OP-ED: All hairdressers must now cater to Black hair, but how valuable will this be for Black women?
By Davina Appiagyei
Gone are the days where black models will have to bring their own hair styling tools and style themselves – so we hope.
For black models in the fashion industry, the interaction between hair and beauty has historically been a strained one. Speaking to new model Mena during my ‘Black in Fashion’ podcast – I learned that black models often have to warn one another about the neglect they may face when it comes to everything from hair stylists and makeup artists, to lighting specialists and even the photographers themselves. The general consensus amongst many black models is that to succeed, they have to ‘help themselves’, often taking on the extra burden of learning new skills and techniques just to be as presentable as their counterparts. This unfair expectation that black models have to deal with incompetent stylists; and let’s not forget about the hurtful comments on ‘unkempt’ and ‘difficult’ afro hair we have all internalised, is obviously a daunting one. Clearly, there will be work to do to reverse the negative effects these issues have caused historically.
In a recent review by the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for hairdressing, Afro and ‘Textured’ hair was included into the styling and cutting practice standard in order to “meet the needs of the UK’s diverse community in one standard.” This change comes after heavy support from the British Beauty Council which recognised a lack of hairdressing qualifications which require Afro and Textured hair styling as mandatory – resulting in “tens of thousands of hairdressers” without this experience, according to Helena Grzesk CCO of the British Beauty Council. In essence, the aim is that structural and measurable interventions of this kind will lead to tangible results - improved social inclusion. Grzesk herself hopes it will lead to an “amplification celebration of the voices of all communities the industry serves”, while ensuring everyone feels “seen, heard and valued.”
It is perhaps unsurprising that there has been some scepticism surrounding this move. Writing in Stylist, Banseka Kayembe queries how effective this change will really be for black women. For example, the ‘tens of thousands of hairdressers’ Grzesk references who have already received styling qualifications or are already established within their careers may feel much less of an obligation to adapt to new standard practice. Also, the differences and patterns within Afro hair alone are vast and complex – not to mention whatever ‘textured’ is meant to mean in the NOS review. I feel as though we have come far enough as a society to be able to make more detailed distinctions – especially in these instances.
Based on the history of oppression black people have experienced when it comes to a struggle for agency over our own bodies, our appearance, our self-presentation – I believe that there is an internalised trauma response which is to ‘expect the worst’. This translates into the ways many black women (including myself at stages) will chemically straighten curl patterns for more acceptable looking locks. Or will opt for straighter ‘weaves’ and extensions over Afros in work environments to appear more ‘professional’. The struggle also manifests in the way black models will style their own hair on set or before shoots to avoid unnecessary conflict or embarrassment, and finally the ways in which journalists like Banseka will expect very little to change for us.
It is undeniable that the effects of this change may not be seen tomorrow – and that for many of us, this moment is a bittersweet one (happy it’s happening, annoyed it hasn’t happened sooner) but what we can see is that this issue is not an insurmountable one. As long as steps are being taken towards improving our lived experience, no matter how late or slow, it will always be the right one.