Four years ago, CurlTalk started to build a community for people with curly hair on campus at Rose Hill. As a cultural club at Fordham, CurlTalk strives to build a community for people to talk about their experiences with their natural hair.
Current President Angelina Sanchez, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’25, joined the CurlTalk family a semester after its creation.
“CurlTalk, to me, is very precious. I call it my baby that I raised, even though I didn’t give birth to it. It’s very near and dear to my heart,” Sanchez said.
CurlTalk meets once a week on Mondays at 5:15 p.m. in Dealy Hall, room 201. During their meetings, members of the club discuss embracing and loving one’s natural hair.
“What we hope to seek or create on campus is a safe space for people with textured curly hair to be able to gain access to knowledge and resources in regards to taking care of their hair and also providing them with those resources,” Sanchez said.
CurlTalk is also a space where members can share their experiences with dominant societal stigmas surrounding curly hair.
At their meetings, CurlTalk discusses a wide range of topics surrounding the realities of living with curly hair. The E-Board members said they would not consider themselves experts but they try to offer hair care advice from how to take care of your new curly cut to having events on wig installation with local small businesses like Rosita’s Glamhouse.
CurlTalk is also a space where members can share their experiences with dominant societal stigmas surrounding curly hair. The club highlights how texturism, the discrimination of people based on the texture of their hair, occurs in the daily lives of people of color. The beauty standard portrayed in the media rarely reflects the hairstyles and hair care within the curly haired community.
In addition to discussing the struggles members have in society because of their textured hair, CurlTalk also highlights the cultural significance of curly hair care to different communities of color.
Embracing the importance of hair as a cultural practice, CurlTalk tries to provide a safe space for students of color on campus at Fordham. For the members of CurlTalk, it is important — especially at an institution like Fordham University — to cultivate a space to talk about hair care and to create a space for students of color to meet.
“Being that Fordham is a predominantly white campus, we seek to not only create (a safe space) in terms of hair, but to be a safe space for students of color,” Sanchez said. “We obviously open our doors to anybody. We don’t limit people to only people with curly hair, but it’s essentially a space where a lot of people can share similar experiences and stories, especially because hair is such an integral aspect of people’s identity.”
As a club, CurlTalk aims to provide a space for Fordham students to talk about their natural hair journey and give them access to affordable products made for curly and textured hair.
“First and foremost, we want to be able to give people access to really great and affordable products. A lot of what we budget for is affordable hair care products,” Sanchez said. “Sometimes, it’s a little inaccessible to be able to afford good products for your hair. With curly hair or textured hair, the maintenance is a lot more expensive and we want to be able to close that gap.”
In addition to their meeting every Monday, CurlTalk has organized events with other on-campus organizations at Fordham. On Feb. 22, CurlTalk, in connection with several other organizations on Fordham’s campus, hosted the annual Love Your Hair Expo.
“The Love Your Hair Expo was a collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The entire day was dedicated to embracing naturally curly hair, Black identity and educating people on certain stigmas around curly hair and professionalism,” Sanchez said.
CurlTalk hopes to continue to grow and reach students with curly hair at Fordham Rose Hill and Fordham Lincoln Center alike.
“I just hope to continue more programming, collaboration, and in terms of the future of the club, what I hope is to continue our little network, curly haired people continuing to share the knowledge, the love and just continue growing together,” Sanchez said.
CurlTalk’s next meeting is on Monday, March 10 at Dealy Hall.
