Audrey Odonkor Interview by Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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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 employment law and 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.

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Interview Transcript August 2018 Read More: https://ayeshacasely-hayford.com/wandsworth-radio/ Listen: https://www.mixcloud.com/ayeshacaselyhayford/ Interview of Audrey Odonkor (AO) by Ayesha Casely-Hayford (ACH) Ms Audrey Odonkor Profile: 20s. Ghana born and of Ghanian Descent. Yale Graduate in Psychology, concentration in neuroscience. https://www.linkedin.com/in/audrey-odonkor-48653682/ Audrey recently graduated from Yale University, where she studied Psychology, concentration in neuroscience. She was born in Ghana is of Ghanian descent, and currently lives and works there.

Transcript: Audrey Odonkor: I decided to locs my hair because I got tired of going to the salon to like do one hairstyle take it off, do one hair style take it off again. And I just wanted to find a way that I could keep my natural hair without adding any extensions to it for long periods of time.

ACH: And was there something that inspired you to pic locs? What is it about locs that enables you to achieve what you wanted?

ÂŠ 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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AO: Oh, there’s so much. Definitely, it’s very cool. I feel like the kinds of people that I have met in university, at Yale university in the States, who had locs, were like, people who, they were just cool, and I think, just embraced, like, unconventional ways of thinking and doing things, you know. And so, I think the kinds of people I met who had sister locs definitely inspired me to try the hairstyle out. It doesn’t necessarily mean that like if you have sister locs you are automatically cool, but I think it was definitely a self-selecting pool of people who seriously considered getting their hair locsed.

ACH: And was there anything or anyone in particularly that made you think locs would be for you?

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AO: Yeah. So back in secondary school I had a friend who chose to locs her hair around that time. Partly because her mother had locs, and had had locs for a long time. Her mother is a professor in African Studies at The University, of Ghana, and I think that she was someone who I felt was very independent, very articulate, and who was unashamed to express what she thought. So seeing that, number one, this hairstyle was accepted like in academic circles, and other circles, and then seeing that it was cool, I guess [laughs] because of the kinds of people who I experienced having this, I felt inspired to start my own journey and loc my hair.

ACH: And did you have any consultation before you locsed your hair, or did you do any research about it?

AO: Yes. I did a lot of research online. Where research was looking at people who had different locs, and, and like trying to gauge how that would suit my face, but beyond that definitely research about my hair texture and the different sizes people had based on their hair texture and talking with people who had locs about how they kept their locs. Beyond that, before locsing my hair I had to go for a compulsory consultation with the people who were going to locs the hair where they looked at my hair length, looked my hair texture, and they ÂŠ 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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suggested a size that would suit my hair. That was what I did before actually locsing my hair.

ACH: And how have you found it since? How long have you had it locsed for?

AO: Oh, I’ve had it locsed for about 10 months now. And, it’s the most liberating thing. Like I can’t even express how liberating it is. Because, number one, I know that this is my hair. It makes me feel more confident. And prouder to like show my natural hair, you know? And then it’s also, as people say a lot, a journey, right. So I think that beginning with it like really thin and kind of sticking out all over the place, and then just watching how it has grown into itself and become more full has been a process of I guess maybe some kind of selfexamination. Like me asking myself questions like, why would I feel maybe insecure about having shorter hair. Because prior to this time I always had very long braids. You know. Like how do I feel about my self image compared to the people that I see on TV who might have relaxed hair or a lot of weave and things like that, and it’s just been a back and forth about like was this the right decision for me, and like am © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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I willing to stick it out to the point I believe I want to get to, just like longer and fuller. So yeah, I think that the process has been a really revealing one, of my own ideas of this, of my beauty, how beauty is perceived, and what I’m willing to do to see what, or become what I envisage myself to be or to look like.

ACH: And would you have anything to say to someone considering locsing their hair?

AO: [laughs] I would obviously say do it! Do it! But, beyond that, I would say think about why you want to do it because one of the things that I have heard a lot from people who have like found out I have locsed my hair, is like: aren’t you scared? Isn’t it permanent? Like you’re stuck with it for the rest of your life. You know. And I think to be able to confidently answer questions like that, you need to consider why you’re doing what you’re doing why you’re choosing to locs your hair. And then just go for it with confidence. I think another thing is, realise that no two hair textures are going to be exactly alike. I definitely looked at different pictures of people who had different sizes of sister locs and really wanted one over the other. But I had to come to terms with the fact that no matter how much I wanted someone’s sister locs journey or what the final

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product was, it was going to be very different for me. And the only way I would find out what it would look like for my hair, is by actually living it out. I think just be ok in understanding that what you see gives an idea of what it could look like but it might not necessarily be the final print of what your locsed hair will be. And, enjoy it, you know. Enjoy the process of figuring things out, enjoy the process of researching and asking people. Enjoy playing around with the idea in your head and if you want to go for it, enjoy that as well.

Just know that it has to be something that you choose and I think

that is the beauty of deciding to sister locs your hair or not, that it is something that you choose, and something that you know you will be happy with.

Chastity Jones Case commentary: ACH: How would you feel if you were asked to cut your hair for a job? AO: Oh no. I would feel, discriminated against. ACH: Why? AO: Because in as much as sister locs is a choice, choosing to loc your hair or not is something that you decide. When you do loc your hair it grows naturally and then just ÂŠ 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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takes the form that you have cast out for it so after a while it can be likened to you just having your own hair, just following a certain mould that has been established for it to follow. Because of how natural sister locs is, and because of how closely linked it is to just keeping your own natural hair, I would feel as though, the, what they were asking of me was to change myself entirely, to fit within the confines of what they have described for me. I think that my locsed hair is not something that I can take off or put on as and when I please or as and when someone else pleases but it is to a large extent, a part of my identity that I carry around with me everywhere I go. So I would feel as though they wanted me to change a part of me that was not as easily changeable as they might make it out to be.

ÂŠ 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford