Texture Diaries is a space for Black women across industries to reflect on their journeys to self-love, and how accepting their hair, in all its glory, played a pivotal role in this process. Each week, these women share their favorite hair rituals, products, and the biggest lessons they’ve learned when it comes to affirming their beauty and owning their unique hair texture.
With campaigns for Fenty Beauty, MAC Cosmetics, and Billie under her belt, you’d be surprised to learn that model Imani Randolph didn’t start modeling until 2018, four years after she moved to New York to attend Columbia University for writing. “I always kept the idea of modeling in the back of my mind—growing up in a boring place resulted in me finding solace on Tumblr, which was the first place that I saw girls my size being celebrated in the fashion industry,” Randolph, who also works on PR for GANNI, says.
The confidence to believe in her dreams and shape shift her looks started from a young age. “My mother always prioritized caring for my hair and I remember being told, and believing, from a young age that my hair was beautiful,” Randolph says. But she still experienced moments of confusion. Coveting the little girl on the Just For Me perm box and seeing her mother with permed hair growing up, “I was convinced I should get a perm as well,” Randolph remembers. Today, she’s thankful her mom didn’t allow it, but back then “there were moments where I undoubtedly felt othered.” One of few Black girls in her schools growing up, Randolph spent most of her high school days straightening her locks. When she spent a summer at a predominantly Black summer program, she remembers feeling “elated” to find that almost all of the other girls wore swim caps in the pool too. But despite experiencing self-doubt, a love for her hair was always in the back of her mind. “I took pride in the braids and twists my mother crowned me with,” Randolph says. “My favorite part was selecting the knockers, clips, and beads that adorned her handiwork.”
Randolph takes beauty inspiration from Tracee Ellis Ross, The Ronettes, Allen Iverson, and her Aunt Benita—“who had iconic updos long before WAP dropped.” When it comes to her hair care, first and foremost, water is her holy grail. “Which may sounds a little nutty,” she says, laughing. “I spritz my curls almost every day, which revives and refreshes them.” When it comes to locking in the moisture, Randolph reaches for Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion along with the DevaCurl Super Stretch Coconut Curl Elongator. “So many products that have offered me definition have left my hair stiff, and many that provide moisture leave a tacky residue,” she notes. “But with these two products I get shine, definition and bounce.” At night, she protects her strands by sleeping in a jumbo bonnet. When she wakes up, after spritzing, she finger detangles and applies product as needed.
When it comes to inner beauty, Randolph sees self-love as the key to resilience and stability. “With self-love comes a sense of security that guarantees that you do not lose yourself when challenged personally or professionally,” she says. Still, she notes, Randolph has her challenging days. “On the days that I feel low, I can never allow just one thing to bother me,” she says. “I'm the type to stack every remotely bad thing that has happened to me from the past 10 years atop that day's ‘failure,’ as if there's a thread that connects them all. Wild, I know.” In those moments, she resets her perspective by jotting down some of her greatest accomplishments and most tender moments, from graduating college to taking her dad to a Red Sox game on Father’s Day. “Also, putting on a bomb ass outfit doesn't hurt.”
For her next beauty journey, Randolph is looking to dye her hair, ideally a honey blonde or an auburn. “Since going heat-free for modeling jobs, my hair has gotten back to a really healthy state and I feel like I'm getting to a place where I can safely experiment,” she notes. But regardless of the look, Randolph knows the importance of prioritizing caring for herself. “As a tall, big, Black woman I am not valued by the dominant white culture we live in,” she says. “Much of what makes me me is the antithesis of what is considered to be ideal. Making time for self-care is a refusal of those ideals and reclamation of value.”
