Jawara: The real deal

Before the interview, I felt a mix of nervousness and excitement. I had done a lot of research, so I felt prepared, but there’s always that uncertainty. I was immediately struck by how approachable Jawara seemed—his calm and friendly demeanour put me at ease, and as we began the interview it felt genuine and conversational. I was excited to learn more about Jawara’s career as a hairstylist, approach to well-being and life in general.

Kadie:
Can you share some of your earliest memories of growing up in Jamaica?

Jawara:
My earliest memories of growing up in Jamaica? I danced a lot. There was a lot of dancing; a lot of eating, a lot of singing. I used to play a lot of football. I remember learning domestic work early, like cooking, cleaning, and hair styling. My memories of Jamaica were really fun and crazy at the same time. It had a lot to do with the music of the times and how people were dancing and singing.

Kadie:
Speaking of growing up, was it your Aunt who had the hair salon?

Jawara:
My Aunt worked as a hairstylist in a salon in Jamaica but she owned one when we moved back to New York.

Kadie:
How did your Aunt working in and then owning a salon shape your understanding of the hair & beauty industry?

Jawara:
I mean, it was my first look at the business and the commerce that you get from doing the service of hair and understanding your skill can make you money. So, that had an impact on how I viewed it as a career.

Kadie:
Okay, so at that time, was hair styling something that you enjoyed doing, or did you think ‘Okay, this is what I want to get into?

Jawara:
I enjoyed doing hair but I didn’t see anyone else that looked like me doing that. Being a young boy in Jamaica at that time, hairdressing wasn’t a popular thing for boys to be doing. So I always felt like, ‘Oh no, no, no, no, I can’t do that, but I do like it. I’m drawn to it.’ So I don’t think I really thought about it like, ‘Oh, let me go all the way with it and make it a career.’ But I definitely liked doing it. It felt great to be able to do things with my hands and be creative.

Kadie:
Can you talk about the impact Dancehall had on you?

Jawara:
I do remember seeing Dancehall artists at some of the dances in Jamaica. Even as a kid, I would sneak away [laughs] and ... not attend but, there were these gates that you could kind of stand by and look over. All the kids would look over, and we would see, you know, Beanie Man, and we would see like Spraga Benz, and we would see Bounty Killer in different dances in Kingston. But, it was more so the women that I felt; the way they dressed, the way they wore their hair, and the way they looked. I was always enamoured by that. There was a crew named The Ouch Crew. They were a group of women that used to just dress up and go to the dances and have fun and they would look otherworldly, and I feel like those were the people that first kind of attracted my attention.

Kadie:
Talking about the style, from a technical aspect, how were you able to communicate this in later work? For example, through the use of colour, tongues, and hot combs, how were you able to communicate that style, that flair?

Jawara:
Untraditional styles of anything radical that goes against the norm. I know a lot of people like to call it punk, but there was a radical feeling that went against the norm with how they wore their hair and how they wore their clothes, and it was like “anti-being proper”. More so, just being like “How far out there can you go, and how different can we all look, and how noticeable can I be?”. I think that has a big impact on a child when they're seeing people do extreme hairstyles and extreme makeup in an atmosphere that you wouldn't expect it in, because it's a warm, tropical place and I'm seeing all these things, that I feel has always shaped the way I view beauty and push the envelope a bit, but still with a Jamaican flair... Yeah.

Kadie:
How did you make the transition from working in a local salon to becoming a session hair stylist in fashion?

Jawara:
The transition was not easy. I was working in a salon and then I started assisting artists that worked in the session hair world, and the session hair world is very different. They paid differently. Things are very different [laughs] and quite interesting in the aspect of like... just the whole structure of it is different. So I had to kind of juggle the two back and forth for a while until I did more session work and then leaned into that. But, it all started with assisting.

Kadie:

While assisting, what was one thing that you wanted to make sure that you always did correctly?

Jawara:
Well, listen and understand, but I also wanted to show my speed, because I feel like when I used to be backstage, people used to take a long time to do certain hairstyles. I come from the world of a salon where you have to do so many people in one day. So I did things fast, and I think that kind of made me stand out.

Kadie:
What were some of the challenges you faced moving into high fashion?