ESSENCE Fest Attendees Explain Their Hair Journeys

[MUSIC] Tell me a little bit about your hair journey. Well I transitioned. I was relaxed for, since I was the age of 12. Okay. And I thought about the perms and I was reading up on everything. And I said, I need to stop perming my hair. Okay. And so I started to transition in January of 2012. Alright. And I transitioned for 14 months. It was a difficult journey for me. It was difficult. Oh my god, yes. Because there were moments where I could not, when you're going through that stage. And you can't run your fingers through your hair any more. And when you've been relaxed all your life, that's a scary moment for you. Tell me a little bit about the hair accessories. I love the band. Is that something that you normally do? Yeah, yeah. Normally I'll just put a band on. And, and it, it keeps my hair down. [LAUGH]. Sits in place. And, just a little bit of sheen. And that's about it. I wrap it at night and wake up in the morning and go. Do you have a hair idol? Someone that you love? Kerry Washington. It, her hair is just, it's always beautiful and it's always professional. Tell me a little bit about your hair. Okay. My parents never gave me a perm. So, it's always been pretty much natural. If I want long hair, I usually get like a sew in. But other than that. It's really just, shampoo and conditioner. So. Nice. Do you have any hair challenges? Combing my hair out? [LAUGH]. No, seriously. Like, if I wash my hair I have to, like, super tight twist it. And like, leave it there if I want a style for, like, all weekend. What types of ingredients work best for your hair? I really like coconut oil, and I really like jojoba oil. And I use tea tree as well. So I just like to mix all those together and rub it on. Two-strand twist, take it out. And then pick out the curls. And then, voila. Do you, do you guys have any hair goals? Like how long do you want to grow your hair? This set I'm having, I'm going to keep for my grandchildren. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, this is. Very cool. For my grandchildren, yeah. I want to see my grandchildren playing with my locks. That's my dream. Yeah. So tell me about this hairstyle here. What's what's going on? So it's basically, I mean. I have a mohawk. I just made my hairdresser Brenda Jones, just curl it out and put some color in it. Cuz I love for it to be colorful. As a matter of fact I've been in Essence, Style in Essence hair like twice. Nice. Well we love tang. Kind of amazing. [LAUGH]. I love the color. Why did you decide to use that color? Well, I'm a hair stylist. So I decide to use different colors. Any color in the rainbow I'll use. I'm actually natural. But right now I'm going through chemotherapy, so I'm bald underneath. It's a wig I'm in. You made that wig? Yes ma'am, I sure did. Wow! Mm-hm. It's beautiful. How long did it take you to make it? Actually, cuz my finger's kinda numb, so it took me a day. [LAUGH]. But normally it takes like two hours to make a wig. Okay. Mm-hm.