ISSUE 011 // SAFIA ZINE

You have recently co-founded @inthechair.studio - can you share the spirit behind this entire idea?

In The Chair is a concept by my friend and business partner Christine (@christinevadasi) and I. With In The (c)hair, we want to emphasise that we do more than just hair. The hair is just how we want to start a conversation. But the real change? It doesn’t happen on your head, it happens in your head.

For a while, we didn’t know what to call ourselves. Are we curly hair stylists? It often feels like we don’t do much about hair at all, or that’s not really what we want our focal point to be. We sometimes joke about us being like therapists, but I guess in some way you could see us like that. Because our work is about people - about all of us. About those people who don’t feel understood, who don’t feel represented, who don’t feel accepted for who they are because of what grows on their head.

What’s one piece of advice you’d share with someone who’s going through a natural hair transition?

Since I started my curly hair journey, many things have changed. There are more brands and products, more techniques, more influencers and way more (mis)information. I often feel like these new brands, products, tools and their spokespeople have not necessarily liberated us from our old straightening irons; they have replaced them. Brands are selling us this ideal of perfect curls. We are led to believe we can buy our solution in shelves with products that still pollute the planet. Or that we should categorise ourselves according to a system in which the straightest hair is number 1 (again) and 4 is the curliest. Reminder: we are not our hair, we are people. Besides, how natural are we and our hair if we need so many products just to like what we see in the mirror?

The number one advice I want you to remember is: the key to achieving anything in life is simplicity and consistency. If you’re transitioning, go to the foundation of curly hair care: read the Curly Girl Handbook by Lorraine Massey. It will guide you through what curly hair is and it will teach you how to understand it. And as to my own words of guidance: skip the shampoo, skip the oils, get yourself a good conditioner, and cut your ends the moment they start splitting or drying out!

The hair is just how we want to start a conversation. But the real change? It doesn’t happen on your head, it happens in your head.

Hair is a very powerful thing, but unfortunately that powerfulness goes beyond feel-good stories. It has been known that people with natural hair or protective hairstyles get discriminated against, bullied and fired over it. You have taken care of so many heads of hair along the years, which means you have absorbed so many stories - do you remember the exact moment you realized that hair isn’t “just hair”?

I had my breakthrough moment after a conversation with my mother. I was fluffing my hair with my afro pick, when she asked me why I like to wear my hair this way. She preferred it straight. When I asked her why she preferred her own hair straight, she didn’t know what to answer. Up to this day, I’ve never seen my mother wear her natural hair (and I still haven’t). Despite being North African, I never felt like my texture was accepted within my culture. Neither was it in Belgium, where I grew up. The reality is that, when you have natural hair, people often assume that you don’t like it. Hair stylists either relax your hair, or blow it out to make it more ‘manageable’.

Truth is, the problem isn’t even that other people can’t accept our hair, but that we have started to believe them. Natural hair is more than hair in the sense that it carries a story of covert racism. This underlying racism has been going on for so long, that many of us have internalised it and have forgotten its roots (pun intended). But in covering our hair, we cover our ancestry, we cover ourselves. So, to me, my hair is a political stance. It is my way of representing those who are not being represented. With my work, I hope to inspire others to be their bold selves. I simply don’t want another generation of women and men who ‘don’t fit in’. If we want to make a change, we have to be the change.

Natural hair is more than hair in the sense that it carries a story of covert racism. This underlying racism has been going on for so long, that many of us have internalised it and have forgotten its roots (pun intended).

What message do you think whoever’s reading this, needs to hear at this very moment?

 For the longest time, I felt insecure about my texture. I hated it, I wished it wasn’t there because it didn’t look like anybody else’s. But then I acknowledged my pain and I started to learn about it. Through this understanding, I found peace. This allowed me to discover a path on which I found people for which I could make a difference. 

My hair is a metaphor for my journey, it’s just a symbol. It doesn’t need to be the same for you, but remember that you can always learn to carry your pain with pride. It can become your crown, your source of power. Radically be you, whatever that means to you, and make that your life’s work. Remember: nobody will ever be able to compete with you on being you.