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#AmplifyDiverseHair Campaign Aims To Raise Spotlight On Black Hairstylists & Diverse Hair Textures
Texture hair advocate Keya Neal has teamed with Wella to highlight diversity in the hair industry.
Wella hair care has teamed with hair texture activist, educator, and color expert Keya Neal to help highlight diversity in hair textures and styles — and the hairstylists behind them. The new campaign, #AmplifyDiverseHair, launched Sunday during National Diversity Week in the first of a series of initiatives by Wella to help bring visibility to Black hairstylists.
In the wake of ongoing civil unrest and, well, America, communities are calling for inclusion and equity in the boardroom and on social streams. The world of beauty is no exception — whether it’s for access to the boardroom, resources, or just basic representation.
So, Neal said she was thrilled to have the hair giant reach out to develop a campaign to be more “intentional about giving visibility” to hairstylists who are talented but have been “overlooked” in a sea of homogeneity.
“It is important for every single company to take a pause, take a beat, and take inventory of what it is they have been doing in the past and how they have perpetuated segregation in the industry,” said Neal.
The weeklong campaign will highlight diverse hairstylists on social media via Instagram Lives, feed posts, and stories.
Keya hosted the first in a series of conversations on Sunday with Hairbrained founder Gerard Scarpaci.
“It shouldn’t have to be a tragedy every time to make people think,” said Scarpaci, in reference to George Floyd’s murder by police in May. “Let’s make this a positive reminder to look at practices of inclusivity.”
The campaign is simple: encourage platforms to share the works of diverse hairstylists with clients/models of all textures. “The challenge is to be a disruptor. It’s our job, at this point, to reset the algorithm,” said Neal. “I’m not knocking balayage, cause love a good balayage. But, if we posted and we celebrated more texture … and we would see more of it and basically normalize texture.”
Neal added the campaign is part of a larger movement to denounce segregation in salons. “Everybody should be doing all textures of hair,” said Neal. “We’re never going back to the way we were.”
See the graphic above for a schedule of the conversations and follow #AmplifyDiverseHairhttps://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/amplifydiversehair on Instagram.
