Joy's Journey
Joy F., New York, NY
Makeup Artist & Founder of The Joy In Beauty | Hair Type: Curly & Natural
What is your favorite thing about your hair?
I love that my hair is versatile. I’ve done literally everything with my hair and I’ve had fun playing around with it.
And your least favorite?
That my gray hair won’t seem to change color when dyed.
How has your hair evolved?
I’ve always been open to different hairstyles except for when my grandmother made me get a Jheri curl! I would love a do-over for that part of my life.
Do you recall ever being envious of someone else’s hair or comparing your hair to that of a friend/peer/celebrity?
I’ve never really been jealous of anyone’s hair, but I have admired some hair more than others. I guess one celeb’s hair that I wish I had was Erykah Badu’s hair. I loved her locs, but never wanted to permanently loc my hair.
Are there any specific hair “phases” that stand out in your memory?
My favorite hair moment was when Rihanna had her short pixie cut - I immediately did my hair like that and loved it.
Do you have any hair regrets?
I can’t think of one specifically, but it always revolved around school picture day. One time I hard curled my hair like Salt-N-Pepa and didn’t sleep all night because I couldn’t actually lay on my hair. I had to prop myself up because I couldn’t mush my hair down and no matter how good I was at doing that, one curl would always be messed up by the morning. LOL! I would be so mad.
How has time/maturity impacted the way you feel about your hair now and how does that relate to your overall self-worth and self-esteem?
I really love my hair now. It makes me unique. No one has my hair but me. I see all these campaigns and even short films geared towards little Black girls loving their hair and I really wish they were around when I was growing up. I never really wanted anyone else’s hair, but at the same time hair is such a sensitive topic in the Black community and I wish those tools were around to let my sisters know that we are beautiful no matter what!
Tell us about your experience taking part in this shoot/campaign! Were you nervous? Was it what you expected?
It was awesome!! I wasn’t nervous until I got on set, but my goal was to let go and have fun and that’s what I did. The crew made me feel at home! It was what I expected and more!!