After final 12 months’s absolutely digital present, Colorado State College United Ladies of Colour and the Colorado State College Black/African American Cultural Heart partnered to convey the Hair Present again to its former glory this 12 months. With distributors, stylists and a wide range of fashions, the occasion supplied a option to function Black hair as an artwork type.
The occasion was held within the Lory Scholar Heart Theatre Feb. 20 and introduced in a wide range of distributors and viewers members to take pleasure in artistic kinds and group. Along with exhibiting off a wide range of hairstyles, the occasion at all times brings in various companies.
“I feel what I most like about having it in particular person is that the power is there. … We are able to like, feed off the group — we are able to see that they’re having fun with it, (and) we are able to hear that they’re having fun with it.” –Taya Hancock, President of CSU United Ladies of Colour
Earlier than the beginning of the occasion, UWC’s leaders emphasised the significance of Black hairstyles as a part of not solely trendy Black tradition but additionally of Black historical past.
“We simply discover (that) it’s crucial for the Black group at CSU to see Black hair be proven in a constructive mild,” CSU UWC President Taya Hancock stated. “For me, I like seeing the mannequin’s character and the best way they sort of convey the hair to life.”
With the occasion returning to an in-person format, Hancock stated the power of the group got here again to the occasion.
“I feel what I most like about having it in particular person is that the power is there,” Hancock stated. “We are able to, like, feed off the group — we are able to see that they’re having fun with it, (and) we are able to hear that they’re having fun with it.”
Hancock and emcee Jordan Khalfani stated the occasion’s origins should not completely clear however that the occasion has continued as a result of how obligatory it’s for Black college students and group members to see hair like theirs represented in a vogue occasion.
UWC’s annual Hair Present is a singular alternative not just for Black college students and group members to see artistic kinds on their hair sorts, however to point out off Black college students’ styling expertise.
Two contestants, Jasmine Retland and Bereket Gebru, competed by exhibiting their expertise in three classes: “Again to Our Roots,” “Unity” and a freestyle spherical.
Retland labored with three fashions — two girls and one man — whereas Gebru labored with all male fashions as a result of his expertise in barbering slightly than different styling traditions.
Many of the occasion was deliberate by UWC, and Hancock launched emcee Khalfani and celebrated the return of the in-person occasion along with her.
“We’re a three-woman crew and put this collectively,” Hancock stated. “It was powerful, however I’m actually pleased with (us).”
Whereas distributors like attire model Bringing the World to You and jeweler GroovyThingz had been most excited to get out and meet folks on the occasion, others, like Future Brown of B.A.D. Productions and Sultan Elixir, had been most excited to see the present itself. Enterprise homeowners shared a way of pleasure for the chance to take pleasure in artwork and provides folks a direct possibility for participating with hair.
“I promote wigs and hair equipment,” stated Sharma Threatt, proprietor of Sharma’s Hair and Equipment. “(I’m excited that) I get to see girls strolling round with good hairdos and promote my wigs as properly.”
Anatolia Russo of Anatolia Crochet was one among many distributors to construct their enterprise in the course of the COVID-19 lockdown. Russo and La’Donna Jones of BrushBox.Arts expressed gratitude for with the ability to construct group on the Hair Present.
“I began in 2020, when the world went loopy, and determined to make artwork out of on a regular basis objects,” Jones stated.
Jones’ paintings consists of coasters, magnets and different on a regular basis objects constructed from resin. Most of the distributors supplied handmade merchandise, with Jae Jordan providing handmade clothes and Brown providing nostril cuffs and different jewellery.
After viewers members received to take pleasure in a number of the distributors’ objects throughout intermission, Hancock and Khalfani introduced Retland because the winner of the 2022 Hair Present. Within the “Again to our Roots” spherical, she styled her mannequin with a half-down crown with Bantu knots, and for “Unity,” her mannequin wore braids with highlights and wood beads. As a tribute to Black historical past, she gave her final mannequin cornrows for her freestyle.
“Her fashions had been nearer to the narrative, the subject material,” stated James “Hanns the Barber” Holland, choose of the Hair Present and proprietor of XAAK’s Barbershop in Loveland, Colorado. Holland stated he loved with the ability to choose and was excited to have been on the occasion.
He referenced Retland’s conventional kinds and her mannequin’s interplay with the group as having heavy affect on her success. One other choose, Adeola Awolaja, who research psychology at CSU, is beginning barber work herself and used her experiences to guage the competitors alongside Holland and Rima Cowherd.
“I’ve been styling hair since senior 12 months of highschool (or) freshman 12 months of school,” profitable contestant Retland stated. She referenced the price of styling as an enormous cause for her curiosity within the artwork. Previous to her beginning styling others, she started styling her personal hair in center college after her dad informed her he wouldn’t pay for her to get it achieved.
Because of the power supplied by UWC’s management — together with the group and fashions — the occasion introduced again a much-needed show of Black inventive expression as Black Historical past Month involves an in depth.
Jevon “JJ” McKinney from CTV contributed with further reporting.
Attain Kota Babcock at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @KotaBabcock.
