Kim Coles is a Hollywood veteran. She’s best known as a cast member on the iconic sketch comedy show In Living Color and as Synclaire James on the hit sitcom Living Single. Since then she’s added many titles to her resume, including reality television personality, game show host, and film star. Ms. Coles took time to speak with Nappy Headed Black Girl about hair, Hollywood, and having the confidence to live out loud.
What made you finally decide to embrace your natural hair?
I’d been looking the same for so long, and it was time for change. Especially with the microbraids. I felt that the braids were so identified with Synclaire. I also realized that I was covering my own hair because a) I didn’t like it and b) I didn’t know how to do it and I didn’t know what else to do with it.
I started watching YouTube videos and really embracing the natural hair movement, and it seemed to me the next step was just cutting all of the extensions out of my head. And I’m so glad I did. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done.
Do you have a routine or any certain products that you use?
I sleep on a satin pillowcase and I sleep in a bonnet without fail. I wash and condition my hair weekly. I don’t go any more than eight days. And I am a true product junkie. I use everything from Ecostyler to Kinky-Curly Knot Today Conditioner to Jane Carter Curl Defining Cream to AfroVeda products to SheaMoisture. Everything.
Tell us about your latest project, Supernatural.
I was asked to come and be featured in this amazing play. It’s about our voices and our concerns and our conversations about our hair and our culture. They asked me to come star in the show in New York. I’m so grateful to be continuing the conversation in this type of theatrical way. It’s really well-written and covers a lot of the bases. I think it’s gonna get women talking and laughing and clapping and crying and celebrating who we are.
Any advice for new naturals or someone on the brink of doing the big chop?
I would say “live out loud.” You don’t know if it’s for you unless you give it a try. Experiment with products. Experiment with looking in the mirror and realizing that you are beautiful and you are not defined by your hair. Although the world defines us by our hair, you get to create your own definition.
Click here to listen to Kim Coles’s Kinky When Wet interview in its entirety.
You can currently catch Ms. Coles in A Jenkins Family Christmas. Join her new community, Radiant KimUnity here and keep abreast of her current projects on Instagram.
Originally published 4/24/13 on NappyHeadedBlackGirl.com.
