Teyonah Parris Is Fully Blūm With New Hair Extension Brand – Essence

It’s all concerning the texture of actress Teyonah Parris’ hair. Known for her roles in and , the actress didn’t know what her natural texture looked like after years of straightening her hair. To her surprise, she had curls. And, like many black women, Parris began experimenting with different hairstyles. During this journey, she began to note that there weren’t many brands of curly hair extensions available on the market. That said, she is creating her own line, Flowerwhich will likely be released in mid-September and can fill the gap.

“In acting, after going natural, I show up on these sets and they don’t have anything that matches my hair,” Parris tells ESSENCE. “I feel so inadequate, like a burden, like I’m a problem or too much of a problem for them to have to figure out what to do with my natural hair,” she explains of the workplace discrimination that many black women face. This reality made her feel like she couldn’t fully embody the character she needed to play while filming, a sense shared by many other black actresses.

Because of this issue, Parris needed to wear her natural hair on red carpets, doing it herself, using suggestions she learned from hairdressers. She also says that hairdressers on set didn’t know the best way to braid her hair or look after it. “As a black woman with curly, kinky, natural hair, I’m also someone who likes to have a solution,” she says. “I could show up with my own extensions.”

With that in mind, she created Blūm for ladies, including herself, to experiment with their hairstyles. Additionally, the actress can use extensions on set and transform into the character she needed to be.

What to expect from the brand? Quite a lot of textures—including wavy, curly, and coily hair. “It was important to me to keep texture, curly, and coily hair all the time, for women who need it.”

In addition to creating her curly hair extensions line, Parris is a mom, entrepreneur, and actress, and taking good care of herself is essential to her overall well-being. One way she takes care of herself and keeps her hair healthy is thru her minimal hair care routine: washing, conditioning, and trimming.

After all, in response to Parris, your crown is the muse of your beauty. “Hair is an expression of where I am emotionally, mentally, in the moment,” she says. “The way you have to love your hair and care for it to grow is a direct reflection of how you love and care for yourself.”