OUR COMPANY LIFTS THE STIGMA OF ‘NAPPY’ HAIR FOR BLACK WOMEN

Starting a new business was the furthest thing from my sister’s mind when she was searching for a neat, manageable way to style her natural, African-type hair. That was over 25 years ago. Today, thousands of women are wearing “Sisterlocks,” and our company has grown into a successful business full of more challenges and opportunities than anyone could have imagined.

My sister is Joanne Cornwell, professor emerita of French and Africana Studies at San Diego State University, but I don’t ever let her forget that she is also the daughter and granddaughter of cosmetologists. Joanne will admit that she has a lovehate relationship with that industry. While cosmetology has afforded significant economic opportunities to generations of African Americans, it is also largely responsible for the gradual decline of a grass-roots Black haircare industry. Cosmetology still focuses almost exclusively on straight hair, excluding techniques that support natural, Afrotextured hair, except to alter it or cover it up.

When my sister attempted to share her revolutionary Sisterlocks technique with cosmetologists and natural hair professionals, she was rebuffed. No heat? No chemicals? No added hair? The very idea that so-called “excessively curly” hair could be fully styleable using a natural method to produce small locks was shunned by the established world of haircare.

Fortunately, my sister is hardheaded. She was not discouraged by the industry’s reaction because something magical was happening. Her tiny, styleable Sisterlocks were inspiring an awakening. Wherever she went, Black women, and everyone for that matter, stopped her, asked questions, even reached out to touch. Literally awestruck at the tiny, neat precision of these locks, most wanted to know how they could get them for themselves.

These reactions caused Joanne to wonder if this could be a legitimate business opportunity.