Renesta

"Beauty is powerful, sometimes."

By Students of NYC

September 18^th, 2023

"My grandma used to do my hair in these big twists. I hated the process — it took so long. There was the washing and the combing and the blow drying. It would hurt. My grandma got arthritis in her hands, so eventually she couldn’t do it anymore, so I had to learn how to do it myself. Since then, I’ve always wanted to learn more about my own hair. It’s hard to control it.

Learning how to do other people’s hair has really helped me to understand more about my own.

There is so much I didn't know as a child about my hair journey that could have helped me and helped it grow.

I didn't wash it clean enough at first, but now I know how to wash it clean. I know I have to wash three times now. I know that it's the conditioner you use, you have to wash it all the way out. And I was the only one in my family whose hair was full, so they wouldn’t let me relax it. My sister relaxed her hair and she almost lost it all. My mom too. She ended up getting dreads. I am going to start that journey soon too. With the dreads, I’ve seen the growth process now, and it’s just so pretty. The hair grows really fast.

It starts with a starter loc, then it knots up and grows and grows. It’s just beautiful to watch.

I love doing other people’s hair now. It makes me feel…wholesome. Seeing their smiles. They look so happy when I’m finished. Beauty is powerful, sometimes.

Yesterday, we went to a senior center and did their nails. The woman I worked on didn’t know anything about rhinestones. I told her — it’s a design for your nails. She said she wanted to try them, so I painted her nails blue and used rhinestones to make a flower design. She loved it. It’s nice being paid. But I would volunteer at the senior center for free. They don’t pamper themselves anymore. They don’t even get to work. You just brighten their day.

My first paycheck was so exciting. I gave a lot of it to my mother, but then I took some to spend. My friends and I went to the Atlantic mall. The mission was to buy sneakers — but we didn’t even do that. We ended up walking around Target just looking at everything. And you won't believe what we ended up buying. These cute little fifty-cent bowls for the kitchen. I got a pink one, my friend got a grey one. It was an investment, we said. And my friend bought pink towels too. She’s so dramatic. But we had so much fun."