A couple of months ago, I was washing my hands in the sink at work and my co-worker Rhonda walked in. It was a Monday and we were discussing what we did with our weekends and the latest on her teenage son, who was now working his first job. I shared that we all did the usual: Darius hung out with friends after working all week, Nia had choir practice and Layla had dance classes. Sunday was devoted to Hair Day, the early morning and afternoon ritual that involves our daughters washing their abundant crowns of hair, one waiting her turn and de-tangling their coils as I sit on the couch, plant her sister in front of me, pick a movie (or three) and blow-dry, moisturize and assemble their curls into twists. I remember showing her images of their fresh hairstyles and watching as Rhonda stood back and seemed to regard me with awe. “Oh wow Lorrie, you’ve got me over here ’bout to cry,” she whispered. “A lot of mothers these days just drop off the kids at the salon, they don’t take the time to do it by themselves. Those girls of yours are lucky, that’s an act of love.”

Her words stuck with me ever since. Before she walked in, I was ruing my sore wrists and flexing my cramped fingers, grumbling about the hours of “turn this way” and “put your head down.” But Rhonda’s observation took the focus off the aggravation and instead, made me recognize the intent behind it. Layla and Nia have both been blessed with varying textures of thick coily hair and from birth, I have wanted them to celebrate its unique beauty. That’s why I was so thrilled to see Matthew Cherry’s short film, Hair Love, recent earn an Oscar nomination for the Short Film category.

If you haven’t seen the animated feature yet, type in Hair Love on YouTube, for the six minutes and 47 seconds of preciousness: a young African-American girl bounces excitedly out of bed, takes off her sleeping bonnet and out springs a voluminous cloud of curls. Her father watches her try hairstyles by watching DIY videos, and then when he tries to help, her hair exerts a fighting will of its own and he walks away defeated…..until he hears mommy and vlogger remind viewers that “you can make the journey with a little bit of work, and a whole lot of love.”

Following her patient instructions, Dad puts in work and the happy pair go visit Mommy to show off the results in the emotional finale. Beautifully illustrated by Vashti Harrison and the short film directorial debut by football-player-turned-film and TV director, Matthew A. Cherry, he recently spoke to ABC’s Good Morning America about what motivated the project: “…. I was coming across a lot of viral videos about African American fathers that were doing their daughter’s hair. They were going viral. Obviously because they were cute, but it really seemed like it was [framed as] an anomaly [for black men to spend one-on-one time with daughters doing their hair]. I just know so many young fathers and oftentimes they get a bad rap, so I just wanted to really showcase a strong black family unit and show that many dads are present in their children’s lives.”

Hair Love, which was adapted from a book by Cherry and Harrison, is not just a sparking dash of diversity in yet another year of #OscarsSoWhite, but a tender portrayal of a girl who is loved and in turn, loves herself, from the tips of her toes to the top of her billowy black hair. Do our super-curly locks take more work? Sometimes. Is it just as beautiful and worthy as any other hair type? ALL the time.