Reynaldo White, 22

Curl Type: 4-A

Products:

M: What do you do?

R: Sound engineer, turned bassist now. Mostly doing sound design in terms of podcasts or movies that need ambiance.

M: Tell me about your hair. What’s your routine?

R: You know, funny enough? I don’t have one. This is my first time growing my hair. This is my first growth ever because as a child, they always cut my hair. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. It’s fun. It feels nice every once in a while I detangle it. People are like “don’t do it dry”, “Don’t do it this way.” You know I’m learning. I’m learning my routine. It might consist of coconut oil.

M: Where did you grow up?

R: I grew up in the Dominican Republic. I came here in 2010 and lived in Brooklyn and in Staten Island.

M: How’s the transfer of thoughts about black hair from the Dominican Republic? The way that people treat Afro hair?

R: Over there is a lot more common. But recently it’s changed. I just got back in January and over there, they’re using a lot of wigs and extensions now. Before they were all about “don’t add anything, you have to mitigate hair.” I’m noticing now that women are leaning more towards what they do here in America. It’s not in the sense of protection, it’s a sense of trend. Over there, they’re more trendy about their hair than before. Before it was more about actually keeping it you know, awesome.

M: Do you get any specific comments about your comments or compliments?

R: Always! “Oh my god, I love your hair.” No partiality whatsoever anyway. Any race or color, they love the hair. Some people touch it, you know, it’s like “okay?” I’m thinking about just going to Japan and charging people to touch my hair. Yeah, a lot of compliments. More than the outfits.

M: You said that you used to have your hair cut?

R: I used to have a lot of waves. 360 waves.

M: Do you like your hair now that it’s grown?

R: Yeah, I love braiding it more than anything. It’s a little expensive and I got a plan everything else... but it’s awesome.

M: What’s the one thing that you wish people knew better about black hair?

R: it can be seen as an accessory because we accessorize our hair but I feel alienated from my hair in conversation sometimes. And maybe that’s a regular thing for people that have a certain strong feature. But my hair has made sure it is that thing in the room. Someone might have blue eyes so they focus on the blue eyes. but like it’s not just my hair… And I want it to get big, and I know the bigger it’s gonna get…