On Feb. 13, Afrikiya, a student organization promoting African culture, partnered with hair care brands Pattern and Earnestly Natural to showcase different styles of and ways of caring for Black hair. The event featured a panel of speakers discussing the historical and cultural significance of natural hair in Black communities. Product samples were given out afterwards.
Cultural Life Program coordinator Kristen Gainey ‘27 organized the event to “focus more on the joyous aspect” of the Black experience.
“With Black History Month, I think we talk a lot about the black struggle, which is important; we need to know our history in order to move forward from it. But there’s also a lack of black joy sometimes that comes from it. So I wanted to have a moment to celebrate — more than just slavery. I wanted to focus more on the joyous aspect,” Gainey said.
The event was inspired by Gainey’s personal journey with her hair.
“I spent a lot of time not liking my hair as it was. I had my mother who tried her hardest, but even she didn’t know what to do,” she said.
Gainey explained how, for her mother and grandmother, “if you wanted to fit in, if you wanted to be successful, you had to straighten your hair.”
She believes the mentality that her hair was too difficult to care for inhibited her from wearing her natural hair throughout her childhood. It wasn’t until after her “second big chop” that she began to question “what is my hair? And what does that look like for me?”
“I wanted to tell that story, maybe reach out to somebody else who might be going through the same thing. The fact that it’s taken me so long where I’m finally in a place where I do actually love my hair. I want to be loud, I want to celebrate it and I want to get people together and celebrate as well, because there really is so much that black hair can do,” Gainey said.
Through a project in her Digital Storytelling Class, Gabby Harvey ‘27 also sought to spread awareness about the diversity of natural hair in the Black community. She discussed the misconceptions about natural hair, and how some hair types are more accepted than others, especially in the corporate realm.
“I think that’s unacceptable. I think that everybody should be able to embrace their hair texture, regardless of how curly it is or how wavy it is. It’s still beautiful,” Harvey said.
Instead, they often choose to straighten their hair, something that Gainey herself often did growing up. The perception of her hair throughout her childhood as “just so difficult” still affects Gainey, but embracing her natural hair has helped her to combat this train of thought.
Harvey and Gainey both shared some of their favorite ways of wearing their hair. Both enjoy wearing knotless braids because of their convenience and adaptability. Harvey also enjoys wearing her natural hair in two strand twists, and she has recently been experimenting with wigs. In addition to also wearing twists, Gainey mentions that she often does her own braids, including knotless and goddess braids.
“Sometimes I’ll do the knotless braids, but I’ll put curl pieces in them,” said Gainey, “Or, like when I came back to school, I braided it down the front of my hair. I recently did, with the last twist that I had, a couple braids to the side and then twisted the rest.”
The variety of different hairstyles is easy to spot around campus.
“I think that Furman is very diverse when it comes to hairstyles,” Harvey said, “So you see people with their natural hair, you see people with wigs, you see people with locs. You see people with all these different kinds of braids. And I think that’s really great about our campus that, especially the black community, is able to express ourselves freely.”
Both women ultimately hoped that the Cultural Life Program would help Furman students understand how important hair is to the Black community, not only because of its role in personal expression, but also because of the historical and cultural significance that hair has.
“I think that whenever Black women think of their hair, they think of a crown, like their hair is their crown,” said Harvey, “Their hair is royalty that ties them to the people that have come before them.”
