What are you doing with your hair now? How do you typically style it?
Right now it is currently straightened, in two braids. I straightened it for Boat Dance so that it would be more manageable. Whenever I wash it, I leave it out for a day because after that, I sleep on it, and it's flat. The next day I usually put it up in a puff with gel, or I style it into a low bun with two braids going across the top of my head. It's just easy to do a middle part or a side part with two braids going back, so that everything is laid back.
Tell me about what it's like to do your hair on campus?
I usually go home to get products, and I buy them in bulk. Being a boarder, I find it fun to because there are other black girls on campus who enjoy doing their hair. I can also braid their hair which has given me a lot of practice. I don’t necessarily find it more difficult, but I just don’t have as much time for it as I want to. Because my hair is so time consuming, I typically have just one style for the week. Week to week I try to switch it up.
Have you always had your hair naturally curly?
Yes, but in middle school I straightened it more often, so I had a lot more heat damage. So, in 7th grade I cut off almost all of it--just about up to my neck. I wanted to start over, so I could have my natural curl pattern back. I would always get criticized my mom and aunts. Because of the Dominican Republic’s history of colonization, it has been instilled in us that eurocentric beauty standards are the norm and what we need to aspire to. A lot of my aunts have told me that because my hair is curly, I won’t get a job and that I don’t look professional. It would hurt me before because I love my hair, so it was hard to ignore. Colorism is a huge part of it because lighter skinned people are more preferable in the Dominican Republic. With curly hair being associated with blackness, straighter hair is what is more desired. So, it would let me down sometimes, but coming here to Milton and seeing other black girls with their hair out made me more proud. Now that black hair is a movement, my sisters tell me they love my braids, and it's nice.
Were you mostly influenced by the people around you to straighten your hair or were their other factors?
It was that, it was the media, and some internal beliefs. I wanted to be told that I was pretty especially as a preteen. I wanted to appeal to people even my family because if my family isn’t complimenting me then damn other people might think I’m ugly! Then in the media, soap operas feature white latinos that have straight hair. It was a mix of things.
How has your hair helped you express your identity as a black woman?
Coming to Milton has been a big part of me. People outside of Milton have questioned whether or not I am black. Like I can show them the history books but fine! I don’t need to prove that I am black because I know that I am, but my curly hair has been a marker that has helped me love myself as a black woman. I love that I can do so many different things with it and knowing that my hair is cool has helped me.
What’s are the challenges of having black hair at a PWI?
It’s made me less open to trying new styles. I see really cools styles in schools near here or in the south, but I feel like I can’t try them here without the side-eye.
Who taught you how to do your hair?
I learned by myself through videos. I didn’t know how to braid my own hair until the 8th grade, but no one in my family tried to teach me.
On standards in the black community…
Black hair is beautiful. People need to stop policing, especially in the black community. No one should say that in order to be black or beautiful you have to be this. There should never be this one defining thing since we are such a broad community. I struggle with this being afro-latina; I always have to prove myself. People will say that my hair isn’t curly enough, but are hair comes in so many different types. I always have to focus on my physical attributes to show that I am actually black. All I want to do is embrace my blackness and love myself for who I am. Yes I have this nose and this hair. I may not experience the same thing as darker people or have 4c hair.
What songs do you like to listen to while doing your hair?
So at night, I have to listen to slower music. So I’ll listen to some SZA or Mario or old Chris Brown. But if it's in the day and I am awake, I listen to my spanish music or hip hop.
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Hair Icons?
@Naturally_Curla
