Combining Hair and Psychology: Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka Talks Hair, Mental Health and Education

“I would have these sort of pop-up salons in my dorm room and do people’s hair whether it was girls' hair for the big dance that was coming up, or the football players who needed to get their big afro under their helmet and I would braid styles and all that,” Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka is explaining. “But I didn’t charge people. I just enjoyed doing hair because of the conversations that would come up.”

That was a typical Friday night for Mbilishaka throughout her undergraduate time at the University of Pennsylvania. As a psychology major, she especially enjoyed the conversations that would come up while doing people’s hair. “I felt like I was privy to this intimate and special space because people were disclosing so much information to me”, Mbilishaka said. 

Mbilishaka struggled to make a choice between hair or psychology post-graduation. She called up her aunt to contemplate which route she should take, and that’s when it occurred to her that she could do both. Thus, came PsychoHairapy … a way for Mbilishaka to combine both her love for hair and her passion for psychology.

PsychoHairapy uses hair as an entry point for wellness. Mbilishaka recognized that the connection between a stylist or barber and their client is often stronger than with someone in the mental health profession. Thus, PsychoHairapy encourages truly utilizing that existing relationship of trust to offer interventions. 

What started as mostly an academic lab has now turned into a three-component project. There are now aspects of PsychoHairapy concerning research, training, and traveling. The research lab works to create innovative research approaches to solve mental health problems using hair. It consists of undergraduates, graduate students, and even postdoctoral fellows studying the psychology of hair. 

Desi Carson, Business Development Manager of PsychoHairapy, explained that this pure research is what truly distinguishes their work from the rest. “We’re not pulling random people for research. We are the research. We are sourcing and citing ourselves when we are doing this because that’s how academically based it is,” Carson explained. Together, Dr. Mbilishaka, Desi Carson, and McKalah Hudlin, PsychoHairapy’s Research Lab Manager, make a powerful trio.

The training component also makes up a large part of their work. Dr. Marva Lewis, a professor from Tulane University, has a special program called Talk, Touch, and Listen where she trains parents to do their children’s hair as a way to strengthen their bond. In 2015, Mbilishaka hired her and brought her to Washington DC to host a conference aimed at training mental health professionals in running group therapy with parents to do their children’s hair in this special way that encourages fruitful conversations.

During May’s Mental Health Awareness Month, Mbilishaka held a virtual emotional first aid training where stylists and barbers who were not working due to COVID-19 closures were able to sign on and pick up different skills. 

“Once the barber shops and salons opened back up, they were using some of the skill sets. This was often the first point of contact that people had post quarantine. It was the first time they had been touched or engaged with,” Mbilishaka said. Expanding on this, she explained the need for her training. “I think there is an increased need for stylists and barbers to have very high emotional intelligence and emotional first aid skills during COVID, and also the race related traumas and other things that have been happening lately, too.”

Touching upon the impact that COVID-19 has had on PsychoHairapy, Mbilishaka explains the way that the mental health business has shifted. “Over the last few months, the mental health business has really been activated … especially the virtual mental health business,” she said.

The third aspect of the business — the travel component —has been put on pause, due to the pandemic; however, they have previously hosted unique trips through PsychoHairapy that have been a large contributor to their overall impact. Mbilishaka hopes to place emphasis on the idea that hair can be an entry point into travel.

In May of 2019, Mbilishaka took ten community members, hairstylists, and mental health professionals to Cuba to take part in the Hair, Health, and Heritage Tour.“We rented a mansion, had a chef, and we went through a curriculum of how to actually do PsychoHairapy,” Mbilishaka explained. “It included things like going to dance classes, going into the mountains and seeing where enslaved Africans had escaped in Cuba and had sovereign lives, getting spiritual readings, etc…. It included all of these different things to recognize that hair is an entry point into not only health, but into education, entertainment, economics, labor, law, politics, sex, religion, and war, too.” 

Her travels have also included speaking events and conferences at places such as Stanford University and other small Christian Colleges. Most of these speaking events are not paid engagements, but Carson stressed that although they aren’t making an income off of them, this is where the emotional impact is really happening in the community.

Mbilishaka has even traveled to several states to testify in support of policies that protect hairstyles, from meeting with Senator Cory Booker to go through psychological consequences of hair discrimination to testifying at Capitol Hill. Mbilishaka’s research from PsychoHairapy’s research and academic labs has also produced results that support other works such as The Crown Act and the Hair Discrimination Act that has been recently passed. Their work has impacted many and Carson and Mbilishaka are excited to see what’s in store for the future of PsychoHairapy.

“Everybody can have this hair conversation. Often times people will walk away thinking ‘I didn’t even know this’ or ‘I didn’t realize that you can tell history through hair’ or ‘I didn’t realize that hair impacted laws like this,’” Mbilishaka said.

“We could get even bigger to where we host full classes or curriculum one day. There could be a full certification later on. Sometimes we are part of continuing education credits, but it could be a whole course,” Carson said. Mbilishaka also hopes to create a PsychoHairapy school and to make the effort an ongoing, educational platform. They’re also hoping to secure funding for increased access to education for underserved communities, research hair loss, merchandise, revamping their website, business development, hair products, interactive journals, panels, and much more. 

Unlike most businesses, PsychoHairapy’s goal isn’t to make money. “Much of what we are involved in isn’t something that we are getting paid for, but it's still something that has been around for a long time,” Carson said. “Our work is more than just hair, and that is kind of hard to quantify or describe in a condensed way.”

Pillow Talk is a content series from Rem and Company, A social impact initiative focused on supporting small businesses and the communities in which they exist. We're on a mission to keep doors open and dreams alive. If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur with a story to tell, email us at press@remandcompany.com.

As a social impact initiative, Rem and Company also offers free consulting services and resources to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by COVID-19. Our pro-bono consulting teams provide small businesses with the opportunity to identify and prioritize issues facing their business, propose innovative strategies, and facilitate execution. If you are a small business or nonprofit in need of assistance, learn more about how we can help.