I got my natural hair done in China.
Now I guarantee you there is a black girl somewhere with her eyebrow up, shaking her knotless braids no. We have all seen the video’s of black women venturing into these Chinese hair salons desperate for some typeof blow out, but instead leaving with the middle school version of —”Yeah I flat iron my hair every morning, 6 passes MI-NI-MUM”.
I was not this bold, nor this desperate. When I arrived to China, Fall 2019 for my semester abroad—I came stacked. I had my jar of Olive Oil Eco Styler Gel, some twisting cream, a bag of crochet braids, and a new wig from the Beauty Supply store. I had no intention of getting caught looking crazy nor spending ¥¥¥ (Chinese Currency - Yuan/ Reminbi) on a limited supply of black hair care products.
My decision again though, was not to get my hair straightened. I have had long hair my entire life, and for some reason I really just had this overwhelming urge one week to try something different (As if being in China wasn’t different enough for me). The second weekend of the semester, most of the exchange students took a trip to Guangzhou, one of the major cities in Southern China. We rented out this big Airbnb with tons of beds and we just basically explored most of the weekend. It was amazing.
One day though, we all went perusing around one of the malls—and I saw two salons. I was researching them, but they both looked pretty chic. I was relying on God’s guidance to lead me to the right place, because while spontaneous, I still loved my hair. My friend Eva said she would get her hair cut with me, so that made me feel a lot better. We found this one shop called, “Hair Code White” and spoke to the guy behind the counter named Tommy. He looked like he knew a few things so I showed him the picture of what I wanted and asked if he could make it happen. He and his coworker discussed it (in Mandarin lol)—then he said, “Come back tomorrow and we’ll do it”. I was surprised but oh. so. down.
Now unlike others, most of my hesitancy didn’t come from the fact that there were Chinese hands inside my head. I was in a difficult position because I had never had my hair CUT cut, therefore I didn’t know what to expect period—Chinese or Black. Of course, I had been binge watching black girls cutting their hair on YouTube all week (Shoutout to VPNs everywhere*), so I had a vague idea of what to expect.
The Day
When I arrived, they directed my friend Eva and I over to a wall of hairs in front of this big mirror. The whole interior of the shop was white with a simple aesthetic. The Hair Code stylists were very sweet, and even gave me hot tea and candies to enjoy while they worked! Tommy was in control of the scissors. First he had me untwist my hair from the twists and then handled me a paddle brush to detangle my hair with. My hair was already stretched because of the twists, so the brush + dry natural hair combo didn’t freak me out too much. BUT I did look back and glance for a wide tooth comb. Tommy, a real one I tell you, noticed and switched the paddle brush with a vented brush, whose bristles were more spread out. I didn’t have to say a word and I appreciate that in a stylist—Gold Star. I got started, but a few minutes later Tommy just decided we should go ahead and cut! Y’all when I tell you…when he was coming towards my hair with those scissors —I freaked. One, because he was coming in so hot, no sections, no nothing, no warning! I was like he is about to cut my fro like it’s a hedge bush—LORD please! (Mind you—he did what he needed to do considering I had so much hair). Two, since I had never gotten my hair cut before, I was just nervous in general. That topped with the fact that I couldn’t tell if he was doing it right just made me pause. Eventually I just let Tommy do what Tommy did because BABY—Tommy must have gone home and watched a video or two because I looked up and boom—tapered cut. shape. bawdy.
At first as he was cutting I was like…I’m real deal about to look like a cabbage patch kid. But eventually I looked up and was like…… huh she kinda cute ..
Check out the video of the process below:
I had a phenomenal experience there—I was in great hands. Any discomfort you saw was more than likely my own inexperience with scissors in my head rather than who’s hands the scissors were in. Tommy and his team did a great job. Little did they know, they created a lil vibe. Once I got back to our city, I went in my dorm, put my product in there and she was the star of the show.
“The Lord has always given me above what I thought.”
