Every day at the Barbados Community College, Danice would wear a weave to school. She was so dependent on it that she would not leave home without her hair done. She would take it out and put it back in each Sunday. Danice had to have it to feel and look pretty. This was six years ago.
“Eventually I decided it was time to stop, the addiction had to come to an end and so I did the big chop. People told me it was a waste of time because I would go back and so they placed bets on me.”
She had by then realises the power, spirituality and symbolic characteristics of what she calls “plantation hair”? “Eventually I decided it was time to stop; the addiction had to come to an end and so I did the big chop. People told me it was a waste of time because I would go back and so they placed bets on me.”
Danice didn’t allow such comments to deter her and they actually made her more determined to prove them wrong. While doing so she realised something for the first time. A new persona exuded from her. Yes, she was still the same Danice her friends and family loved but she was now enlightened. She not only understood the beauty of her kinky hair but she learnt the story behind it.
“I liked the feeling natural hair gave me and there aren’t a lot of people who style natural hair, so that is why I decided to specify in this area; plus the weave market was already saturated.
“Wearing your hair natural is the healthiest way to wear it. When you use chemicals they get into your pores and people often complain about headaches after they colour or relax their hair.
“That is because your hair grows from a follicle and if something can come through it, something can go in the other direction. And if your body cannot tolerate it, for whatever reason, there are a lot of side effects such as scalp burns, allergic reactions like breakouts and hair loss.
Danice added that “plantation hair” has a certain personality type and represents black culture – therefore women of colour should be more inclined to sport their naturalness and show off the essence of true beauty.
“Plantation hair radiates confidence,” she exclaimed. “People may call me
a hypocrite because I had straightened hair but I just can’t imagine myself
without natural hair.
“To me, straightened hair is boring because you always need to add something or do something to it to make it pop but with natural hair
you can get all types of styles and your hair has good body.”
“Plantation hair may not be the easiest to maintain like straightened hair, but with natural hair you have to put several things into consideration. Like where you are going. For example, I work for myself and so I can sport hairstyles like an Afro but women who work at corporate businesses cannot. And sometimes twist-outs don’t even work because depending on the climate your hair can turn into a puff ball.”
The Alexandra School alumna also talked about what was natural hair and expressed her views on different textures of natural hair.
“Natural hair is any type of hair that has never been processed. In layman terms, your mum could have been black and your dad could have been white and as a result you received what people deem as “sweet hair”. And when you put water in your hair it becomes sleek and you could blow it out and it comes out silky and that is fine.
“But what gets me upset is when people with different textures go and watch these people and tell themselves their hair must look like that.
“But our hair is more matted and tightly coiled, and that is why I like to call it plantation hair. This has become a challenge for women of colour with plantation hair. They need to appreciate their unique beauty and understand they have the strongest type of hair, which says a lot about our race. And this has become a challenge now with plantation hair.”
She explained that this issue can stem from bad parenting.
“You can control which channels your children watch,” she said.
“Every channel has a subliminal message whether it is covert or overt. They may not say you must have Caucasian hair but if every single character in their favourite movie has long hair they are going to automatically want it.
“But if you teach them to appreciate the hair they have from young, this problem will change. And I must admit I have been seeing some mainstream shows with characters who have very kinky hair and plantation hair.”
Speaking about the start-up of her business, Danice told EASY she received negative comments because many thought she would have gone into the corporate world.
“People asked me, ‘Why do you want to do hair? Is that your side job?’ But whenever I get those comments I let them know that I apply what I learnt at school to my business.
“Hair is my passion and I was always doing hair from secondary school, but in my second year at university, I registered ProjectHair2Soul.
“I did banking and finance, and every business need a financial aspect and it very much comes into play.”
In addition, Danice stated that she got her determination and go-getting spirit from her mother, who is a trained cosmetologist. She said watching her mother work for long hours and still be able to perform her motherly role inspired her to be great.
Danice, who is proficient in Sisterlocs and NovaLash, aims to be a trichologist in the near future because she wants to push medical tourism in the island. She said this would be a niche market and it would also give Barbados another tourism product. (SB)
