There were three children who are getting ready to be adopted. And so because I do hair, I just when I see people, I look at their hair, that's kind of one of the first things that I do. I remember looking at the youngest child's hair, and her hair was really, really dry. And honestly, I think my first initial response was to be upset, because that child's hair just was not taken care of. And I didn't put any specific blame on foster parent, but I was just upset because I shot and I get something that they needed to take care of their hair, whether it was information, whether it was a resource, whatever it was, and so I think that probably is where the seed was planted.
During the COVID 19 pandemic, many learn to value things taken for granted, including regular things in life, like being able to visit a barber or a hair salon. The availability of professional haircare is something that is often a problem for some people outside of these pandemic times, ethnicity can play a role in the availability of good haircare not all here is the same. And as we'll hear today, many individuals and families lack the knowledge to properly care for some types of hair. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. I'm your host, Steve fast. Today we're talking about the importance of hair care for different cultures, and what it means when someone does not have access to this kind of self care.
My name is authoring TK Singleton, and I am an instructor at Heartland Community College, I teach a hair and skincare class. And I have been doing that for about a year and a half now.
So in addition to teaching a class, a Heartland, you're also the CEO of a salon. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yes, you're correct. I am the owner of a salon. And we have been in business for about 11 years. It's called Masters Touch salon. And I opened up that business to be a resource to foster and about families. I have a degree in social work, working with families and child welfare, I saw the need for families who need to support education and assistance and taking care of the children in their home.
What made it click to you doing social work, there needed to be more education for families or for individuals. For that element of things.
I'll share one story that really made it clear there were three children who are getting ready to be adopted. And so anytime children were adopted, we would have a celebration, we would call it an adoption party. And I remember going to the party and there were three children. And I just have because I do hair, I just when I see people, I look at their hair. That's kind of one of the first things that I do.
For people that are listening, authoring and I are video conferencing so she can see my hair. And I want to apologize all three, I really want to apologize for my hair, please continue
is okay. And so I remember looking at the youngest child's hair, and her hair was really, really dry. And honestly, I think my first initial response was to be upset, because that child that child's hair just was not taken care of. And I didn't put any specific blame on foster parents or whoever. But I was just upset because I shouted, I get something that they needed to take care of their hair, whether it was information, whether it was a resource, or whatever it was. And so I think that probably is where the seed was planted. I'm not for sure how soon after that, that I followed through, to open it up. But it's just that's one of many situations that I've been exposed to, that showed me that there was a need, there was a need for help.
We're talking at an interesting time. Things opened up a little bit here in our area not too long ago where people could go out and get their their hair cut, or get haircare from a professional. Some of us still hadn't. That's what I was referring to. Looks pretty bad. I know. But you know, there's a lot of homogenization of services and personal products that I think that if you didn't grow up around the different ways that people use those things, that you might be completely oblivious in a way to the barriers that exist to getting proper care. I think sometimes when you move into a community, African American folks move into community, one of the first things they have to figure out maybe more than other people is who can cut your hair and take care of your hair properly. Just not anybody can do it because they're not educated in the right way to do it. Right.
Right. Definitely. There are some barriers and I know specifically for that family, they just lived in a small community. So the foster parents were Caucasian children were African American. So they didn't have those resources in their community. And their caseworker probably didn't know places that they can go to either. And so definitely They I know that even though we've been in business for over 11 years, people still say they come here and say, Well, I don't know where to go. So it's either not knowing people to ask, because I know a few times people have said, well, I found you by someone that I saw in the store. So maybe not having the people to ask, maybe not having access. So looking up to get the information,
what kind of message? Do you think that that sends? Let's just use an example of what you were talking about, like so there's kids in foster care, that if their foster caretakers don't know how to do that, does it send a message that it's less important that they get some of the basic treatment that a lot of kids could get? Is it something that can be overlooked? And then send sort of like a unintended or a subtle message?
Absolutely. So I think that not knowing how to do something, and you're so focused on providing care in a safe home, that oftentimes the care of the hair or the skin, it can go overlooked. And again, not intentionally, it's just that maybe you don't understand the importance of hair, and especially in the African American community, our hair is tied to our esteem. And then unfortunately, when you're in foster care, you already have the stigma of not being in your home, and then you look a certain way, too, right? So that's just it's a whole different level of issues. But yeah, our hair is very important to how we feel. And it can be a distraction in school, like, if you don't feel good about yourself, then you know, it can take away from you being able to learn or, or function in this in school system. But again, I think that just not knowing how to do it doesn't mean that you don't care. Or maybe you just don't understand how important it is.
I think it's part of the educational part of thinking about things like that, if it doesn't come up, and is something people overlook, unintentionally, it doesn't make the the message that it's not important to the people who it affects. So that's something that in my life going through that I had to learn as a white dude, just from people telling me that no point did anybody say, these are products and services that are pretty much directed towards white people, like a good example, that somebody pointed out to me a great example of how things are making white normal, or whatever you want to call it is a look at band aids, band aids are supposedly the generic kind Anyway, don't know Spongebob, SquarePants, or whatever on him. They are the what they call flesh colored and flesh is, you know, this peachy Caucasian color, which never occurs to you, when you're a white kid growing up that that's just for you, and not forever. So what do you find are ways to try to communicate some of these things to people to make it so everybody has at least a consideration of those elements,
I definitely have to have the opportunity. Because you may not always get the opportunity, whether it's just being exposed to it, or maybe people are not comfortable even sharing with you that they don't know how to take care of hair. And so I would say for me, I tried to whether it was as a caseworker, or as a stylist, I was trying to educate. So if people are in my presence, when they're getting their hair done, I tried to educate and give them skills that they can take with them to use those when they're not at the salon. And then if people even when people call me like so during the time that we were not able to do hair, I had clients who called and said, Oh my God, I don't know how to do my hair, can you just kind of walk me through some basic tips tools that I can use. While I'm at home. I personally feel compelled to educate, to give information to people who ask. And then if the opportunity presents itself where I felt led to share if they don't feel asked then I'll do that too. But if there are opportunities, you try to use those try to maximize those moments, honestly.
So what are some of the basic tips that you were telling people obviously, when they come into your salon, you got a professional doing it? They're doing very well. So I don't want to give away your industry secrets. But what are some of the things that you told people and that you try to get across to folks that are trying to take care of kids hair or their own hair,
there are a few basic important things before you even get to styling so detailing of the hair, which if the hair is natural, or they just have a lot of hair that can be a challenge in itself. If you don't know how to do that you can cause a lot of damage to the hair and it just it just won't be a enjoyable process for the person doing it or from the child or whoever it is. So definitely detailing the hair, how to properly and this is simple for me because I do hair but how to properly shampoo and conditioner hair. You will be surprised that At some people just don't know how to shampoo the hair. So just walking you through that process, and then making sure the hair is moisturized, and especially for natural hair is important. Keeping the hair moisturize is very important. So those are just very basic tools. Before we even get to styling that I always try to tell my clients or whoever comes next
few minutes ago, you talked a little bit about the cultural significance of hairstyles. So I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that identity role and, and how hair can reflect somebody's feeling about their culture and how they want to express themselves. I'm gonna does say, just speaking
for myself, as African American, I understand the importance of hair, when my hair is done, I feel good. I feel like I can accomplish things in life or in the day, as opposed to when I'm not where my hair is, I've done may not feel as confident. So honestly, how our hair looks, how we feel about our hair, that does attribute significantly to our confidence in the African American culture. I know that in the last few years, there's been an increase in people being proud about their hair being natural. And I'm starting to see a little bit more of African Americans with their natural hair in the media. And so that's that's encouraging as well to
have there been a divide where whatever the standard of the moment is for beauty how somebody wants to look or the things you see on TV, the way the models were their hair. Is there. And has there been a pressure to make it look more like straight or transformed? Oh, that isn't natural.
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And there's even a divide like with the naturals and straight hair people. And to me, honestly, I try not to focus on is it better to be natural or straight? I focus on is your hair healthy? Because everyone's hair does not do well. Natural everyone's hair does not do well chemically straightened. And so I try not to focus on that I focus on is your hair healthy. So whatever state it is, isn't healthy. But I do think that there is a divide between the natural or the straight hair and trying to try to fit in with what the standard of beauty is. I do?
Do you think that there is a enough support to if you want to wear your hair a certain way, if you do want it to kind of look less natural, because people do all kinds of things with their hair nowadays.
Right? And the word natural, it can be a loose term, right? natural to me means no chemical meaning no color. It's just your natural hair.
So let's say that you want your hair to look long and wavy, right? And it's not going to grow long and wavy, right, just by itself. are the products that are out there readily available to do that in a way. Where if you do want to have your hair look that way? Is it equal treatment for different hair, you know what I mean? Because some people can do that and get that achievement without kind of destroying. I think that
there are products out there that can help you achieve the goal. But you also want to think about understanding what that really means. So after you use the product, like what condition we are here being like, well, this isn't going to help or harm. And then will your hair be permanently like that. And so I think you need to have a good understanding of what the product will do for your hair. But I think there are some products out there for whatever your intended goal is.
But you probably really have to know what you're getting. Because like you said, if it's gonna be permanently like that, the best thing to hope for is just that it grows. And you can get that cut off if you don't like what you end up with. Right?
Right. But I also want I'm also a big fan of working with what you have, sometimes we always want what somebody else has. And that may not be best for us, right? And so I just say we all have something to work with. So work it don't focus on what you don't have, because then you'll be miserable. The term beautiful is a broad term, and it looks different. There's not to me, there's not one standard of beauty. It's not having long hair is not having short, it just everyone is beautiful in their own way working what you have.
One thing that I want to get back to just for a second is something you mentioned earlier about the salons being closed. What was it like for you? You probably could never have ever anticipated that will be a thing. I wouldn't know.
I had various emotions. I think the first few weeks, when I heard that it was coming. I was like, Okay, we gotta close. And then we closed and then I was at home. And so I think the first few weeks I was like Is this for real? Is this real? And then I was like, Yes, this is happening and we are closed and we're not for sure when we're going to reopen up. So then I went you know what, this is some great time to work on things. things that I did not have time to do that I've wanted to do for a long time. So then I got focused, and I made a plan. Okay? before this is over, I want to get these things done. And then when I heard we were opened up, I was like, No, I'm not ready to go back. So I've had, I've had various emotions, but really what has helped, it is helping me he's having perspective. And that's really what has helped me make it through. But I've had my emotions, they've been up and down. I was a I didn't get anxious. There were times when I was anxious, like, Oh, my Lord, like, I won't have any income. As a business owner, if you don't work, then there's no income. Yeah, to various emotions. But honestly, overall, I I enjoyed slowing down and realizing what's important. overworking myself, that's not important. And so honestly, even though the pandemic has brought a lot of pain and hurt and all that stuff, it's also for me, it's also been good. And again, because my perspective is different. It's given me time to work on projects, to spend time with my family, to get rest. So, listen, it's not good, but it's allowed me to have some good things get done. So
that's good. And maybe it also will make you feel like what you're doing when people are gonna be eager to be back right there. You said they were calling you maybe make you go, Hey, but I'm doing is impactful.
Well, I already knew because for me, we always say we're more than a hair. So you know, when people for me when people come to our salon, they're building relationships. And so yes, we're beautifying them on the outside, but we're able to deposit great things to while they're sitting in our chair. So I understood the importance of role my role because I'm we're more than just hair too.
Well, that's great. And it's great that maybe you didn't need a little time off. I hope that you don't get overworked when you get back.
No, my goal was to stick to my schedule. Because I also understand that me being at home and not having an income. I was fine. We were fine. And we made it through so I don't have to overwork myself. And he's had that balance. So it's been good. He helped me help me to refocus.
Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk to us today. Maybe help us learn a little bit about here.
I hope I did. Thank you Steve.
Thank you. Authoring singleton teaches hair care for different cultures a continuing education class at Heartland Community College. She is also proprietor of master's touch salon. If you're interested in other interviews about culture, ethnicity, and other topics, please subscribe to this podcast on Apple podcasts, audio boom, Spotify or wherever you found this one. Thanks for listening
