Valley Fontaine Interview by Ayesha Casely-Hayford

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About Afro Archives

Afro Archives explores heritage and identity within UK society. It investigates images of black women through promotion of self-expression and confidence to be who we naturally are. This project seeks to promote and celebrate afro hair by having inclusive discussions about hair and hair-related experiences with people of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and creeds.

Big Thanks to Wandsworth Radio, in Battersea, for hosting us. Wandsworth Radio is a local Community Radio Station. It covers Battersea, Putney, Balham, Southfields, Earlsfield, Wandsworth Town, Roehampton and Tooting. The Station exists to celebrate the borough’s greatness. “Over 300,000 people call Wandsworth home and they deserve a community radio service providing local news and other content showcasing the people who live here”.

Creator Ayesha Casely-Hayford is an actress, award-winning voice artist and employment lawyer of Ghanian descent, born in London and raised in Kent. With her roots in law, specialising in discrimination, and as former chair of the board of trustees for The Act For Change Project, a charity campaigning for greater diversity in the arts, she is uniquely positioned to see the social, performative and legal issues facing black women in the UK today.

Photo credit: Helen Murray Photography

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Show Two Valley Fontaine Transcript 8 March 2018 Listen: https://www.mixcloud.com/ayeshacaselyhayford/ayesha-casely-hayford-afro-archivesinterview-for-wandsworth-radio-with-valley-fontaine/

Transcript:

ACH: Hello Valley?

VF: Hello

ACH: So Valley, your book, let me just give the floor to you. Why did you decide it was necessary for the world to have your book

VF: Ok my book, let me give you the title, the title is really long, that’s the only thing that irritates me about my book, even though I like my book myself, and I would read it myself: “How to grow longer, healthier natural hair whilst wearing weaves, wigs and braids, like I did. No the reason I wrote this books is back in 2009 I used my last perm, I had my last perm, I didn’t know I was going what is called © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credits: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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natural, in other words I was going to stop chemically processing, chemically straightening my hair but when I was due to have my hair relaxed or rather chemically straightened some months later, I decided at that point I didn’t want to do it and then I started at that point looking at YouTube and I then I found all these other women around the world particularly in North America who were also getting to the point where they didn’t want to chemically straighten their hair themselves. They problem is though, when you’re growing out a perm what you have is the roots come in at the natural texture, and mine is very tightly curled and then you have these straight ends and where the two meet, that’s the breaking point. Now I didn’t want to end up with half an inch of hair because when i put my comb through it my hair would have snapped off because that’s the weak point and then but my hair looked really odd because there it was but the roots were quite thick and it just held strangely after about nine months and I thought I can’t go down the road with my hair looking like this, it looks odd, it really did, it looked terrible to be honest. So I thought what am I going to do? I’ve got to go to work, what am I gonna do? And that’s when I decided, mmm, weaves, and wigs, I’ve never worn them before. This was going to be my first entry into weaves wigs and braids. Now, I’d decided to make my own particular style of half-wig. I had braids a few times, braid extensions, and what I did realise was they too could also cause damage to the hair. They could make my hair snap, they could actually cause my hair © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credits: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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to break. They could cause traction alopecia which is the biggest enemy of afro hair as it seems that the majority of black women with afro hair have some form of hair loss due to styling, due to the relaxing straightening process or due to braiding the hair extensions on or the weaves or wigs cause damage. So basically I realised very soon that actually, although I wanted to wear wigs and weaves and things to stop my hair, or rather to not show my hair and I didn’t want to have to cut it all off, which is what a lot of other women did, and I thought, gosh this is terrible a lot of women are doing this and causing a lot of damage. Then I started doing my research and then sort of about six years in when my hair was in good shape and I’d grown out a lot of the perm and my own hair was looking, as far as I was concerned, fantastic, I decided to write about it about how I did that without breaking my hair, without damaging my hair, how I managed to wear these hair extensions without causing damage because it’s easier said than done. As I said, it’s the number one cause of hair loss.

ACH: Well without a doubt your book is a resource for me to consult because you take it through in stages, you break it down to what to do before you put them in and how to wash them afterwards, and the length of time so it definitely is a step by step guide of what to do so that people can safely protect their hair. It’s been invaluable for me.

VF: Ah, thank you.

ACH: So when you say protective styling then, is that something you would say is unique to afro-textured hair, is that phrase “protective styling”

VF: protective styling for me is only something you would do if you want to try to increase the length of your hair and not everybody wants to do that. So the idea of © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credits: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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protective styling is a way of, being ever so gentle with your hair, not combing it too much and therefore not breaking the ends of you hair off. Now the ends of your hair break of naturally, that’s whether you’ve got European hair or natural hair the ends, the tips of your hair will break off, whether you moisturise them or not but if you want to try and increase length, then you can do as little manipulation as possible and then the ends won’t come off as easy as they would and for many women with Afro hair in particular they’ve noticed increased length by not manipulating the hair too much. Certainly for me my hair is longer than it would be if I wasn’t practising protective styling.

ACH: I see so you’re connecting it specifically to length. But what about then, having to, you talked about manipulation of hair, if I wanted to have, what’s considered to be a smart style for my style, generally in the Western world, professional hair style - is it fair, Valley, would you agree, if my hair was in a nappy style, is that still not considered by professional standards a professional hairdo? Is that fair?

VF: I’m gonna disagree, because if we look at the most high-ranking black women in this country and I think of Rose Hudson [Hudson-Wilkin], who is the terminology, is the chaplain to the Queen, the Chaplain to the House of Lords, she has short, natural hair, we have Baroness Amos, again she has very short natural hair, I;m trying to think who else, Floella Benjamin, or Baroness Benjamin she has her hair natural combed up into a pineapple style. I think it’s more, and I’m thinking of the number one banker in the UK, her © 2018 Ayesha Casely-Hayford Photo credits: Africa Fashion & Robbie Spotswood

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name escapes me, again very short, natural hair. I know a lot of women over the years have tended to straighten their hair to mimic European hairstyles. I can’t help but think that, I would definitely say that in America it’s different. I would say in the Uk, that a lot of that, I can’t help but say it’s the wearer that’s creating these things. I don’t think it’s the texture, I think it’s the style. You know that are many styles you could have your hair in that are natural, that are deemed professional. You could bouffant it, put it in a pony, it’s about the style. Just like not every European hairstyle will be deemed suitable for the office, not every afro hairstyle is deemed suitable, in quotes.

ACH: So like if someone with mousy brown hair wants to due their hair blond, it’s within that realm of what you deem to be what you’re striving for.

VF: Well exactly. Some people will say if you’re blond your’e gonna have more opportunities, and in some quarters that has borne fruit, maybe in some quarters of life that may well be the case. But that doesn’t mean that some women with mousy hair don’t get promoted or get great jobs. Like wise black women with natural hair in quotes, nappy, as the Americans call it, a term I do not like, are just as, [likely] to be found in the city as a woman with a weave.

ACH: ok. So to cut straight into it. What are your views on cultural appropriation when it comes to hair styles such as white people wearing dreadlocks?

VF: I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. I think it’s - I know I’m gonna get…

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VF: You see to me, I don’t know how I, or we, how people can criticise a white person wearing dreadlocks then at the same time think it’s ok for black women, in this day and age, knowing what we know, think it’s ok for black women to wear weave, and straighten our hair, you can’t have it both ways.

ACH: Do you think though a black woman might be wearing braids or dreadlocks as a protective hairstyling and that isn’t the same for a white woman

VF: For me dreadlocks isn’t a protective style. For me dreadlocks are…have the potential to damage hair as much as a weave in that what you have is dead hair hanging on to hair that’s still attached to your scalp. That for some women, causes traction alopecia, causes hair loss.

ACH: I don’t think Jesy Nelson was wearing dreadlocks, it must have been braids because you can’t take in and out dreadlocks.

VF: Well you can wear dreadlock extensions.

ACH: The faux ones.

VF: yeah.

ACH: Which is kind of basically braids aren’t they.

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VF: Yeah, extension braids. That’s what we call braid extensions.

ACH: What about that then, White people wearing braids as opposed to black people wearing braids as a protective hairstyle.

VF: I don’t think braids are a protective hair style. I think they are a hair style. And this is where my book comes in. I am not encouraging women, and I sometimes wonder if I chose the right title. Because I said how to grow natural hair whilst wearing wigs weaves and braids. I’m not suggesting that women should wear wigs weaves and braids.

ACH: You’re saying IF you’re going to…

VF: I’m saying if you’re going to! Here’s what to be mindful of.

ACH: Lovely.

VF: so when I see people taking about “oh I’m doing protective hairstyling, I’ve got my braids” I think no, no. Because all you’re doing is adding weight to your own hair. Especially if you have those big chunky plaits and I’ve seen people do it so there’s not one hair sticking up. That is awful for your hair.

ACH: Well they’re awful for that in Ghana, let me tell you! They mess your hair up.

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VF: Well I’ve seen little children, 6 year olds and 5 year olds with hair loss around their hairline and their hair is neat and tidy but their losing their hair and they’re only preschool age.

ACH: I’m hearing you. Well thank you so much Valley, that’s been really really interesting. And have you got some information for how your book can be purchased”

VF: It can be purchased via my website which is very simply: www.hairvalley.com

ACH: Perfect. Thank you so much.

VF: Thank you! References & Links: http://www.hairvalley.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-43126568 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5325085/Kim-Kardashian-blasted-fans-hairbraids.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5341575/Bo-Derek-DEFENDS-Kim-KardashiansBo-Derek-braids.html