Textured hair has long been underrepresented in the beauty industry, leaving hairstylists without proper education to care for textured hair and consumers without access to stylists who have the knowledge to help them.
Thankfully, Cosmo Prof is looking to bridge this gap with their recent "World of Texture" summit, which provides a platform to empower and teach both stylists and consumers about textured hair.
Beauty Launchpad was invited to the event in Dallas, Texas and got the opportunity to speak with several textured hair experts. They shared their insight on where they believe the industry is at in providing for textured hair and what improvements they believe still need to be made.
You can see their responses below.
Where do you think the industry is currently at in providing education for textured hair?
Jon Carlos De La Cruz (@joncarlosdelacruz), Cosmo Prof Artistic Team Member: The honest truth I can tell you I don't know. I love that textured hair now has a voice because it wasn't really catered to, especially in my experience growing up and going to school. We had one Black doll head that all we did was a relaxer on it, and then we put her away, and it never happened again. I love where we are today. I can say I've seen the evolution in textured hair education for the past five years.
Brenda Espinosa (@brendacurlstylist), Cosmo Prof Artistic Team Member: It's becoming more aware, and there's more education, which I love. I love that Cosmo Prof has this event World of Texture because there's not so many of them. I love that I see more and more [events like this are] coming out, which is so important. 
Brenda Espinosa styles her model's curly hair at World of Texture.
Autumn Brown Yarbrough (@autumn_cby), CEO and Founder of NuStandard: I try not to focus on where the industry is in terms of hoping they're going in a different direction. My job is to provide the solution, and I do not see a solution of really understanding the treatment side, not only for textured hair but for all hair. I feel like we've neglected treatments. My job with setting the new standard is providing the education for the importance for treatments, but also driving it to the end user, which is the stylist's client and getting the client to understand that it's not about always having a look or thinking you can get high bleach and that's a healthy thing to do. It is not. It's unfortunately damaging the hair, but there is always some balance to it. You need a treatment and follow up. Most people don't understand hair is dead. It doesn't regenerate. You've got to do something if you want certain goals, if you want density, if you want length or if you just want hair on your head.
What improvements do you think still need to be made?
De La Cruz: We're in February, and that's Black History Month. I don't think this should be just a one month thing, like a trend. I'm hoping that [textured hair education] is not just a trend at the moment, and I'm hoping that it just becomes part of the curriculum. Let's make this a forever thing.
Espinosa: More education and more products! I see a lot more products coming out, so that's an improvement already. Cosmo Prof has so many products for different textures and more products coming in. I'd like to see more education and more events like this for curls and textured hair.
Yarbrough: I feel the biggest gap is bridging the gap [between the stylist and the consumer]. That's part of our goal is bridging the gap and respecting the licenses from the stylists. We want to bring the stylist and the consumer together and making sure there is a comfort. Even DIYers need a break. They want one. I know they do. We want to make sure they are taken care of and getting the right treatment with the expert.
