Numerous students and staff of San Jose City College gathered in the cosmetology building on Feb. 25 for an all-day symposium. The symposium discussed the importance of expanding one’s skill set to accommodate diversity in the cosmetology industry. It also provided free hair service and facials to those who volunteered.

Tanesha Cartwright wears many different hats. Formerly a student at SJCC, she is a licensed cosmetologist and current faculty member.

Cartwright took center stage to speak about the history of Black hair and culture, what it means, and why it’s important for cosmetologists to “understand the disparities that Black women face”.

“We have a huge impact,” Cartwright said. “If you look in pop culture today, a lot of it is really reflected in black culture; the music, the clothes, the fashion, the makeup, the body image. So I think if we make it so that Black women can celebrate their hair more, it would just help overall.”

The event continued on with a demonstration of hair care by Tashiona Morrow, an SJCC alumni and licensed cosmetologist. 

“When there are perceptions about such things [multi-textural hair], it causes a lot of problems in society,” said Morrow when describing the gap between a cosmetologist’s intimidation and clients’ needs being met.“It causes segregation and fear unnecessarily. It’ll have people feeling like they have to alter their natural state just to be accepted in society.”

After the hair care segment, Morrow went on to demonstrate how to do braids on Julian Herrera-Walston and locs on Cleo Higinio, both of whom are SJCC students and members of the Umoja program. 

“[My hair] represents the pride of my heritage, Herrera-Waltston said. “Especially because I feel like it’s one of my identifying features as a Black man.”

Higinio expressed her gratitude for the symposium. “It’s honestly a good thing that people are learning about Black hair just because it’s such a taboo thing to talk about,” she said.

The symposium continued onto the second floor of the cosmetology building during the evening. Pamela R. Springer, skincare expert, product developer and author, led a discussion about different skin types.

The symposium concluded in room C-204 with facials for SJCC faculty and students who volunteered.

Full-time faculty member Tiffany Avery, who teaches the advanced esthetics class, set the mood with spa music as clients changed into gowns, kicked off their shoes and prepared for their end-of-day facials.

“We had a Zoom about five weeks ago and we were like ‘Let’s do this’,” Avery said when asked how the symposium came together. “We wanted to celebrate not only Black History, but also Black heritage.”