Bakita Kasadha 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 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 Bakita Kasadha (BK) by Ayesha Casely-Hayford (ACH) Ms Bakita Kasadha Profile: 20s. Born in London and of Ugandan Descent. Workshop facilitator, key note speaker and writer. https://www.bakitakk.com/ Bakita is a workshop facilitator, key note speaker and writer.

Transcript: ACH: I don’t have locs and i’ve never thought about doing that with my hair. What was your hair like before you decided to do locs? BK: So, before, it was a little bit texturised, but I mainly kept it in a protective style, so I mainly braided my and then every so often my hair would be out for a while, between braiding. ACH: And what made you decide to stop continuing that path? BK: Erm, well, you know, I wanted to have a natural hairstyle, you know, I wanted to do something more natural and I kind of had - I was ill-advised - when I got my hair texturised I didn’t really understand what that would mean, so my hairdresser at the time, said, oh it will just make your hair a little bit softer. I was trying to stress the point that I still wanted it to be natural, like feeling and looking, and she kind of said don’t worry, it © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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will still look natural, and be natural and feel natural. That actually, it really changed the texture of my hair. So basically what happened is, through a distrust gained through that process and through an understanding that I needed to understand my hair better rather than just seeking external advice, that was kind of like the catalyst for it. So I was still keen to have a natural hairstyle, but I knew in terms of maintenance that I didn’t want to have my fro out because I didn’t want to maintain it and do all kinds of things with it. And what kind of happened because of the spaces and events I gravitate towards, I kind of began to see more women who had sister locs and after a couple of events I went to I finally asked one of the women in the crowd, what her hairstyle was. I knew it was locs but I knew it looked noticeably different from the locs that I’m more familiar with. So she explained to me that it was sister locs and that it was a particular sort of way of locsing the hair that doesn’t involve using like any other oils of locsing gels so she gave me more information about it. Then I went and had a consultation. ACH: Wow. And in terms of the consultation and what that means, can you, what is it about for you to have natural hair and a natural look? BK: you know, it’s very important to me, because it’s self acceptance and it’s like, respect for my hair. There are, I’ve had many different journeys. So when I was young I was all about relaxing my hair and then it broke, because I wasn’t looking after it. If you look after your hair, when you relax it, it won’t break, or there won’t be that risk. © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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But I personally just wasn’t looking after it, and I really relied on braids a lot and I love that hairstyle, but for me, I think I was becoming more aware of the troubling relationship I had with my hair and in terms of acceptance and accepting myself more generally I knew that I had to have a different relationship with my hair so that’s what natural, the natural hair journey, that’s why it was so important to me. And then it just so happened that I then discovered this style sister locs, but wasn’t my intention when I was thinking about getting my natural hair. ACH: Can you tell me about the consultation that you went for? BK: Yeah, so the consultation that I went for, I think I got my hair done in 2015, and the consultation I went for, was sometime, about 6 months prior. So 2014 or just at the beginning of 2015. And there was this really patient and wellinformed woman, who still does my locs to this day, and she played me a video about sisterlocs and the history of it and gave me some insights. And she was like, I want you to take your time, because it’s a real journey that you’ll be going on. This is some of the information about it, think about whether you want to get sisterlocs, erm and then, we can take it from there. So I had all of the information to hand, and it wasn’t until 6 © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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months later after really considering and thinking about it that I went back to her and said yep, I’m down for it, I want to get it done. And what I found really really interesting was that before we like fully committed and before I fully committed to changing my hairstyle, we had this sessions where she was asking how having locs might have an impact on my experience as I walk through the work, like in different settings. Like one of the things we talked about was whether or not it would impact my relationship, whether it would impact my profession if it would impact like the religious space that I was in. I wasn’t, but this was a question that she asked, I’m not religious myself, but just gave an understanding of how locs are perceived differently by different people, and have you considered how it might impact with spaces that you occupy going forwards, and I found it fascinating, because I hadn’t even thought about it. ACH: and what has been your experience? BK: you know what, largely, things haven’t really changed. And as I explained to her when she asked me those questions, I didn’t foresee any negative, sort of interaction, in my day-to-day. But the thing that I have found really interesting, is that men, particularly who are like trying to chat me up or get to know me, they respond to me very differently now. And I think there is an assumption of how I perceive blackness and I guess my locs kind of indicate who I am as a person and especially as a black woman. Sometimes I get a really good sense of the people who are being a bit more performative with it, so they’ll be like Oh, my nubian black queen, and all this stuff, and you can really tell that it’s not sincere, in the way that they’re approaching me, but it’s something that never happened before I had locs, like guys would never approach me in that way. ACH: Before you had locs? BK: yeah, before I had it, so that was the biggest change like in terms of people who already knew me, my colleagues at the time, friends, family, erm everyone else was like Oh my God, I really love my hair. And you know the thing that was really interesting © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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about it though, is that with sister locs, the first few months are not that great, like your hair doesn’t look that good, like you have to be really patient, and it’s one of the reasons why the person who does my hair was like, ok, you need to consider this, because in the beginning you won’t be happy with your hairstyle, because it takes - it called maturation, I think that’s the term that she uses, like it takes time for the locs to mature and properly loc. So when after, about a few months people responded to my hair and it was looking great and stuff and there was like no negative thoughts and that but it was just the odd experience with these new men that would come into my life like I would maybe meet them when they would come to an event or when I was walking down the street and it was just the response there was very different to how men had approached me before which I found very very intriguing.

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Chastity Jones Case commentary: ACH: The Chastity Jones case dealt with an African American woman who wore sister locs, and was asked to cut them. As a woman with sister locs yourself, and being on this journey, how would you feel about that request and what would that mean to you, specifically as a black woman?

BK: Well to me, it would be an attack on my identity. I know that this is one of many different natural hairstyles that I might have, but actually reclaiming and accepting and wearing my hair in a natural hairstyle is a political act. In a situation, in a society, that says that our hair is not enough, or that it’s unprofessional, or that it’s messy, or can be prone to messiness, as was the case in that situation. So for me, it’s the lack of understanding of how politicised our hair is, and that lack of understanding is why it’s so offensive that they thought they could ask her to cut her hair because it would be prone to messiness. So for me, it’s a complete attack on our identity.

ACH: So would you also have refused to cut your locs, if you were asked?

BK: Yes I would of, I would of. And to me it would also have been, ok you have given me a very clear insight into the culture of your organisation and there will be, there is no place for me here. That’s how I would read it. There’s no place for me here. Because in my fullness, you don’t accept me. So how will there ever be a place for me in this organisation.