With her sights on empowering women to go beyond styling tools, moisturizers and shampoos to grow healthier hair, Felicia Leatherwood has shown thousands of women from the U.S. to Paris and Senegal to Germany and London, how to transition from relaxed to natural hair.
As if that were not enough, she has also styled the natural tresses of some our favorite celebrity power women—Jill Scott, Nicole Ari Parker, and Tomiko Fraser to name a few. And, her work has appeared in Essence, In Style, People magazine, as well as in film and television.
Affectionately dubbed the “Hair Whisperer,†Leatherwood has been known to spot hair and scalp issues related to diet or stress by simply examining the state of the hair.
BlackEnterprise.com caught up with her to discuss how she went from local stylist to global haircare guru, igniting a “love your hair†movement worldwide.
BlackEnterprise.com: How did you get started in the hair industry?
Felicia Leatherwood: At 9 years-old, my parents gave me my first Barbie doll head to play with and style her hair, but I didn’t grow up saying I wanted to be a hair stylist.
Initially, I worked for BET, Fox and Warner Bros in various production support positions. During that time, I was just playing with my own hair and styling my friend’s hair, so I decided I wanted to go to cosmetology school. The funny thing is, most people thought I would need to get a back up job because I couldn’t make a good living off of just doing hair.
After cosmetology school, I started working at a salon called Millennium in LA. I came across some up-and-coming celebrities at the time [including Anthony Anderson, Martin Lawrence and Cedric the Entertainer.] I worked at BET, and I spent a lot of time traveling with the celebrities I worked for, so my name and celebrity client list grew by word of mouth.
I’ve been styling natural hair now for 15 years, and it’s been an amazing journey for me ever since.
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Let’s talk about your career transition from celebrity stylist to natural hair educator. What events or experiences inspired you to develop a niche in natural hair?
Honestly, I always gravitated toward natural hair and loved the texture of it, but I didn’t like the smoky smell of straightened hair. For me, natural hair really tells a story about how you treat yourself. I love being able to ‘read’ natural hair. I could easily examine your natural hair and diagnose any hair breakage or scalp issues.
At the same time, I realized regardless of the texture or state of a woman’s hair, she needed to understand how nurturing her diet, body soul and spirit are also important to growing healthy hair.
Why did you start the hair empowerment workshops?
I used to watch people on TV in the healthcare fields administer drugs to help people in need all around the world. I always felt like I wanted to do something like that but I knew the medical field wasn’t necessarily for me. So, I asked God how I could give back to people of color from a place of love. I didn’t know what that was going to look like until I started my natural hair workshops.
I started workshops in locations like Florida and St. Thomas. Because of social media and word of mouth, I started receiving emails from women requesting that I come to London. My number of events has increased since then, and I am planning to conduct more workshops in Africa this year.
What sets your brand apart from other stylists?
I really love people, and I know how to do hair, but my full intention has always been to create an atmosphere of love and give it as well as receive it wherever I go. I try to hug everyone at my workshops and form connections with my audience. I don’t believe you should ever get to a point where you stop learning, so I keep on top of trends as well.
While delivering workshops, what if any similarities and/or differences have you noticed between domestic and international audiences?
First of all, naturalistas all over the world are amazing, but we are all looking for validation for our blackness and who we are as women. We want to know we are beautiful, worthy and good enough in our own skin.
The natural hair community is so important because you see women supporting one another in droves, but in the past, I’ve noticed in the relaxed community we don’t greet one another with the same love.
I’ve also noticed when I travel internationally to speak, naturalistas have a deeper commitment to learning and understanding haircare because the information may not be readily available.
Kandia Johnson is a freelance communications strategist, brand builder and world traveler who also loves fashion, food and wine. She’s traveled from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Thailand to Africa. When she’s not helping clients create engaging communication campaigns, she’s writing about her globe-stalking adventures for her blog LadybugsInWonderland.com and Travelista.TV.