Meet Natural Hair Youtuber Sharmaine Joy-el
“Just a girl in love with all things beauty related: hair, skincare, and makeup”
Sharmaine Joy-el is a natural hair YouTube vlogger who is using her beautiful, natural mane to create business opportunities for herself as well as inspire others to love and accept their tightly coiled hair.
Her YouTube channel features her natural hair journey, tips on how she maintains her styles, and reviews on products that she uses to keep her hair healthy and strong. With a fast growing subscriber count, Joy-el’s most popular video topics include discussing her experiences with texturism and colorism.
Afro-textured hair hasn’t always been celebrated as it should be but as more women are embracing their natural tresses, self-love and hair appreciation for afro-textured hair is growing everyday. This movement is inspiring young Black girls to love their hair.
Embracing her natural hair wasn’t always the case for Joy-el. “I honestly thought I had straight hair because it was always just chemically straightened,” says Joy-el. But two years ago, Joy-el decided to chop off her relaxed hair and share her natural hair journey via her YouTube channel. “My hair is a part of me and I never really gave it a chance to grow and flourish as it is, but through my channel, I wanted my journey to show other women with Afro-textured hair that it doesn’t have to be complicated. I want it to be realistic and easy for them to enjoy their hair without feeling like they have to break their back or bank to do so.”
With social media influencers like Joy-el, Hair Love winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short, countless children’s books on the subject, and legislation banning natural hair discrimination, this is a beautiful and monumentous time for women who have felt marginalized because of the way Afro-textured hair is perceived. “When you’re told for years that your natural hair is ugly, unattractive, undesirable, ghetto or too Black or gross, whatever these ignorant, bigoted people are spewing in your direction, you start to believe that, especially when you’re a child and you don’t know any better. Now I don’t feel that way. 4C hair is not ugly hair. 4C hair is good hair. I want to be that role model for another little girl. I want to be the role model that I didn’t have when I was a child.” Joy-el says. Whether styled as cornrows, goddess locks, Afros, high puffs, box braids, twist outs, bantu knots, slick buns, senagalese twists… Black Hair is Beautiful.
Joy-el is an advocate of natural hair acceptance, black-owned businesses, and self-love. You can follow Joy-el’s natural hair journey HERE ON YOUTUBE
Snapchat: sharmainejoyel
