My Personal Hair Rebrand Story

Personal hair rebrand..... CHECK!

I never thought I would have the courage to cut my hair this short, mostly because other people always told me it would be foolish. In my neck of the woods, longer hair was encouraged. Responses to the idea of a haircut felt like getting in trouble for wasting food that "people in third-world countries would love to have" — if that makes any sense.

When I was a teen, my mom had my sister and me on a strict monthly perm + blowout regime. My dad used to get furious if our hair would appear even remotely shorter after those appointments. I remember him passionately saying, "You better not cut your hair!"

That thinking followed me into college. But, somewhere between my freshmen and junior year, I did it anyway. I cut it myself (don't ask), so it was a little uneven. While I loved the style, I never heard the end of it from friends and family. They all made me promise never to cut my hair myself again.

After college, I stopped getting relaxers; and over the following 10 years, I grew my hair down my back. I wore it in frows, twistouts, bantu knots, and soft blowouts that all seemed to swell and shrink by the time I walked outside. Washing and styling it took DAYS. And humidity was my worst enemy. Yet still, I became known for my long, thick hair. I always got compliments and questions about it, along with the admiration of people who wanted their hair to look like mine.

As a matter of fact, some people didn't even recognize me when they saw me if I didn't have it out. It had become the biggest part of my personal brand — and yet, I never fully felt home in this style.

In my opinion, big natural hair is a bold, vivacious statement, full of character and sass. Danielle Hairston, on the other hand, is an extreme minimalist with relatively chill vibes and not much more than black, tan, and cream in her closet. On top of this, managing natural hair and a weight-loss journey is HARD! After the pandemic, I took being active much more seriously. Maintaining my hair care regimen through daily sweats started to be frustrating. I decided to texturize my hair to make it more manageable.

I loved how flexible and elongated texturizers made my hair look. While it still looked natural, it was much more understated than the big frow. I could work out, keep my hair straight, or wear it in a stretched style that would actually stay. For two years, I had some of the most confident hair days of my life!

Two years into my texturizer, I started struggling to find my product line, so I switched products. BIG mistake!

My hair started to break off, and before I realized it, I needed to cut my hair to stop the breakage. Around the same time, I stopped using the texturizer to rebuild my hair's strength. As my natural hair started growing back, the texturized hair had to be cut off. So, I kept it cut near my shoulders and started wearing it straightened more.

Despite the struggles with breakage, I realized I liked my hair straight and flowy. It matched my style, and personality, and made me feel more confident. I decided to try naturally straight and found a community online that offered some great tips. After "training" my hair for a couple months, it was doing a decent job at staying straight (I like a little puffiness) throughout the week, even with my workouts.

I still had a little texturizer left to grow out — making it the perfect time for a chop. It was now or never! I went to my stylist and asked her to take it up above my neck.

And here we are! I love how this style looks on me. I feel like it speaks to where I am in life right now.

Confident.

Grounded.

Feminine.

Hopeful.

Free.

Flirty.

Happy.

GROWN!

My hair finally feels like me.

This haircut comes in the middle of a longstanding personal rebrand. Over the last few years, the Lord has been doing something new in my heart and mind with how I see myself and treat myself, which is starting to flow into outward expressions of self-love.

There is something fulfilling about synergizing how you look and feel — I wish it on everyone, even my worst enemy! Hair is a fun place to explore how you show up in the world, I hope this inspires you to try something different with yours if you've been feeling the nudge.

Just remember these five things:

1) You grow and evolve, your look should too! Embrace change, it's good for you.

2) You don't need anyone's permission to change your hair length, color, or texture (except maybe your haircare professional). You're wearing it, so take the pressure off and do what makes you confident.

3) If you experiment with your hair and don't like it, buy some more and try again!

4) You don't have to experiment with your hair (buy, fry, and dye some that comes in a pack)

5) No matter what you do to your hair, it can recover. It is resilient, just like you!

Happy Personal Branding!