At a young age, Nigerian-born hair and beauty influencer Adanna Madueke could tell that the texture and style of her hair wasn’t welcomed in some places.
“I was only 6 years old when I first learned my hair was a problem,” she says in a recent video on her Instagram page. “They called it unkept, ugly, unprofessional.”
It’s a relatable experience for many people of African descent around the world. Notably, in the U.S., 19-year-old Darryl George lost a federal lawsuit against a Texas high school that suspended him for wearing locs.
To counter hair discrimination like that and raise awareness about the beauty of natural hair textures, organizers behind World Afro Day will attempt to set a Guinness World Record on September 15.
“One day, one voice at a time,” Madueke, who’s helping to promote the campaign, says.
The goal is to have 100,000 people from around the globe watch a three-part video and take short quizzes about the history and beauty of what organizers call afro hair. It’s not just about the round, vivacious hairstyle as we know it in the U.S., but the full spectrum of natural styles perfected by people of African descent, including braids, locs, coils, and twists.
With worldwide participation, the event could launch a new category for the Guiness World Records: biggest cultural awareness lesson in 24 hours.
“We’re here about our whole hair expression, our identity, our freedom, and all the beauty and ways in which we wear it,” says Michelle De Leon, who founded World Afro Day in 2017.
A History of Hair Empowerment
Each year since creating the awareness holiday, De Leon has led various initiatives around natural hair empowerment.
In January 2025, the London-based journalist went before the UK Parliament to advocate for equal hair protections in schools and workplaces. She and her team will once again head to Parliament to push for legislation in the UK like the CROWN Act which outlaws hair discrimination in 27 U.S. states.
In 2023, De Leon released the Workplace Hair Acceptance Report, which surveyed 1,000 decisionmakers and CEOs in the U.S. and UK.
“We found that 1 in 3 company decisionmakers would actually deny someone a job with their afro hair and then give it back to them if they straightened their hair,” she says.
Many reported favoring Eurocentric hair styles.
“But if we keep conforming to that, then it’s never going to change,” she adds. “So, we have to say, actually, our hair is good enough for us first.”
To help reinforce that pride, World Afro Day hosts education events like the Big Hair Assembly at UK schools and provides free awareness resources for educators.
“If you get to them young, hopefully you’re giving them that new perspective and that opportunity to live a life loving their hair and not struggling with their hair,” she explains.
Instilling Pride Online
If successful, this will be the first Guinness World Record for biggest cultural awareness lesson in 24 hours. However, there have been other record-setting awareness campaigns.
“If you create any kind of resource online, then it can reach thousands —- you can literally reach the whole planet,” De Leon says. “We can really speed up the change that we want to see.”
To participate in the Guinness World Record attempt, visit the World Afro Day website on Sept. 15, 2025, and watch the videos within 24 hours. They will be released that day, starting at 5 a.m. ET.
“It’s time for the world to hear our story,” Madueke says in the promotional video. “It needs to echo in every room that we enter.”
