If ever you doubted black people's ability to create and cultivate---go to Afro Punk!

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Now that the natural hair movement has picked up some serious steam it’s easy to be fooled into thinking that kinks and curls are now considered the norm across the nation. But not all women of color feel comfortable embracing their natural texture or even experimenting with textured protective styles. For some the hesitation is related to fear of judgement by their families. Others cringe at the thought of uncomfortable exchanges with their co-workers and supervisors. Many flinch at the thought of learning a new routine and the accompanying lingo (TWA, ACV, EVOO it’s enough to make your head spin.) But a select few hesitate out of concern for their significant others.

Now that social media has given everyone a platform people are able to express every idea that pops into their heads. And some of those ideas are a strong “preference” for women with relaxed hair.  

On the surface going natural is purely an aesthetic choice but the unpleasant history associated with hair can make it a deeply personal one-with the potential for personal consequences.

In response to an inquiry by someone writing her advice column author and relationship expert  Demetria Lucas D’oley advocated for communication between partners sharing the opinion that she  unequivocally did not think women had to ask permission before doing the big chop but that it would be thoughtful of them to inform their significant others so they weren’t shocked by the sudden change to their appearance.

We asked Girl & Hair Founder Camille Vevoric if she consulted with her husband and eventual business partner before making the big chop that sparked the idea that birthed her line of undercare products. “No. Not at all!” she said “I literally got home and was like ‘I’m tired of this. I’m going up the street.’ I went up there and I cut my hair and I came home. My husband is not that involved. He’s never been vocal about my style. He says as long as you love it I love it.”

Clearly her husband’s approach represents the ideal but sadly not all men feel this way. It seems every few weeks there’s an article on Clutch or Madame Noire asking whether women's styling choices are required to stay within men's comfort zones (who could forget the outrageous debate over Keyshia Kaoir’s trend setting lipstick?)

What do you think? When it comes to your hair should bae get a say?

Photo Credits: Black Enterprise, Good Housekeeping, The Source

When a hair stylist attempted to slander her client on social media she was met with a collective “oh no baby what is you doing” from the natural hair community. The “internets” did what they do and rallied the troops in defense of her unsatisfied customer attacking everything from the woman’s character to her closure. Comments ranged from the slightly dissapointed to the full on infuriated. Women couldn’t believe that a stylist would turn on her client in such a public fashion.

A staple in every community, a visit to the hair salon is sacrosanct.  As a result the stylist/client relationship is a trusted one, built on a mutual investment of time and trust, but when it goes south the situation can be difficult to salvage. And once the drama is made public the same can be said for the stylist’s reputation.  We’ve prepared a list of hard and fast rules to ensure you lose a client in sixty seconds that any stylist can benefit from NOT following.

Be A Chatty Patty

Clients see their stylists as part service professionals and part therapists. While they may indulge in petty gossip about their friends, family, and even fellow patrons don’t join in. Keep it cute and they’ll always trust you enough to keep coming back. This cone of silence extends to dissatisfied customers as well. No matter what was done or said make it a policy to keep news of client drama limited to relevant staff and for God’s sake DO NOT share it on the internet.

Throw Some Shade

Hair salons are generally pretty informal environments. Because of this it may feel like your client is your friend and sting when they hurt your feelings by criticizing your work or offending you in some other way. Still that’s no excuse to get snippy or sling insults. Call up your man, mom, sister, or a girlfriend if you need to vent and remember that a clean reputation is the best revenge.  

Cuss Up a Storm

Save the potty mouth for off hours. No matter how well my edges are flourishing I’m not recommending you to my boyfriend’s mom if you're going to be handing out four letter words like they’re penny candy. She doesn’t want to hear that and frankly no one else does either. Having trouble following this one? Challenge yourself with a swear jar. You can give the proceeds to charity in the salon’s name.

Apply Peer Pressure

We know you think Trina would look great as red head. Trina knows you think she would look great as a redhead. All the shampoo girls and the Portuguese barbecue delivery guys know you think Trina would look great as a redhead. But Trina asked you for highlights, so give her highlights. Suggest, don’t oversell or soon Trina might be gone.

Be Tardy for the Party

Time is valuable for everyone not just those in the service industry. We all know accidents happen but if you know you’re not a morning person don’t book a 7:15 appointment and show up an hour later with coffee. Your client won’t be amused.

Embrace False Advertisement

The temptation to fake it until you make it has never been stronger than in 2017. Fear of missing out has everyone claiming to do everything. Here's a valuable secret --lying about something won't improve your skills. If you’re unable to accommodate the latest trend let your client know that you care too much to set her up for failure. Use the clean reputation you’ve maintained by not being messy to refer her to another stylist you’ve connected with and use your free time to brush up on some new techniques! Hair isn't a situation where it's cool to fake it until you make it. 

 

 

Photo Credits: Healthy Black Woman, Pop Sugar, Uptown Magazine, Hello Beautiful, Bravo 

Families across the nation may just be winding down from their 4th of July activities but before they know it it’ll be time for backpacks and book covers. That's right school is coming back sooner than you think, and with early mornings comes a need for a routine that gets everyone up and out the door--on time! Lucky for you, we have hair style suggestions that are suitable for every stage in education--even dad can get in on this!

Kindergarten-Elementary School

Our chemical-free crochet curls are the perfect choice for kids over 8. They require minimal manipulation and are difficult to pull out once installed so they'll be no awkward moments of hair falling out. Add a bow or cute headband to your child’s look so she can stand out on her first day of school.

Middle School

As kids get older they crave a little more independence. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the beauty department. While tinted lip gloss and diy contour kits may give you pause, hair is a (mostly) harmless area to allow your child to express themselves with temporary hair color and accessories. Consider allowing them to try our Zoë bohemian crochet twists. They can pull them into fun styles and personalize them with beads or charms so that they can express their style in a healthy, age appropriate, (and most importantly non-permanent) way. Check out a young Willow Smith rocking hers with charms above. 

 

College

 

College is the place where most young adults learn to be resourceful and (hopefully) independent. While most college students don't have jobs that can maintain an lifestyle that consist of weekly salon visits, our Shake, Fluff and Go!  pre-curled and looped synthetic hair is low maintenance and easy to install while catching up on your favorite Netflix. This style can last up to 8 weeks with proper care and worn in so many different ways--you won't get bored. 

OR

 

Ombre cornrows created with our purple rain braid hair is a great way to make a statement. 

 

 

Photo Credits: Natural Hair Kids, L+H Beauty

During her time as a student athlete at the University of Central Florida Dr. Camille Verovic had no idea that her experiences juggling basketball and studying marketing would be preparing her to be a physician and beauty entrepreneur. The Girl+Hair founder has applied her medical expertise and branding knowledge to creating “performance based products” that are dedicated to hair actually being as healthy as it looks. The first line dedicated solely to caring for hair beneath protective styles, also known as “undercare”, Girl+Hair’s products have been celebrated by Sheen, Hype Hair, Essence and other publications. It's not only a favorite among beauty influencers, but is now our customers favorite go-to product to pick up in our online store when purchasing hair products for their next hair style. 

We spoke with Dr. Camille about shrinkage, changing trends in the natural hair industry, and how a family member’s illness was the catalyst that got the former marketing professional to commit to studying medicine.  

You were inspired to start Girl+Hair after your big chop. What prompted you to take the plunge? 

I was praying on it. I had significant breakage and it was at a time where a lot of the people who are now famous on Youtube were doing the big chop so I was inspired to do that. I didn’t want to deal with it anymore so I think all of those things just prompted me to walk up the block to a hair stylist and just say cut it all off.

What led to the breakage?

Relaxers and neglect. It was not understanding that my hair is fine. Now that I have natural hair, I totally understand that I didn’t have to go as frequently to get relaxers. I was going like every six weeks.

Because that’s what they tell you to do...

Yes! And I was letting the relaxers stay in for too long. It wasn’t until I had my own natural hair and could see the true texture that I realized a lot of the problems I was experiencing while I had a relaxer was because my hair is so fine. That’s just my texture.

There are misconceptions that protective styles are inherently "dirty". Everyday in the news there are people talking about girls being suspended from school for wearing protective styles. What is your take on that as a physician?

Many people depend on braids or weave as styling options but in some instances people tend to neglect their own hair. If they're wearing braids they just kind of get up and go. If they're wearing a weave that’s not their own true texture they don’t tend to manipulate it as much. That neglect is how your hair can become matted and your scalp can become dirty. But there weren’t any [cleansing] options for those of us who wore protective styles ten years ago. I think companies are paying attention to that now. They weren’t paying attention to cleansing, they weren’t paying attention to delivery of the product to the scalp, they weren't paying attention to how consumers use products. Now it’s different.

You say “wash day” shouldn’t take all day. How long should the ideal routine take?

I think two to three hours and that’s it. We’re all so busy, why should it take six or seven hours to wash, dry, and style our hair? It should be three hours at the most.  

Can you walk us through your hair routine?

Sure. I go to my stylist; part of protective styling is not only wearing a weave or wearing a braid it’s making sure that you know when you might not be able to be active in taking care of your own hair. So, I still go to a hair stylist to make sure that she’s touching my hair and that she’s evaluating my hair health. I wash it while I’m in the shower, I condition it. I don’t condition it all the time. I tend to do deep conditioning treatments. I’ll use some sort of foam to twist it and sit under the dryer. When it’s dry I’ll take those twists out and if it’s at night I’ll go to bed with the twists in take them out in the morning. My hair doesn’t take me more than 3 hours.

The hair care industry is seeing an increase in lightweight products. How do these benefit textured hair as opposed to heavy creams and gels?

I feel like as a community we’re really dependent on creams for moisture. There’s so many oils that we can use to moisturize the hair instead of creams. The reason I say that is while creams are good, sometimes they have a lot of water in them and it leads to shrinkage. A lot of people may not have an issue with that, if your hair is a good size you don't care about shrinkage, but some people do care about shrinkage. I’m from the school of thought that you can use oils to avoid that. There are lighter oils that tend to penetrate the hair follicle or the shaft better and there's heavy oils that coat and protect the hair. So when we were developing the product we wanted to do a botanical oil blend that kind of gave the best of both worlds, something that would penetrate the hair shaft and coat and protect the hair shaft all while not contributing to shrinkage.

Because when you finish the hair with a product like your hair balm it stays bigger...

Yes! That’s a top selling product. That's the one everybody raves about wherever we sell our products.

How is the packaging of Girl + Hair unique from other products on the market?

The applicator tip is unique. When I think about the products out you don’t see the applicator tip quite often. Our branding is a little bit different than others in a sense that it’s very bold but clean branding. My husband and I are always struggling with how to keep it young and fresh. Our customer is young, she’s a fresh girl. She’s informed. That’s the essence of our brand.

Medical school is a long way from a career in marketing. What prompted the switch?

My mom was diagnosed with cancer many, many, years ago. The backstory is that I wanted to be a doctor even before studying marketing but I played college basketball so I couldn’t commit to the chemistry labs, the organic and the biochemistry and all that, because we were always traveling. So I switched my field of study to marketing. When my mom became sick it was almost like I was re-inspired. So I decided to go back [to school] and completed my post-bac studies and commit to my MCATS and all that good stuff. While I was doing that I was still working in marketing. You have to understand some component of marketing and branding even as a physician. Look at where medicine is today. There are so many opportunities for doctors. Some are on TV and others have product lines out. It's important to be well-rounded.

Do you think that more physicians understanding marketing and branding can help communities of color become more invested in their health? 

To be honest I think doctors are so invested in doing “the right thing” and in educating themselves, that I don’t think they understand the importance of marketing. I think it’s a great communication tool that could be used with patients especially in communities of color. Especially when it comes to, and I call it an epidemic, diabetes and hypertension which so many patients have. If you’re able to communicate to communities you’re able to help them make better decisions about what they eat so their conditions don’t progress to horrible things like heart attacks and amputations. I wish more physicians would apply marketing tools to communicate with patients so eventually they would be healthier.

We’ve all seen the memes about minding your business and drinking water. Are there dietary choices that affect the hair?

Oh yes absolutely! You need water. If you’re not hydrated how do you expect your hair and skin to be happy and thriving? And not necessarily vitamins through supplements--supplements do not always absorb. You need supplements through your food, supplements through what you eat. I see a lot of biotin supplements and things like that, but biotin is in food. Iron supplements, vitamin A, all of these  are in the food we eat every single day. If you’re eating fruits and vegetables, all of the things that we know we have to eat, you’ll see the difference in your hair. If you limit your fine sugars and increase your water intake you’ll see the difference in your hair and skin.

Sometimes Instagram has good advice. You drink your water you mind your business and your hair gets long.

Exactly! And exercise is something that people don’t realize helps with hair growth because when you exercise your blood vessels dilate. Your muscles want to bring blood to your organs.  When you open up your vessels and you get blood you get nutrients as well.

So hot yoga can make my hair grow?

Um hot yoga? Maybe. But we’re talking about that pumping exercise, running, getting your blood going--your heart moving. 

Yea, I think my hair’s long enough.  

*Laughs*

What are your next plans for the brand?

We definitely want to bring the brand to a broader audience. There’s so many people that don’t know about the brand so we definitely want to get it onto the shelf of bigger retailers so people can see the products in their area. We want to create more products. I’m always trying to solve problems so for me the whole product development aspect is something that we’re working on to bring fresh ideas to the market that are actually useful for the customer. We want to bring good ingredients that are very beneficial for promoting hair health. We are a very small team, we’re a husband and wife team. We’re business partners of course, but when we see a sales number that’s not what gets us excited. What gets us excited is when other people talk about the brand, and meeting people who go “oh my God. It’s amazing!” That is the most fulfilling part of the Girl+Hair experience, the support. I really love and appreciate the natural hair community. You feel like you have a bunch of sisters who are not blood sisters but they get it. It makes me want to do more.

 

* This interview has been edited for content and clarity.  

 

 

After months of scrolling the gram and peepin' the best travel pics of people smoking cigars and posing for pictures with sculptures of Che Guevara--you’ve had enough. You got you some crochet hair, copped some bejeweled sandals, then caught one of those bomb travel deals you hear people rave about and now you're counting down the days to take off. There’s just one problem-- before you go, your protective style has sparked the interest of your co-workers. Before you can make it to sandy beaches and cold cocktails you’ve got to get past Patricia in Purchasing.

“Omg your hair grew overnight!”

“Does it hurt?”

“ How much does it cost!”

“How do you keep it clean?”

The questions and comments can fly like daggers when you show up in a corporate setting after switching up your style. We’ve rounded up a few suggestions for dealing with them gracefully because let's face it, a classy clapback keeps HR away.

Take a Breather

Rude (and occasionally borderline racist) comments are super overwhelming and annoying but they don’t have to be consuming. It is perfectly acceptable to take a pause before replying or even to say to your co-worker “I’m really not comfortable with answering your question, but thanks for asking.”  Or you could take this as an opportunity to teach--sometimes people just don't know. 

Keep It Short

In the event that you’re down to answer questions for your curious coworkers keep your replies short. “Yes” and “no” are actually complete sentences. It is SO not your job to break down the etymology of the phrase tender headed to Philip in accounting. Your box braids, your business. But also consider that your break isn't that long and do you really want to spend it on why crochet braids are better than sitting for 10+ hours for individual braids--prolly not! 

Flip It

As every ex-boyfriend we’ve ever had well knows, when you can’t defend yourself distraction is your best bet. If you find yourself cornered, don’t be afraid to fire off some work appropriate water cooler questions of your own. You’d be surprised how quickly people can end a conversation when you start questioning their grooming routine--or lack thereof. 

Seek Outside Assistance

You have every right to a workspace where you feel respected and safe. If someone is asking questions or making comments that are upsetting you or causing you to feel uncomfortable, it’s okay to speak up. Avoid a direct confrontation by inviting a cool coworker into the conversation or asking to confer with your supervisor or human resources.

Continue to Slay

Despite inappropriate displayed curiosities and not so thinly veiled insults, you (better) know you’re everything so continue to flaunt your beauty on the inside and out like the Queen you are!

We can't wait to see how you rock your #vacationhair summer! 

 

Photo Credits: Ebony, Stripped by HD, Hype Hair, Madame Noire