Hair. For as long as I can remember, rituals around hair have been a part of my life. As a little girl, my mother would give me hot oil treatments, parting my hair, applying warm oil to my scalp and ends, finishing me off by braiding my hair, and then sending me to bed with a towel draped over my pillow lest my pillowcase get stained.
The next day, she would wash it out and, using a combination of candle sticks and strips of cloth, gently wind my hair around each one, creating little ringlets as it air-dried as her mother had done for her.
At some point, when I was in the double digits, I chopped all my hair off. At age 10, I thought it would be chic, but I hated it, so let it grow back. The in-between stage was awkward, so eventually, my mother relented and let me get a relaxer, allowing my humidity-adverse hair to remain straight even under the most damp conditions.
This went on for well over a decade, monthly sessions draped in a cloying chemical substance, all to “tame” my natural curls in an effort to emulate the ease and low-maintenance hair that, at the time, was equated with beauty.
During this time, my mother decided that she had had enough and was unwilling to spend additional time, effort, or money on her hair, so she chose to go natural. She shaved her hair off - leaving only an inch or so - and never looked back. This was the early nineties, mind you, and within the bourgeois Black circles she often frequented, to some, she was seen as a rebel, a pushback; to others, an inspiration.
As time passed, I absorbed her desire for a lower maintenance look, so the day before my college graduation, I chopped my hair again, surprising everyone when I showed up with a short, blonde pixie. When I eventually decided to grow it again, I returned to my natural texture and, with it, the weekly ritual of hot oil treatments and deep conditioning. After so many years of straight hair, I was surprised to see this shock of curls surrounding me.
To this day, it’s how I spend at least one afternoon/evening on the weekend - tending to my hair and, in the process, tending to myself. Carving out a moment of quiet where the focus is solely on me and doing what so many others before me have done. Connecting to myself and the women who came before me nourishing myself internally and externally. Some of my favorite products for this are Everyday Oil and the Conscia Hydrate Conditioner. I hop in the bath while it penetrates and use the Christophe Robin Scrub to make sure my scalp is extra clean.
A ritualized moment of calm and care.
It’s what we strive for here daily at the Atelier. Focusing on hair health and creating moments for our clients to be nourished internally and externally, as we know one cannot exist without the other.
