“After you finish cutting a client you definitely feel better. Not only because I just made money, but also because you helped him feeling better. You know, I definitely feel that reward and gratitude.”

  “It's my body, it’s my hair, so I can do what I want.”

“At the shop, sometimes we be rappin’, sometimes we be dancin’, sometimes we be laughin’, sometimes it’ll be chilled, some time it’s hella chaotic.”

“I just started learning about my hair a little while before I came to the Netherlands. I learned about my hair through YouTube videos.”

“I grew my hair out when I was 19. But I cut it out of the fear that I was gonna be bald. … My grandmother told me that I was a bald baby. So I’m like: shit… I’m not trying to lose it, I’m trying to maintain it.”

“So then I thought: FUCK IT, I’M TRANSITIONING!”

“My grandmother was leading the efforts to get my hair relaxed.”

“I think my hair is very beautiful!”

“Your hair is part of YOUR  body.”

“My favourite hairstyles are Bantu Knots!”

“I realized that braiding my hair every night is very therapeutic.”

“Actually, barbershops hold bad experiences for me. When I was a little boy, what people call boys, my father would always take us to the barbershop. I wanted to grow out my hair but was not allowed to. So it was kind of a sad experience for me at the barbershop.”

“During the pandemic I stopped taking care of my hair. It was like a bristle brush almost.”

“I want to let my hair do its thing because I feel that’s the truest me.”

“Elementary school was hell. My mother did not really know how to style my hair. So it was always asking a cousin or auntie to get it done. After a while she got tired of asking for favours and started doing this ‘thing’. It’s not a two-strand twist, but a three-strand disaster. Me being 6 foot, darkskin, chubby, with this thing on my head…it was just not fun.”

“I kinda stopped taking care of my hair and I hated it!”

“My mother would cornrow my hair, do two-strand twists or put beads in it and the people around the neighborhood, where I grew up in the islands, always enjoyed my hairstyles. But when I moved back my my island, when I was 8, I had to shave it off. Most schools in the islands do not allow boys to have long hair and particular hairstyles.”

“I see our hair as a blessing, but you have to nurture it, you have to protect it.”

“When my clients say ‘I got bad hair’ I ask them ‘What do you mean?’”

“We were brainwashed to see Blackness as not beautiful.”

“What I can say is that at the first wave of the pandemic, a lot of clients came in and wanted to grow their hair. I myself started to grow my hair. I didn’t really think why. I’m wondering now. Something definitely went on.”

“My hair journey came with loving myself for who I am and giving power to my Blackness.”

“I struggled… Once, I burned my hair. It was literally on fire. There were flames and smoke. I cried…it’s ok!”

“Each haircut marks a state in my life.”

“When I go get my cut, I want to create a bond with the barber. I’m a loyal person. I’ll go to the same barber for a long time.”

“My favourite hairstyles are Bantu Knots!”