Meet Marissa

My name is Marissa, and I’m a curly hair specialist based in the East Bay, California—Oakland, to be specific. I’ve been a curly hair specialist for my entire 10-year career and counting. I began studying precision cutting and color at the Sassoon Academy. On my very first day in class, we cracked open our textbooks, and in that first chapter I learned that specializing was a thing. Some folks specialized in cut, styling, or color—and, to my surprise, texture.

Having grown up in various suburban cities far from the rich tapestry of a metropolitan melting pot—and predating social media, Yelp, and Google—I only knew what I knew. I went to any local salon, often leaving with my hair wet in a ponytail or blown out. Considering those experiences, discovering there was an entire niche within the hair industry unknown to the masses (or at least the folks in my bubble) was mind-blowing. It highlighted just how small and isolating the suburbs felt. More pointedly, there was a lack of diversity in spaces. I wasn’t represented in the same way as many of my peers, a reality reflected in the lack of services and support catering to my specific needs. In that instant, I knew what I was working toward—and for.

I later utilized my time as a Gender Studies major at UCLA to dive into and unpack many of the frustrating issues within mainstream media, which—much like the beauty standards of the time—were neither inclusive nor diverse. This directly fed into my insecurities about not looking anything like Barbie. I graduated wanting to enter the beauty industry in a way that disrupted that toxic and problematic Eurocentric beauty norm. Empowered with this knowledge, my purpose for entering the world of cosmetology was born: to redraw the way we look at and understand beauty as vastly diverse.

Since then, I’ve worked at the Ouidad Flagship in Santa Monica, taken continued education courses with brands such as Sassoon, DevaCurl, RËZO, and Innersense—where I also currently educate. I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with everyday people behind the chair, styling for red-carpet events in L.A., and working on set for photoshoots orchestrated by Ouidad, FENTY, and various independent contractors.

This blog will explore conversations around curly hair care and the world we exist in as it relates to our hair and self-representation. Let’s have some fun! I hope you find this blog a useful resource—and maybe even a smidgen entertaining.