In the interest of storytelling, self-introduction and the illuminating joy of life's personal journeys, here's a tale of transition and triumph:
Two weeks shy of high school graduation, I sat in a stylist’s chair with my back to the mirror. I didn’t know her well; didn’t need to. She had a sunny disposition, a roster of satisfied clients and a pair of scissors. Snip! Years of broken, processed hair slid into my cloaked lap. Slice! I trembled with the excitement of banishing day-long salon visits, harsh chemicals and the infamous egg-salad relaxer smell from my life for-ev-er. Chop! She finished, and my natural hair journey began.
I rocked a sharp Caesar cut through undergrad. Wish I could say it was a flawless experience, but there was that one time I tried to cut it myself without a guard and ended up wearing a head full of potholes for two weeks.
After graduating I moved to Baltimore where I found a barber I could trust and a boyfriend I could not. I was faithful to my standing weekly appointment. At the end of each cut I saw in the mirror a woman beholden to her own concept of beauty, a woman who could conquer the world. The Baltimore cuts were good for me. I hold them responsible for two albums, Revenge of the Smart Chicks (2008) and Revenge of the Smart Chicks II: Ambitious Gods (2009).
I left the guy. Freedom! Then, I lost my job. Great! More freedom! Cash poor and time rich, I came home to DC to complete my next project, the Lions, Fires & Squares EP (2010). “Orion,” a spacy single from that record, received a Grammy nomination. What a golden moment!
Enter veganism, the personal excavation which unearthed my GOLD album (2013), and my high-top fade, an outward expression of an inward commitment to vertical thinking. I found this cut to be a cool and unconventional style, that is until it became a tool of convention.
Folks began to identify me as “the chick with the high top”. I felt like a boxed-in prisoner to my own precision, not at all like a master of improvisation, not at all like a Jazz musician. The time for change had come.
Now I rock an afro... or a natural... or a bush… or whatever you call it. I look at my curl pattern and see my ancestors smiling back at me. My hair is now fun, multidimensional and open to possibilities. Just like my hair journey, the music I am preparing to release has a story to tell. RISE [Story 2] arrives at the end of September. You can hear RISE: Story 1 on Spotify.