Flair Magazine A lot of people don’t realize how much of our identities and the way in which we express ourselves and even value ourselves are tied to our appearance and especially our hair. Women in particular generally struggle with accepting the natural appearance of their hair. They often go to great lengths to change the look of their hair and will it to be something its not in order to appeal to society. Like millions of women around the world, Egyptian women often find difficulties embracing their natural hair-which is usually curly. The curly strands are very misunderstood and looked upon by countless Egyptians as inferior to straight and sleek hair. But in more recent years perceptions have been evolving and going natural with one’s hair and beauty routines has been a growing trend. The trend has been so powerful that it is turning into a fully-fledged movement. In Egypt, “The Hair Addict” has started this movement to empower women to embrace nature and calling on women to “Stand Your Natural Ground”. We speak to the self proclaimed “Hair Addict” Doaa Hassan Gawish who established her project in 2016 about her journey so far…
Why did you create “The Hair Addict” project?
When I started The Hair Addict, I didn’t solely aim to tackle hair care issues. My goal was to promote self-love and to make it become second-nature to my audience.
I want all women to love themselves enough to invest the time and the energy needed to care for their beauty in a sustainable healthy way. I also want them to love themselves enough to stand their ground and embrace their natural hair.
Unfortunately, we are raised in a society where women are often denied the right to invest the time needed to have a healthy hair care routine and as a result, they often resort to quick fixes such as chemical relaxing treatments, which have plenty of long-term negative effects. Moreover, this same society appreciates only one type of beauty that’s rarely attributed to natural hair. This automatically makes most of these women opt to achieve this desired standard of beauty and try to change the nature of their hair via heat, chemicals’ loaded products, etc….
What is the Aim of “The Hair Addict”?
The Hair Addict aims to challenge all these norms and to encourage women to understand that they are worthy of the time needed to care for their hair in a healthy, sustainable way via using natural remedies, organic or low chemicals products, eating healthily, and working out. And most importantly, we want all women to love themselves enough to embrace their beautiful, natural hair whether it is curly, wavy or straight.
What have been the biggest challenges that faced you in “The Hair Addict”? How did you overcome them?
Since most women in Egypt haven’t avoided heat long enough to see how their hair looks (undamaged) and haven’t tried natural remedies nor products that are low on chemicals, it was quite hard at the beginning to convince them that this is a winning combination. We began promoting this idea by sharing natural hair transformations of celebrities and bloggers. After that, when some members took the initiative to test these methods for themselves and witnessed the results, we then approached those members to be featured on the Hair Addict page and share their stories. This helped many other members to start implementing our recommendations and feel more empowered to share their own natural hair transformations.
Another challenge was correcting people’s perception of hair care. Many believed that if one routine doesn’t work for their hair, they should give up on the whole Hair Addict approach. Advertisements always play on the idea of one magical solution that fits all hair types and will totally change your hair after one use. We are trying to change that and raise awareness that having healthy hair is about keeping up with a regime that fits your hair type. We believe that all hair types are manageable and beautiful but it is important to find the routine that is best-suited for you. This process needs trial and error as well as patience.
Another challenge was finding organic or low on chemicals products that are produced in Egypt to advise people to use. However, thankfully some companies started responding to this need and offering these types of products.
What has been your proudest moment through managing “The Hair Addict”?
Proud moments always come when I see the joy of women on our page when their natural hair-which was once a source of anxiety and weakness- turns into a source of joy and confidence. I am also proud when I see that I have created a platform where women compliment and appreciate each other’s natural beauty. I read many touching stories posted on the page by mothers whose young girls get bullied at school or surprisingly by family members because of their hair type to a harmful and discouraging extent where they started to feel ashamed of their hair. Those mothers and young girls feel more confident through receiving the support of the page members. I am always happy when I see women from different age groups sharing their stories of how they started to love their natural hair and how confident they became.
How do you strive to keep the content on the social media fresh, interesting, and engaging?
I believe that when you are passionate about something or addicted to it, you become your most creative, and this is the case on our page, with myself, other moderators, and the members themselves. So for example, on top of the new ideas that are suggested every day by our moderators (who happen to be a team of pharmacists and dermatologists), the members’ posts direct us on what to research and what information to provide. Also, we dedicate many of our Facebook pages and Instagram accounts posts to members to share their experience with their hair and their transition stories. Most importantly, we ensure that we, The Hair Addict Team, are not “teaching” the members and audience about how to perceive their hair and take care of it but rather we act like their companions in their journeys.
What did you learn through your work in The Hair Addict?
The Hair Addict taught me that all women are capable of loving and embracing their hair but it is really our society and culture that teaches them otherwise.
However, through this platform of thousands of women, they got the validation to embrace what God gave them and to enjoy it. Additionally, I learnt that hair is not
simple a part of our looks seeing that it affects the way we perceive ourselves to a great extent.
What has been your proudest moment in the project?
My proudest moment were the responses received on this platform when one girl had a medical condition that caused hair loss and she was very emotional about it. Every person on the group was not only generous with positive comments and motivation but they even got her professional help and sent her the products needed to help her condition.
What are your future plans/goals?
We hope that one day all women will believe that they are worthy of the time to invest in and to care for themselves in healthy sustainable ways. We also hope that the idea of praising one single type of beauty will be a thing of the past. I hope that that next generations won’t suffer from bullying and stigmatization because of their hair type. We organize many competitions and campaigns for our audience to express their happiness with their natural hair. Also, we recently launched The Skin Care Addict group for women to start a similar journey but skin care related.
