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Drea Okeke Talks Alopecia and the Magic of Black Hairstylists
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONNY MARLOW
Texture Talk

Drea Okeke Talks Alopecia and the Magic of Black Hairstylists

The comedian and content creator opens up about her journeys with hair loss, self-acceptance and more.

By Lauren Knowles
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This is Texture Talk, our long-running column that deep dives into the dynamic world of curly hair, from crowns of curls that are free flowing to strands that are tucked away in a protective style.

“You know that line in Lil Wayne’s 2008 song ‘A Milli’ that says ‘tougher than Nigerian hair’? That’s how my hair feels: tough,” says Nigerian-American content creator Drea Okeke (known as @DreaKnowsBest to her 6.6 million TikTok followers) over the phone from L.A.

Okeke was born in Connecticut and moved around throughout her childhood, living everywhere from New York to Belgium to Nigeria. She was working as an engineer in California when she struck gold on TikTok — thanks to her unique blend of, as she calls it, “comedy and culture” — and decided to pursue content creation full-time in 2018.

“In Nigerian culture, it’s very common for people, even kids, to perm their hair,” she says. “I remember the process vividly — my scalp would feel like it was on fire. That really damaged my hair, and it became a lot coarser because of those perms.” Okeke says that to this day, she’ll ask her mom why she had to endure those perms when she was a child. “I’m sure my mom would have loved to have the resources we have now, like YouTube and TikTok videos that teach you how to better take care of your hair.”

Okeke was 18 years old when she first started experiencing alopecia — a condition that targets hair follicles and causes hair loss — and it only increased throughout her 20s. “When my hair started thinning, I couldn’t do braids anymore so I started wearing wigs,” she says. “I felt really insecure when people would say ‘You need to love your natural hair!’ I’d think to myself, ‘If only you could see my bald spot underneath this wig.’” Eventually, Okeke began turning down sponsorships and brand deals that would require her to show her hair on camera.

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Drea Okeke
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JONNY MARLOW

Then, in 2023, she vowed to share more of herself online. “I challenged myself to show different sides of myself, especially the parts I’m not comfortable with,” says Okeke. While the @DreaKnowsBest account initially grew thanks to the creator’s sense of humour, it was when she shared a vlog of her appointment with a hairstylist who specializes in alopecia and revealed her long — and previously silent — struggle with hair loss that Okeke really connected with her followers in a more vulnerable and intimate way.

“As Black women, we see our hair as our crown, so I felt like I needed to take my power back,” she says. “I might not have a big, bouncy afro, but that’s OK.”

This self-acceptance has been instrumental in the TikTok star’s success. “Authenticity is really important on the video platform,” she says. “If you’re creating videos that aren’t really you, your audience will call you out.” And while all influencers feel a pressure to be “on” when they film, Okeke feels that Black women face a more institutionalized sort of pressure.

“I think it’s even harder to be ready for the camera when you’re not sure if a makeup artist will have your shade or if your hairstylist will know how to handle your 4C hair,” she says. “We shouldn’t feel afraid to show up to events with our hair in an afro or in braids.”

Today, Okeke says her new-found confidence is a testament to the power that Black hairstylists hold and to the ways that hair brings people together.

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“Black women have magic at their fingertips,” she says. “As much as getting your hair done is about beauty and looking good, it’s also a way of connecting with your stylist — or your mom or your sister or whoever is doing your hair. It really is free therapy.” With a laugh, she adds: “Wait — actually, hair is expensive. That therapy is not free.”

This article first appeared in FASHION’s September 2024 issue. Find out more here.

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