Brooklyn stylist, Kamilah is becoming a major voice in the natural hair world.
Kamilah, who also goes by her Instagram persona ‘Mshairandhumor’, is known for her incredible braiding skills as well as her humorous, inspiring, and authentic personality. With her online presence rapidly growing she was granted the opportunity to work with companies like Shea Moisture and Nubian skin. Her work can even be seen on singer and reality television star Amara La Negra.
You can find her on Instagram @Mshairandhumor
The Knockturnal: When did you start braiding?
Kamilah: I started braiding around 8 years old; I used to practice on dolls heads. It was actually my father, from Trinidad and Tobago, who taught me to braid. He was a boy scout who learned from tying rope as a survival skill.
The Knockturnal: Was doing hair your first career choice?
Kamilah: No, in fact, I didn’t think of braiding as a career at first. I was someone who classified gems; a gemologist. Most of my job was inspecting luxury diamonds. As a gemologist, I felt as though my work didn’t have as much as a direct impact on people as I would’ve liked. It wasn’t until I was laid off from three jobs, as a gemologist, that I started thinking about hair as a career choice more. I learned that there were adult education programs available to me, while I was unemployed, which is how I received my natural hair license. After receiving my natural hair license I decided to enroll in cosmetology school for my full cosmetology license.
The Knockturnal: When you first got out of school did you jump right into braiding?
Kamilah: Braiding had become my specialty and I started building a clientele independently. After a while I decided to assist in a salon to learn more, however, that was short lived due to scheduling conflicts with salon hours and my clientele. I went back to freelancing, started taking master classes and connecting with other stylists. My social media presence as ‘Mshairandhumor’, on Instagram, started to grow as well as my clientele.
The Knockturnal: How did you become ‘Mshairandhumor’ and how’d you decide on that name?
Kamilah: The more I put my work and myself out there the more it seemed my followers trusted me. It’s a breath of fresh air for to find someone authentic on Instagram. I wanted to create a safe place for women to accept their bad hair days. My followers can see me laughing at my own bad hair days as a professional and know that it’s never that serious. I also use my page to try and inspire people to follow their dreams, as I did with the cute quotes I find and remix. Using Instagram has allowed for me to create a visual reference for my work but also build a relationship with future clientele due to my authenticity.
The Knockturnal: How do you feel about the role braids play in pop culture today and what are your goals as far as braiding?
Kamilah: To me braiding is not only a skill but an intricate art. It’s significant to me that I learned the skill from my father as a first-generation American and turned it into a career. There’s a lot of power in traditions and culture being passed down. Anyone can braid or even have their hair braided however if a certain style technique is used or remixed it’s important to give credit to the original source. I personally would love to open up a major magazine one day and see my own work and be able to say “I did that”.
