Cameryn Burnette

Houston, Texas | Hair Type: 3c/4a

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So what are you doing with your hair right now?

Currently, at this moment, I have it half-up, half down. Then I have two littleーthese aren’t even technically space bunsーso two little puff balls. It's just out in the back. I recently cut my hair shorter, so that I didn’t have to deal with it as much. It was pretty long when it was stretched all the way out and went down to my chest when it was straightened. So I cut off 3 inches, which is a lot when you consider shrinkage. It’s been fun trying to figure out how to work with my new hair length. It was also the first time I got my hair cut while it was curly. It was the first time I had been to a curly salon where they will style your hair while its naturalーI usually have to straighten it first. So that was fun because I like to have my hair natural. I don’t really like to straighten it, and I don’t have too much experience wearing it in protective styles.

 

Have you always had your hair natural?

I’ve never had my hair relaxed ever, and I don’t really straighten it regularly. I typically only straighten it when I get it trimmed, or when I was younger when we were traveling because it was easier to deal with it. But now that I am old enough for me to do my own hair, its easier for me to manage it while it’s curly because I know how it works.

 

You seem very familiar with your hair, how did you learn how to do your own hair?

If you are a person with my hair type, I would say do not play around with your hair because it will play you! My mom combed my hair for me for a long time for me. At that time, I wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing, but in middle school she made me learn. She taught me how to do it myself: how to wet it first, how to put enough product in it, telling me to start combing from the ends, and helping me with which combs to use. It took me a really long time to learn how to actually part my hair in a straight line, but I can do it now with the help of multiple mirrors! I haven’t learned how to cornrow or three strand twist yet, but I can do a twist-out and bantu-knots.

 

Was there ever a time where you desired to not have your hair natural?

When I was younger I would ask my mom to straighten my hair more because I wished I had straight hair. For me, I don’t think it was about adhering to beauty standards. So, it was pretty short lived because I realized how versatile my type of hair. I think it helps that I went to school with people that looked like me in my younger years. I had that foundation prior to going to a PWI. The black women in my family also never exclusively straightened their hair, so I had a lot of positive imagery. It also helps that my parents kept me from TV and media during my formative years, so I was never raised around a system of aesthetics that didn’t include people that look like me. The characters in books and my dolls looked like me.

 

How do you typically style your hair?

I go to a PWI, so I am pretty hesitant about styling my hair. I did twists one time to school and then people told me that they were ugly, so I was like, “I’m not about to do that again!” It wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. I finally wore my Bantu knots to school this yearーthey looked good and the parts were too good for me to take it out immediately

 

Can you tell me about some of the comments have you received about your hair?

They’ll ask if I can move my hair because they can’t see around it. No one directly says your hair looks unprofessional, but I get weird comments. One time we read an article in class and there was a comment in the article that said hair like mine was unattractive because it looks like a person was shot by lightning. The people in my class agreed with the statement in the article and said hair like mine should be slicked down at least. So in general, at school, there has been a lot of hair touching and weird statements. Like, additionally, people feel the need to compare my hair to some weird object for texture like noodles or some sort of animal fur. They’ll also say I look like The Weeknd when I just have my hair in a puff which doesn’t even make sense because he had dreads. I don’t really get that with my black friends.

 

Do you think where you’ve lived (Houston) has influenced your hair care?

Being in Houston, there is a large black population, so I do have my curly salon where I can get my natural hair done easily. But, I have to be really careful because some salons will fry your hair. I have been turned away from a salon because they told me that my hair was too ethnic…? So if you’re a hair salon owner, learn to do multiple textures of hair…

 

Typically, how long does it take you to do your hair?

So I wanted to test how long it would take for me to part and style Bantu knots. It took me 1.5 Black Panther albums, and I’m mean the actual score, not the one that Kendrick Lamar made (2 hours and 22 minutes!). My hair came out pretty bomb.

 

Hair Icon:

Solange and Kelela!