{"id":456,"date":"2020-07-24T15:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-07-24T05:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=175948"},"modified":"2020-10-22T14:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T14:20:41","slug":"edwards-and-co-how-to-style-afro-hair","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/edwards-and-co-how-to-style-afro-hair\/","title":{"rendered":"EdwardsAndCo Have Shared A Powerful Lesson In Afro Hair Styling"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image credit: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Australian hairdressing industry has a problem: Afro styling education is not a focus in the Certificate III Hairdressing course (editor’s note: “African hair and coarse textured” hair styling was only introduced into the TAFE NSW syllabus in 2016)<\/em>. The issue has gone viral on social media following racial discussions in relation to the unjust death of George Floyd, whereby Australian stylists and BIPOC members of the beauty community spoke out about their lack of understanding when it comes to textured hair, and their uncomfortable experiences with unskilled stylists respectively.<\/p>\n

The following statement was released by TAFE NSW (published by Pedestrian TV<\/a><\/em>) in relation to claims that afro hair styling was left out:<\/p>\n

“As a Registered Training Organisation, TAFE NSW delivers the Certificate III in Hairdressing in line with the national training package, which is routinely updated in consultation with industry. The Australian Industry and Skills Committee is responsible for the national training package, and TAFE NSW develops its course materials to meet the national requirements.<\/em><\/p>\n

The national training package requires training across all natural hair types including European, Asian, Euro-Asian and African, different textures including coarse, medium and fine; and different hair movements including straight, wavy, natural curl and chemical curl. \u00a0TAFE NSW courses are delivered in line with these requirements.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Regardless, Australian stylists and hairdressers aren’t confident when it comes to cutting, coloring and styling textured hair – and it’s a problem that needs addressing.<\/p>\n

Esteemed Australian salon EdwardsAndCo noticed the same thing when they did a social call out for hair styling tutorial requests. They decided to channel this into something productive, creating an IGTV episode of The Styling Diaries with one of their afro-haired clients Nina and stylist Natalia.<\/p>\n

EdwardsAndCo stylist Natalia had the following to say about her experience styling afro hair texture:<\/p>\n

“I have taught myself how to style afro hair, because I am a hairdresser and it is my responsibility to know how to service all clients. Every hairdresser should be able to look after any hair texture that grows out of anybody’s head. Everyone who walks into one of our salons has the right to our services, and as hairdressers we need to have enough respect to take the time to learn how to service afro hair, until the time comes that it is a mandatory requirement of a hairdressing apprenticeship.” Natalia Humphrey.<\/i><\/p>\n

See the video below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Episode 2: Afro Styling with @natalia_edwardsandco and @mumma.fro As you may or may not know styling afro hair is not included in the Certificate III Hairdressing course in Australia, meaning Natalia, as well as every other Australian hairdresser finished their apprenticeship not knowing how to service clients with afro hair. At EdwardsAndCo we thought about how we could use our platform to take action and help create long lasting change, which is why we have invited Nina to help us shine a light on this issue, giving her the opportunity to share her story and experiences with the community. It's also important for us to keep the conversation around racial discrimination going and never allow things to \u201cgo back to the way they were\u201d just because the media stops reporting. Please do your part by heading to the petition on change.org to have afro and textured hair education included in the Certificate III Hairdressing. It\u2019s currently sitting at almost 20,000 signatures with a goal of 25,000. Sign the petition here: http:\/\/chng.it\/Wt6WqqmL7q Big thank you to @chrissyzemurahair for starting this conversation, @mumma.fro and @brazenmodels for being apart of this \u2764\ufe0f #SDEDWARDSANDCO<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Edwards And Co.<\/a> (@_edwardsandco) on