Black Beauty Room
Sadiaa Black Beauty Room: Isis Brantley Is BBRA ‘Pioneer’ Of The Year
The natural hair icon made and changed legislative hair history after being arrested for braiding without a license.
If you have connections to anything natural hair, braided, blown out, or head wrapped, or Black beauty anything for that matter, then the name Isis Brantley should be in your lexicon. She is natural hair royalty — a living icon who made history as a political hair activist, earned renown as a celebrity hairstylist, and basically helped raise generations of men and women to celebrate Black beauty culture.
[SEE ALSO: Isis Brantley, Jonathan Wright & More Honored At Inaugural ‘Black Beauty Room & Awards’]
That is why we were so honored to celebrate her at Sadiaa’s inaugural Black Beauty Room & Awards (BBRA) presented by Legacy West. The Dallas, Texas-native was recognized with our first-ever “Beauty Pioneer Award for her unwavering dedication to Black women’s beauty, health, and wellness for more than four decades.
“Isis Brantley is a pioneer, a soldier, a revolutionary in the braid world,” said her longtime client, friend, and “lil sis,” Erykah Badu.
Brantley helped change the legal landscape of natural hair for women in the chair and behind the chair, while earning the “distinction” as the first (and seemingly only) U.S-based braider to go to jail for braiding hair without a cosmetology license.
In 1997, Texas cosmetology schools didn’t even teach the art of braiding. And when braiding was finally added to the curriculum in 2007, Brantley wasn’t allowed to teach it. So she had to fight for almost 10 more years to change even more laws, including not having to be a whole barbershop to practice her craft. And finally, in the year of our Lord 2015, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 2717 to remove cosmetology license requirements for natural hair braiders.
“I started in this business when I was 18,” said Brantley, while accepting her award. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but I just loved doing beautiful things and then it turned into me fighting for justice, fighting for the privilege of economic liberty. I want to thank the ancestors and thank all of you.
“This is not easy when people don’t even know your story,” Brantley continued. “This is not easy when people don’t know the reason they are feeding and taking care of their children is because of this law.”
While advocating for the deregulation of the art of braiding hair, Brantley established The Institute of Ancestral Braiding and taught techniques centering wellness and healing through proper hair education, hairstyling safety, and more.
Despite the laws and her own education efforts, groups have begun a push to “stop the deregulation laws,” explained Brantley. “Just because we are free today, it’s up to you to maintain that freedom.”
Today, Brantley is now a published author, with her debut book, “STOLEN CROWN: Black Hairstories, 400 Years Later” and continues to educate aspiring natural hairstylists the art of braiding, loc’ing, and other styling techniques.
Learn more about Isis Brantley at naturallyisis.com. Press play below to see a reenactment of her story.
