Hair Relaxers

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“On Air” Podcast Show Four: Hair Relaxers © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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About Afro Archives

Afro Archives explores heritage and identity within UK society.

It investigates images of black women through promotion of self-expression and confidence to be who we naturally are. This project seeks to promote and celebrate afro hair by having inclusive discussions about hair and hair-related experiences with people of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and creeds.

Big Thanks to Wandsworth Radio, in Battersea, for hosting us.

Wandsworth Radio is a local Community Radio Station. It covers Battersea, Putney, Balham, Southfields, Earlsfield, Wandsworth Town, Roehampton and Tooting. The Station exists to celebrate the borough’s greatness. “Over 300,000 people call Wandsworth home and they deserve a community radio service providing local news and other content showcasing the people who live here”.

Creator Ayesha Casely-Hayford is an actress, award-winning voice artist and employment lawyer of Ghanian descent, born in London and raised in Kent. With her roots in law, specialising in discrimination, and as former chair of the board of trustees for The Act For Change Project, a charity campaigning for greater diversity in the arts, she is uniquely positioned to see the social, performative and legal issues facing black women in the UK today.

Photo credit: Helen Murray Photography

© 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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Show Four Transcript 23 March 2018 Read More: https://ayeshacasely-hayford.com/wandsworth-radio/ Listen: https://www.mixcloud.com/ayeshacaselyhayford/show-four-afro-archives-23rdmarch-2018/ Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKIJpUA_vJKPVYHPopavhhyluQjlpbxjK

Transcript:

[intro song: “Hello” Lionel Richie] Hello! Welcome back to Afro Archives, we’re in our fourth week! Thank you for joining me.

And a thank you and big up to my co-presenters who preceded me on Female Friday here on Wandsworth Radio. Master Coach Nicolette Wilson-Clarke with Mind Your Business and the brilliant Chloe De Save with She Speaks. Both sharing wisdom and inspiration.

© 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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Today on the Afro Archives show, I want to return to roots, quite literally, and look at consequences of hair choices. Specifically chemical hair relaxing. The reason being I want to share my own personal experience of consequences from using chemical hair relaxer on my hair. This is a dark and dense subject, it’s not fun, it’s not light. But shade is also needed for an appreciation of the light when it shines. So we’re gonna have to go there. I’m going to mix up the show with voices from my Afro Archives, A Performer’s World project, which is discussions with actors from all different backgrounds about their hair.

For that project, which you can find on YouTube, I asked my actor friends what they loved about their hair, and I’m going to share snippets of that with you on the show today. [song: “Don’t touch my hair Solange”] That was Solange with Don’t Touch my Hair, featuring the amazing Sampha. Today we’re talking about the use of chemical relaxers on hair. But before we get there, a recap on last week because it leads us nicely into where we are heading today.

Last week we discussed head wraps and my guest, Sandra Soteriou of Knots UK spoke of her passion for wearing a head wrap. She spoke about commanding space. She also shared her passion for providing head wraps to other women who have lost their hair perhaps due to chemo-therapy or alopecia:

SS: [interview extract]: Whenever I wear my Head Wrap, I feel like...I feel like I've arrived.

I command the room. I'm wearing this Head Wrap because I wanna stand out. I want to be noticed. I don't want to be invisible that's not who I am and that's not what we should be. We should command the room and that's what I believe. I believe black women should be commanding the room and we should be taking up space. And when I wear my Head Wrap right that's exactly how I feel. I want to feel like those strong © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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women who fought for all those things that make everything possible for us today. You know I wear it to pay homage to those women. I wear it to pay homage to my grandmother, my mother all the women in my life who’ve always worn Head Wraps and because of them I am me, and because of that I feel like I could be giving it back to other women as well. What I'm really passionate about is helping other women who have lost their hair through chemotherapy or alopecia or whatever reason I want to be able to install and then that confidence when they wear a Head Wrap as well. So for me that's where the passion lies. It’s to be able to help other women feel exactly how I feel. If I'm doing that then I'm getting the job done. I feel really happy about that.

ACH: Knots-UK helps to turn what can be an emotionally distressing time due to hair loss or hair damage, into pride, confidence and celebration. I personally really understand that.

One of the consequences I experienced from chemically relaxing my hair, was a mild form of alopecia. It followed my last ever chemical relaxer that I had done, on a visit home to Ghana. The consequence was that the most sensitive area, at the crown of my head, was damaged. When I stopped using relaxer, the chemically straightened hair had to grow out. But at the same time, my new un chemically touched afro hair was growing from the root. This is how the true extent of the damage I had done to my hair © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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and scalp was revealed to me. The change from chemical to natural hair meant a contrast in texture of hair, the chemically relaxed straightened hair and my afro hair. My hair was in transition. Part was trying to heal and grow, the other dying and breaking.

My scalp was also affected by the chemicals, and was going through its own healing and transition phase. In the crown of my head, the area damaged, the new hair, was not growing and when bits of hair did start to come through, it was so fragile and weak. Losing hair and having damaged scalp at the crown of my head is so distressing.

I can’t see it! It is exposed to anyone behind me, like they have an advantage over me, able to see my weakness, a weakness I can never see with my own eyes. I can use mirrors to reflect it, but I can’t EVER see it direct. This makes me feel vulnerable and also scared. I lost the hair there and the chemicals changed the hair follicle and curl pattern forever. The chemical relaxer that was used on my hair was strong, too strong for my hair texture. But it was also the result of using chemical relaxant for a number of years. What happened to me was classic. I had been chemically relaxing my hair for some 12 / 13 years. When it comes to chemicals involved in hair relaxing, there are different types for different scalps and hair types. My mum had been taking me to the salon, my hairdresser knew me and knew my hair. Then this time, on my own, in a salon in Ghana, I had not been strong on what I needed, and I had not treated myself and my hair preciously. An accumulation of years of chemicals and not taking care came to my head.

At the salon in Ghana, they used a relaxer that was too strong for my hair. I did not communicate what I needed, piled on top of the years before it, I suffered big time. The brutal truth of applying chemicals to any part of your body, can never, ever be underestimated.

[Song “They don’t really care about us” Michael Jackson] © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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Welcome back, that was my main man MJ. “They don’t really care about us”. Today on Afro Archives we’re talking about hair and the effects of chemicals on hair. In damaging my hair through using a chemical relaxer including a final treatment that was too strong for my hair texture, I WAS led towards my path of freedom. I call it a path of freedom because that is very much what it was.

What I had been doing, for years, was trying to get my hair to do something it did not naturally do.

There is a perfect extract from Chimamanda Nzgozi Adichie’s book Americanah. It says:

“Relaxing your hair is like being in a prison. You’re caged in. Your hair rules you…You’re always battling to make your hair do what it wasn’t meant to do.”

In respect of how I feel. that says it all. The chemical relaxer damage to the crown of my head, causing me a fortunately mild form of alopecia, led me to my path of freedom. it was my wake-up call to stop putting chemicals in my hair and let my hair be. To let mySelf be.

This is a beautiful thing.

It was on this journey that I learnt to love my hair but also as a double edged sword, I had to face the truth of how much I had not taken care of myself, using chemicals in my hair carelessly, and not understanding the consequences. My hair is now a new discovery.

© 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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I’d like to share with you, lovely listener, some other voices of black women who have also been on hair journeys. These are extracts from my project Afro Archives, A performer’s world, where I spoke to my actor friends about their relationships with their hair.

Here is actress Jasmeen James, sharing about her hair experiences from chemical relaxers to natural hair - Jasmeen talking about her hair:

JJ: [Interview extract]: I think that my hair is beautiful. My hair is unique. And do you know what, I’ve learnt to love my hair. About five years ago I probably wouldn’t have said that I would never have described my hair as beautiful but, yeah I think my hair’s beautiful. I can do so much with it, so many styles, and I’ve really learnt to love my hair.

ACH: It’s a strange experience to chemically change your hair and then try to go back, to your roots and re-find yourself. to fall in love again. I asked Jasmeen about the best thing about her hair:

JJ: [Interview extract]: The best thing about my hair is that I can change it up whenever I want. So I can have it like this, I can have it really really short and tight, I can blow it out even more so it can get bigger I can have braids, I can have twists I can have cane rows I can wear it straight I can put in a weave like honestly I feel like for such a long time © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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us as black women have felt really embarrassed about our hair and we’ve conformed to a European standard of beauty and wanting to have this straight hair but you know all my friends with straight hair are like, I’m jealous of your hair. Like we can do so much, any style that we want to do we can do. Yeah so that’s what I love about my hair. And what I love about my hair as well is that it’s big. It stands out, I genuinely love my hair and I never thought I would say that but i’m so happy I’m so happy I decided to go natural.

I love it.

ACH: And now let’s hear from Ms Badu [Song: “On & On” Erykah Badu] That was Queen Erykah Badu, sharing wisdom with “On & On”. I’ve been sharing about my journey from chemically relaxed hair back to natural hair, and the alopecia damage I suffered following a strong relaxer used on my hair six years ago.

I’ve also been sharing some voices from my project Afro Archives “A Performer’s World” Where I spoke to actor friends about their relationship with their hair.

Here is actress Alice Fofana, who describes the choice to straighten her hair as “the biggest regret of her life”:

AF: [Interview extract]: I remember, sorry, I’m gonna get all teary. I remember, sorry, I remember growing up thinking that my hair wasn’t nice at all, I always wanted straight hair. I didn’t feel pretty enough for having afro hair, for having natural hair. I always wanted straight hair. I remember performing Shola Ama, and I told my cousin to © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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straighten my hair, and she goes why? And I said because I don’t like my afro, I don’t like my afro hair. And she said why not? I said, it’s because, it’s just not pretty.

And I straightened my hair. And that was the biggest regret of my life.

Because then I didn’t have, I blended in with everybody else basically. There was no Alice, I just blended in with everybody else.

ACH: That was actress Alice Fofana sharing her heart with us on her personal hair journey from chemically relaxing her hair to returning to natural hair. And now, one of my favourites, “Something Inside So Strong”.

Here’s Labi Siffre: [Song: “Something Inside So Strong” Labi Siffre] Hello, we’re here on Wandsworth Radio with Afro Archives. We’re discussing chemical relaxers and straightening afro hair.

This was also a topic being covered in Stylist Magazine a couple of years ago with hashtag #AllAboutAfro. London-based hair and beauty journalist Sue Omar did a special six-part series for Stylist and the 3rd edition was about uncovering the truth and technique behind chemical hair straightening.

Ms Omar says it took three years to reverse the damage done to her natural hair by hair-relaxers. I would say it is taking me longer. It’s been six years now, my hair and scalp is still healing. © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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Ms Omar spoke to a qualified Trichologist Joyce John of the Hair, Health and Vitality Clinic in London who told her that “a lot of people blame the relaxer for damaging hair but it’s not the relaxer, it’s the application process and maintenance.”

Ms Omar concludes her article by saying: “there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to relax your hair, whether you are a black woman or any other race for that matter. As women living in a world that often dictates the way we should look so that we can be considered “conventionally beautiful” I think it’s important that we celebrate the fact we’re all entitled to freedom of choice..” on relaxers specifically, Ms Omar says “if you do choose to style or wear your hair in a particular way that may jeopardise its health, its equally important to understand the facts and act accordingly…”

I can hear what Ms Omar is saying, but I think the roots go even deeper than that, and I’m not sure chemicals are ever a great choice. We got very detailed on our second Afro Archives show when the topic was “Free The Hair”. Do go back to our Wandsworth Radio podcast on Mixcloud and take a listen so you can form your own view on what choices we really when it comes to our hair.

For the next part of the show, I invited a local hairdresser, Judith from Uni Care Salon, here in Wandsworth into the studio, to talk to us about their experiences of working with people who use chemical relaxers on their natural hair:

ACH: I’m at Uni Care Beauty Salon in Wandsworth. Thank you so much for speaking to me. Have you guys been here a while?

Judith: yeah a good seven years. © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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ACH: And you get both male and female clients in?

Judith: Yeah, both male and female clients.

ACH: Great. And do you ever get any people coming in with alopecia or are you working with any chemicals here?

Judith: Well, we haven’t got much clients with alopecia but I’ve seen it in certain clients, and…what else did you say again?

ACH: I’m wondering, the effects of chemicals and how it’s applied if people are straightening their hair and any kind of guidance we can give to people deciding to put chemical relaxers in their hair.

Judith: Well, of course chemicals can be damaging to the hair, I wouldn’t say no. But overall, general care, and not using too much of the strong chemical and how often you’re applying chemical relaxers. And you also have to use a lot of treatments, to combat alopecia.

ACH: You mean, in between your chemical relaxers?

© 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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Judith: Yes, in between, as often as you can, at least twice a month. Oil treatments, protein treatments. And try not to relax the hair too regularly. I would say at least every eight weeks in between, or use a very mild relaxer.

ACH: And when your clients are coming in, are you seeing a movement towards natural hair? What sort of changes? You must have seen lots over the past seven years.

Judith: Well yes, a lot of people, they’re sticking to natural hair now-a-days.

ACH: Why do you think so?

Judith: Well, convenience. Money-wise. Because when they plait their hair, most natural hair styles they tend to keep it much longer and of course there’s no chemical in it so it’s not gonna damage it. But it can also be damaging if you’re plaiting your hair too often or too tight.

ACH: ah, on the hairline?

Judith: Yeah, and that can cause alopecia also, so it’s not just relaxing hair. So natural haircare you have to know what you’re doing with it also. Because constantly putting in extension, the tension on the hair scalp, that causes it to break away. So you have to keep that in mind. Some people think, you know, it’s a cliche - oh you’re gonna keep your hair natural and do protective styling, but it also can be very damaging.

ACH: You have to know what you’re doing.

Judith: Yes. ACH: You said for © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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convenience, what do you mean by that?

Judith: Well, some people are busy, work wise, so just getting up, jumping out of bed, in the shower, you don’t really think about it after you have it done, it’s just there, you’re not going places to go and do your hair.

ACH: and are there any other kinds of changes you’ve seen over the last seven years with styles?

Judith: Well yeah, styles come and it goes, it’s the trend, styles come and go around, they just come back in a different flair sometimes. But it’s the same thing over and over again.

ACH: Thank you so much. Are you able to give a phone number for the Salon, if anyone needs to come here, if they’re local in Wandsworth?

Judith: Sure, 0207 622 5829.

ACH: Thank you very much.

ACH: That was a very knowledgeable Judith at Uni Care Salon. And their number is 0207 622 5829. Next up, let’s have a bit of Sia. [Song: “Chandelier” Sia] As we come to the end of Afro Archives we finish up with my feature, my T.G.I.F. “That Girl is Fine”. An en pointe afro hair-do in the media.

This week I’ve selected images from “Black Hair” the Beauty, fashion, lifestyle online magazine. The article is titled “Stunning Bantu Knots Hair”. The hairstylist is Dionne Smith.

The model I have picked features at the end of the article and her name is Jeannita or Nikita Love on social media. Jeannita has Bantu knots. Bantu knots are small coiled buns, secured against the head. The origin of this way of holding hair is traced back to the Zulu tribes of South Africa. © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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In the image, Jeannita shows her hair in profile. From this sideways glance, the Bantu knots, or buns, form a mohican. On the side of her head, are small cornrow braids, so that means the hair is braided underhand very close to the scalp in a way that makes the braid a raised row.

There are seven rows. Then, there is one braid, which is not canerow, it hangs loose, with a Bantu knot at the end, like a pom pom. The style is both bold and elegant. The detail of the canerow close to the head and the Bantu knots organised at the top of the head and raised up, is an intricate design, with the hanging down Bantu knot, making the style totally original and exciting.

Ms Jeannita, as styled by Ms Dionne Smith, is my choice for this week’s T.G.I.F.

Next up is the wonderful George Talbott with Evening Wandsworth. And on Afro Archives today we’ve had background music from music producer Lo-Wo that was Faaji at the start of the show, and from Twofold with Reverence at the end. We’re signing off Afro Archives today with Lady Smith Black Mambaza, bye for now and enjoy! [song: “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” Lady Smith Black Mambaza]

Intro “Faaji” from Lo-Wu https://soundcloud.com/lowusounds © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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T.G.I.F - “Reverence” by Twofold https://soundcloud.com/twofold/reverence

References & Links: https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/all-about-afro-hair-straightening-up-the-truth-aboutchemical-hair-relaxers/138111 http://blackhairmagazine.co.uk/hair/stunning-bantu-knots-hair-inspiration-from-dionnesmith/ https://www.instagram.com/nikita__love/ http://knots-uk.com/ http://www.hairvalley.com/

© 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credit: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood