As BBC2 gears up to explore the history of Britain’s Mixed Race Community, guest blogger, Lanisha Butterfield gives an insight into how she learnt to love and understand the curls that symbolise her mixed parentage.
Growing up in a small, sleepy town like Oxford during the eighties, being mixed race was nowhere near as common or celebrated as it is now. In fact, back then, having an English mother and black father made my skin colour and hair texture a source of everything from intrigue, envy and animosity from both white and black communities.
As a little girl my relationship with my hair was what would you would describe as love- hate. Translation: I hated it and everybody else loved it. While I secretly coveted the ’perfect’ tresses that swayed loosely around my school friends shoulders, they would pat my frizzy mane while quizzing me about it’s texture and maintenance.
With regard to it’s maintenance, my mum learnt to wash, comb and braid my waist-length hair to perfection long before the age of websites, blogs and YouTube tutorials. Refusing to surrender to the lure of chemicals which promised to make my hair more manageable, she lovingly allocated Sunday nights to the exhausting two and half hour process of prepping my hair for the week.
Calling-in the professionals might have seemed like the obvious solution, but finding a hairdresser to help me care for my hair was far from straightforward. Stylists at European hair salons would approach my locks with nerves and an unsubstantial amount of hair serum, as they tried to tease my waist length frizz with the type of nervous dry brushing that would leave it looking worse and larger than when they had begun. After my first visit to an afro hairdresser, my ends may have been less unruly, but that was down to fact that an unsolicited six inches off my strands had been swiped away to apparently “make it easier to look after”. I looked like Edward Scissorhands. My mum and I were reduced to tears.
By my teenage years, I had begun to discover Hip-Hop and R&B. My hair inspiration no longer came from my classmates or lifted from the pages of J17- but singers like Aaliyah, Mariah Carey and Brandy, whose poker-straight, bouncy curls and box braid styles I kept tabs on via American magazines such as Vibe, Hype and Honey.
Like any teenage girl, my hair had become one of my most visible badges of self-expression; which is why after fourteen years of the love and patience of a saint, it was time for my mother to retire from her position as my personal stylist. I may have relished my new found independence, but while mixed-race tresses tend to combine the volume, curl and versatility of afro hair with the length and malleability of European hair- rather than scoring the genetic hair lottery, I found that caring for two distinctly different hair types myself was bloody hard work.
And so to my first relaxer.
As the tingling sensation from the creamy paste spread across my scalp, ay discomfort was numbed by the exciting prospect that my haircare woes may be finally over. £160, a couple of hours, and lots of heat later- my hair was soft, bouncy, straight and manageable- everything that I ever wanted. It was expensive, but I was hooked.
As I got older and made more friends that looked like me, I started to picked up more hints and tips on how to take care of my mane. I’ve learnt that my hair needs regular intensive treatments, combs are more friendly to my curls, and just because they might not be designed exclusively for afro hair, that brands such as Kerastate, Aveda and Frederick Fekkai are worth the investment and work wonders on too.
The irony is that now I finally ‘get’ my hair’ and have the products, tools and skills to create the straightness I spent years craving; more often that not I choose to wear my hair naturally curly. A lot of it comes down to maintenance: regular blow-drys take time and money, but as I’ve got older, I have come to accept and dare I say it- like- what nature gave me. The secret comes down to knowledge, understanding and the awareness that my hair is beautiful too- lessons from my hair story that I hope to pass onto my children.
MY HAIR HEROES:
1.Soft & Beautiful Botanicals (softandbeautifulhair.com) 2. Pantene Daily Oil Cream Moisturiser (pantene.com) 3.Twisted Sista Curl Activator (twistedsista.com) 4.TIGI Headrush Spray Shine (lookfantastic.com) 5.Aveda Damage Ready Conditioner (aveda.com) 6. Kiehls Heat Protective Silk Straightening Cream (kiehls.co.uk) 7. Mizani True Textures Curl Replenishing Mask (mizani-usa.com)
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