How Breaking Latinx Stereotypes Empowered Us To Love Our Hair

PRO stylists Rosi Mercedes + Claudia Franco share the impact of hair in their Latinx cultures. Read More

Hair is—to borrow from PRO stylist Claudia—a fabric. It’s a canvas for self exploration. In celebration of Latinx Heritage Month, we’re introducing a new series on the K18 blog: hair stories. In this series, we’ll learn firsthand the personal meaning of hair across cultures and experiences. First up, Rosi Mercedes and Claudia Franco


Rosi Mercedes is a curl expert and owner of RosiCurls Salon. She was born in the Dominican Republic and lives in Florida. When we chatted during a K18 fireside for Latinx Heritage Month, we learned just how connected hair and culture are for her. 


“My hair and my culture at the beginning was hard,” Rosi, who has curly hair, remembers, “You had to look a certain way, and have straight hair to look done up. My Dominican grandmother would say I have pelo malo, or ‘bad hair.’ I was 12 when I got my first relaxer because I wanted straight hair.” 


But as an adult, Rosi took self-perception and expression into her own hands. 


“I’ve been natural for the past seven years, and I embrace that,” she says. “It’s my way of telling my grandmother that I do look good. It’s influenced my career, to help tell people their hair looks good.” 

headshot of curl expert + RosiCurls Salon Owner Rosi Mercedes

Claudia Franco, K18’s PR + Partnerships Manager, identifies as someone who is “200%,” meaning she is 100% Mexican and 100% American. She experienced hair bias based on her roots as well.


Claudia interacted with multitudes of people who all expected her to have thick, strong ‘Hispanic or Latina hair,’—a stereotype perpetuated from the actresses in telenovelas to clients in the salon. 


I like to stay away from saying ‘Hispanic or Latina hair,’ because my clients say they don’t have the hair they’re supposed to have,” Claudia says, and there is no one way to have hair, even within cultures. “Speaking to hair like it's a fabric helps people not be put in a bubble,” she says.  

headshot of K18 PR + Partnerships Manager Claudia Franco

It’s not just clients in the salon who feel like they have to fit a certain mold; Latinx stylists and students are put in a bubble, too. 


Claudia saw this bias result in a loss of career opportunities for those coming out of school.  


“The Spanish-speaking students would go to the Spanish-speaking salons. They weren’t involved in being at high-end salons in their community; there was always this separation,” she says. To her, it created a feeling of inferiority. “We’re always told we don’t belong here, and that’s ingrained in us when we grow up. You start to question your purpose of being here,” she says. 


For Rosi, she saw her multitude of talents diminished by other beauty students to a single stereotype. 


“In beauty school, everyone was like, ‘oh you’re Dominican, you know how to do a blowout,” Rosi says. She emphasizes that Dominican stylists, including herself, are a community full of creatives who can do more than just blowouts. Thankfully, she’s noticed a shift in this mindset thanks to increased representation of Dominican stylists, herself included. 


“There are really talented hairstylists out there [changing] that mentality of what a Dominican salon is,” says Rosi. “I love seeing the change and seeing clients that say ‘I’m not going to a Dominican stylist; I’m going to a hair stylist.’”

image of curl expert + RosiCurls Salon Owner Rosi Mercedes creating a hair look in the salon.

This progress ladders up to this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month observance theme, which is “Latinos: Driving Prosperity, Power, and Progress in America,”. It aims to celebrate the communities’ population growth, increasing political representation, and economic success that continues to pave the way for the rise and recognition of all of the positive contributions Latinx folks have had in the US. 


Rosi and Claudia have been huge proponents of this progress, increasing visibility of Latinx stylists in the beauty space. Claudia relates to this feeling firsthand, that “seeing myself and other people like me being put in bigger places has been amazing. Now there’s more people involved and we’re being involved with everyone else.”


Looking towards the future, Rosi makes it clear what Hispanic and Latinx people need to continue this equality movement in hair spaces and beyond. 


“Celebrate us,” she says. “Make us feel welcome and appreciated. Don’t just choose to have us in certain spaces; make room for all of us.” 

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