- 19 hours ago
Women everywhere are even more empowered to reclaim
their crowns. Join us as we explore why women are
unapologetically taking ownership of their hair identity , and
how we can empower the next generation to do the same.
their crowns. Join us as we explore why women are
unapologetically taking ownership of their hair identity , and
how we can empower the next generation to do the same.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00we are back in New Orleans after two years and what a wonderful feeling it is today we have some
00:14amazing things in store for you but before we get into that we want to let everybody know that we
00:20want you all to hashtag all your pictures all your stories all your tick tocks that you captured today
00:26with the hashtag essence best again the hashtag essence best also we need your help finding the
00:34most popular answers for a game that we're playing today called the silver fox showdown it's a game you
00:41do not want to miss especially my ladies trust me if you like beards then I need you playing this game
00:49okay just know that there are men with beards involved so I definitely think everybody needs
00:54to tap in so we have such an incredible lineup for you all this weekend and today's programming is
01:00the perfect kickoff to it all welcome to the first day of beauty carnival and without further ado we
01:06are going to get right into the swing of things so our first panel for today is about something near
01:12and dear to all black women's heart and that is hair so the title of this panel is reclaiming your crown
01:19and it touches on how for decades black women have had their hair choices policed by individuals
01:25who are the least affected by their decisions so today we have some incredible panelists with us
01:31who are going to talk about their journeys as well as the things that they've seen in hair and what
01:36they see is the future of black hair so without any further delay i'd like to introduce charlie wall
01:48next we have the fabulous michelle o'connor
01:51and last but certainly not least we have dana chanel johnson
02:03hello ladies you all look wonderful i think so do you so we'll jump right in because i feel like hair
02:10is something that like we could talk about all day right but when we talk about reclaiming your crown
02:14there's been a lot of discourse and conversation especially recently about black women doing what
02:20they want with their hair not what they are told they should do with their hair right and so you
02:25know for decades we've been policed so for you all as as hair experts what has you all's hair journey
02:33been like and your relationship with your hair so my hair journey has been we've i've worn everything
02:40under the sun from color we've braids everything and uh to be honest with you i am now finally reclaiming
02:49my crown because i am wearing my real hair i feel good about it i feel free to be honest with you
02:54i've never worn my hair this long or this short and i love my hair and what about you michelle so my
03:01hair journey entailed you know being a young girl in her teens getting her hair relaxed and believing
03:07that um the natural texture needed to be um smooth to look polished and to present well and so that hair
03:14journey has been sort of like loving what grows out of my head feeling um very empowered to wear it
03:20no matter what setting i'm in and just being um loud and proud about it and what about you my hair
03:27journey has always been in the beauty salon my mom was not the hairdoer so we were in the salon every two
03:34weeks so that's where my passion for being in the salon setting and being around clients and understanding
03:41uh the different types of textures and styles and just really loving hair was just from my childhood of
03:48being in a swan too and when we talk about reclaiming your crown there have been a lot of labels right
03:54especially for black hair right so you know going natural at one point was the the thing to do
04:00right and then there's so many labels that claim that you know what what is a real naturalista what
04:05isn't a real naturalista so is that still important today do those labels still exist today
04:11to be honest um i guess it all depends on the individual um it's important to whoever thinks
04:17it's important i think everybody should be proud of what they have as far as they have
04:23labeling it and and and you know the the hair texture uh difference and the curl patterns and stuff
04:29like that it's it's a little bit overrated to me it's a little bit overrated to me because i just think
04:36that everybody should be proud of what the hair that they have that they have i think speaking
04:42collectively as a black person as a person of color black hair has always um represented being a
04:50chameleon you know we've been able to wear hair in locks pressed weave natural like we've always just
04:57explored and um experimented with various different hairstyles so i think um the gatekeeping that we
05:05see outwardly that people have sort of put on us sometimes trickles down to within our own culture
05:11where we're still gatekeeping you're not natural because you color or you can't or you wear weave
05:16because we're trying to dissect and get in the mind of why people are you know presenting how they want
05:22to present when i think that we should just appreciate the the vast variety of things that we
05:27celebrate yep yep charlie what do you think well when i first um got into the hair industry was at the
05:34boom of the transition period where it is around 2008 where you were you know relaxes are out natural
05:41hair is in and the labels were very important at that time now i feel that the label has subsidized and
05:49are you a lot girl are you a wig girl are you a protective style girl are you a sick soup press girl
05:55so i think the labels have not necessarily broadened their narrow down to the lock community um the press
06:03community the wig community from there and generationally do you all see a difference say
06:09between baby boomers and gen z or millennials in their approach to hair and kind of how they feel about
06:15their hair and themselves so i think that the more mature crowd they they they like to stick to their
06:22hair they stick to what they know um it's comfortable for them uh they're wearing their their their natural
06:28hair and i think younger crowd where you know we're more daring we're trying different things different
06:33colors we're doing everything yep to to be different to stand out you know i just think it's it's a big
06:40difference and i think it's beautiful either way do you get different asks from your clients of different
06:45ages oh absolutely i think depending on what era you grew up in um you might have a sensibility that
06:53sort of um pushes you into this box where you want to be very um cloth very tailored very streamlined
06:59very smooth because you felt like that was sort of how you would acclimate into the work world how
07:05you acclimate into society how you would get ahead whereas generations following that sort of rebelled
07:12a bit more the last time you saw a big rebellion was in the 60s and 70s and then you saw it reemerge in
07:17the early 2000s we started having um role models like lauren hill and the um williams's sister where they
07:24were on such large platforms and they were wearing their hair natural and it was being celebrated and
07:30we started to really it normalized being able to sort of have this contrasting look uh putting it in
07:38unexpected places in in entertainment um in the boardroom uh in a courtroom and so just depends on
07:45what generation you came up in but definitely what about you for me i see three different generations in
07:52the salon on a daily basis i have like the 10 and under they know exactly what they want i want it
07:58straight a little curl they can i used to don't bump it too much yes i used to give that woman back
08:04there a hard time when she wanted me to bump my end yes yes and then you have like the 20 to 30
08:11um age range that has the salon trauma so you have to like work them through that that's a good way to
08:17put it you know a good way to put it and then the older generation they're just not very educated on
08:23like the health of hair different products chemicals style so that salon experience is
08:28is the learning experience for them and they're so eager to learn and take it all in and they're
08:32so appreciative of you like communicating with them and trying something new they've been probably
08:37wearing the same hairstyle and have the same stylist for 20 years so they're like my husband needs
08:43something new so it's really it's really exciting and i'm happy that you mentioned chemicals because
08:48i actually recently made a tick tock video that went viral because um i was in california helping
08:56a brand a hair care brand come to market and through the many conversations that i had with black
09:02women there i decided that i want to go back to getting a relaxer right i i went natural in college
09:08because everybody was like go natural go natural i was also perming my own hair in college so
09:14you can imagine what what came of that and so i decided to go natural i've been natural now for
09:20seven eight years and i think based on my lifestyle at this point in time i want to relax her again
09:26and so i said it on tick tock and the the responses were so surprising for women because there were so
09:34many comments that were like i went back a month ago i went back a week ago yeah i've been done
09:38with natural like all of these things so for you all seeing this shift right because it is very
09:44prevalent that black women and i think it goes back to the policing thing black women are just like
09:48i'm gonna do what i want that's right right so how do you all feel about that kind of shift i feel
09:52like everything is cyclical right we're seeing it again but the relaxer surge is coming back again yeah
09:59i think that a lot of women or um they're dealing with the hair and they're dealing with all this
10:04humidity and they're you know we're us as women we're traveling a lot we're doing a lot more yep
10:10than we normally do we're not just staying inside anymore we're entrepreneurs we're doing all the kind
10:13of things and i think the shift is due to women being out and not being able to you know maintain
10:20their hair the way they would if they were inside yep so i mean i don't i don't mind the shift i think it's
10:25i just think that like you said we do whatever we want yep i'll tell you this heat has me like i
10:30should have gone back to relaxer a week ago so so i definitely that is very true what about you i think
10:36it's so funny that um you mentioned the heat and you mentioned the fact that that makes you want to
10:41go back to relaxer so i live in miami yep and it's very humid there it's hot most of the year and so the
10:47decision to come out of relaxer was in favor of how is my hair going to be the easiest and it was like
10:53is it going to frizz is it let me just go with the natural texture and just wear that so i'm seeing
10:59that trend a lot as well and i think it's important for us to be reminded to not gate keep each other
11:05and let that decision be a personal one yep right yep what about you for me um again behind the chair
11:12sometimes i believe it's an emotional response you got caught in the rain or had a busy schedule and
11:19natural hair takes time it's a lot of product it takes time and it that doesn't fit your lifestyle
11:24anymore then that's when the clients are transitioning so and the caveat to that or you know on the flip
11:31side of that when it comes to little girls right because i'm going back to relaxer right but when i
11:37whenever i do have say a daughter i'm not throwing her my plan is not to throw her into relaxers when she's
11:43young right so how do we kind of strike that balance of this is what i'm doing for me and my lifestyle
11:50right now without projecting that straight hair is better onto young black girls as the next generation
11:55comes out well i think that with our young girls that's growing up we have to make sure they are
12:00confident i feel like if you teach us confidence when we're very young we won't stray we won't worry
12:07about what everybody else is doing we'll feel you know good about what we have going on yeah so it's
12:11constant confidence for me little girls and and you know letting them understand that who you are
12:17this is who god made you be and and you're perfect how you are and as long as they have that and still
12:22i just think that it won't be any breaking them yeah yeah um i love this question i think um when i think
12:28about little girls i think about uh how historically whenever we were going somewhere it was automatic
12:36automatically associated with pressing our hair and wearing it straight so i think there has to be
12:40intention with mothers behind how you show up when you think you're going to something nicer yep so
12:46perhaps when you're going to something nice letting her wear her hair natural or if she's going to
12:50school let her press her hair to go to school like sort of switch up where you think certain hairstyles
12:55belong yeah and i think there's just having that intention is going to help broaden where she thinks
13:02she can wear her hair and how she should wear it and you said that you see kids all the time
13:06yeah so how do you kind of strike that balance well sometimes the girls depending on like the texture
13:13of their hair i have to do like a lot of like emotional building and like self-esteem building
13:20like your hair is beautiful from like the time that they walk in until the time they leave just
13:24encouraging them that their hair is is beautiful your hair may not look like this girl or that girl but
13:29your hair god made your hair this way and it's beautiful and i give them progress reports it's
13:34growing your curl pattern is nice we could try you know this style this time or next time give them
13:40something to look forward to and just making the experience better but the key thing is just like
13:45giving them like the self-esteem building and letting them know that their hair is beautiful the way that
13:49it is and i think too on the again kind of to counter that yet again i think there's also been um there was this
13:57viral tiktok i love tiktok y'all my life is like a running tiktok references um but there was this
14:03tiktok video where this woman was basically expressing that as black women we care a little
14:08bit too much about our hair right like it's almost um instilled in us from a young age so it's like
14:15our hair not being done can make or break our entire day or it can make him you know what i'm saying
14:20and and do you all feel that in some ways black women could afford to adopt the notion of it's just
14:27hair it will grow back it will be fine it will what do you guys kind of feel about that take
14:34well i think with our hair it is our crown it is what what symbolizes us it's what makes us feel good
14:40when you think about even in tragedy we still want to look good and looking good is getting your hair
14:45done and your hair makes you feel good so i think um
14:48um i just think our hair is important and i don't think that i don't think that it's like
14:56like a right or wrong or good or bad i just think that you have to
15:01you it makes you feel good i mean that's that's just in a nutshell your hair is on your head and you
15:07walk around with it and it makes you feel good yeah oh i keep my hair done so i know
15:11i think uh traditionally we haven't had that luxury um we know that the beauty standards are european
15:21and so that default of having eurocentric beauty standards doesn't afford us the again the luxury
15:28of being able to not worry about how our hair presents so if our hair is not done and then it's
15:34multi-layered because we within our own subgroup we also have the textureism conversation what curl
15:42pattern or hair pattern type is acceptable versus what's not you know wearing the same type of look
15:50so i think it's so multi-layered that we don't have that luxury currently still however i do see pockets
15:57of women that are um being bold and being brave and changing that narrative where they are out there
16:03saying um for example there was an ad with uh i think it was h m and there was a little girl in
16:10the ad that had her hair a very undone and she was with other children whose hair was very undone they
16:16were they were white and there was backlash from the black community regarding this little girl
16:21because her hair looked like she'd just come off the playground and so the pushback to that was
16:27well why can't she look like that why do we have to always be completely clothed and done and
16:32said so there are people that are questioning how we receive that right so there is conversation and
16:38they're they're following conversation will be shift i think that historically we just like to look good
16:46i mean if you look back at ancient egyptian time we had the gold the gold plated necklaces the makeup
16:52the hair the outfits like that's just culturally who we are we just like to look good simple that is very
16:58true that's very true okay so for a little bit some more fun topics let's do some rapid fire
17:03questions because you guys are the experts and people want to know what products they need to be
17:07buying okay so favorite shampoo go the pink lace brand that was easy go acrylic and dream co-wash
17:16i am here for the paul mitchell tea tree shampoo favorite edge control the pink lace brand okay
17:22oh she bomb okay carrot carrot favorite hot tool red
17:33dyson that's that that's my favorite okay um let's see let's see let's see let's see let's see
17:42favorite old school hairstyle that's making a comeback making a comeback deep waves yep
17:47i don't know was that yours okay i don't know some favorite old school hairstyle there's so many i'm
17:53like everything old is new again i know the 70s the flip the fringe bangs yes yes yes i was gonna
18:01say the same thing the fair foster heavy bang full hair definitely yeah okay let's try one more let's
18:08try one more what would the girls want to know favorite leave-in
18:13i know that's a little that was very specific i know i'm sorry that was okay favorite hair oil
18:22because that's always tricky finding the best hair oil favorite hair oil oil
18:28you go for um i i did i did work with um design essentials before okay and i am head over heels for
18:38their vitamin e oil the um peppermint oil they have and the aloe oil is soothing to the scab we
18:46my clients see great results it's not heavy it's amazing product the whole line of hair oils okay
18:52you're back to me i'm back i want to say the pink lace brand because i have all these products okay all
18:57right these aren't fair questions i'm sorry okay fair melanin melanin beauty okay i like their oil okay okay
19:04okay she has great stuff she does she has wonderful stuff so what you all hope that the future of hair
19:09holds i hope the future of hair holds um more normalizing our beauty um i hope the future of
19:22beauty for black women um just really immerses itself in seeing us plastered everywhere big huge images of
19:31natural leaves wigs um relaxed like just all of it and that all of it is represented and the
19:38normalization of it starts to just sink into the psyche of everybody yep yeah i definitely want to
19:45see more of us in the commerce part of the hair um me myself trying to expand my brand and my business
19:55it's it's kind of narrow i see a lot of the four brands before me they're very strong and then
20:01they get bought out by bigger competitors and stuff so i would love to see us you know just expand more
20:07there for sure yeah i agree with them both so before we go for the ladies that are here at essence fest
20:17what can they do to protect or keep their hair intact because this heat i know and this humidity
20:26okay so it's hard because it's supposed to rain too right and it's right a shower cap would be good
20:32like a rain cap okay so when you're outdoors wear your rain cap um if you're if you just so happen not
20:38to bring a scarf make sure you have a sad pillow to sleep on at night okay um let you know not too much
20:43heat regardless to you know do little cute up styles if it's i just don't like overheating like
20:48over over curling hair do you like those umbrella hats my mom keeps trying to get me to wear umbrella
20:54hats i think and i refuse to wear umbrella listen to your mom all right never mind we're gonna skip to
21:00michelle okay look i um i think my advice would be to pay attention to ingredients you know one of the
21:07things that you want to combat is humidity so you would not be looking to wear things in your hair that
21:13are humectants so you want anti-humectants that block out close the cuticle down also protecting
21:18your hair when you go to sleep yeah um so agreed and no umbrella hat no thank you unless your mom
21:27my clients all know i'm big on bunnets and satin pillowcases for sure uh for the hair but right she
21:36said not at the airport i did not say that she said that we have to make monique proud she said no
21:42bonnets at the airport she said that not outdoors um and for my silky girls heat protectants humidity
21:49blockers those are your friends a light before you walk outside um short showers get in and out go
21:56singing in the shower that'll poop your hair up immediately um begin well charlie michelle dana thank you all
22:04so so so much thank you and do not go anywhere because we have more panels coming up immediately
22:10after this thank you thank you
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