5 Trans People of Color Community Talk Hair, Identity, and Beauty – Allure

Since its inception 51 years ago, Pride Month has always been a time to celebrate the vast achievements and milestones in LGBTQIA+ history, while still serving as a moment to shine a light on social injustices within and outside of the queer community. This year, Pride Month finds itself within the midst of a global health pandemic and the international call-to-action to end police brutality and unjust murders against Black people via the Black Lives Matter movement, making its initial mission to reform societys view on marginalized communities more essential than ever.

Which brings us to hair. Yes, hair: although it may be just hair to some, many of us know that there is much more to our hair than meets the eye. To many of us, especially to many people of color, hair is a symbol of culture and centuries of ethnic roots. For others, its a form of identity, allowing us to show our truest forms of self via extensions, wigs, buzz cuts, and everything in between.

And when it comes to many trans people of color, hair can be the center-point of that Venn diagram, symbolic of both culture and identity. Styles represent years of personal and physical growth, self-acceptance, and freedom of expression. In celebration of Pride, Allure spoke to five trans people on the importance of hair, and how their relationship to their own has evolved as they discovered themselves.

I usually wear my hair slicked back into a ballet bun, because it's low-maintenance and reliable. I've always looked to vintage fashion photographs and illustrations to find myself, and often the girls are depicted as a few lines punctuated by a dot, a little ballet bun; distinct and demure mannequin heads. When my hair is slicked back, it lets other parts of my identity like my style or my emotions take center stage.

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5 Trans People of Color Community Talk Hair, Identity, and Beauty - Allure