ANGELA HONOR’S YOUR HAIR: HAIRSTYLING ACROSS CULTURES & ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
Being blessed to do hair for 20 plus years, Angela Honor started to look at new ventures to express her passion. Hence, the birth of Honor Your Hair. ”Honor Your Hair is my motto and my campaign for everyone,” Honor said. “You have to honor the hair that you have, which means that your hair should compliment your texture, look,and lifestyle.”
She began hairstyling professionally in 1992. But beforehand, she first began trying out new and trendy styles with her own hair in her home town of Vallejo, Northern Calif. “I love the way a new hairstyle makes people feel; it never gets old to me because I know first hand that there is nothing like having your hair done,” she said.
She took all the necessary steps to become a hairstyling professional: finishing beauty school, garnering her first job at a chain salon called Hubert Braun, gaining hands-on experience, building a confident reputation with a clientele and venturing out to other salons as a sole proprietor — leading to her owning a salon in Vallejo for a short time.
Hence, her Honor Your Hair brand is developing from her experiences as a hairstylist and through expansion of her career. To increase her skill level she worked at fashion shows, did a reality TV show called “Hair Trauma”, did celebrity hair and worked on independent film production sets to stay ahead of the game. These opportunities led her down a path of working with the famed. Now residing in New York, she recently landed a dream job with ”Who wants to be a Millionaire?” — working as a host hairstylist.
Honor is inspired by the entertainment industry, and wants to make her mark as a hairstylist with artistic vision and skill. “I feel as though the hair and makeup help complete the character and allows for the added confidence needed to step in front of the camera,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of the process and the creativity behind the scenes.”
Honor has brought a cultural significance to her hairstyling in the salon and on the set, as a way to venture into more creative directions as her career is progressing. “I use the description of cultural hairstylist mainly because I have been able to achieve hairstyles that are culturally acceptable for one culture to the masses,” she said.
According to Honor particularly with black hair, we are now living in the best time for it. This is regardless of natural or chemically treated hair; there are so many options. “Black women shouldn’t be team natural or team relaxed we should be for whatever style you can rock with confidence and keep healthy,” she said. And this is her motto for all people regardless of culture, hair texture, celebrity life or everyday life.
And that’s exactly what Honor’s trying to do. Her goal for the Honor Your Hair campaign is to give tips and trends to women and men on how to achieve their best hair looks. She wants to encourage people to try something new in regards to their style — culturally and/or through inspiration from their favorite stars (some of which she might have the “honor” of working with someday).