Jayla Rhodes

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What are you doing with your hair right now?

Right now, my hair is in braids. I found a picture on twitter and tried to emulate that. It has the little diamond parts--it's fun. In the next few weeks, I think I am going to going to get a sew in with color because I want the same highlights I have now. I’m not manipulating my hair much, but just braids and protective styles.

 

Have you always had your hair natural?

Yes and no. For literally a day, I got a perm. I told my mom that I didn’t like it, and she tried, but I hated it for that two week period afterwards. Besides that one incident, I’ve always had my hair natural.

 

What made you get a perm that one time?

I had long hair, so I would straighten it a lot. It got to the point where my mom would straighten it every two weeks. Then she realized that I might as well get a perm since I straighten it so often, but I got it and did not like the way it looked. My mom just thought it was the best decision when it wasn’t.

 

Why didn’t you like the perm vs the regular straightened hair?

I liked the thickness of when my hair was straight. When I had the perm, my hair was so stringy--it didn’t have any volume. That was the main reason. It didn’t look right. I had a look in mind, but it ended up so bad.

 

Did you have a transition period after the perm?

It didn’t damage my hair too, too much, so I didn’t need to cut it all off. I just haven’t worn my hair straight in years. I would start wearing it curly and that was my transition period. I didn’t have a big one where half of my head was curly and the other half was straight.

 

Have you always known how to do your hair in its natural state?

I always had an idea, but I didn’t start doing my own hair until seventh grade. I knew how to braid and cornrow because my mom would do it. By that time, I was like I can do this myself because I kind of outgrew the flat twist outs. I’ve been doing it ever since.

 

Have you ever been influenced by this notion of good hair vs bad hair?

Yes, a lot. For me, because I was light-skinned, I always thought my hair had to be a looser curl. It felt weird that it wasn’t. I would always see girls who were slightly darker or lighter than me with really big, curly hair. It was weird because that wasn’t me. She helped me try not to think that way, but it was the little things. My grandmother had hair that was looser, and my mom would always talk about how she loved my grandmother’s hair. I would follow in that same path. It's not that I didn’t like my hair, I just believed that if I had that type of hair, I would be happier. It wasn’t good. Now that I’ve been doing my hair, it's been getting long again. I now know that good hair is healthy hair. I’m slowly getting over it, but once I realized that I had the power to do my own hair, none of that even really mattered. We’re good now and I can try other stuff.

 

You change up your hair a lot, why do you like to?

I like the versatility of my hair. I can have hair that is down to my back one day or hair down to my earlobes if I wanted to. That power to switch it up like that is fantastic to me. I also am interested in different colors. Being able to do that without damaging it is fun too. I like the experimental aspect of it. I can do a lot without damaging it. I also like the process of doing it, it's always very calming to me.

 

Have you always enjoyed the process of it?

Not really. When I was little, I used to be tender headed; so when my mom would sit down and do my hair, I never wanted to sit still. When I started to get into middle school and older, I began to enjoy the process because of the way it made me feel.

 

Why do you think hair is so big in the black community?

We’ve had hair for forever, but it’s been passed down in a sense though. I’ll see historical things on instagram that say braid designs were used as maps, and all that is cool, but I think it's important because there is so much we can do with our hair. Not to bash anyone else, but there are only so many things you can do with straight hair. There is such a spectrum of what we can do. There is so much creativity, and it is so communal. In families, it is a thing where the people older than you braid your hair, and you might braid a sibling’s hair. It has always been a thing of community. That is something important to me.

 

How has your hair shaped your identity as a black woman?

Especially in the past five years, a lot of it has become a lot bigger of a thing. For me, it's something I take pride in. It's something I can change to reflect how I am feeling. But over the past five years, the natural hair movement has grown. It's like how it was in the 70s. It is something that holds a lot of power and weight in your identity. I know a lot of people that feel too attached to their hair, so they want to cut it off. I’m feeling that too. It's something that is so important, that I might be thinking it is too much. I want it to be apart of me, but it shouldn’t be. I’m working on it, but I feel that it needs to be perfect all of the time. Once I realized that I had other options, I felt that my hair always had to be together if nothing else was. Other times, it is frustrating because not everyday is a great hair day. When my hair isn’t looking right two days in a row, I begin to think that there is something wrong with myself. Being able to disconnect from that is important. It's not good for my mental health. I’m trying to find a good balance between the two, so it's not something I’m obsessed with.

 

Why do you think black people feel the need for their hair to always look good?

We’re always held to a standard where we have to be exceptional all the time in order to be accepted. This is true even in our own communities. For girls at my old school, if their hair wasn’t on point, than there was something wrong with you because you didn’t take care of yourself. For boys, I can only think of if they don’t get a haircut or if their hairline isn’t straight. I feel like it isn’t bad because it helps us, but it gets kind of vain. I don’t know why, but I don’t think if it's good or bad.

 

What music do you listen to while doing your hair?

I have different moods: sometimes straight Beyonce type stuff that is just belting. I’ll be in my bathroom for hours on end sometimes. I’ll have trap or chill like Daniel Caesar. Or straight singing. It fluctuates between the three. It's everything really! Except country…

 

Hair icons?

A lot of people I see in my everyday life! Erinma, let me tell you something right now, she’s a hair icon! People like that who help a lot. People on my explore page. And, to be quite honest, myself! There will be times when I’ll do my own hair four times in a day.

 

FYI: Jayla is my hair icon!