QC: Paul Mitchell asked me to send a list of different non-profit organizations that really align with me and my work. I think it’s so cool, because a lot of brands don’t take the initiative to go out of their way to make sure that their money is also being put in a place that is also creating change.
I think it’s really important to have a charitable component when you’re working with me, because I represent a full community. And I come with a lot. Not just my image: I come with my voice, my power, and my advocacy work. That’s really important to me. And the thing is, I didn’t have to ask. They asked me. And that was when I realized that this partnership was going to be way more genuine, and honestly, beautiful because I just felt like I didn’t need to do the extra work.
Allure: I’d love to hear a little bit about your own hair rituals growing up. Are there any hair-related traditions in your family?
QC: For my people, in my culture and many Native American cultures, we’ve always had long hair and practiced different styles of braiding, or even had different styles of buns, and all kinds of different hairstyles.
The three strands [of a braid] represent mind, body, and spirit. And when you’re braiding, you’re connecting your mind, body, and spirit, and you’re connecting yourself to your ancestors, your wisdom — because your hair carries all of the years of wisdom with you. And when someone passes away in your family or something tragic happens, and you cut your hair out of grief, that’s just cutting off that extra weight of the loss, and the hurt, and all of the years of knowing that person. That was a tactic of grief, cutting your hair and growing new hair for a new journey.
Allure: What does your hair-care routine look like today?
QC: I wash with Paul Mitchell Clean Beauty Everyday Shampoo and Conditioner, brush it out with a detangling comb, then air dry [after using] Super Skinny Relaxing Balm. And sometimes I braid my hair in different styles. For my Met Gala [look] in May, I had a really big, cool, thick side braid with my feathers attached to it. I had multiple braids; two little braids underneath the big, thick one. And I kept those two little braids in for I think a week after the Met Gala, [even when] I washed my hair, my little braids stayed in really well.
