FRANKFORT, Ky. — In recent years, dozens of books for young readers affirming the beauty of natural hair and deconstructing traditional beauty ideals have become a popular trend.
Author and illustrator Stacy Schilling says her inspiration to draw comes in random waves.
While sketching out a new idea for her new book, she said, “Some times, my best creative ideas come either while I’m driving or in the shower.”
She’s currently working on her next two books in the series The Frizz Girls.
"H is for hairspray, and I’m in the process of illustrating my fourth book in the series on the ABCs of hair care for wavy, curly hair,” she explained.
Her first two books titled, “Stacy Learns to Love Her Wavy Hair, And You Can Too!” and “What the Frizz?!?! How to Take Care of Your Wavy and Curly Hair Find Your Hair Type” are children’s books helping both children and parents navigate their journey. She went through her own journey, but now she’s proud of all she’s become.
According to Global Cosmetic Industry approximately 65% of the U.S. population has textured hair, yet she says she saw a hole in the market on educating children on how to care for their hair.
She said, “I wanted to give kids, predominately girls ages 5 to 13, confidence in themselves and in their hair and be able to be vocal and be empowered with their hair and what they do for it."
Stacy says she’s found that a lot of the issue comes with not reading if the product is recommended for your hair texture.
“They’ll read the label saying curly hair, but they haven’t really thoroughly read it to know if it’s curly or coily or kinky,” she explained while shopping for products in a local store.
A lot of these issues can be solved by getting educated.
“They don’t realize that their straight and slightly wavy, wavy curly, coily and kinky. And so by having this hair type chart, you can look at someone’s hair or your own hair and determine if you’re in the wavy category,” she said.
She says this book is for anyone who was never taught how to care for their hair and help the next generation avoid the error.
“I was never taught how to take care of my wavy, curly hair,” she said, reflecting on her own experience. “I didn’t know how to how to treat it and how to love it and care for it. And if I would have known that, then I would have done things differently.”
Schilling travels all across Kentucky attending local pop up shops to sell her books. To find out where she’ll be, visit her website.