This woman slays every red carpet with her natural hair and is not afraid to rock a style that highlights her natural, unmanufactured beauty!
She first gained our attention as Dawn, Don Draper’s secretary, the first African-American hired in the highly successful Mad Men office. Last fall, she starred in the provocative satire Dear White People.
Recently, she completed the film Chiraq, Spike Lee’s very crafty reimagining of the Greek play Lysistrata in current-day, gang-entrenched Chicago. On August 22, she returns to Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse as Missy, a born-into-money former sorority sister with slayed hair that embarks upon a natural hair journey.
I was in New York and I saw this young woman with a very beautiful (natural) hairstyle and I said to my friend, ‘I wish my hair could do that,’ and she said, ‘Oh, it could.
In the first episode, Missy decides to go natural by not using relaxer in her hair. She cuts her hair very short, and viewers get to see her reaction.
The process is a very personal one for Parris, who stopped using relaxers herself five years ago.
“I was in New York and I saw this young woman with a very beautiful (natural) hairstyle and I said to my friend, ‘I wish my hair could do that,’ and she said, ‘Oh, it could.’ And I said, ‘No, no, no. My hair’s too straight.’ And she looked at me and she said, ‘Because you relax it, but if you didn’t your hair could do that.’ And it was really an aha moment. … I had been getting my hair relaxed since I was maybe 9 years old, so I decided to embark on that journey.” And aren’t we glad she decided to do so, Teyonah is gorgeous!
The natural hair journey can be a tumultuous one but in the end you come out on top, with more confidence and self-respect, stronger and more reflective of whom you are as a woman with a new standard of beauty to offer the world.
Parris shows us that it is ok to be confident in the melanin in your skin and the curly, kinky hair that naturally grows out of your head, as she has not only wowed us with her fashion, style and hairstyles from the big screen to the red carpet, but with her uplifting spirit, as well.
Check her out in the current issue of Complex Mag.
