Freshmen’s Fros and Cons
Black Freshmen Girls Share the Struggles of Managing Natural Hair While Living on Campus
Deleanna Urizar, a freshman in Weinberg, spent many nights trying not to disrupt her roommates when diffusing her hair before bed.
“Curly hair can be a lot of maintenance,” said Urizar. “And I remember one time I was doing my hair and one of my roommates said, ‘wow, you're really high maintenance.’ And I was like, no, I'm actually just doing my hair.”
Handling coursework and the health of their hair simultaneously can be a lot. Some students have identified inadequate factors that are deterring them such as water quality, weather and hair care resources.
Urizar said she feels that Northwestern’s water quality strips her hair of its natural oils. After washing her hair for the first time on campus, Urizar said her hair immediately felt damaged and dry. She said she finds herself constantly re-wetting her hair, though she would only have to wet her hair once in order to style it back at home.
Janaya Comas, a freshman in McCormick, also said she notices having to refresh her curls more often when on campus. Comas, a Chicago native, said though she is used to the weather, the humidity causes her hair to get frizzy. Even after redoing her hair, Comas said it never looks as good as when she does her hair at home.
Amina Gorman, a freshman in Weinberg, also said that the Evanston weather impacts the longevity of her curls definition. She said every time she steps outside, her hair shrinks due to the humidity.
Gorman said another issue she faces is not finding enough time to do her hair. Though Gorman came to school with braids, they were only able to last for the first month of classes. She said she had to make sure to clear her schedule for the whole day to take down her braids. It took her over five hours to take down, wash, blow dry and straighten her hair.
“I have a lot more things to do at night time than I did before. I have rehearsal from ten to midnight, three times a week,” Gorman said.
Sage Gonzalez, a freshman in Medill, said she is unable to do elaborate styles like she used to do. Gonzalez said not only is the spray bottle she uses to style her hair from her dorm unsufficient, but also that her dorm does not leave enough room to style her hair altogether. She said she prefers to wet her hair in the sink by cupping the water into her hair.
Like Gorman, Gonzalez said she had braids at the start of the school year in a successful effort to have her hair be more manageable. However, she said taking the braids out revealed something different. The very hairstyle meant to make Gonzalez’ student life easier ended up being damaging to Gonzalez’s hair.
“It's very difficult, especially as a college student, because now it feels like I have to give up the health of my hair for the convenience of not having to do my hair,” Gonzalez said.
As first-year students continue to go around and off campus in search of beauty supply stores and service providers to manage their natural hair, the struggles and sacrifices involved are felt by many.
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