Black Hair Interview with a Professional Stylist

In a world where appearance is everything, hair salons play a vital role in the lives of many women.  For my research topic on hair in the Black community, I decided to interview a close friend of mine, Brandi Booth.  Brandi has been interested in hair since the young age of eight years old as a result of her mother not being able to do her hair due to a heavy work schedule.  She began taking her Barbie dolls, and experimenting with their hair.  After becoming quite familiar with some styles, she began braiding her own hair and adding in hair weaves.  With some experience under her belt, she ended up doing her friends’ and cousins’ hair leading to her getting licensed at the Aveda Institute in New York City.

Since Brandi and I are close friends, I met her at her home in Dearborn Heights over Spring Break.  Due to the economy being the way it is, Brandi has been doing hair in her own home for the past three years.  Upon first entering the home, it looks like any normal family’s home.  It was decorated with pictures of her family, cloth furniture, a few toys on the floor, and dinner sitting ready on the stove; nothing too elaborate since her two year old cousin lives with her.  However once we entered the basement, it was like a totally different home.  There was a set up of hair sprays, oil sheens, hair scissors, flat irons, combs, and brushes on a counter.

To begin the interview, I first asked about Brandi’s thoughts on the debate on relaxed vs. natural hair in the Black community.  She was excited to talk about the debate because she feels that she sits on the fence about the issue.  For her, she likes the versatility of both types of hair so she really can’t say that she prefers one over the other.  However, she does argue that “If Black people don’t wear Black hair, then who else will wear it?”  She thinks that Black hair is unique in the sense that no one else has kinky, curly hair.  I then asked how she manages the curly and kinky nature of Black hair in her home salon.  She showed me more of her hair products.  These products included a bag of rollers of various sizes, and a box of conditioner called Bacoba Silk (her own personal line).  Black hair in its natural state tends to split easily, and can be dried out by shampoos that contain sulfate.  For this reason, “I don’t really apply a lot of heat to hair.  I use texturizers and rollers.  Never a lot of shampoo, but I do use a lot of conditioner.”

We then touched on the Black hair care industry.  We spoke about Chris Rock’s movie, Good Hair, and how important something as simple as hair can largely dominate a culture.  I asked why she thought weaves were so big in the Black community.  It’s important to note that the Black hair care industry is a billion dollar industry.  Brandi looked to me with a concerned face as though she had to think hard about that question.  “Interesting question,” she says.  She believes that celebrities gave way to the demand for weaves.  She also asserts that weave gives you more options.  “You can get curly weave if your hair isn’t naturally curly or straight weave if your hair isn’t naturally straight.”  Weaves also put less strain on hair than other styling options since there is less heat being applied to the hair every day. 

Finally at the end of the interview, I decided to delve into my own personal specialty, natural hair.  I asked about the whole “good hair” idea in which straighter, less kinky textures are considered good, and kinkier textures are considered bad.  “There’s no such thing as good hair!  I mean what’s the opposite of “good hair”…nappy hair?  There’s no such thing as nappy hair; it’s just extremely curly.”  So what’s her advice to a young Black female who comes to her wanting to wear their hair in a natural state?  She believes people shouldn’t be swayed one way or another.  Brandi doesn’t particularly specialize in natural hair so she doesn’t know about all the techniques.  However, her caring, bubbly nature won’t ever allow her to turn anyone away.  She suggests looking up styles that would best suit the natural state to wean the hair from relaxed to natural.  Well seeing that I was in a salon, how could I resist getting my hair done?  Brandi plugged up her flat irons, and we went into our normal routine of girl talk as we waited for the flat irons to heat up.

*Though Brandi is a professional stylist, she doesn’t provoke people to be relaxed because of what they see in the media.  However, she doesn’t speak for all stylists.*


Here is Brandi explaining how she styles hair, and how too much heat can be damaging to the hair.

Just a few of Brandi's personal collection of styling products including curlers, oil sheen, a blow dryer, and flat irons.

I asked Brandi to demonstrate how she works on her clientele, and here it is.  She uses her three-way mirror to better maneuver around her client's hair. 

Finally a picture to explain the difference between relaxed and natural hair.  On the left, a Black woman has her hair relaxed to alter the texture from extremely curly to straight.  On the right, a Black woman has her hair in its natural state with all of the curly texture clearly visible.  Photo taken from: http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//0000/700/80/4/30784.jpg