Author:Jennifer HusseinUpdated:Dec 11, 2019Original:Dec 11, 2019If there's any current face of the beauty industry that most embodies what it means to be authentic, it's model Salem Mitchell.
Probably just trying to figure out my hair with my grandma. When I was in fourth grade, I really wanted to have straight hair. We went to the Navy Exchange in San Diego and we bought a straightener. It took so long and it turned out so bad and so painful. That's probably why I always have braids or something protective now.
But on the other side of that is appropriation. Lately we've had pages like Estée Laundry calling out different models and publications for appropriating Black hairstyles countless times at this point. When we speak out about cultural appropriation, it's not really to say 'We own the hairstyle and only we can do it.
You were discovered by Ford Models on Instagram, but you've also been bullied on it; how would you describe your relationship with social media? I honestly don't know. I'd like to say that social media has impacted beauty in a positive way for providing visibility for those who maybe didn't have it before, and through various beauty and modeling communities that people are kind of taking upon themselves to become more represented. But I also think that regardless of how much work we do, social media is always going to give you that room to compare yourself to somebody else. Sometimes you can feel left out.