Hair is an important expression of our individuality. Many Black people have suffered when stylists or even family members didn’t know how to properly style their curls and coils. Tamekia Swint is working to fix this.
She founded Styles 4 Kidz in Illinois in 2011. This nonprofit salon focuses on educating others on how to care for textured hair. She teaches transracial adoptive parents and their kids everything from braids and twists to everyday maintenance.
Tamekia knows the power of hair, especially in the Black community. “We express ourselves through our hair,” she mused to Today. “It is deeply entrenched in our culture and in our history. And it connects us to one and another. Our hair is a huge part of our identity." This is why she created her organization.
Her first client was a woman named Mary that a friend from church introduced her to. Mary and her two daughters needed help. Tamekia actually burst into tears when she saw the state of the girls' hair. She immediately got to work.
“You should have seen their faces when they looked in the mirror after I was finished. It completely transformed not only how they looked, but how they felt about themselves,” she recalled. “And that’s how Styles 4 Kidz started. I realized this was a much bigger problem."
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These days, some parents come in when they are going through the adoption process, even before the new family members have arrived. Parents want to be ready ahead of time.
“By the time they have their child, they know all about the products and how to use them. They’re going into the situation fully prepared,” Tamekia stated. “What we’re doing is preventing experiences like the one Mary and her daughters had.”
To learn more about Styles 4 Kidz watch this video.
