FORT MYERS, Fla. — For many years, it was legal to deny someone a job or send a student home from school for wearing their naturally curly hair.
In many places, it still is.
But there’s a growing movement inspiring people to wear the hair the way they want.
Inside Beauty, Braids, and Beyond you’ll find curls, locs, twists, and, of course, braids. You’ll also find a group of women who, for their own reasons, decided to embrace their natural hair.
“I started going natural [in] 2018 when I was pregnant with my first son,” stylist Tessa Paige said.
“I was tired of perms,” Jacquie Matthews Williams said. “I was tired of getting up 30 extra minutes in the morning. I just… was tired.”
“It stopped me from being the best minister I could be,” Velma Black Smith said of straightening her hair, “because I could not be the person who I wanted to be.”
What you won’t find in the salon are chemical straighteners, creams commonly known as relaxers used to permanently change hair textures from curly to straight. That’s because salon owner Monique Smith decided to phase them out completely.
“A year ago, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer and in losing my hair,” Smith said. “They say a woman’s hair is her crown, [it] kind of took me to a different era to where I didn’t want to put any more chemicals in my hair.”
One appointment at a time, she and her team of stylists welcome people in and take them on a journey.
“Holding their hand and walking them through the natural journey, I tell you, sometimes it’s been tough in that chair,” Paige said. “There’s been tears. There’s been “I don’t want this style! Just give me a relaxer!” No, it’s better for us to do this natural hair journey.”
Better and easier because across the country, lawmakers are working to protect people from experiencing discrimination for how they choose to wear their hair – something that was accepted and expected not that long ago.
“I remember in Catholic school when they were teaching us how to do things to prepare for a job,” Matthews Williams said. “And it was always stressed about, especially when it came to African-American girls about having our hair straightened and always neat.”
That history is still felt heavily today.
“They don’t know how detrimental it is to a little girl,” Smith said. “To tell her that her hair is nappy, that her hair is a distraction.”
So far seven states have passed versions of the Crown Act, legislation that says you can’t discriminate against someone for their hair texture. Florida is not one of the seven but there’s growing support for natural styles.
“I think people are gonna see more of the natural hair,” Matthews Smith said. “So I’m loving it, to see our people on TV that looks like me, people that look like you, you rocking your natural hair.”
“It teaches us that we don’t have to live according to what society says that we are,” Smith said. “That we have to straighten our hair or we have to wear weave.”
It’s a new era for the hair industry, one that Smith says she is thrilled to help people navigate one style at a time.
“And how long will it last? I don’t know,” Black Smith said. “But please, people, take advantage of it.”
“For me, it’s just saying that we’ve matured, we’ve gotten to a place now that we’re unapologetic,” Smith said. “That our hair, this is me, accept me for who I am.”
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