Six students...
Six stories
Next
Ja'Khai Aikens-Guerrier
Daniellie McLaurin
Printez Harris
Somer King
Brian Campbell
Anijah Wilson
Sophomore anijah wilson
Senior Daniellie McLaurin
Freshman Somer King
Sophomore Printez Harris
Junior Brian Campbell
Senior Ja'Khai Aikens-Guerrier
What is your hair routine? “It’s typically an all-day process where I’m washing, detangling and styling my hair the way I want to. I’m usually doing it with my family, but if I’m doing it by myself, I run the water in my sink and I have a neck pillow. I’ll wash it two times with shampoo, then I’ll condition, then I’ll deep condition, and then sit under a hairdryer. Then I’d wash that out, and if I want to, I’ll style it or I’ll put moisturizing products in, seal it up with some oil, and then braid it up and go to sleep.” (Abbi VanValkenburgh)
What’s your least-favorite product to use? “Cantu products are very popular in [the Black] community, but they have a lot of alcohol in them which dries out your hair. I dislike it.” (Abbi VanValkenburgh)
What’s the thing [about your hair] that gets on your nerves the most? “The shrinkage. I have a nice curl pattern, I just don’t define it a lot because I dislike the shrinkage. And I have a big head, so it’s not going to look right yet. I’m going to give it some time [for it] to grow out before I start really trying to showcase my natural curl pattern.”
Where do you get your hair inspiration from? “I find new hairstyles by scrolling on Instagram or Pinterest, or I might see someone else [who has it] on TikTok, but I’ll just think of hairstyles that I might want or might suit me.”
Are you natural, or do you tend to use chemicals in your hair? “I’m natural now. The last time I used a chemical in my hair was sophomore year. It was a relaxer from the box, I can’t remember what it was called. I haven’t gotten a relaxer since sophomore year, but once you get a relaxer, you have to keep taking care of it or else it’ll fall out. I ended up getting a relaxer because I was getting sew-ins and my hair kept poofing up and I couldn’t deal with it being like that.”
What is a common hairstyle people can find you in? “My hair’s in a headband wig and under that, my hair is braided down. I wash it, blow-dry it, braid my hair in six cornrows to the back and put the wig cap on, then put the wig over it. I usually do my edges, but if I don’t feel like doing it, then I’ll just throw a wig on and leave for school. My go-to hairstyle would [also] be a sew-in because it’s a protective style - it helps grow out my hair and it’s easy to maintain, so I’d definitely consider that as my go-to style.”
Do you use any chemicals to straighten your hair? “I personally don’t use relaxers or anything that would permanently alter my hair. I choose not to use chemicals because I’ve seen people’s hair become damaged by using relaxers or by using [excessive] heat [resulting in] damage. And I don’t want my hair to be damaged.”
What are your favorite products to use on your hair? “I use Edge Booster, Pro-Styling Gel, sometimes göt2be Glue, and Shine n’Jam. Styling gel and Shine n’Jam are my favorite products.”
What’s your favorite thing about your hair? “My favorite thing about my hair is the shrinkage, honestly. Sometimes, my hair looks short, and then when I stretch it, it’s not short at all. I think it’s cool.”
Why is this your favorite hairstyle? “I don’t think short hair suits me. All of this hair, it doesn’t show the actual shape of my head. My head doesn’t look right when I have short hair so I like having a lot of hair.”
What hairstyle do you have? “I’ve got twists, but I don’t get them retwisted. They’re freeform. I like them because this is my dream hairstyle. I think I’ve had them for about a year? At first, I had a box, though. My hair has grown a lot since then.”
What kind of hairstyles do you think are “presentable” vs. “unpresentable”? “I feel like presentable is the way you want it. I feel like what’s not presentable is nothing. If you want it, you want it. You shouldn’t punish it.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to your peers about your hair? “People like to touch my hair. It’s annoying. I’m not no pet or nothing, so why are you trying to rub my head? Just don’t. Don’t touch it.”
What [about your hair] gets on your nerves the most? “[I dislike] my shrinkage. I get out of the pool, and my hair’s all wet and it just shrinks. I have a lot of shrinkage.”
Are you natural, or do you tend to use chemicals in your hair? “Everything I do is natural. I don’t really use too much, and I still look good.”
What trends have you noticed in Black hair in recent years? “There are a lot of dreads and a lot of braids [nowadays]. All of my friends and I were going to get dreads sophomore year, and I’m glad I didn’t end up joining them because only one of my friends kept them. Everyone else cut theirs off, and now their hair is short. I always think, ‘Maybe I should cut it.’ But I’m not going to - at least, not yet.”
What style is your hair in? “My hair is twisted, but I took the twists out. It’s called a twist-out. I [have it] whenever I can do it because I braid and I twist my hair by myself, usually just during the weekend so that on Monday, it’s done.”
Why do you like this specific hairstyle? “I like it because not a lot of people [that I know] do it, and not a lot of people can do it by themselves. They usually get it professionally done. When I’m just sitting down, either watching TV or playing a game, I take two strands of my hair and I twist it together. I don’t use any products, really.”
The pride and culture of Black hair
Elizabeth Franklin
Created on March 3, 2024
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Randomizer
View
Timer
View
Find the pair
View
Hangman Game
View
Dice
View
Scratch and Win Game
View
Create a Word Search
Explore all templates
Transcript
Six students...
Six stories
Next
Ja'Khai Aikens-Guerrier
Daniellie McLaurin
Printez Harris
Somer King
Brian Campbell
Anijah Wilson
Sophomore anijah wilson
Senior Daniellie McLaurin
Freshman Somer King
Sophomore Printez Harris
Junior Brian Campbell
Senior Ja'Khai Aikens-Guerrier
What is your hair routine? “It’s typically an all-day process where I’m washing, detangling and styling my hair the way I want to. I’m usually doing it with my family, but if I’m doing it by myself, I run the water in my sink and I have a neck pillow. I’ll wash it two times with shampoo, then I’ll condition, then I’ll deep condition, and then sit under a hairdryer. Then I’d wash that out, and if I want to, I’ll style it or I’ll put moisturizing products in, seal it up with some oil, and then braid it up and go to sleep.” (Abbi VanValkenburgh)
What’s your least-favorite product to use? “Cantu products are very popular in [the Black] community, but they have a lot of alcohol in them which dries out your hair. I dislike it.” (Abbi VanValkenburgh)
What’s the thing [about your hair] that gets on your nerves the most? “The shrinkage. I have a nice curl pattern, I just don’t define it a lot because I dislike the shrinkage. And I have a big head, so it’s not going to look right yet. I’m going to give it some time [for it] to grow out before I start really trying to showcase my natural curl pattern.”
Where do you get your hair inspiration from? “I find new hairstyles by scrolling on Instagram or Pinterest, or I might see someone else [who has it] on TikTok, but I’ll just think of hairstyles that I might want or might suit me.”
Are you natural, or do you tend to use chemicals in your hair? “I’m natural now. The last time I used a chemical in my hair was sophomore year. It was a relaxer from the box, I can’t remember what it was called. I haven’t gotten a relaxer since sophomore year, but once you get a relaxer, you have to keep taking care of it or else it’ll fall out. I ended up getting a relaxer because I was getting sew-ins and my hair kept poofing up and I couldn’t deal with it being like that.”
What is a common hairstyle people can find you in? “My hair’s in a headband wig and under that, my hair is braided down. I wash it, blow-dry it, braid my hair in six cornrows to the back and put the wig cap on, then put the wig over it. I usually do my edges, but if I don’t feel like doing it, then I’ll just throw a wig on and leave for school. My go-to hairstyle would [also] be a sew-in because it’s a protective style - it helps grow out my hair and it’s easy to maintain, so I’d definitely consider that as my go-to style.”
Do you use any chemicals to straighten your hair? “I personally don’t use relaxers or anything that would permanently alter my hair. I choose not to use chemicals because I’ve seen people’s hair become damaged by using relaxers or by using [excessive] heat [resulting in] damage. And I don’t want my hair to be damaged.”
What are your favorite products to use on your hair? “I use Edge Booster, Pro-Styling Gel, sometimes göt2be Glue, and Shine n’Jam. Styling gel and Shine n’Jam are my favorite products.”
What’s your favorite thing about your hair? “My favorite thing about my hair is the shrinkage, honestly. Sometimes, my hair looks short, and then when I stretch it, it’s not short at all. I think it’s cool.”
Why is this your favorite hairstyle? “I don’t think short hair suits me. All of this hair, it doesn’t show the actual shape of my head. My head doesn’t look right when I have short hair so I like having a lot of hair.”
What hairstyle do you have? “I’ve got twists, but I don’t get them retwisted. They’re freeform. I like them because this is my dream hairstyle. I think I’ve had them for about a year? At first, I had a box, though. My hair has grown a lot since then.”
What kind of hairstyles do you think are “presentable” vs. “unpresentable”? “I feel like presentable is the way you want it. I feel like what’s not presentable is nothing. If you want it, you want it. You shouldn’t punish it.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to your peers about your hair? “People like to touch my hair. It’s annoying. I’m not no pet or nothing, so why are you trying to rub my head? Just don’t. Don’t touch it.”
What [about your hair] gets on your nerves the most? “[I dislike] my shrinkage. I get out of the pool, and my hair’s all wet and it just shrinks. I have a lot of shrinkage.”
Are you natural, or do you tend to use chemicals in your hair? “Everything I do is natural. I don’t really use too much, and I still look good.”
What trends have you noticed in Black hair in recent years? “There are a lot of dreads and a lot of braids [nowadays]. All of my friends and I were going to get dreads sophomore year, and I’m glad I didn’t end up joining them because only one of my friends kept them. Everyone else cut theirs off, and now their hair is short. I always think, ‘Maybe I should cut it.’ But I’m not going to - at least, not yet.”
What style is your hair in? “My hair is twisted, but I took the twists out. It’s called a twist-out. I [have it] whenever I can do it because I braid and I twist my hair by myself, usually just during the weekend so that on Monday, it’s done.”
Why do you like this specific hairstyle? “I like it because not a lot of people [that I know] do it, and not a lot of people can do it by themselves. They usually get it professionally done. When I’m just sitting down, either watching TV or playing a game, I take two strands of my hair and I twist it together. I don’t use any products, really.”