Natural hair stylist

Shaquwan’Da Allen

Shaquwan’Da Allen is the owner of Rootz Natural Hair Shop in Manchester, one of a handful of shops in New Hampshire that specialize in natural hair care. Generally associated with women of color — though there are white populations which fall into the category as well — natural hair is more susceptible to drying and becoming weaker than smoother textured hair. According to Allen, this involves the creation of protective hairstyles that do not require the use of outside chemicals.

Q. How long have you been doing hair?

A. My interest in braiding natural hair began at the age of 8 or 9. I began braiding on a Barbie doll and quickly progressed to braiding my younger sister’s hair. I then began braiding my cousin’s hair. One day my cousin’s friend asked if I could braid his hair. My cousin replied, “She can braid your hair, but you have to pay her.” He then handed my cousin $60. After braiding my cousin’s friend’s hair, my reputation spread throughout the neighborhood and soon everyone wanted to pay me to braid their hair. From then until now, it has been about 23 years. Professionally, it has been six.

Q. Why is hair so important to Black culture?

A. One of the main reasons for getting a lot of the styles we get is for protection for our hair. Most of the styles are called protective styles. Black hair is also important to Black culture because it shows off our personality, our emotions and a straight fashion statement for us. It’s also a part of our history. For example, the enslaved that were planning to escape to the North used to braid the secret trail to freedom into the heads of each other.

Q. What are your thoughts on natural hair styles not being fully represented in the professional world?

A. It blows my mind, because we were always told that our hair doesn’t meet professional standards. And that’s a lie. I feel they don’t understand our hair culture. I hate the fact that we spend so much time, energy, love, effort and money to maintain our hair, to look and feel good in order to be our best selves, and our hairstyles are still not being accepted in some areas of the workforce and professional leagues.

This is also one of the reasons I opened Rootz NHS — to give those who want to wear their hair in its natural state a professional natural hair shop to keep them above par with any rules or codes in any workforce or league they may be in.

Q. How should a person balance the need for them to be comfortable with taking pride in their roots and worrying about how an employer may feel about the image that they portray with natural hair?

A. There shouldn’t have to be a balance to being comfortable in taking pride in your hair. The only thing you should do is find a stylist that makes you feel comfortable with your hair and beautiful in your skin and keep up with a regular regime of hair maintenance. And there should be no employer discriminating against you because of your hair.

I do feel certain career paths must receive certain styles in order for them to feel comfortable in the workforce. For example, I have a lot of construction workers who have to wear hard hats, and I have to braid it back so that they’re comfortable with the hard hat on. But never because of what an employer might think.

Q. What would you say to a young girl who is uncomfortable with her natural hair?

A. I would first ask her what about her hair makes her so uncomfortable. I then would tell her to embrace her hair because it’s her crown, and there’s no such thing as bad hair. There is only healthy or damaged hair. And if her hair is damaged, then we can repair it back to its healthy state.

This article is being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative as part of our race and equity project. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.