The (Hair) Ties That Bind: A Natural Hair Roundtable

Hello party people, we’re trying something new this week! Introducing our first-ever guest editor, Erin Stovall, Senior Beauty Editor at Bustle. I’ll let her take it away:

As much as I loved fashion and beauty magazines when I was younger, I rarely felt represented. I flipped through the pages and only saw models with stick-straight hair that looked nothing like my thick coils, product suggestions that would never work for my texture, and hair care "tips" that suggested washing your strands every day (most def not happening for this naturalista). Black hair, in all its beautiful forms, was completely ignored. Or even worse, deemed "unruly" and "unprofessional," something that needed to be tamed or altered in order to fit Eurocentric beauty standards that were never meant to include us in the first place.

One of the greatest parts about my role as Bustle's senior beauty editor is getting to share stories through the lens of Black women, the ones I so desperately wanted to read in the glossies during my adolescence. Our latest package, Braided & Laid, includes writer Leah Faye Cooper's roundtable chat all about natural hair journeys, writer Blake Newby's reporting on beauty lessons learned at HBCUs, hairstyling tips from Black travel influencers (you have more options than just #vacationbraids, y'all!), and more.

Get into go-to hairstyles, genius hacks, and must-have TSA-friendly products. Your next vacation will be easy-breezy.