Diversity Summit: Hair Monologues
Photo courtesy of Photo Editor, Faith Zatlukal
Students listened respectfully as speakers bravely shared their individual stories with their hair and the journey it has been through.
Last spring, I attended the Hair Monologues for the first time and was enamored by the poetic pieces that filled the air. I had the honor of hearing the stories of friends, faculty members, and professors who gracefully shared their stories with us. Sharing the ups and downs of your hair journey with others is a very vulnerable and intimate experience that I think everyone should have once in their lives. I will share some stories from the presentation that resonated with me.
Kayla Harry, the Vice President of the Black Student Union (BSU), read a piece of her own, describing her upbringing in Florida and how being surrounded by girls with straight hair made her feel insecure about her own hair pattern. She questioned the crown on her head; she questioned her beauty. Feeling like an imposter in her skin, she begged her mom to let her get sisterlocks so that she could do easier styles that would allow her to be accepted amongst her white peers. But, even with her sisterlocks, she was not accepted by this crowd and viewed this as a negative reflection of her character. Tired of trying to fit in and be normal like everyone else, she used this time to heal and grow with her hair. It has now led to an eight-year loc journey!
Lila Zkocieniewski, a senior Psychology major and McNair Scholar, discussed the different kinds of hair types her other family members have and how that affects how she views her hair. She finds herself loathing over her hair constantly and goes over the types of styles that work and do not work for her. Looking back on her other journey with her hair, including body hair, and how women are expected to fit into this ‘feminine’ standard by shaving it, she realized how little these things truly mattered. Unaware that girls had to shave their body hair (according to societal expectations), she asks, “Why should I care what other people think?”
Claire Schirmer, a sophomore English and Adolescent Education major, next gave a presentation on her hair journey from the ages of her childhood until the present day. There was a point when she was in “the denial phase” with her hair, and she tried to ignore engaging with her hair as much as possible— having worn ponytails so tight that she was getting bald spots. While figuring out her hair journey, she decided it was time for the big chop, and with the swift use of some scissors, she restarted her hair journey again. During COVID-19, she entered the start of her more recent journey of loving and accepting her hair for what it was; she even began to love its natural color and layers. She knows that her hair would have never been able to get to this stage if she had not cut it all off.
Laurie Fox is Computing and Information Technology’s (CIT) Director of Educational Technology and has been at Geneseo since 1995. Laurie noticed grays when she turned 23 years old, and her hair journey started then. Laurie spent hundreds of dollars each year changing her hair to all kinds of colors— red, purple, blonde, ginger, you name it, she had it. She became exhausted from the constant upkeep of colors in her hair. 10 years ago, she made a bold decision to stop coloring her hair and let it grow to its full potential. With its natural curl, her hair began to tell a new story about herself. This journey is about more than hair. It's about rejecting societal expectations. She expressed feeling more beautiful and confident in this stage of her life. Her gray hair is a symbol of her journey, and through this has inspired others to embrace their own hair and reject societal expectations of constant changes in styles. This hair journey has made her realize that societal expectations do not decide beauty. It is about the beauty within.
Having the Hair Monologues is an incredible way of bringing people from all backgrounds together. I can only hope that after graduation, the Hair Monologues will continue bringing people and their stories together in the following years.