Galaxies swirl. Atoms spin. All things in the cosmos operate in
spiritual motion — a spiral movement, that is. A curl, if you
will. Eyebrows raise at the sight of these natural affairs. The
terrifying force of a tornado. The otherworldly twirl of a
whirlpool. The coarse and kinky, nappiest strands of negrohood.
What was once seen as the good, the great, godly textures of
ancient eras long gone, has now been rendered second-rate,
second-hand, undesirably bland … that is the undulating nature of
Black hair. As Black authors Ayana D. Byrd and Lori L. Tharps
harrowingly declare in their collective "Hair Story," "When you believe you're inferior you're much easier to
control."
The mechanisms of mass programming, white supremacist propaganda
and the ideological imperatives of industrial capitalism have
historically worked overtime to put forth these fabrications. It
is no mystery that Black hair, for hundreds of years, has been as
brutalized as Black people. Hardly trimming away at our own
treacherous mis-education, we stay stuck, entangled in despair, in
deception, so entrenched by the detriments of a
spiritually/spirally deficient society, divorced from the
realization that our hair in its most fine, most natural state is
divine. As Black author
SuZar
puts it, "hair is the receiver and transmitter of divine emanation
it makes you receptive to spiritual forces."
Our hair — the highest part of the body — is holy, speaking wholly
to our soul, the universe and dimensions beyond. The stories of
old, of
Samson, of
Medusa, those told by the
Rastafarians
and the
Afrikans
of the Nile, could not deny the numinous nature of the nappy. As
Numbers 6:5 utters, "he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of
the hair of his head grow." We know, now, the evolutionary basis
for tight curls, as Bill Bryson describes the body, "being the
most efficient kind because it increases the thickness of the
space between the surface of the hair and scalp allowing the air
to blow." Though the earliest of peoples were right to think that
these kinks and curls unfurl into something greater than mere a
biological buffer. Our hair is an antenna. Its spiral energies,
swirling at great speeds, indeed, acts as a magnetic mechanism for
spiritual ascension. And the cultivation of these coarse spirals
surely grants one growth in their spiritual facilities.
How else would a people enslaved, abused and brutalized, tortured
and tormented, mistreated and beaten find the means to see and be
beyond material circumstances? The collective spirit of Blackness
is one that defies such impossible odds. This is a spirit that
moves towards harmony, remains rich in rhythm and valiant in
verve, unmoved by the matrices of mass control, the white power
structure and Western hegemony. And nowhere better is this
extraordinary persistence exemplified than in the hallowed hairs
of Black people.
Fade in on
The Black Hair Series. Hello! It’s time to dutifully de-condition. Moisturize our
soul. Reclaim the harmed parts of ourselves that, once healed,
make us whole.
Our mission was to create a body of work that showcases the
multifaceted nature of Black hair and how hair journeys differ
across hair textures, styles, skin tones, ethnicities, genders,
sexualities and all walks of life. We sought to do an
investigation on how Black hair interacts with our intersecting
identities, conflicting standards and stereotypes, virtues and
vices, as well as material and spiritual perspectives. In the
process, we formed pertinent bonds with our many participants,
barbers and stylists.
In the late fall of 2022, we conducted photoshoots, video shoots
and interviews with 16 Black students at the University of
Michigan to learn about their personal hair journeys. In addition
to this, we interviewed 2 barbers and 2 hairstylists based in the
greater Detroit area to learn about how they came into their
careers of treating and tending to Black hair.
This project has been an eye-opening, hair-raising process for the
three of us, marking the compilation of hours upon hours of
interviews, hundreds of gigabytes of photos and countless number
of days spent designing and developing our final product. We are
ecstatic to finally be able to share it with you all.
So… take some time to explore the website! (Eric Lau
didn't spend a week developing it for y'all not to!) It is the
culmination of all the content we've produced over the course of
three months. On this page lives the stories of our models,
barbers and stylists. We hope their words resonate with you
forever as you dive, spiraling into the mystifying phenomena that
is Black hair.
Peace and Blessings,
Udoka, Karis and Akash
The Models.
interviews by karis clark
photos by akash dewan and udoka nwansi
Karis Clark
Karis Clark
Describe your hairstyle for the shoot.
“I got a fade like right before the shoot. Probably two hours before. I was ready. I try to get a fade about every two weeks. Listen — I’m in college and I'm tryna express myself and feel comfortable. There's something about that shaved part of the head that just looks crispy.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“Sometimes I look in the mirror and I’m like ‘Damn, I’m dark!’ Then other times I think that I’ve gotten super light, especially in the wintertime,” Clark said. “I think I have medium-tone skin so it’s always fluctuating.”
Clark recounted that it was hard to enjoy having 4C hair growing up because of the mass programming and condition that favors Eurocentric beauty standards for hair. “A big part of loving myself, my body and my hair have come from my spiritual identity and path,” he said. “It’s about having a connection to God, the Source, and everything that is. It helps me break down a lot of that collective programming.” He points out that Black people play a role in upholding these standards, saying, “These (white beauty) standards are enforced by white society but I also think we as Black people also enforce them heavily too amongst ourselves.”
How does your hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
“Nothing about me is straight,” Clark said. “My face is like asymmetrical as hell. And so is my hair, too. When I would do braids I found that my left side would be bigger than the other. Coming to terms with my body is realizing that symmetry does not have to be valued. There’s power in owning something that is not necessarily a standard. If you believe that you’re not a bad bitch then you’re not going to be a bad bitch. A lot of what makes a person attractive is not even about their appearance — it’s more about their personality and (their) inner light that shines through the soul that makes them magnetic.”
Being healthy has been a recent priority for Clark: “I’m also still very conscious about my body too. In the last year, being physically fit has been really important to me. As a performer, it is important because I’m being perceived on a mass scale a lot. I try to uphold ideals that are important to me. I also try not to focus on things that can’t be changed. I think my hair texture — it’s something I could change but I don’t wanna change it. There’s something beautiful about that thickness.”
How do the politics of identity and desire inform how you perceive your hair, and how might we transcend their imposing detriments?
“The Black U-M population is more wealthy than the average Black population in the U.S. and since there’s such a small number of [Black students at the University], we hold each other to a higher standard when it comes to hair,” Clark explained. “Since doing this project, I’ve felt more like myself and more presentable when going longer periods without my fade just because I wanted to see how it felt. It helps me just focus on other things.”
Clark said sometimes we become too focused on our hair: “We are so judgemental of ourselves way more than anyone will judgemental of us. We spend too much time in the mirror and they’re not even an accurate depiction of how we actually look. We place value judgments but we don’t have to. Sometimes you just gotta take something as it is. What we deem desirable heavily stems from what we’ve been conditioned to deem desirable but you don’t have to adhere to that condition.”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st Century?
“I’m not too good with entertainment media because I don’t partake in a lot of it. I definitely wanted to get braids though because many icons had them,” he laughed. In terms of retail, Clark said he thinks it is much easier to get products because of Amazon. “However, you don't really know what you’re gonna get (from online vendors) ‘till you get it,” he said.
Clark talked about the shift in barbershop culture as a lot of the booking experience has become digitized: “Before, you used to have to be loyal to your barber. Now, there are apps that can connect you to a new barber in seconds. You don’t really have loyalty. It’s like a dissolution of community because of that.”
Clark continued the conversation, specifically referencing the role social media plays in the standards of upkeep that we hold our hair to. “With social media people are only putting their best selves on there,” Clark said. “You go to somebody’s page and the pictures are all of them on only their best hair days, which is deceiving. Social media has warped our sense of hair in that way.”
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
Clark said that healthy Black hair is about finding a style that works well for you and learning how to properly maintain that style. He said that it’s important to choose a look that makes you feel good. He also noted that patience is an important virtue in the process because cultivating a signature style takes time. “Haircare is important because the body is a part of the soul and exists as a piece of your higher self,” Clark said, “and how you take care of your hair impacts how you perceive and interact with the world, seen and unseen. You have to take care of it in a way that is manageable and healthy.”
He said he believes that comparison to others can come from a place of insecurity for the purpose of getting an ego boost. “Compulsion and contrasts happen because a lot of times we live in this mind matrix with a false sense of separation because we have these egos that we want to hold onto and when we feel insecure about our hair we might want to go and compare ourselves to others,” Clark said.
How does your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I get a load of comments — first, being dark skin, people don’t expect us to have long hair,” Wilson said. People are often surprised she hasn’t permed her hair. Being adopted into a Mexican family and having spent time around lighter-skinned Latino people, she says she’s received comments, both positive and negative, on her dark skin and the big size of her hair.
How do the politics of identity and desire inform how you perceive your hair, and how might we transcend their imposing detriments?
“Black women are always held to a standard that our hair has to be immaculate all the time,” Wilson said. “I feel confident in my afro hair and that’s fine, but I also feel alienated when not taking part in the bundle culture. I think I get sectored off as a certain type of Black woman. People will think my hair is a statement — like Black Power. When it’s really just me being me. I could be the same as the girl wearing the bundle and people will look at me like I’m Black Panther just cause I have an afro and she doesn’t.”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st century?
Wilson said she believes that while this increase in globalization has been good for accessibility, it has also made Black culture easier to manipulate and appropriate as a byproduct. “It can be really degrading in that we’re shamed for the things we do, but they’re also glorified by consumerism and cultural appropriation,” Wilson said.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we, or should we care about our hair?
“Whatever routine works for you and makes you feel and look good. We should care about (our hair) more and emphasize that not everybody’s path is the same. I think it’s important to create an understanding of Black hair in that it can be way more individualized.”
“For the shoot, I did a wash and go, and I strategically did it two days before,” Brown said. She says the third day after washing is consistently her best day. When getting ready, she made sure to pick out her hair as much as possible while still retaining curl definition so that her hair could be as big as she wanted it to be. “When my hair is natural, not in braids, I basically exclusively do wash and go’s,” Brown said. She described her wash day routine as starting off with a mask for the body of her hair and with oils for her scalp. This way, it’s easier to detangle and reduce shedding. She then washes with shampoo and conditioner, followed by Jamaican castor oil, tea tree oil, water, leave-in conditioner and gel. Finally, she gathers her hair in four sections with rubber bands. When going to sleep, she puts on a bonnet.
How do your own hair(styles) and perceptions of Black hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
“My hair is definitely the most important aspect in me feeling beautiful,” Brown said. She said she believes Black hair is the most beautiful hair a human being can have because it is the most versatile. “We can do anything with our hair; it just takes more time or energy. The extent of what we can do with our hair is pretty unbelievable in comparison to any other phenotype of human hair.” Brown admitted she didn’t always think this way, though. When she was young, she detested the aount of effort it took to maintain her hair. However, over the years, she has confidently come to feel otherwise.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Brown said she believes her skin tone and hair texture to be her most defining traits as a (Black) human being. In her nuclear family, she has the darkest skin and the kinkiest hair. Although Brown still sometimes struggles to love her hair, she has unlearned the tendency to dislike something about herself that she cannot change. Influences like Anok Yai helped Brown accept her skin, hair and beauty. Brown also said she believes her hair has helped her stand out as an actress.
How do the politics of identity and the politics of desire inform how you perceive your hair (and Black hair in general), and how might we transcend these imposing detriments?
There’s been a shift in acceptability in the Black community since the beginning of the natural hair movement when it comes to how we wear our hair. When Brown modeled as a child, she would have to straighten her kinky hair or get hair extensions. Now, however, mentors and potential agents have told her to keep growing her hair and not change it at all. Brown acknowledges the privileges of having very long hair and being natural her entire life, and feels that people with shorter hair but a similar texture might not have the same advantages.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st Century?
Brown said she believes that Black hair is now seen as a new commodity by a lot of companies. As a result, however, she said she believes there has been more visible representation and that this globalization has been mostly positive.
“I’m thinking of Target and TikTok,” Brown said. She alluded to the growing range of Black hair products that have become accessible in mainstream markets over the years. In addition to seeing more products at places like Target, she also believes that Tik Tok and other social media platforms have provided a venue for a lot more creativity and collaboration, increasing accessibility.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we, or should we care about our hair?
Brown said she believes that having healthy hair is a form of self-care. “Even though I slept on my hair last night, not wrapping it up, I know it still feels good. I know it’s clean. I continue to do what I need to do to make it feel good on my head,” she said. She also asserted that “our hair is such a significant part of our lives. Even if you’re bald, that baldness is defining.” Brown posited that it’s been programmed into us as a population to compare ourselves to our white counterparts: “As Black people, we’re praised for our proximity to whiteness.” She said she believes that being free comes from a lack of comparison, maintaining that we must “live in the fullness of what you deem to be beautiful for yourself.”
“I think I had it pretty curly… It might’ve been a little nappy, I’m not gonna lie,” Boothe said, He explained that usually when he gets out of the shower, he just leaves his hair wet and it curls up nicely by itself. He said, “I feel pretty good about my hair. I love my hair, love how creative I can get with how it curls, especially lately now that I’ve been using more stuff in my hair. I like that it’s pretty unique.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Boothe said he believes his curls are beautiful and unique. “I think it’s kind of cool that Black hair is a part of Black culture,” he said, likening going to the barber to getting therapy. When coming to Ann Arbor, he had the challenge of finding a new barber. He used to go to @edwardtcuts on IG. Now that Edward has graduated, Boothe goes to Galaxy Barber over on Stadium and gets cut by Marcus (You’re welcome, Marcus).
How do the politics of identity and desire inform how you perceive your hair, and how might we transcend their imposing detriments?
Boothe strives to not let other people’s perceptions impact how he styles his hair. “What’s so awesome about Black hair is how creative you can be. I feel like our hair is kinda like a canvas — we can do whatever we want with it and (thus) be whoever we want,” Boothe said. “Not that it’s never questioned cause people always be curious.”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st century?
When Boothe was growing up, he didn’t have to call his barber to make an appointment; he’d just show up. Now, he says that you often have to book and pay online. While it is not necessarily worse, he believes that without the wait for the walk-ins of the past, there is less of a therapeutic nature and close connection formed. “The barber just kind of feels like you’re in your living room. Like the barber’s your uncle,” Boothe said. “I feel like every time I leave the barber I’m always learning something. I’m always leaving smiling. I always feel so much better about myself when I leave versus when I come in. It kind of feels like a second family in that everyone can kind of relate to each other.” He tries to get his cuts every three weeks to stay fresh, especially in the summer. He typically gets mid-fades now, but used to get a bald fade. Boothe believes getting a fade has become an essential part of the culture, though he’s uncertain exactly why, other than because it looks slicker.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“Make sure you’re using the right shampoo and conditioner cause not every conditioner shampoo is good for black hair or even made for black hair or even tested on Black hair,” Boothe said. He believes that Black hair is important, since it is a big part of Black culture, and though it shouldn’t necessarily matter, people do perceive you differently depending on how your hair is. “You gotta treat your hair depending on how you wanna be treated,” Boothe said. “The whole world is watching.”
“Braided and curled. It’s braided at the root then you put a perm rod at the end of each braid.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I went through a lot of colorism growing up, and I’m still harboring feelings from that,” Grant said. “Being darker skin and having a thicker hair texture places me lower on the beauty scale (compared to) European standards.”
For a while, she felt like she wasn’t beautiful. “So many times of being told the same thing over and over again, you start to believe it,” Grant said. Now, she said she knows better, and she prefers to be in spaces where she is appreciated. Even though she now knows she is beautiful, she feels that others don’t appreciate her on campus, as the beauty standard at a predominantly white institution favors those of a lighter complexion.
How does your hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
“My goal is to have my hair like stupid big, like I want it obnoxious.” Grant gets excited when she sees other women who have that. She said she feels validated when people give her compliments because of the hard work she puts in. She explained that she gets tired of protective styles quicker than usual because she loves her natural hair.
Grant said she sees herself wearing her natural hair in professional spaces, which historically would not honor her decision. She wants to normalize wearing natural hair for special occasions, and wants to do long twists on her birthday instead of getting bundles.
She said there have been cases where people will have weddings and tell others “well, if you love your friend you’ll just hide your hair,” implying they should not wear it naturally. While this is still a common sentiment, she feels that Black culture is getting more natural hair representation in the recent media that is not just loose curls, which allows for natural hair to be acceptable in more contexts.
How do the politics of identity and desire inform how you perceive your hair, and how might we transcend their imposing detriments?
“I feel like one of the first in my family to figure out how to do it,” Grant said. She noted her mom has been trying to do her own natural hair, which makes her happy, and that she was intentional about coming to college with her hair natural. In certain special situations she might add bundles and braid her hair, but in most places, she simply shows up in her natural curls.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st century?
Grant is skeptical of Youtube tutorials. “Sometimes you see someone who looks like they have similar hair to you, but they don’t,” she said. “You can have similar curl patterns, but your density and porosity are different.” She watches TikToks with girls who seemingly have the same amount of hair with the same thickness, but their hair gets a crazy amount of volume that her hair doesn’t reach, since her’s is more dense.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“Healthy natural hair for me is when my spirals are really giving spiral. When I shampoo it or whatever and it starts to straighten out a bit or you can see through it then I know it’s time for a trend,” Grant said. “Personally, I don’t think you can force the importance of natural hair on anyone. Some people don’t care about their natural hair for convenience. Some think it’s easier to get like a sew-in or a weave-out or those different styles where you’re constantly required to fry your natural hair to blend it into the weave … Sometimes I think about when I grow old, though, and what kind of hair I want to have.” Grant said she’s seen folks who’ve gotten older and their hair isn’t regenerating as fast, since they didn’t take care of it.
“I been waving for about six to seven years for now,” Kerobo said. “I don’t like my hair getting too high cause it takes a lot more effort to keep it clean. For the shoot, I got a haircut right before 'cause I like to keep it short.”
Details on the durag…
To Kerobo, the durag serves both practical and aesthetic purposes. When asked how he feels moving through the world with his durag on versus off, Kerobo said he prefers when it is off, but that it ultimately depends on where he is, feeling less comfortable wearing it in non-Black spaces. Although, he does like wearing it if it matches his outfit. Regardless, he feels durags and other Black hair care coverings carry a stigma, claiming that his parents have had qualms with him wearing them outside the house. “At the end of the day, I choose how I present myself in the space I’m in,” Kerobo said.
How do your own hair(styles) and perceptions of Black hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
Growing up in a culture that de-centers Black beauty, Kerobo said he didn’t originally find his attributes beautiful. Eventually, he was able to break away from those standards. He likes the differences that come with Blackness and enjoys the feelings of joy and happiness that stem from the distinctive nature of Black culture.
“I feel like Blackness, Black people (are) the most beautiful thing that’s out there,” he said. “Having 4C, my hair is really nappy, but (I’m) taking pride in owning that and finding it as beautiful.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I always forget how dark I am until I see it in a picture,” Kerobo said. “Like damn, I’m really Black for real.” Kerobo said he takes pride in this Blackness. When he is in majority white spaces, he is aware of how sharply he contrasts, but these anxious thoughts are always fleeting. “This is the realest form of me,” he said. “I just accept myself and that’s what really matters at the end of the day.”
How do the politics of identity and the politics of desire inform how you perceive your hair (and Black hair in general) and how might we transcend these imposing detriments?
Kerobo recounted feeling like he wanted to be white when growing up. He remembered not seeing himself in beloved comic books or superhero shows, ultimately believing that he couldn’t be who he wanted to be due to the massive lack of media representation. “When that standard is all you know, that’s all you ascribe to,” Kerobo said. He said he believes there is a lot to be unlearned. Kerobo explained he is starting to de-center what is typically deemed as desirable in society, but notes that this decentering is conditional, considering he surrounds himself with a lot of Black people. He wonders if his answer would change in four years upon entering the workforce, when he is not able to choose his community so selectively.
He said he thinks dying his hair feels like defying some gender roles, especially with more feminine colors, yet feels solid enough in his masculinity to do so. Even though he tries to block out and ignore typical standards of what is acceptable or desirable, he said he is still influenced by them from time to time. Nonetheless, he does his best to de-center these stifling standards in order to truly be himself.
What does it mean to be virtuous with your hair?
“Being virtuous when it comes to your hair also means to be virtuous with yourself,” Kerobo said. “Giving yourself the grace, appreciation, time and space to be yourself are all important when it comes to being whole with all the features and aspects to yourself. It’s being able to love yourself in every situation and never let that leave you.”
What are some hair vices you are aware of or find yourself apprehended by?
Kerobo recalled wishing his hair texture was looser when he was younger. In the waving community, he said there are three types of hair: coarse, medium and straight hair, which can be realized by seeing how many waves you get when you brush your head. He said, while he used to wish his hair was straighter, as that is typically viewed as more desirable, he now appreciates the defined waves his coarseness provides to him.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism?
Kerobo said he believes Black people are now freer than ever to choose what style they want and to embrace that style. In regards to the wave community, he said he learned everything he knows about waves from Youtube. “The waving community is a very big community,” he said. “People learn from each other. Content creators teach how they got their waves, the methods and tricks they use, the techniques, it’s very beautiful. It’s like an entire lifestyle that has grown from the platform.” Very profoundly put, Kerobo asserted, “Waves is not a hairstyle you can get done. There’s no shortcut to it. You can’t manufacture it. It’s saved this hairstyle from being consumerist.” Although, he did note that other Black hairstyles, especially for Black women, are subject to more co-optation.
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“Recognize what your hair needs,” Kerobo said. “The products it needs, and the nutrients it needs to be healthy. By healthy I mean it’s firm, it’s strong … when I think about healthy hair … I know my hair is healthy when I feel good.” Kerobo claims we must strive to maintain that “feel-goodness,” but that this takes a lot of trial and error: “Healthy hair doesn’t necessarily look a certain way, but comes with connecting and seeing what works best for your hair.”
“My hair for the shoot was out … it was pin-curled — I just mostly took my curly hair as it was dry, spread a little bit of leave-in, and let them develop a more intense curl,” Skoko said. “I did my edges. I kind of pinned it back. It was coordinated.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Skoko said her hair texture represents her own sense of self in its grandeur and strength. “I feel like my hair has it’s own presence and its own life,” she said. “I think I’m a very living human being. Just a big person.”
In terms of her skin complexion, she noted how the perception of skin tone varies across cultures, stating she believes it to be a lot more emphasized and prominent here in Michigan than back home in Boston. Skoko explained she’s been more aware of her skin tone now than growing up. “The conversation where I grew up wasn’t a conversation of color. It was a conversation of Black and white, whereas the conversation here, in my experience, is more throughout the Black community than Black and white … that also probably has to do with age, growing up there versus being a young adult here.” In Michigan, Skoko observes more nuances defined amongst Black people that take into account skin shade, class, and other statuses beyond just race.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial?
Skoko said she believes there are so many great and tragic things coming from social media. She thinks social media has given great exposure to different hairstyles: “The more you use Youtube and Instagram, the more feasible styles become.” She talked about rising trends such as knotless braids, and now there’s at-home knotless braiders, “Which was not a thing for me growing up … you’d go to to African braiding shop or the neighborhood salon or your mom or auntie’d do your hair, not a person you DMed off of Instagram. There’s so much that’s changed within the Black hairstyling community. And that also comes with more demands of like … you used to be able to get your braids done for cheap and now that it’s everywhere and such a popular style and people are trying new trends and things it’s so much more expensive and there’s so many more demands like washing your hair first which was not how we grew up.”
Skoko said it feels in some way as if there’s been a break from tradition, but at the same time, she is excited by the innovation these shifts have created. Additionally, she noted that there is a sect of appropriation having arisen from this more widespread exposure: “It becomes a question of how good is globalization in terms of exchanging culture?” She said she thinks her understanding of what Black hair is, what it can be, what it takes to take care of Black hair, why it is beautiful and valuable and the ways in which it can be profited off of are all expanding as a result of social media.
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
Skoko said she believes we should take care of our hair and that this can look different depending on where you are in your life, your week or your day. She explained we must embrace what stage our hair is at and how we can serve it accordingly. She said that sometimes even once we’ve identified the needs of our hair we might not be able to fulfill them right away, but having that understanding is crucial to our growth. Skoko maintained that our hair is an integral part of the spiritual process citing the phrase “cleanliness is the closest thing to Godliness.”
“When you’re going to your scalp, when you’re going to the crown of your head, it should be with intentions of care, with intentions of offering strength, a chance for that head of hair to be healthy, to be clean,” Skoko said. “You’re setting a precedent for yourself at your crown so you need to respect and nurture your crown.”
She ended, saying there is so much to learn outside the bounds of our own individual experience with our own hair journey. She encouraged everybody to think about these questions themselves and wonder how they can apply to their own lives.
“Knotless box-braids, about waist-length, and color 30 (brownish-ginger).”
How do your own hair(styles) and perceptions of Black hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
Azu said that growing up, natural hair and braids weren’t something girls were allowed to wear for formal events, since it was not viewed as “professional” or “beautiful.” She attested that she is still trying to move away from this notion and compulsion to straighten her hair for birthdays or special events: “It’s been hard to associate my natural hair with something I can do as a formal or professional thing because that’s the opposite of what I’ve been seeing my whole life.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Azu discussed her apprehension to wear her natural hair due to skewed perceptions of beauty standards and not having seen it as often growing up. “I loved my natural hair and it reminds of my roots,” she said. “I really appreciate it, especially taking care of it more and seeing my curl pattern. It’s been hard to wear it proudly but I do when I have time (to maintain).”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st Century?
“I think you get exposed to a lot of creativity which is amazing,” Azu said. “When people get new hairstyles or try new things with braid(s) it spreads quickly and people are able to copy that.” Azu cited heart cornrows as a new trend that was appealing to her.
Azu also stressed the importance of finding communities online to inspire her hair care: “Youtube tutorials were essential for me in learning how to do my natural hair. Finding people whose hair looked like mine and understanding what they’re doing was really important … though on the flip side of that, it does feel like a lot of pressure to have your hair done. People are only presenting their best selves on the Internet so it feels like everybody is always getting their hair done.” Azu also described finding people to do her hair on the Internet as being a struggle with the inquiry process and online communication being a hassle. “It’s just so hard to find people who provide hair and will wash your hair,” she said. “It feels like I’m doing 90% of the things except for braiding my hair … which is fine, but I think that has moved to the norm, which wasn’t the case when I was growing up.”
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“I think we should care (about our hair) because it’s an extension of who we are,” Azu said. “There’s a lot of history and importance in Black hair. It has a lot of culture behind it.” Azu said she believes healthy Black hair can mean a lot of different things. She explained that health cannot be equated with length. She thinks healthy hair is more along the lines of understanding our hair types and what works for our own hair is crucial in terms of taking care of it. She said going to professional hairstylists can help us learn best practices for our hair in order to make sure it is healthy and not damaged, able to grow and get thicker. These are both goals she ascribes to but maintains are not necessarily requirements to having healthy hair.
“Freeform locs,” Michael said. “I did like a nosedive into having locs about seven years ago and I just stuck with them all this time and just let them do whatever they want … for the shoot, I had like a half bob thing going on, short on one side and then long on the other side.”
How does your hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
“I’m an artist,” Michael said. “I like to experiment with different themes and aesthetics. After growing out a ‘fro for so many years, (I was) motivated to have long locs because I never had hair that (grew) down. I could do things I’ve never necessarily been able to do with a ‘fro. The ability to be creative with my hair extends from that.” Michael said they like putting decorations in their hair like wrapped beads and yarn, which they feel allows them to express their artistic nature. “I also just enjoy the asymmetrical, chaotic nature of my hair because I think it speaks to how my personality is at times and I think that’s really fun,” they said.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I’ve always tried to be aware of colorism regardless of the fact that I’m of medium complexion,” Michael said. “And regardless of the fact that I’m half-Black and a quarter white and quarter Filipino. It is really my hair and skin tone that inform my sense of identity as a Black person … as opposed to (identifying as) a Blasian person or a mixed person.” Michael claimed they are getting in touch with their Filipino identity by learning to speak Tagalog, as well as making connections with other Filipino people, but still strives to be honest with their perception of self as a Black person. “Even though I do have history connecting back to Germany and Scotland as well, I’d say that it really is my skin and my hair and the culture I was more exposed to growing up that has me self-identifying as a Black person,” they said.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st Century?
Michael said they believe beauty standards play a big role in this technological era because there are so many things now that are visual by default. “We live in this era where despite there still being massive issues with racism, especially here in the United States, there are still considerable amounts of people who don’t want things to be this way,” they said. “On one side there’s this boost of diversity — ‘let’s put a really Black-looking Black guy on the front of things’ — sometimes I think in the modern day we see a lot of tokenism. On the other hand, it just gets so oversimplified.” Michael said that “capitalism is trying to sell the concept of Blackness back to everybody else.” They said they feel like a lot of critics of capitalism become silent when they see visual representation, ignoring other atrocities and immoral acts of companies.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“I think our hair is naturally dry so keeping it moist is important,” they said. “Especially if you live in Michigan where the cold is gonna get you every year. Something about moisture is so spiritual. Like the moisturization of hair. The act of moisturizing your hair and feeling it be more fluffy, full, and voluminous.” Michael said he feels as if even when their locs are messy and imperfections are exposed, they still have love for them. They maintain that healthy Black hair care is just about being comfortable and secure in who you are at the end of the day.
Taylor described her hair for the shoot as goddess, knotless braids with an auburn brown color. “This my first time having braids for real,” Taylor said. “Usually, my natural hair takes up a lot of my time. Even this past weekend I was thinking about wanting to deep condition my hair but I don’t have access to my scalp and my hair how it normally is. (My current hairstyle is) new and … I feel like a bad bitch. When she did it I was like ‘Ooh, yes, inches!’”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I’m clearly a Black woman, and I love being a Black woman,” Taylor exclaimed. She explained that each of her five siblings all look different, each looking like their parents but none really looking like each other. She described how one of her sisters, who’s of lighter skin and straighter hair, has had to learn to cope with being labeled as not as traditionally Black. Taylor states she feels blessed how she identifies internally is equivalent to how she’s perceived in the world: “I wouldn’t trade anything for being a Black woman. I’m glad I have the skin tone and hair color that I feel inside.” She feels her brown skin tone has made her want to dye her hair browner, not having had her hair in its natural color since high school.
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care?
“Hair care is different for each person. It just comes down to the question of how you maintain your natural hair to upkeep whatever standard of beauty you want for yourself,” Taylor said. She said she believes you have to first identify what standard of beauty you want for yourself and then discover what you need to do to accomplish that for yourself.
She feels for healthy Black hair, it’s about being tapped into a give-and-take: “It’s like, when I do certain things to my hair, how does it respond? Does it look cuter? Is it more stretched out? Do my ends become dry? What’s the response to different actions that I take … and then the best responses that I get, how can I continue those habits? Kind of like a plant. If I just put it in a dark room, will it grow?”
“I feel like my hair’s been damaged because (I) bleach it a lot,” Williams said. “I love having platinum hair but it’s a lot of damage, so I’m feeling like I miss my brown curly hair.” Williams said they think their hair is recognizable, simple and short, but is always careful when dying it because they feel it might fall out.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I think there’s a lot of luxury and privilege in my skin tone and hair texture, specifically because I’m of lighter skin tone, and my hair, when not wrecked from the havoc of bleach, is like 3B,” Williams said. They said they strive to be aware of the space they take up because of this.
How does your hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
“I am committed to the look,” Williams said. “Tattoos, bleached hair and all.” They said they feel like beauty is always about what’s being true to them: “When you look good, you feel good. Half the battle for me is feeling good.” Whether it’s putting on extravagant outfits, even if they might be “doing the most,” they maintain that every decision you make about your appearance whether conscious or not is a decision and there’s a lot that goes into it in terms of allowing ourselves to express our creativity. “The look right now is London off-duty model AI smooth skin,” Williams said.
How has our increasingly globalizing, technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism in the 21st Century?
Williams said they think there’s been good and bad. They said they think this globalization has exploited Black culture. “TikTok is everywhere,” they asserted. They recounted this trend featuring white barbers who appear to appropriate Black dialects and hairstyles in their craft: “It’s like where’d you learn this, who are you around?” On the flip side, Williams believes TikTok has a lot of people that show how to take care of their hair for people who don’t know how to do it. “The Black alternative women (on the app), so fine!” Williams exclaimed. “Doing all these new hairstyles and getting their own platform for that, and they should be praised for it. It’s good to see creatives doing their thing, and to see the source, you know?” Williams said they think these apps have also sparked dialogues around where things are, and have worked to invalidate the former stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding Black hair. They maintain that technological innovation has done a lot of harm, but appreciate the people it has put on the map.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? What does it mean to take care of your hair? Why should we or should we take care of our hair?
“Healthy Black hair is pouring love into your hair and into yourself,” Williams said. “It’s self-care. It’s like a rejoicement of you and taking care of you. Your hair has so much to do with who you are and tells so many stories. Not just your own.”
“For the shoot I had my hair in an afro” she said. “It’s not a style that I do often, but when I do it I really love it because it makes me feel seen and it makes me feel powerful, like I’m really connecting with myself and my culture.”
How do your own hair(styles) and perceptions of Black hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
Bates said she believes Black women have a lot more stringent guidelines they must follow in order for their hair to be deemed acceptable. “There’s so many times when I’ve seen people with straight hair be able to literally wake up, maybe run their fingers through the hair and walk out the door,” she said. “With Black women it seems like there’s always an expectation of making sure you have your edges done, making sure you’ve slicked back your hair, making sure you don’t have any fly-aways, always having a little bit of gel on your edges. Even within the natural hair movement, which was supposed to really be for Black people to embrace their hair, I’ve noticed there is still a certain set of standards in which your hair can be curly but it can’t be frizzy. Your hair can be voluminous but it can’t be frizzy. It has to be slicked back.” Bates said she thinks these high standards do affect her, because she’s noticed that she takes a lot of time to maintain it in the morning. She said she feels that her hair comes in all different forms and that the success of her styles changes daily.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Bates asserted she tries to recognize her privileges from having lighter skin as much as possible. She recounted an experience studying abroad in Paris last summer alongside another light-skin Black woman from the University, noting the way they were perceived differently there. “(In Paris) as light-skin Black women we tended to stand out in crowds, even sometimes among other Black people,” she said. Bates cited there being times in the past she wished she had had a looser texture, since she wanted her hair to be longer, and wishes she didn’t have as much shrinkage. Though, she attested that, “something about shrinkage I have noticed is that in reality, our hair is never necessarily shrunk. That is just the way it grows out of our head. We should get rid of the idea that, this is how long my hair would be if I didn’t have shrinkage, and almost flip the script so that the state of your hair being shorter and curled is the default.”
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care? And why should we or should we care about our hair?
“Moisture is key,” Bates said. “Moisture is the number one thing. I (also) think a lot of people conflate length with health and that is simply not the case. It’s important to think about the levels of manipulation. You also wanna make sure your hair has some time to breathe, making sure you’re not constantly pulling at it, and straightening it, and heating it, and things like that. Sometimes, you just have to let it be.”
“My hair is long and curly. For the shoot I had it puffed out and afro.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
Elrashid stated that he loves his skin tone and hairstyle and feels it’s unique. “Usually people who are as dark as me don’t tend to have, like, curly hair so I feel like sometimes people kinda look at me and are like ‘what are you?’ ” Elrashid said. He said people question where he’s from. Being from Sudan and having that Arab heritage as well, Elrashid feels it’s a really cool place to be from, even though sometimes he has to explain himself to people.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“I think what can be considered healthy Black hair is really variable and depends on that specific person, their type of hair and their age,” Elrashid said. “I think it’s more mental in terms of dedicating time and effort to the relationship one has with their hair and having a consistent pattern or routine, having a sense of respect for it. As soon as you start to lose that respect that’s when you start to not care and that’s when you can see people’s hair diminish along with their sense of pride.” Elrashid said he feels as if our hair is just as important as our face, our skin tone and other bodily features: “It’s one of the first things people notice. It shows how much you respect yourself in the way you take care of your hair. It’s really important to be proud of your hair and help others do the same.”
“Right now I have Marley twists that are about 16 inches,” Atanga said. “Compared to other twists, Marley twists are a lot thicker, and the hair is closer to 4C hair. They’re thicker without having more strands, making it more lightweight. I have some of my hair pulled back then the rest of it down.”
How do your own hair(styles) and perceptions of Black hair fit into your own broader ideals of beauty?
Atanga said she believes her hair completes her outfit. She tries to wear clothing that will compliment her hair, since she spends a lot of time getting it installed. She exemplified that for the Voice Program, she’ll typically put her hair in a bun which she’ll accentuate with pearls or a monochrome dress.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“I’ve always been appreciative of the type of hair I have which is 4C, cause at the end of day it really is very versatile,” Atanga said. “If I want straight hair I can put heat (on) it and have straight hair, if I want braids I can get braids because my hair is strong enough to hold and maintain (them). I’m always appreciative of the variety of things I can do with my hair. And I don’t know what’d I do if I didn’t have that flexibility.” Atanga said she believes her hair is pretty dark in relation to her skin tone — she said she’d expect herself to have a more brown color. Her last hairstyle was a T27 or T30 color, which she felt complimented her skin color much more. She said she feels like she is often perceived in a dark way, feeling like darker hair can have a more intimidating vibe. She said people come up to her and give her more compliments when her hair is brown, but now that her hair is blacker, she hasn’t received as many compliments.
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism?
Atanga said she believes there are good and bad parts to this technological innovation. She said that it has allowed people all over the world to take care of their natural hair in a way they didn’t before. She explained, “All the people in Cameroon making fun of me in the 2010s, they’re all natural now.” Atanga discussed how celebrities are also wearing their natural hair more often now as well, pointing to the globalizing nature of the movement. She brought up the drawbacks of how natural hair products are often owned by companies with white CEOs.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“What constitutes healthy depends on the person,” Atanga said. “There was a time when everybody was getting perms, now everybody has natural hair, now again, people are starting to shifting toward perms … but I think it really just depends. If you can have your hair in a way that feels comfortable and you’re taking care of it in a way that you want to and not how society tells you, then that’s what’s healthy. Not everybody can do what’s trendy or what’s happening now based on their circumstance. Nobody should be judged for wearing their hair a certain way.”
“Bad bitch,” Mathews said. “To me, when I have my braids in it just feels so culturally beautiful. I think about African gods. All these gods embody certain essences and I feel like with my braids I’m possessing masculine and feminine energy at the same time.”
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“At the end of the day your hair is your hair,” Mathews said. “There are certain styles I can’t do based on my skin tone.” He referenced how there’s certain styles Zendaya will do that he claims he’s never seen before on a light skin woman. He said he thinks skin tone and hair texture often coincide but don’t always complement each other in that hair can be manipulated whereas skin tone remains the same.
What does it mean to take care of your hair? What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“To me (hair-care is) a form of self-care, meditation, relaxation and processing of what happens in the day,” Mathews said. “I think healthy Black hair care depends on the texture and what works for you. For me personally, it’s washing my hair once a week, trying to always detangle it, and also just giving it the things it needs. A lot of Black hair is very coarse and dry and can lead to breakage. So using specific oils and serums. Especially in the winter, hair can get really dry and brittle … we should care for our hair because when thinking about those who came before us. Our ancestors didn’t have the tools we do now. So I’m not just wearing it on behalf of myself but for those who came before me. For Black people specifically, it’s a way of rejoicing in the possibilities within hair.”
“I had the crown of my head in criss-cross rubber bands, and the rest of my hair was out, full and curly,” Grayson said.
How do your skin tone and hair texture inform your sense of self?
“My skin tone and my hair is what makes me Black,” she said. “My facial features don’t necessarily reflect all Black features, so I feel like having curly hair and melanin is what makes me identify as being Black.” Grayson said she is glad she has this sense of connection to her Blackness, especially coming from mixed heritage.
How has our increasingly globalizing, technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair?
“I learned how to do my hair through YouTube,” Grayson said. “I think that was a great benefit. I didn’t have the resources or representation around me. My hair is different from my mother’s, different from my Black grandmother’s, so I had to turn to my own resources to figure out what my hair needed. The internet was a great place for me to broaden my reach and view people who had similar hair types as me. At the same time I think there’s a sense of loss of the personal connection Black hair has historically had when it’s all digitized. I think there’s a lot of value in learning to do your hair directly from somebody and having that cultural connection in person rather than watching a random person online. I think there’s benefits but there’s also drawbacks.” Grayson explained that a lot of the influence she gets for hairstyles are from TikTok, which she believes is great inspiration. She said she wants to get these braids in copper color next, which she discovered on the app. She said she feels it is fun to explore styles she might not see immediately around her. “I also think the hair industry, the curl product industry, is picking up, which also creates room for people to create these ridiculously expensive products when really the core of what Black hair needs is natural, nourishing products (coconut oil, cocoa butter) which shouldn’t be that expensive,” she said.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we or should we care about our hair?
“I think healthy Black hair is a lot of things,” Grayson said. “It’s taking care of your hair in the way it needs, which varies greatly depending on the type of hair you have, depending on porosity and all that. Ultimately, giving it the nutrients it needs. The rest it needs. Not constantly manipulating it. Putting it in protective hairstyles is great for health, letting it exist and be. Giving your hair the love that it needs, listening, and being responsive to it. We should care about our hair because it’s a part of us. It can say a lot about you, so the care you give to it can reflect that as well. But also give yourself Grace. Take care of it but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. I also think we’re at a privileged point in history compared to our ancestors. Not everyone had the privilege to wear their hair freely, and take care of it, and style it the way they would like to, so I feel like we should really take advantage of having that ability to do so for those who couldn’t.”
How did you become interested in doing other people’s hair?
Wright learned how to braid herself at the age of 5 after practicing on her baby doll. She then taught her cousins how to braid as well.
After her mother said she would stop paying for her consistent hair salon visits, Wright was driven to learn how to do hair professionally. She started serious styling seriously in high school as an apprentice to her aunt, who was a professional hairstylist. After a while, she was able to do silk presses and touch-ups by herself. By junior year, she was working in her aunt’s salon as an assistant. There, she was tasked with shampooing, conditioning and coloring the hair of clients.
In the salon, her aunt taught her the basics of doing Black hair and the etiquette within the salon when dealing with clientele. She learned how to protect clients’ hair and take care of them properly.
To make money, she decided to do other people’s hair. Her personal stylist journey began with doing her hometown friends’ hair in Chicago. “And you know, we from Chicago, we got a certain look and a certain style that we like to wear our hair in,” Wright said. She said that the way she and her friends wore their hair informed the styles that she wanted to perfect most. When Wright came to the University, she wasn't sure what to do with her hair, as her aunt was virtually the only person touching her hair for seven years. Without a known hairstylist, she had to rely on herself to do her own hair. At school, she expanded her skillset, frequently doing sew-ins, quick weaves, ponytails and braids. Her clientele also broadened outside of just her hometown friends to people she knew at school.
“My slogan became, ‘You name it I can do it,’” Wright said.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we care about our hair?
Wright said she believes that it’s always important to treat Black hair with tenderness. In her sophomore year of college, Wright did a “big chop” and decided to go natural. From this point on, she took a more protective route when styling herself and her clients, wanting to promote hair health and growth.
Wright said she wants her clients to learn how to take care of their hair themselves, so she tries to incorporate tips on haircare maintenance into her styling appointments with her clients. She values the rich history of Black hair, noting that certain tribes would wear their braids to indicate their origins. To Wright, upholding the prestige of Black hair is extremely important. “We have to take care of the crown that’s on top of our heads because that’s what our hair is,” Wright said. “Crowns.”
Wright also said she believes hair care is a form of self-care, that it is a necessity for Black people even if it looks different for everybody.
“Hair is like our skin – have to take care of it just as much as the rest of our bodies,” she said. “However, we also have to give ourselves grace. No one has the perfect hair routine. But if you not feeling like yourself, I bet if you do your hair you might feel a liiiitle bit better.”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? What are the affordances and drawbacks of Black hair operating under late-stage industrial capitalism?
Wright thanks social media for the increased awareness surrounding Black hair care — all that she’s learned about natural hair came from the internet. She is overjoyed that wearing natural hair has become much more popular amongst Black women in recent years due to the natural hair movement. She also appreciates that newer Black stylists have been encouraged to work with as much speed as possible when it comes to completing styles. Wright said that styles that would have taken seven to eight hours to do are now being done in around four hours and sometimes even fewer.
However, she expressed her disdain for the vast number of unprofessional hairstylists that have saturated the industry. “I’m an old-school stylist at heart. These new-age stylists have been driving me crazy!” she exclaimed with a laugh. “They overcharge with no license, don’t have proper PPE equipment and play into the ‘fast life’ that social media portrays, which causes people to not care about the quality of their hair.” She explained that such stylists only care about if the hair looks good and if it’s long, as opposed to the actual health of the hair.
Wright prides herself on maintaining old-school standards when it comes to her clientele, which is why she offers consulting services to all new clients to understand the client’s hair history to know how to better execute the desired style.
“I believe in sticking to my style but keeping up with the new age of things too,” she said.
What have been some of the biggest challenges in your styling career?
Despite her love of styling, Wright admitted that the job could be frustrating at times. After a period of feeling discouraged by difficult clients, pressures of social media and new-age stylist culture, Wright said she felt driven away from doing hair.
“I had to grow tougher skin through the industry,” she said. “I’ve had to deal with difficult clients and people who feel overentitled to my time.”
Wright said she was able to pull herself out of this rut by remembering that hair is her biggest talent. Every time she was at a low or in a financial hardship, doing hair was always the thing that brought her out of that. Wright quickly realized that she hated the styles she was doing. Specifically, she said she hated doing braids and no longer desired to be known as a braider. Now, Wright said she would consider herself a natural hair stylist. Locs, natural hairstyles and weaves are her specialties these days.
This realization also drove a rebranding of Wright’s hair styling business, transitioning from being known as a braider to a natural hair stylist. She even changed her business name from TeeStylist to TeScenTials. With this rebrand, she also said she had to broaden her audience.
“After doing hair while at college I’ve come to learn that broke college students can’t help other broke college students (financially),” Wright joked. She started off as a stylist for college students but now also markets her services toward the general public and targets slightly older age groups.
Where do you see your styling career going in the future?
In addition to attending the University, Wright is also in cosmetology school, intending to graduate from there in 2024. After graduation, Wright plans to open salons in Detroit, Chicago and Houston. She said she wants to hire employees and give younger, upcoming stylists the opportunity to work in a professional hair environment and get experience in quality styling, similar to the mentorship and creative freedom that she was provided by her own aunt. “I want to give them the space and platform to live out their stylist dreams,” Wright said. “I want to pass on the torch.”
In the long term, Wright hopes to retire from hair at some point within the next 10 years and focus on managing her salons. She also hopes to launch her own product line, which will consist of Black hair products that will promote healthy haircare and is interested in opening a beauty bar to give a platform to Black hairstylists, estheticians, barbers and therapists.
Ultimately, Wright said she aims to build a hair empire that will extend far past just styling hair.
“Unless I have kids, I will not be picking up another comb unless I’m getting flewed out to Dubai to do a celebrity’s hair,” Wright laughed.
While we await the construction of her Black hair empire, if you’re looking to book a session with the incredibly talented Taliyah Wright, this can be done through the website for her hair styling business, TeScenTials.
“My mom always secured my hair but not really my natural hair, if that makes sense,” Blevins said. “As a toddler, I had twists and berets. Then as I got a little older I was always getting perms and getting my hair hot combed. In middle school, I was getting a silk press every two weeks because my mom made sure my hair was done. My mom took care of my hair, but not my natural hair.” As she grew older and tried to begin wearing her natural hair out, Blevins said she became frustrated with the damage from her mother’s care.
“When I saw other girls my age wearing their natural hair out, I tried to do the same and I found out that my hair was incredibly damaged,” Blevins said. “I had heat damage all the way down to the end of my shaft. I thought my hair was the ugliest thing in the world.”
During the era of the “big chop,” Blevins said she transitioned from middle school to high school and from permed hair to natural hair. Despite deciding to take the steps towards healthy, natural hair, Blevins still had trouble letting go of her hair, even with how damaged it had been.
“We have strong attachments to our hair, sometimes to the point where it’s unhealthy,” Blevins said. “And I couldn’t bring myself to cut off all my hair. I was literally transitioning for four years because I couldn’t let go of that length.” On top of her attachment to her hair length, Blevins noted the pressure she received from her family as well. “They would tell me, ‘Your hair is beautiful and long! Don’t go cutting it off.’ But it wasn’t healthy, though. So I didn’t cut all my hair off — I would just let it grow and then do a little trim and I did that with no heat for four years until my hair was fully natural.” Since Blevins’s hair became healthy, she only gets silk presses once a year, usually for her birthday.
How did you become interested in doing other people’s hair?
After going natural, Blevins said she realized she had to learn how to do protective styles to learn how to take care of her hair. After learning how to perform these styles on herself, she said she became interested in doing hair for other people in college because she couldn’t find a hairstylist in the Ann Arbor area that specialized in affordable ethnic styles like locs and twists. “Faux locs and twists I found were good for college students because they last,” Blevins said. “Then I figured that I had to share my knowledge with the girls. I would teach them how to maintain their length and keep their hair healthy.”
After hearing from fellow Black students at a Zeta sorority event, she said she found motivation in knowing that many other Black girls on campus were searching for a hair stylist that does locs, passion twists and Senegalese twists. From this event, Blevins found her two first clients and created stylign-related content to post on her social media. She was very eager to get clients in her chair after she began doing hair. “And I even made goodie bags – I gave the first five clients to book with me Forever 21 gift cards,” Blevins laughed.
What is healthy (Black) hair care? Why should we care about our hair?
“It’s finding a regimen that works for your hair,” Blevins said. Blevins emphasized the importance of a good hair regime, focusing on finding good conditioners, oils and shampoos. She said that social media influencers often push an agenda that doesn’t account for how different everybody’s curl types are.
“Always sleep with your ends tucked,” Blevins advised. “A lot of Black girls think they have short hair but they just not retaining the length. If you’re not wrapping the hair at night, putting oil on the ends and getting routine trims, then your hair is literally splitting at the shaft and you’re losing that length. And people always wonder, ‘Why is my hair not growing?’ It’s not that it’s not growing it’s just not retaining the length.”
Blevins said she believes that hair care is significant because the styles in which Black hair can be worn serve as a form of expression. “And our hair is so versatile,” Blevins said. “We can rock a ‘fro one day and braid down to our knees the next. It’s really our personality. And it’s something you wanna take care of because it’s like your lil’ baby.”
How has our increasingly globalizing and technological world impacted your hairstyles or perceptions of Black hair? (Celebrities, entertainment media, social media apps, YouTube tutorials, digitalization of barber/salon contact information, amazon/online product access)
“Our advances in the technological world have definitely improved Black hairstyles,” Blevins said. “However, our influencers, especially the ones that do wigs, convinced people that it’s the best protective style for us because you can wear a braided wig or a twisted wig while keeping your own hair braided underneath. But it doesn’t really allow us to learn how our natural hair works. If you want to learn how to style your natural hair then you shouldn’t follow every influencer on the internet.” She also said she feels that social media posts about Black hair don’t represent the time that goes into completing a hairstyle. “The process of posting hair online makes it seem faster than it is,” she said. “You’ll see a 10 second reel on Instagram or a short TikTok and think that’s it. There’s a lot that goes into it. It might take several hours just for one style.” She also noted that the culture of online booking for hairstyles has removed a lot of the human interaction between stylists and their clients.
“I like booking sites because they’re efficient but they don’t allow you to provide personal details about your hair,” Blevins said. “Digital booking sites are not human-centered. They’ll just say ‘If this is the style you want then this is how much the price is’ and that’s it.”
Blevins said when she launches her site she seeks to ensure that her clients can tell her more about their hair before doing their styles.
Blevins said that on a positive note, “YouTube and TikTok have really helped the girls out. We know about so many new products and styles now. TikTok will give you tutorials down to the nail, which has really taught us a lot.”
Getting products online makes things more accessible for Blevins nowadays. “You don’t always have to run to the beauty supply nowadays, you can get it on Amazon for much cheaper and your product will be delivered in a day or two,” she said.
What is the relationship between Black hair and perceived socioeconomic status?
Blevins prefaced by saying her own views are relatively unbiased because she understands that the styling of Black hair and apparent socioeconomic status often don’t correlate. However, she pointed out how this correlation operates in the outside professional world. “From a professional perspective, someone might look at a (Black person) with 4c kinky hair and associate them with a lower socioeconomic status because the hair is kinkier,” she said. “But the truth is most of the time, their hair is being taken care of. It’s just that it’s different from what another ethnic’s group might look like when their hair is taken care of.” She acknowledges the other side of this spectrum as well.
“But if someone sees a woman with pressed hair, they might automatically think she’s of a higher social status,” Blevins said. “They’ll say ‘Oh, she has class. She takes care of her hair well.’”
“I noticed this pattern (in the professional world), so to counteract that, I wear my natural hair to higher-status events,” she said. Blevins notes that she’s inspired by other Black women that she sees wearing their natural hair to proms, weddings and job interviews. “I wear my natural hair at graduations and in a lot of job interviews,” she said. “Especially in job interviews because I don’t want to work in a place where people see my natural hair and think ‘She’s unkempt.’ They think of it as having no respect. And I have a lot of respect for myself and my hair. You just don’t understand the chemistry behind the hair. It actually took a lot to get it like this.”
She talked about a client she had who wanted long, blue passion twists and was preparing for an internship in Seattle. “And we all know how Seattle is,” Blevins laughed. “She DM’d me three hours before my appointment saying that she no longer wanted the blue passion twists and wanted Black twists instead that wouldn’t go past her shoulders. And of course, I would do whatever style she wanted, but I asked her why she no longer wanted the style. She said she had an internship in Seattle and was the only Black intern there. She didn’t want them to perceive her as ‘ratchet’ or ‘ghetto’ because of her hair. I was just shocked at how (Black people) have to change our hair because of what we think we might be perceived as. She had been wanting this style for months. It was really sad and I felt bad for her. Fortunately, she came back a month later and got the blue hair, though.”
What have been some of the biggest challenges in your styling career?
“Creating styles that lasted the time that I intended them to,” Blevins said. “And to all my clients who stuck with me … Thank you. Because when I first started out, I would spend six hours doing faux locs. And then a week later I would get DMs (on Instagram) saying ‘My locs or twists fell out.’ And I would get so discouraged 'cause I swore I was doing it right.” Blevins said these instances almost made her quit doing hair entirely.
“I didn’t want to keep making these girls pay,” she said. “And I would offer their money back and even offer to come back and re-do their hair for free. My biggest challenge was learning how to make my styles last.” Blevins said she invested in a lot of different types of hair extensions and styling gels because different hair types require different products.
Blevins said fitting clients into her work and school schedule was difficult as well. “I’m a part-time intern and a full-time student trying to do hair on the side,” she said. “But I knew there weren’t a lot of stylists doing locs or passion twists in the Ann Arbor/(Ypsilanti) area.” She often receives clients who are looking to get their hair done on short notice.
“Sometimes I’d get a client who says ‘I need my hair done within three days because I have an event,’” Blevins said “I have a lot of empathy for my clients so I try to fit them in (to my schedule) whenever I can because I know how hard it is to get your hair done out here. And I had to learn that sometimes you can’t do a client or sometimes you have to say no to preserve the quality of the service.” Blevins asserted that she didn’t want to rush a style and not have it turn out well. Another frustration as a hairstylist was dealing with disrespectful clients.
“Customer service was also a challenge for me because I faced a lot of rude, rude clients,” she said. “I had to learn that even though we are the same age, I realized that I need to have patience and respect for the client.”
She also said her career as a stylist has permeated into other aspects of her college life, especially in a social sense. She found that her friends would be asking for hair appointments even while at parties and events. “People would come up to me at parties and it’s never ‘Caira, how are you?’ It’s always, ‘When do have appointments available?’ ” Blevins laughed. “Like I’ll literally be running my hands through peoples’ hair at functions.” She continued to say that it could be difficult sometimes to create boundaries between her social life and her work because her career as a stylist often permeated into other aspects of her school life as a stylist with a clientele predominantly made up of fellow students.
How has your relationship with hair changed in college? How have you adapted?
Blevins said her relationship with her hair began to change her freshman year while living in Bursley Residence Hall. She recalled that washing her hair in the community bathrooms was not sufficient for her hair’s needs. She said she believed that the water there was drying out her hair and wasn’t truly cleansing it either. She also said that living in a residence hall didn’t allow her the space she needed to set up her equipment and do her hair. Blevins adapted to this issue by doing faux locs – it was a style that would last long without requiring too much maintenance on hair natural hair.
“Plus, I was on North (Campus) with no car so I was isolated from most of campus as well as any stylist or store I could buy beauty products at,” Blevins recalled. “So I used to have to take the bus to get my products.”
Blevins said that it wasn’t until she moved to her current apartment that she could come back to doing her usual natural hair styles. Being on Central Campus more frequently encouraged her to wear her natural hair out a lot more often, noting that fellow Black students inspired her to do so.
“People don’t realize Black UMich got some culture,” Blevins said. “We know how to wear our hair!”
Where do you see your styling career going in the future?
“I’ve really been hoping to open a beauty supply store (somewhere in the Metro Detroit area) in a location where Black products are less accessible,” Blevins said.
Blevins mentions that the bus station from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti doesn’t work very well, as she learned from experience. A bus ride to the beauty supply would take roughly an hour and a half as opposed to a 15 minute drive from campus. Accessibility is a very important matter to Blevins, so when she first started driving on campus she frequently found herself taking Black girls on campus to the beauty supply store.
“I’d drive girls that I’ve never even met before to the beauty supply store in (Ypsilanti) to help them get their products because they had no other way to get products for their hair,” she said. “All we have in Ann Arbor is Sally’s Beauty. What do they have there for us? They don’t sell extensions there. They don’t sell faux locs there.”
She also noted the discrimination that she often saw while shopping at beauty supply stores in her hometown. “Growing up, I’d never seen a Black-owned beauty supply store,” Blevins said. “It was mostly Chinese (or other East Asian) owners in my area and we would always get accused of stealing.”
Blevins stressed the importance of having beauty supply owners that have a holistic understanding of Black hair. “We need owners who are educated in our hair types and what styles work for our hair types,” she said. “Owners who can recommend their customers products based on factors like hair texture and porosity.” She said Black hair influencers on social media often influence their followers to believe that the products they use will work for all hair types.
“A lot of people assume that they can walk into a beauty supply store, buy a product they saw on TikTok and assume it’ll do magic on their hair,” Blevins said. “Then when it doesn’t work they assume they don’t have good hair, when really they just don’t understand the chemistry of their hair.”
Caira Blevins can be booked for her hair services on her Instagram page, CairaBStylin’.
“So what happened was my dad was cutting my hair,” Kennedy said. “Back then cuts was $10. But he wasn’t cutting taper or fade. I wanted to look like everybody else look, you know? So I started messing with the clippers, and it was something that I liked. I liked being able to make a crispy line-up.” Kennedy said he likes the enthusiasm of the barber shop atmosphere, the conversations sparked and experiences made. He went to barber school in 2019, driving from Ann Arbor to Detroit every day to train. He explained barber school give you the basics of cutting, shaving, cutting different textures and skin types. Kennedy said he liked barber school in that there’s a network of shared interests formed. He said he believes the school is more of a forgiving, training atmosphere, whereas in the shop people want it done right. Kennedy explained when starting out it’s necessary to cultivate a strong work-ethic. He stated that when starting out there’s a lot of self-conscious, self-doubt at first: “Is this gon work? Am I doing this right?”
Kennedy stated that once you get one or two clients you start getting into the rhythm of it, getting better with ever dut. “These clippers will put you in rooms you never thought,” he said. “They can give you opportunities. They brought the shop) together.” Kennedy’s ultimate goal is to get a shop, and he plans to work toward that by continuing to grow the brand and his skills.
How’d you describe your experience in the shop?
“It’s the first shop I’ve worked in and I’m glad it’s been a success, cause some guys bounce around four, five times before they find a shop,” Kennedy said. “It’s a real thing where people go into shops and it don’t work out. You’re not compatible with the people around you.”
Kennedy talked about having to cultivate his skill level in order to make his cuts acceptable as a necessity in order to protect the brand. He said he believes a good environment, the culture and the standards you set contribute to compatibility within a shop. “If you just go about it and let anything fly, that’s what yo shop turn into,” he said. “If you want an upper-echelon shop, it gotta be on point … cause people go around and share their experience and leave reviews. This shop like second-to-none cause we might kick it and still get work done. That’s one thing I’m still working on … some barbers, they can run they mouth and then, ‘ok boom, I’m behind on my cut now.’ Some barbers don’t like to talk. I can fall in both … at the end of the day, you coming into get your hair cut, and at some point a relationship gotta be developed. If not, you just coming and spending your money.”
Kennedy stressed the importance of establishing authentic connections with clients. “You never know what people going through, and a haircut can change a person whole outlook on their day,” he said. “Make a person feel good about themselves. That’s why I like to do it. You see that smile on people face and boom, you boost they confidence by 101.”
What is your creative process like when cutting?
Cutting hair is second-nature for Kennedy. He explained he often zones out during a cut, entering “a whole different space, a whole different world.” He said to him, he enjoys doing the work because he gets to hear different perspectives and opinions throughout the day.
How’d you go about servicing different identities at your shop?
Kennedy talked about the necessity of being able to cut all textures. He said he believes being able to cut folks of different cultures makes you a more versatile barber. “If you get one person (from a culture), you can get like five, cause that one will tell like four, five others,” he said. Kennedy further emphasized the importance of staying educating and up to date with current events in order to meet the needs of a diverse set of clientele.
“There’s two answers two that question,” Taylor said. “I fell in love with the barber shop as I kid cause I got infatuated with it. Spending so much time getting to get a haircut, developing an appreciation for it. I got serious wanting to become barber when I got older, and when I got to high (school) — I’m the second oldest of six boys and my mom is a single mom and so I remember not being able to afford to have a fresh cut for school pictures. I was thinking ‘what can I do to fix this?’ I wanted to come self-sufficient.”
Taylor said barber school in Detroit helped him learn about new perspectives about the history and industry. He also learned microbiology. “It’s just cutting hair,” he said. “You learn how to sanitize the tools, using hospitable grade chemicals, learning to protect the general public. There’s a whole other side you got to learn about sanitation and microorganisms. It’s more than just cutting.”
His mentality has grown, not been limited, by the profession. Taylor’s happy where he is but still wants to grow. He said he wants to be a shop owner, incorporating other grooming and personal care services, ultimately establishing a wellness center for folks to come and look good and feel good. “You can do so much with a barber license that I didn’t even know,” he said.
How’d you describe your experience in the shop?
“It’s been a family-oriented experience since day one,” Taylor said. “I came in my first week and it felt like a family. We not perfect, but (family) always been our mission. This the only shop I been in and I plan on being here til I decide to my own thing. Keeping everything sanitized and safe. I been to some barbershops where you can’t even have your kids in there cause you don’t know what’s going on.”
Taylor stressed the importance of having a zero-tolerance for nonsense in the shop in order to keep protect the clients and reputation of the shop. He recounted a reading program they had when he first started for young kids to come and get half off their services for reading during the cut.
What is your creative process like when cutting?
“I don’t even be thinking about hair for real when I’m cutting,” Taylor said. “You can cut hair without even thinking about hair. ‘Less you doing something you not used to be doing. I’m pondering about life or all this other random stuff we’re conversing about. When I do run into tricky situations with hair I just think back to barber school.” Taylor’s usually just in the zone until encountering something atypical like how some people have cowlicks and swirls.
“I remember when everyone had the South of France (burst fade) or the Mohawks and I had to learn how to do that haircut cause I hadn’t really done it too many times before,” Taylor said. “It’s all about repetition. Taking it down and slicing it into pieces. When you can simplify it and get that reputation you get to a point where you can really be on autopilot doing hair. I really think more people can cut hair than they know. They just never know if they never try. All it takes it repetition and simplifying it. If you have a good eye for art that’s even better. People should just try it. It’s a trade. You self-employed. There’s freedom and mobility.”
What role do barbershops play in Black (male) culture?
“Barbershops are pillars of the community,” Taylor said. “They’re neutral, universal places where everybody who has hair is welcome. It really is a therapeutic experience. It’s a place for people to talk, and a safe haven for people who don’t really get the time for expression. Even if you not expressing yourself, you getting your haircut and that’s a form of expression. The role it places in Black male culture specifically is pivotal.”
So it seems we’ve arrived at a hairy situation. As centuries of
sorrow, shame and self-hate have placed us densely against the
perdurable odds of a white power structure, hell-bent on denying,
decrying the bountiful, blessings of Blackness. Are we not afraid
to believe ourselves beautiful? To dare, to deem ourselves dark,
and glance ourselves glamorous, not despite — nor in spite — but
because of our deep-rooted divine right to do so? To know so.
Ion really know … though the apprehension which arises as eyes
look in the mirror, mixed at loving what you see, seems to me to
be a maniacal product of mass programming. But don’t worry … they
got a product for that! They say, you too can be beautiful if
you’re stocked full, got plentiful money and time, eternally
assiduous in your efforts to fall aligned with the designated
politics of desire.
So in the morning, we soon bolt, beyond the bloodshot eyes, bound
to bathe in the waters of sink and shower. Gathered at this most
ungodly hour are our most malicious thoughts. The
I musts, I needs, I oughts to do this to my hair, my face,
my teeth, my skin, my body, my mind, my soul so others will like
me, look at me, love me. How do we reconcile the hours above, days
behind and years unwinding down a path of pity, of powerlessness,
of pain? Shall we refrain from refreshing these woes, these hurts,
these split hairs that we wear? I fear any action otherwise would
pale in comparison…
To liberate is to spiral out of control! New developments occur in
utterly perplexing ways. Utterly perplexing waves which come
crashing down, derailing the wretched detriments, the dualistic
tendencies of terror. The many stages of progress exist in the
precious parts braided and braved, this gelled-back journey in
which our world reels whirled. In every instance, we stand,
swirling, meandering in dialectical amalgamation from future to
past. Always ebbing and flowing. But we been knowing this — as
these curled truths unfurled long before… we were conditioned
otherwise. It’s all been there. It’s all been hair.
