Litm(us), Black Beauty School & Other decolonized courseworks

The first thing they did was cut our hair and remove our clothing. deep signifiers of social life, status, belonging and more.

Afro hair is queer.

Litm(us) is the theory portion of the coursework that seeks to have participants understand the African body as commodity and how the beauty industry is a transformation of the slave block.

Black Beauty School is the practical hands-on portion of the work that covers technique, hair products, styling, shampooing and more while seeking to restore community to our hair praxis .

This coursework was first launched in 2019. It has been taught in over 10 salons across the US and on 3 university campuses. I am a licensed cosmetologist of 13 years and this is the undoing of all I have learned via the colonized beauty industry.

The course work has now shifted and is being taught directly to Black bodies without the middle man of racial capitalism and the beauty industry.

The Afro ABC’s and 123's is a flash card set included within the coursework that will help participants on their journey back to self. This decolonized work is about the embodiment, sovereignty, and restoration of indigenous wildfire in the African body.

Taught in 10+ Salon Spaces
Holyoke College
Vanderbilt University
Oberlin College