Tampa salon owner works to educate the community on race-based hair discrimination

TAMPA, Fla. — If you’re lucky, you’ll find a job that you love, one that doesn’t feel like a job at all.

“Doing hair is like therapy,” said Mica Wilkins, owner of The Natural Hair Experience Salon in Tampa.

She’s one of those lucky ones.

“I like to bridge that gap between self-care and just your overall mental wellness. So I would say that’s the most rewarding part,” said Wilkins.

I wanted to talk to her about the natural hair movement, where people, primarily Black women, choose not to chemically straighten their hair.

Wilkins said she’s seen more people join the movement recently.

“They’re leaning more towards their natural hair, you know, stemming away from chemicals or doing more protective styles like braids and locs, even weaves and wigs. People are getting more comfortable wearing their hair,” said Wilkins.

When it comes to the natural hair movement, I’ve joined it, too, in recent years. I wanted to ask an expert about the recent popularity behind it.

“Now we see a kind of resurgence. In some ways, it’s a response to the pandemic where women, particularly in terms of Black women, didn’t have the social pressures and the workplace pressure to conform to a beauty style,” said Aisha Durham, Professor of Communication at the University of South Florida.

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Durham specializes in cultural studies and representation in media.

“I think natural hair has always been popular, in the sense of Black people have always used hair as a point... of creative expression or even political identity. I don’t think within the dominant or broader culture, it’s necessarily accepted,” said Durham.

I sat down with her to talk about Black hair and its presence in culture.

“When I see Black hair, I am amazed by the creativity that we bring. And I think that kind of rhythm and flow that we see in hair, I see in all aspects of Black lives,” said Durham.

“When we talk about Black hair, we have to think about it as it being political, social, and cultural in and of itself. Black hair when we think about it, hair itself is an ethnic signifier. This means that when we see hair, we automatically mark it with difference. This becomes important because it’s one of the ways in which we actually might prohibit certain hairstyles or accept certain hairstyles,” she added.

There is discrimination that surrounds it.

“In the case of Black hair, over time from the 1800s to 2024, there’s been a kind of policing of Black hair. Black women, Black men as well, have been creative agents in trying to style hair, in some cases to conform or fit to Eurocentric or White beauty standards and also to resist,” said Durham.

She believes how Black people wear their hair can be very personal.

“I am coming here today without having dreadlocks. I’ve had dreadlocks for about 30 years, so I’m even getting used to seeing myself. But even during that time I started out as a budding journalist and I couldn’t get interviews. I was told that it was not professional to have braids or locs at that time. So there was pressure in terms of the workplace in terms of how I was going to present myself,” said Durham.

The CROWN Act was created in an effort to prohibit race-based hair discrimination. The CROWN Act stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.

“We should not be discriminated against based on hair, based on how we are presenting ourselves,” said Durham.

The CROWN Act has passed in 27 states, but Florida is not one of them.

“While it is popular, I still don’t think it is readily accepted and even with its visibility, there’s still a devalue of natural hair as opposed to long, straight, and preferably blonde. This is for all women but there’s a particular kind of pressure for Black women to conform to those beauty standards,” said Durham.

Lawmakers have repeatedly tried to pass the legislation in Florida. Last year it failedin the Judiciary Committee.

Race-based hair discrimination is something that disproportionately affects Black women. According to research, Black women’s hair is 2.5x more likely to be perceived as unprofessional.

“People still get fired for having particular hairstyles. Or not promoted or seen as unprofessional,” said Durham.

It’s something that’s top of mind for Maurisa Riley, who was getting her hair done when I visited Wilkins’s salon.

“I’m always self conscious what my hair is, if it’s professional or not. That’s something I think about very heavily before making a decision or before picking a color.… In the actual workplace, I get comments. I don’t know if they’re passive aggressive… I’m really always self-conscious about what my hair looks like because it draws so much attention,” said Riley.

Wilkins is a proponent of the CROWN Act and believes it’s needed.

“I feel like it’s important because so many years it’s been looked at, you know, as unprofessional or unkempt. It’s so many restrictions when it comes to hair in professional settings that I don’t think that it’s fair,” said Wilkins.

While she waits for legislation to pass, Wilkins is doing what she can to educate the community.

“It’s real deep being a little Black girl who wants to be accepted and seen in different lights in corporate America as someone who is intelligent, and also able to articulate ourselves in different ways. Our hair does not necessarily define us even though it is a part of us,” said Wilkins.

Wilkins has started holding classes for kids ages 10-18 to teach them about the beauty of Black hair.

“Because our hair is unique to us. When it comes to Black hair, you can’t necessarily determine how it’s going to be or how it’s going to come out. Our hair grows out towards the sun,” she said.

Wavy, curly, coily and everything in between— not only is Wilkins trying to teach kids how to love and maintain their hair, she’s also teaching them to be entrepreneurs.

“We want to show these kids that you know we are important and that we can be professional and that we can be seen even with our hair… It’s more than just doing hair. You know, I’ve been able to create a business. I started when I was young, very young. So the youth is a soft spot for me,” said Wilkins.

Wilkins wants to offer more classes to families who may not be able to afford them, if you’re interested in helping her mission, click here.

Durham is also a proponent of educating the community about Black hair to help more people understand.

“I say that lack of understanding and education is not just for people who aren’t Black. In terms of Black people, Black people also have to be educated about hair care, about styling, about the creativity and versatility in terms of hair. Often times even with the use of the term ‘natural,’ we have to kind of understand what that means. Because at the point that they’re touching it, combing it, styling it, it is already cultural. So in that way we can’t really say ‘natural.’ But I know that when we’re using the term, it is a response to dominant beauty standards. In some cases even that language can be ostracizing for Black women who choose to wear wigs, who choose to wear extensions because it’s also an expression of creative identity. Or you know it could be an economic reason, not having access or even skill. Often times when we think about education, it is education in terms of the broader public. But I think we as Black people, also need to be educated about the variety, the versatility, the creativity. As well as the ways in which hair care, especially in terms of styling, has been one of the avenues in which Black women historically have been socially mobile,” said Durham.