Hello darlings and welcome to our first installment of First Friday Features! Our goal is to post a feature about an artist or influential figure on every first Friday of each month. We kick things off with today’s feature, Isis Brantley:

Isis Brantley is an important and influential social activist in the black community, and has made a huge, lasting impact locally for over 30 years in our Texas community for braiders. She is a symbol of strength and identity, and continues to make an impact and inspire all generations.

Isis Brantley was born in Dallas, Texas on October 7th of 1958. She grew up in the Bonton neighborhood of Southern Dallas, where she started her hair braiding journey, around the age of 9 years old. Brantley traces her lineage to Mali in West Africa, and views hair braiding as part of a cultural and spiritual connection. Her deep passion for hair braiding led Isis to open her own hair braiding shop in Dallas, where she would share with clients her wisdom on healing through hair. However, her fight began in 1997. Brantley was arrested in her shop for braiding hair without a cosmetology license. She has since spent decades fighting for the rights of hair braiders and advocating for the deregulation of hair braiding.

Her Impact

Brantley’s arrest began an almost 20 year long battle between her and the state of Texas. Finally, on June 10th of 2015, both the Texas House and Senate unanimously passed House Bill 2717! This exempted hair braiders, like Brantley, from having to obtain a cosmetology license to run a hair braiding business. The practice of natural hair braiding became officially fully deregulated in the state of Texas.

Over the years, Brantley has been seen as a beacon of self love and hope, especially in the black and natural hair community. Although she has done incredible work with big names like Stevie Wonder and her longtime friend Erykah Badu, Isis Brantley believes her work with her community and her kids are what matter the most. She now, on top of offering hair braiding services, teaches hair braiding at the Institute of Ancestral Braiding. She is an author, with her most recent book being released in 2021, STOLEN CROWN: Black Hairstories, 400 Years Later. With this book, “Brantley presents the reader a complete, incisive and persuasive assessment of black hair and its history”. This September will also mark the 11th annual Braid Freedom Crown Festival. This festival celebrates natural hair, cultural connection, and the continued fight for black beauty justice, hosted by Brantley.

Personally, I LOVE what Isis Brantley is all about; passing on healing and heritage throughout our local black communities and spreading a message of self love to anyone who will listen! I think everyone can learn something from her, and I appreciate her bravery and willingness to get things done when no one else will. Overall, Brantley is truly just inspirational and admirable!

Thanks for being here for the start of our First Friday Features! We will be back with our next feature on Friday, April 3rd!