Sending kids back to school in style

Hartford barber shop partners with BLM860 for hairstyling event

HARTFORD — A local Hartford barber shop is offering free hairstyling to children, giving students the chance to go back to school in styles celebrating their hair and culture.

The “Respect The Crown” event, by Black Lives Matter 860 and Bluway Barber & Beauty Salon, is a free back-to-school drive providing children, ages 5-14, with unique haircuts and hair braiding for their first day of school. The Aug. 29 event will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 3281 Main St. in Hartford.

Michael Oretade, president of Black Lives Matter 860, said the free hairstyling will make a deeper impact than just their physical appearance.

“For me, it’s like a self-confidence thing. When you come to school fresh and everyone’s like ‘you’re looking good,’ people will treat you good and you individualize yourself. You come into yourself,” Oretade said.

By collaborating with Master Barber Jomo Palmer and Kyesha Buckham, co-owners of Bluway, the event is prepared to provide styling to more than 100 children in the community. Hairstyles will range from haircuts and natural hairstyles to simple braids or twists with beads.

The hairstyling drive will ask all individuals to wear masks while attending. Though individuals are encouraged to sign up prior to the event, walk-ins are welcome.

The focus on young children was no accident, as the collaborators unanimously agreed that the impact of coronavirus is taking a significant toll on children. “They’ve been inside for majority of the year, they’re probably depressed,” Buckham, manager of Bluway, said.

The event comes just four months after Connecticut signed off on the CROWN act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” The legislation, enacted by 13 states so far, prohibits discrimination from employers, school and other public accommodations, based on hairstyles that are commonly associated with people of color, such as afros, afro puffs, Bantu knots, braids, cornrows, locs, twists, headwraps and wigs.

However, Oretade says that even with protection from the CROWN act, people of color will likely continue to face said discrimination. “Even though we’ve got the CROWN Act passed in Connecticut — which means employers can’t outright discriminate against our hair — we still are going to face those issues and problems. They might just say it’s something else,” he said.

Buckham mentions that these stigmas have encouraged looks conforming with straight hair and short cuts in school and workplace environments, leaving children of color without role models for different hairstyles or textures.

“It’s like if you work at an office job, they don’t accept you if you have curly hair, curly afro, and they tell you it’s not acceptable. So, we start them young, saying it’s okay to have a different hairstyle, it’s okay to have designs in your hair and still be a person, still be someone that you can look up to,” she said.

Oretade and Bluway Barber Shop & Beauty Salon hope the event will encourage children of color to change the stigma of “professional” hairstyles and embrace their hair textures and hairstyles.

“We have had a system that is not accepting of our hair textures, saying it’s not professional. An event like this will teach kids that they can embrace themselves, their hair, their culture,” Oretade said.

“We start them young, saying it’s okay to have a different hairstyle.” — Kyesha Buckham, co-owner of Bluway