hmmmm...
I don't think it's right to say we dress for ourselves. Our dress and the way that we wear our hair and the way that we wear makeup sends out messages to others in society. We wear uniforms to help others identify us as being qualified in certain professions or belonging to certain religions and ideologies e.g. police, firemen, doctors, healthcare professionals, shop clerks, bodyguards, soldiers, staff belonging to a certain company, students belonging to a certain college or school, adherents of certain religions, adherents of certain cults and ideologies. We mostly don't dress for ourselves. We mostly dress for other people. Our dress sends out messages to other people in society. We have to take these messages into consideration when assessing the way that people respond to us and also when judging whether or not their response is justified/valid.
People are not used to afro hair in this country. People who wear afro hair draw attention to themselves. This attention should not be negative, but inquisitive, unless of course the hairstyle is not suitable for the environment that you are in, in which case their response may be justified negative. For example I do not think wearing long afro hair is suitable in a surgical theatre for practical reasons. Otherwise a negative response may not be justified.