We’re all for anything that makes us feel good – especially in the current climate. So when we recently caught wind of new storytelling programme designed to improve people’s mood through the power of hair, we couldn’t wait to hear more.
If in Despair Brush Your Hair is a new online video series that sees women sharing personal stories about their hair with creator and Scissors of Oz founder Oz Izzet. The first instalment features Instagrammer Shahira Allen (AKA @afroglory_), who speaks candidly to the Peckham salon owner about her natural hair journey, hair acceptance and why grooming is the ultimate form of self-care.
Pre-covid, Oz had plans in place to launch a wellbeing workshop series for 30 women in the Southwark Women’s Hub. However, following the lockdowns and ban on mixing, she adapted the concept into unique one-to-one sessions recorded from her salon premises in London.
“Launching this programme means a great deal to me,” she says. “In doing this we aid and promote the importance of self-care, have open conversations about stigma, heal together and empower each other through hair. Elevating black voices and people of colour in our industry is important to me and Shahira was a great person to do this with in our video. Although the original workshops had to be modified, the video has created a snippet of our powerful message and programme.”
Oz Izzet opened her first salon, Scissors of Oz, in 2018 followed by her second venture, the Sisters of Oz creative hair and healing hub in March 2020.
