Newsletter

BLSU x ASA Host Curls, Coils, and Culture

By Eva Jo McIlraith

February 25, 2026

Hamilton College’s African Student Association (ASA) and Black and Latine Student Association (BLSU) brought students together in KTSA on Friday for an evening to celebrate the styles and techniques of caring for Black hair. Attendees browsed from a selection of hair care products and materials to get them started with caring for their hair and picked up paints, canvases, and easels to paint various styles of hair.

“How many of you knew that enslaved people used their hair as a map to escape enslavement?” BLSU President Ja’Riah Lamons ‘28 began as attendees started to paint. Lamons continued on to describe how enslaved people would encode information about escape routes, safe houses, and other resources, even using their hair to store rice and food to eat on their journey of escape. She recalled styles from revolutionaries of the civil rights movement such as Angela Davis and the Black Panther Party, and how it marked a shift away from a necessity for Black individuals to alter their hair to fit in while in public spaces. To finish off the presentation, Lamons lent historical context to specific hairstyles including Zulu knots or Bantu knots, cornrows, and box braids.

Lamons prompted attendees to share their own experiences. Attendees reflected on the politicized nature with Black hair, echoing a common theme that their hair was often expected to make a statement, inhibiting their ability to express themselves comfortably. Many expressed that they often didn’t feel free to try new styles because of the rigidity that is placed on Black individuals to adhere to strict cultural norms. As discussions began, students shared experiences of texturizing and cutting their hair, having it braided, and nuanced differences in hair that are often overlooked in societal generalization of Black hair. Conversation lent itself to connection as students painted and snacked, sharing in the experiences of growing up with kinky and coily hair.