Typography & design by
Richard Wolfströme

Exhibition and installation
by Standard 8

Website
Words William Shaw
Design Richard Wolfströme
Photography Kenny Laurenson

Publishing consultant Adrian Driscoll

An Unmadeup Production

Even her parents didn’t know what to do with Swena’s hair

Shae Shae Creations – Afro hair specialists, 50 Queen’s Road

Swena sits in the chair while Amanda’s fingers tug gently at her hair, easing it into two-strand twists. With her glasses on the shelf she can’t even see what Amanda’s doing. She doesn’t really care. She loves the feeling of it, the fingers working away at her scalp.

Outside of London, it can feel impossible to find a good hairdresser. Six years ago there had been that hairdresser in Worthing: "Oh yeah. I’ve done black hair before." Ha!

It was after that disastrous experience that a South African friend told her about this place. "Take the train to Brighton. Walk straight down from the station. You can’t miss it."

Even her parents didn’t know what to do with Swena’s hair. It is a mix, finer and softer than most people’s – and there is so much of it. Exasperated, her parents would just put straighteners in it to make it easy. Swena remembers how her scalp used to itch so badly afterwards. It used to really get to her. Amanda says she sees that all the time, scalps scarred from years of using chemicals.

Since that first time, six years ago, Swena’s been a regular here. She used to come every month, but it’s harder now she spends so much time working abroad.

It’s good to stop. Just to be pampered for a while. It will take Amanda an hour and a half to finish the twists. All that time, Swena has to sit still.

She’s been working far too hard recently. Since the Eurostar brought her back from Paris on Thursday, she’s been looking
forward to this.

She works in finance. That’s the boring part; the languages are what she likes. But it’s hard, being away so much.

So today is just about chilling out. On her way she bought a pair of jeans, thinking she’d want something to look good in.

Afterwards, feeling fantastic, she thinks she’ll go down to the Lanes and look for a pair of shoes and maybe a blouse to go with her new funky hair.