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But Aspen is not just a reality TV star.
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Its this whole downward spiral, and when you really think about it, its literally just hair.
So I was like, Well, if she can do it, I can do it.
And it just became a thing.
I went to a private school, and that private school was predominantly white.
I think I was one of seven kids in my graduating grade who was Black.
But I give credit to this girl in my homeroom class named Allyson Smith.
Ill forever give her credit for everything when it comes to my confidence in high school.
She was just like, Do it.
Ill find you some cute hair bows and headbands if youre not comfortable.
And she was a white woman.
I dont really know how to describe it.
My mom wasnt very keen on me having a perm.
So that was my next best option.
We went to an old-school beautician, and the Vigorol was one of the options.
So my mom said, well do that.
When I went back to my natural hair, I just let it gradually grow out.
I think it took me maybe two years because I wasnt going to a hairdresser or anything.
I really had to learn from scratch how to do my hair.
I taught myself braids, twists, Bantu knots, how to condition it, the whole nine.
So I wasnt sitting down and learning how to do twists and braids growing up.
They were taught that the way our hair naturally comes out of our head is not acceptable.
So I got questions asking, When are you going to perm your hair?
Or saying, Hopefully this doesn’t last long.
The biggest thing I learned during this process was that its okay to go against beauty norms.
I feel like it taught me that it was okay to not look like everyone else in the room.
That takes away from natural hair.
Anything youve done to it that morning is going to be gone by the end of the day.
But the backlash from that was wild.
Leva is the only person that I can ever go to about it.
I also wouldnt present that conversation to everyone else unless it came up organically.
It definitely adds a little bit of spice.
And it works every single time.
I like the LOreal Paris Elvive curl line and the Pantene Gold Series, but Im a K18 girl!
Oribe has an amazingdetangling shampootoo.
Every single natural woman in the entire world needs to try it once, and youll never go back.
That shampoo is a game changer when it comes to detangling my hair.
Its also all about mindset.
I think thats honestly the hardest part about going natural, the mindset that you have to have.
All youve ever been told is to straighten your hair.
Once you get over that part, everythings smooth sailing.
The stigma of what beauty is supposed to look like is gone for me.
In fact, thats why Diana Ross is my biggest hair inspiration.
She did it in a way that was true to who she was.
She just found such a very strong middle ground with that.
She just did it, and she did it very well.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Jamie Wilson is a New Yorkased beauty writer and editor.
you’re free to follow her on Instagram@justjamiemarie.
