevAir.A local young entrepreneur, Cerenity's Lemonade Stand, will also be part of the event, adding another grassroots element to the afternoon.

"It's truly, truly, truly, like the epitome of a grassroots community event," Wright says. "And it's for the entire family."

Ultimately, Wright says she hopes World Afro Day Cleveland helps people become more comfortable with their own hair—whatever that hair looks like.

"We want them to see all of the diversity and see what the hair can do," she says.

Additionally, she also says she wants people to leave with something more useful than a new product recommendation.

Wright wants to ensure everyone had the right products, tools, and techniques. "As long as you have those three, you're going to be good.”

World Afro Day Cleveland on Saturday, Sept. 19, runs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Community Garden, 3535 Central Ave., Cleveland. The event is free and open to children, teens and adults.