Jade Pierre, 21
Hair Type: 3-B
Products:
M: What do you do?
J: I am a fashion student… but I could see myself having a pretty fluid career. Maybe creative direction or curation would be something fun to explore.
M: What is your hair routine and what products do you use?
J: I’m the laziest natural ever. Typically, I shampoo, and I get an itchy scalp, so I use Selsun blue. Then there’s some shampoo my mom uses. It’s really good for curly hair. After that, I use any leave-in I have. There’s actually a deep hair mask I use as conditioner. It’s called ORS Olive Oil. It’s the one that you used to get when you were a kid. And I just detangle my hair. Put that in and that helps a curl up. And if I have a gel, then I’ll work that in there as well. Then I let it dry. And after it’s done, I can get the volume.
M: I’m assuming both your parents are black?
J: Yes. My mom is mixed. 50/50 black and white and my dad’s Haitian.
M: What is your mom’s experience with hair if you know anything about it?
J: My mom is a 3-B. She’s naturally redhead, like Auburn. She’s white passing, as a biracial person, and feels quite lost when it comes to hair. She’s in such like a middle ground, because my grandmother is white and has really wavy hair. She didn’t exactly know how to do my mom’s hair growing up. Therefore my mom didn’t know how to do my hair growing up. I kinda had to learn it myself.
M: Have you always liked your hair?
J: No. I think I started liking my hair when I was a junior in high school, but I never changed it and I hated having it straight and because I grew up as a competitive dancer. So with me being super active, when you sweat it makes your roots curly. Also when I have straight hair I’m not used to hair being in my face and touching my neck, I feel uncomfortable, hot. I always preferred my the comfort of my natural hair.
M: How often do you get compliments or overall comments from white people about your hair? Positive? Negative?
J: Every day. Positive. I got some weird comments before. I was in a sauna at a spa and this guy looks he’s like “look at what the heat did to your hair!” You’ll like walk into the elevator they’ll be like “Angela Davis 2024 – stay groovy my friend.” People automatically assume personality traits around me because of my hair. And I wouldn’t say they’re negative, but they’re ‘Oh, she’s so fun’ ‘She’s so Brooklyn hipster’. Like it’s a choice. It’s just my hair.
M: What do you wish people knew better when it comes to black hair?
J: That doesn’t appear overnight. And that natural hair is to appreciate and it takes work to maintain. I think I need to be humanized more to other people. Which is why I don’t fret to answer questions. To Americans I may feel maybe a little bit prejudiced. But when it comes to other cultures, I feel we shouldn’t be resentful and sharing information about our hair. If someone’s curious. I can’t criticize them for not knowing and then not want to share.