Naeemah LaFond’s hair love origin story is up for debate. “If you ask my mother, she’ll tell you that I’ve been in the hair industry since I was a baby,” she says. When her mom would return from a long day of work, she would curl up in bed with baby Naeemah, placing her near her head so the younger LaFond could play with her mother’s hair. “This way she could feel me and knew that I was safe while she took a nap. That’s the unofficial story of how I got my start in the industry,” LaFond laughs.
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Naeemah LaFond’s hair love origin story is up for debate. “If you ask my mother, she’ll tell you that I’ve been in the hair industry since I was a baby,” she says. When her mom would return from a long day of work, she would curl up in bed with baby Naeemah, placing her near her head so the younger LaFond could play with her mother’s hair. “This way she could feel me and knew that I was safe while she took a nap. That’s the unofficial story of how I got my start in the industry,” LaFond laughs.
The official story—as LaFond sees it—takes place in 2003. At the time, she worked as a clerk in the district attorney’s office—one job in a string of jobs where LaFond sought to attain healthy, rewarding footing. “I had my hands in everything trying to ‘find myself,’” she recalls. Then, an opportunity arose: Her best friend, an aspiring model, had booked a test shoot; did LaFond want to do her hair? “I didn’t have a hair kit or much of anything, really. I just showed up to that shoot with probably a pouch or tote bag with a few basic things in it: pins, a comb, a brush and flat iron,” she says. The experience floored her. “It was my first time on set and I distinctly remember that day feeling like I finally found what it is that I want to do in life. It’s kind of like that feeling you have when you’re falling in love—instant butterflies and anxiety simultaneously,” LaFond remembers.
“Exhausted … but Alive and in Love”
Like many outside of the hair industry, LaFond had a narrow view of a career in hair. “I knew that I loved doing hair, but working in a salon fulltime was never a dream or something that I aspired to. The Gemini in me who loved change and new experiences couldn’t see myself doing the same thing every day for years on end,” she says. But that day on set opened her eyes to the editorial side of hair; she could make a career of this. She quit her job at the DA’s office, took a graveyard shift at a call center to free up her days for photo shoots, and immersed herself in the world of test shoots to begin building her portfolio. “Having the space to be creative and execute ideas felt so freeing to me. I was exhausted most of the time, but I was alive and in love,” LaFond shares.
“Research Was My Mentor”
That love is an important through line here; it was this love that propelled LaFond forward, even as she began to recognize some painful realities in the industry where her passion flourished. “Two years in, I realized that I didn’t actually know how to break into the fashion industry, and I also realized that I didn’t see any hairstylists who looked like me working on set. The Black artists that I knew of worked in the entertainment industry, so it was impossible to get an assisting position [in fashion],” she recounts. LaFond made the decision to go it alone. She set up camp at magazine stores, immersing herself in the editorial pages of the top glossies, digesting what imagery gets published and training her eye on what defines high-quality work. “Research was my mentor,” she confides. LaFond became a quick study, finding inspiration within those pages, but always articulating what she soaked up with her own spin. “There was both a sense of freedom and pressure that came with not knowing the ‘right way’ to do something,” LaFond says of being self-taught. “I’m the artist I am today because of what I didn’t have.”
“Aren’t Your Assisting Her?”
Breaking down barriers wasn’t something LaFond sought for herself—but it became increasingly obvious that the high-fashion space required some disruption. On one shoot, the crew—including LaFond—waited on a member who was presumed an hour late. When LaFond, also irritated, finally asked who they were waiting on, the answer shocked her. “They said, ‘We’re waiting for the hairstylist. Aren’t you assisting her?’” she recalls. LaFond was the lead hairstylist—the crew simply assumed she was not. The more work she got, the more LaFond experienced this type of dismissal industrywide—in salons, as an educator, on sets. “It was clear that representation was lacking so much so that for me to actually exist in these spaces was unbelievable for some,” LaFond asserts.
“All Hair is Welcome”
But, not for amika. The hair care brand brought on LaFond as national education manager in 2013. Within a year, amika promoted LaFond to its newly created global artistic director role. “I was brought on to help create the aesthetic of this young, cool, new brand, and I took that opportunity to help develop something that the industry was lacking,” LaFond says. At the time, amika was scrappy, hungry and ready to think differently. LaFond knew she could make a difference there—more so than at an established brand with an ingrained culture. “At amika, we were a small group of people who trusted each other’s vision and we wanted to make a mark on the industry in our own way. It was probably fate that landed me at a company that gave me full reign to shake things up. It was a recipe for magic,” LaFond says.
With LaFond’s creative vision, amika embraced inclusivity, establishing its tagline “All Hair is Welcome” long before “inclusivity” became the buzzword du jour for the beauty industry. “It’s part of our brand DNA. I think I’m proof that we were inclusive before it was a buzzword,” LaFond says. She credits this to having a seat at the table. “If more brands gave decision-making power to all kinds of people, inclusivity would feel more like a way of life than a trend,” she says, adding, “With that being said, there’s always room to do better and grow.”
Her position as a Black global artistic director at a beauty brand not exclusive to textured hair continues to open her eyes to that need for growth. “I’ve been mistaken for the intern many times. I’ve been talked down to and I’ve also been ignored,” LaFond says. “However, none of that matters when a hairstylist of color comes up to me and says that seeing me makes them feel like anything is possible. I’ll take the emotional hits in exchange for this bigger picture. I learned early on that this journey was bigger than me—it was about what I represented.”
“Feeling Called In Instead of Called Out”
So, when on June 2, 2020, LaFond posted a six-slide guide on Instagram entitled, “How brands and industry decision-makers can support Black hair stylists,” she used her voice to empower every disenfranchised Black artist in hair and to light a fire under the people who have a seat at the table. Up until this day, LaFond quietly worked behind the scenes on equity and inclusivity. “Hiring Black educators, casting diverse models and just merely having the audacity to believe that I’m qualified and deserving of the role as an artistic director of a hair company that wasn’t specifically for textured hair or Black people was how I spoke out,” she says. But, after witnessing social justice leader Tamika Mallory deliver a stirring speech during the height of civil unrest in the summer of 2020, LaFond felt “shook to my core.” “It was in that moment that I decided I was going to say something online. I had so much that I wanted to speak openly about, but never did for fear of being labeled a troublemaker,” she admits. “I’ve never been one to ruffle feathers but, with everything happening in the world at the time, I felt as though I had nothing to lose.”
LaFond typed up the post and showed it to her husband before hitting “Share.” “He was nervous for me to post it, but he wasn’t at all surprised by what I had to say. He had heard versions of it a million times throughout my career,” she says. The post succinctly outlined 11 commonsense steps to achieve fair representation for Black artists in the beauty space. In the following days after LaFond hit “Share,” coverage of her guide appeared on Allure.com, Essence.com, Glamour.com and more. The media, it appeared, felt the fire LaFond had lit—but did the decision-makers? “My hope [when I posted the guide] was that the industry felt called in instead of feeling called out. I wanted this to help us change course for the better,” she says.
“Activism Doesn’t Always Have to be Loud to be Felt”
Though LaFond appreciates that her now-viral post caught the attention of those around her, she knows words only go so far; action is the true goal. “Activism doesn’t always have to be loud to be felt,” she says. “I’d prefer to consider the work that I’ve done behind the scenes as the work that has changed lives and caused real change in the industry.” That work has continued to evolve for LaFond. In June 2020, the same month she posted her viral guide, top artist agency The Wall Group signed LaFond to its hair roster. A short two months later the agency asked LaFond to be a part of its brand-new Incubator Program (see “Just Apply: The Incubator Program” on page 39), a six-month mentorship program created to help underserved people break into the industry. As a mentor, LaFond shows mentees the ropes of being on set—the necessary professionalism that helps artists rebook jobs, as well as the tools needed to navigate working as a team in a fast-paced environment. “It has been such a great experience because I’ve made amazing connections with these young up-and-coming artists. The program is a wonderful opportunity to give people something that I didn’t have coming up,” she asserts.
“I Could Tangibly See My Ideas”
While influencing an individual underserved artist’s life undoubtedly helps knock down barriers in the fashion and beauty industries, LaFond was presented with a project that would touch the lives of more than 444 million people worldwide. In August 2021, Pinterest head of inclusive product Annie Ta sought LaFond’s advice on how to fix a serious problem: The virtual moodboard platform lacked a user experience that truly reflected its diverse membership—especially for Pinners of color. “I’d actually been waiting for this phone call for some time because I’ve often thought about how Pinterest could be a better experience for women of color,” LaFond says. As a hairstylist who turns to the platform to collect inspiration for all kinds of women, LaFond found that searching for ideas for a straight-haired woman presented a more seamless process than the labyrinthine hunt for textured hair ideas. “I had to dig a little deeper. I had to add identifying attributes like ‘Black women bridal hair,’” she relays. LaFond’s unique perspective—that of a hairdresser searching for all types of women—helped Pinterest create the Hair Pattern search function, coding that takes into consideration racial equity to provide straightforward searches for Black, Brown and Latinx users incorporating hair filters for coily, curly, straight, protective and more.
“Working with Pinterest was such an easy experience,” LaFond recounts. “Oftentimes, when Black people are given an opportunity to give their input, it’s for surface reasons and not to impact real changes. But at Pinterest, my ideas were certainly used, and I could tangibly see my ideas on the actual app. It’s nice to not have to write that I’m Black every time I search textured hair on Pinterest.”
“You Can Do Good Right Where You Are”
A steady stream of positive feedback on the Hair Pattern search function flows to LaFond; she’s proud that women of color have reported one less hurdle to endure. LaFond welcomes the influx of opportunities like Pinterest and the Incubator Program—but she’s never going to feel like the work is done until it truly is. She’s going to keep on keeping on, using her platform to inspire others to act as she creates opportunities for inclusivity and equity on her own terms—just as she has since her first days in the hair world. “If anything, this career has taught me that you can do good right where you are. Right in your own little corner of this lived experience you can find a way to make things better, and it doesn’t need to be grand for it to make a grand impact,” she says—like adopting her viral guide, those 11 simple steps that could alter an entire industry for the better.
As incremental changes driven by activists like LaFond inch the hair industry forward toward equal representation, she has a wish for this space she fell in love with 19 years ago: “All hair is welcome—that’s my wish for the industry as a whole. That’s my wish for beauty school state board exams; that’s my wish for salons; that’s my wish for beauty supply store shelves; that’s my wish for hair show stages around the world; that’s my wish for everyone’s marketing campaign,” she says. “All hair is welcome.”
The Guide That Went Viral
“We are at a historical moment and I, along with many of my peers, am open to having this conversation with you (as awkward as it may get) so that we can advance as an industry in a way that is in true representation of all of its artists. Our industry as a collective needs to do better,” Naeemah LaFond wrote in the caption of her viral Instagram post, a six-slide guide detailing “How brands and industry decision-makers can support Black hair stylists.” Here, a brief overview; read the entire guide posted on June 2, 2020 by following and supporting @naeemahlafond on IG.
- Hire us as hairstylists on your creative teams.
- Create equal opportunity.
- Normalize Black creatives in the beauty industry and in the editorial world.
- Normalize hiring Black leads.
- Be intentional about inclusivity.
- Black hairstylists also have specialties and are multilayered.
- Hire Black educators.
- Add natural hair/texture education to your repertoire.
- Salon owners: Create space for equal opportunity and advancement within your teams.
- Understand that an artist being Black doesn’t automatically mean that they specialize in curl care/natural texture.
- Give credit.
The Incubator Program
For underrepresented struggling artists whose ears pricked up at the mention of The Wall Group’s Incubator Program but feel they might not have what it takes, mentor Naeemah LaFond notes that the first step might feel like the hardest, but it’s the ultimate step toward opening doors: “Just apply. It’s really not about your current portfolio, because that’s the whole point: We’re helping you understand how to build and market your portfolio, how to market yourself and how to be on set. You don’t have to come with a full package at all,” she says. “But you need to have talent, and also passion and ambition. You might be scared of being judged by what you don’t have, but remember that’s the whole point of this process: to give you the tools that you don’t have.” Visit thewallgroup.com/incubator to apply (applications will reopen in fall 2022).
