Black History Month
Braiding through the
Boundaries .
New Muncie Education in Biracial Hair classes aim to bridge cultural gaps through hair experience. Elissa Maudlin Associate Lifestyles Editor In a room attached to the kitchen of Erica Robinson Moodyâs home sits two salon chairs. A cabinet is ïŹlled with different colored hair dyes, an apron hangs on a hook near a large mirror and products stand in single-ïŹle lines on the counters. Her son, Brooklyn Moody, sits in a salon chair where his mom said he often falls asleep, while she takes a comb, twirls it tightly on a small section of his hair and creates a tight, springy curl an inch or two in length. Dozens of these curls lie across his head. Brooklynâs hairstyle takes 45 minutes to style this way, and the style only stays for about a week â a reality for biracial hair. Erica is a stylist, and, while styling Brooklyn and her daughter Ayreonnaâs hair may seem painless now, it hasnât always been this way. During Brooklynâs youth, Erica didnât have as much education on textured hair, with only a chapter of her textbook in beauty school focusing on it. âThereâd be times where Iâd be like, âIâm sorry, Iâm sorry, Iâm sorryâ⊠as Iâm yanking on their heads trying to get their hair,â Erica
said. âTheyâre screaming and crying, and I feel bad.â After learning how to style biracial hair through advice from co-workers and family, educational resources on the internet and experience with her own children, Erica decided to lead a new class at her salon. Her ïŹrst class of An Education in Biracial Hair Feb. 17 will focus on families and how to style textured hair of biracial family members while future classes will help biracial people style their own hair and teach stylists how to style textured hair. Through their own research, Erica and her business mentor, Heather Roundtreeâwho Erica met at a Women in Business eventâ noticed there were typically only white and Black salons in Muncie, but no salon that could do all types of hair. Ericaâs husband, Neil Moody, noticed this as well. âYou go into a Black barber shop, and you ask [the Black barber] to do a certain style, and [they say, âI canât do that styleâ] because theyâre not good with scissors â they just use clippers,â he said. âYou go into a white shop to get your hair done, and they donât know how to use clippers because theyâre just using scissors.â
ïŽSee HAIR, 10
Erica Robinson Moody laughs while doing her son Brooklynâs hair Jan. 27. Ericaâs mission statement for her classes is âbridging the cultural gaps in the beauty community,â and she is very focused on cultural hair education. MAYA WILKINS, DN
02.02.2022
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