“I have lots of very thick, very red, very very curly hair,” says Liv Stewart (Ngāti Manu, Ngāti Hine, Te Mahurehure), who recently started as the public programme manager at Ponsonby gallery Objectspace.
The young creative is naturally a distinctive red, similar to that of her mother and sister and a shade that she loves. “I also love that every redhead has a slightly different colour.”
With her gorgeous curls, colour and texture, Stewart has been on my wishlist of people to feature in our ‘I Like Your Hair’ series since we started it, and her answers were unsurprisingly smart and thoughtful. They offer wise insight into how relationships with hair can be complex and ever-changing, the role of hair in art, and the way that people feel entitled to touch something that is tapu.
Tell me about having red hair – have you always embraced that?
I mostly have. My mum and my sister both have red hair which has helped me to embrace it. I feel lucky to have such a different hair colour. Although, it does bug me when the fiery or evil female character has red hair; it’s a trope that stretches back to the Bible.
What about your curls, which are so beautifully defined. Are they natural?
They are natural, and I think I have become better at caring for them as I’ve gotten older. At the moment I actually prefer having my hair short because then I have to wear it out, something my younger self would probably be shocked by. If it’s long, it’s harder to take care of, it grows out rather than down and I worry about what it looks like from the back and tie it up. I have struggled with how much hair I have, and having big hair was something I was bullied for at school.
How would you describe your relationship with your hair – today, and in the past?
Having hair that is different is really challenging when you’re younger. I felt like having red hair was enough, but when you add the curls and the wiry texture it can be a lot. It’s my permanent accessory, I can’t just put it in a drawer or get it out for special occasions. I have to wear it and embrace it every day.
Family, friends and strangers loved to touch my hair. They also always had an opinion on my hair: the way it looked, if I had it up or down, if I had straightened it or cut it. I think because it’s so different and people see it as very beautiful, someone always had something to say.
My mum says that one of my first sentences was to a little old lady in the supermarket saying, “please don’t touch my hair.” I still have people touch my hair without my permission. The most recent was at an art opening and they touched my scalp. In Māoritanga heads and hair are tapu – there are lots of traditions around the head so it would never even cross my mind to just reach out and touch a stranger’s head, and it’s so odd when someone invades your personal space like that.
Luckily, I have my mum as a great role model. She has the same hair as me and let me experiment with my hair. It was important to mum that she let me embrace my hair in my own time. She agreed to any cut and to let me have it straight when I couldn’t stand the curls. I think that she helped me love my hair at an earlier age and why I love it now.
There are still days where I am frustrated by my hair, when I feel disheartened by how it looks. But it has been so amazing and energising seeing so many wāhine with big and curly hair talking about and embracing it, and for the most part I am very grateful it.
Is it high maintenance? Do you have to work hard to get it looking like it does?
I would say it’s pretty high maintenance. I could never just roll out of bed and head out the door. If I want a defined curl, it needs some kind of product.
Once I have the product in, I don’t have to do much finger curling – I have a strong curl pattern and short hair, so a few scrunches and strategic smoothing can give really great curls.
What’s your daily/weekly routine?
At the moment I wet my hair every day in the morning. It needs the moisture and sometimes it’s easier to start from scratch. Right before I get out of the shower, I flatten my hair down and try to get it into the shape I would like it to look like once it's styled.
I try to not towel dry it and just let it drip dry which can be tedious because it is so thick, but I think it looks much less frizzy this way. Because it’s short, I don’t have to brush it which also helps with the frizz. Then I go in with my product. If I want it to really look perfect, I try to finger curl it but most mornings I just let the natural curl pattern take over and do a few scrunches.
I wash it about once a week. With my conditioner, I only ever half rinse it out, that way it’s like I’m using a leave-in product without adding another to the shelf. This is also a great tip for when the Tāmaki humidity is at an all time high. I try to do a hair mask overnight every two weeks or so.
Who ‘does’ it?
Tayla and Sarah from Tayla'd Styling in Silverdale. Tayla has cut my hair for the last 10 years, I’d say. When I first went in it was a revelation, she actually knew how to cut curly hair and we have been together ever since. Tayla and Sarah also let me know that over the years they have been learning lots of new techniques for curly hair which is amazing. Tayla’s knowledge and confidence really helped with my teenage anxiety of having hair that was so different to everyone else. They really listen to my hair concerns. They know for me it is so personal.
It sounds obvious, but they never say anything negative about my curly hair. I have had hairdressers complain that it was too tricky to cut, that it’s like trimming topiary, that it took too long etc. It really hurts when there is nothing you can do about it and it's obvious that they would prefer your hair straight.
What products do you use to take care of it?
For shampoo, Ethique’s Professor Curl, and conditioner, Ethique’s Curliosity Co-Wash. I was worried about using bar products on curly hair, but they have been amazing, keeping my hair soft and moisturised. And they cut down on plastic waste which is really important.
For my product, I have been using this styling cream from Keune, another sustainable brand, and I love it! It’s got this gel and cream texture and holds the curl without being crunchy – crunchy hair is my nightmare. It also smells so good. I’ve been using their Boost Spray to refresh my curls in the evening too which really helps if they have got a bit fizzy during the day.
For my hair mask I’ve been using the Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Mask. It’s thick and it smells great. I also love their Curl Charisma Rice Amino + Avocado Leave–In Defining Cream.
What are some ‘hair lessons’ you’ve picked up over the years?
Put the product in wet, and try not to touch it throughout the day.
Who else do you think has great hair?
My mum and my sister both have beautiful red hair, both are a little different to mine.
Hair can have a lot of significance in art. What’s your art nerd / beauty fan take on that – could you explain in an accessible way for people who may not ‘get’ art?
You could write a whole thesis on this question! I think hair of all types has been used in art because like art, hair is both so personal and so public.
The way that hair is depicted in historic portraiture can tell you a lot about the sitter’s class, worldview and the societal norms at the time, especially for women who had different and oppressive expectations around social conduct. I think this is why hair has also been used as a tool for feminist art movements, and I think it also has something to do with the private and the public aspect of hair and the western view of women, hair and the body.
What’s your favourite ‘hair in art’ work?
There are lots of amazing depictions. One of my favourites celebrates a pūrākau about Maui’s Mother Taranga by Robyn Kahukiwa. The work is called Taranga and is part of a series that was commissioned to celebrate wāhine maori deities.
Taranga wraps Maui in her top knot and casts him into the sea. He is now known as Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga (Maui of Taranga’s top knot). I love this pūrākau and the way that Kahukiwa’s depiction paints Taranga’s thick black and very curly hair.
I feel like artists often have fantastic hair too – they use it, with makeup, as a tool for expression and creativity. Why do you think that is? And is there an artist, NZ or otherwise, who you think has particularly cool hair?
This is quite a hard one to answer. Maybe it’s because creative people are also drawn to other creative outlets. And, because art is often a representation of self. I also wonder if there is a pressure to be as much a persona as an artist.
Maungarongo or Ron Te Kawa is an amazing artist and maker with the most amazing hair. I think that he truly embodies his artwork. When you see Ron walking down the street you can just tell the kind of mahi toi he makes, which are these beautiful quilts that celebrate whanau, wairua, pūrākau and harikoa.
