‘She changed the beauty industry’: how Charlotte Mensah brought black hair into the spotlight

A new exhibition in London celebrates the influential hairstylist whose clients include Janelle Monáe and Zadie Smith.

She explains her story – and why she’s on a mission to ensure stylists are trained to work with all hair types When Charlotte Mensah was a young child growing up in Accra, Ghana in the 1970s, she would spend hours watching her aunties having their hair intricately threaded, an ancient African technique where hair is wrapped tightly using yarn or thread. She didn’t know then that she would go on to become one of the most influential hairdressers in the UK. Renowned for championing natural black hair textures, she has worked as…