BROOKINGS – A Brookings organization is in the process of creating a documentary to promote awareness and education on ethnic hair care in the region.
Christina Thurston founded Boldly Beautiful Expo in 2013 after she and her family moved to town while her husband worked toward his doctoral degree at South Dakota State.
Thurston, an African American woman, had no luck when trying to find a stylist in town with the experience to style the kinky, curly hair of African American and biracial women and children.
“It’s kind of like when you first get here, if you’re from a different (area), you do your research,” Thurston said. “So I was aware that I was going to be the minority. But I didn’t have any idea that there would be no resources really.”
She said her first week living in Brookings, she ran into another African American woman at Walmart who asked where she gets her hair done. Both were new to town and had no idea where to go.
At that point, Thurston was doing her own hair, having prepared and packed some items to do so.
“I’m actually from the east coast and really spoiled,” Thurston said. “Just having that luxury of having somewhere you can always get your hair done. You have to build a trust with someone and go there. I just really didn’t have that.”
By her second year here, Thurston was working at SDSU and the only African American in her office and the only one she knew of on campus.
During the fall of that year, two more black women were hired at the same office, and the first thing they asked her was where she got her hair done.
“I told them I did it myself,” Thurston said. “I was just so frustrated by that point that I was like, maybe I’ll put on an event here. It didn’t happen right away.”
She wrote and received a tourism grant for the city of Brookings.
Her first event was the 2015 Boldly Beautiful Ethnic Hair Care Symposium, Expo and Hair Show.
The event featured speakers Bessie Flemmon of the Malobe Natural Hair Salon in Minneapolis, Minn., and Ashley Peoples, founder of the Rich Sista Empowerment Center and Mobile Maven in Atlanta.
Attendees learned about African culture, ethnic hair styling and hair product awareness. They could schedule hair appointments during the expo as well.
Thurston said where she’s from, all salons style for ethnic hair and “nobody looks at you all crazy when you walk in.”
“I think there was just automatic fear that comes about,” Thurston said. “You’re already the minority so you’re already afraid to try and see if anyone can do it. So I thought this event will be great, we can teach people how to do it, they can network, meet clientele.”
Even though the event didn’t go exactly the way she planned, she still felt the motivation and passion to keep going and teach people more.
Mothers with biracial children or adopted black children often come up to Thurston and ask her about hair products and if she can do their child’s hair.
“I can, but I don’t know if I want to,” Thurston would say to them. “But how about I offer something where you can learn?”
Boldly Beautiful caters to a number of different people: those with biracial or adopted black children who want to feel more comfortable doing their child’s hair, people who have just moved to the area and are looking for resources, and students who come to SDSU and will be here at least four years.
Thurston said she has heard of people driving to Minnesota or Nebraska and spending full days and even nights away from home to get their own hair or their children’s hair done.
“I’m big on community, so this is the community I’m in and I want to provide the service here,” Thurston said. “ … If I live here I want to be able to go to the local salon and get my hair done. Because a salon is not just a place where you get your hair done, sometimes it’s a retreat for moms.”
In late 2016, she came up with the idea to do a documentary and “dispel the myth about South Dakota.”
The people she knows had sounded surprised to learn that there are black people in the state at all, which she said is the first question she’ll get.
“I think it will also be interesting from a black person’s perspective living here,” Thurston said. “There is a disparity about the hair. So the question is, ‘Where can I get my hair done?’ I’m trying to answer that question.”
She said maybe there is someone in Brookings who knows how to style kinky, curly hair, and she’s looking for that person.
The documentary is titled, “Boldly Beautiful: Ethnic Hair Care on the Great Plains.” Thurston is working with Johnson Design and Video in Brookings to film the project and with Sando Pictures out of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Last month, she had about 10 hours of footage with four interviews left. She is planning to sell T-shirts with the documentary logo design to fundraise.
Thurston said she kind of likes the idea of being self-funded but hopes people will donate to the documentary and help fund her passion project.
“It’s like my baby, so it’s really hard to want to share that,” Thurston said. “I want someone to feel compelled. If this article touches them in a special way, then they’ll give.”
To donate to the documentary “Boldly Beautiful: Ethnic Hair Care on the Great Plains,” visit Thurston’s GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/boldlybeautifuldocumentary.
For more information on Boldly Beautiful and upcoming events, the organization’s Facebook page is Boldly Beautiful Ethnic Hair Care.
Thurston’s next event is Me, My Mommy and My Curls, which will take place from 1-3 p.m. July 23 at the Children’s Museum of South Dakota in Brookings.
Anyone interested in being interviewed for the documentary may contact Thurston at boldlybeautifulexpo@gmail.com.
