hair story: andrea lewis

– As told to Tamara Pridgett

Toronto born actress and singer Andrea Lewis discovered her talent and passion at the fresh age of five and has since been carving out a space for herself in the oh so competitive acting world. She recently made news by joining forces with web darling Issa Rae to produce the web series Black Actress. The series shows the ups, downs and sideways of being a black woman in the entertainment industry, an industry that also has had an affect on how Andrea wears her hair. Here’s her Hair Story.

my hair

I’ve had a few different hairstyles over the years that mainly consisted of different hair colors and lengths. I’ve always been natural but I haven’t always rocked my curls, mainly because I’m in the entertainment industry and my hair has always played a big role in both my acting and singing careers. But I was never quite sure what to do with it and I used to be more concerned with what others thought my hair should be instead of what I wanted. Now I’m comfortable with myself and just leaving my hair to be what it naturally is! I dye it black because I prefer darker hair and I usually leave it curly because I care about the health of my hair and for so long I damaged it with flat irons and harsh dyes that now I feel my hair deserves a break.

through the years

This was 2010 in Los Angeles. I was working on my album 54321 at this time and just began promotion for it. At the time I was obsessed with light brown hair but the team I was working with felt I should go a bit blonde so I tried it out with highlights, I really enjoyed the color at the time.

In January 2011 I decided to go even Blonder! I was still working on music and traveling between NYC and London and just went all in! It took a very long time to get my hair this color and it didn’t last very long because the maintenance was too much.

At the beginning of Summer 2011 I was slowly creeping back to basics with my hair. I cut off my dead blonde ends and went for a red color. This was a really fun look and color for me, but my curls weren’t doing so well from all of the heat and dye.

This was late 2012 and I was getting back to basics—dyed my hair back to dark brown and started growing it out again and working on taking care of my curls. I moved to NYC and I just wanted a simple look and to not have to worry about my hair all the time.

By 2013 I was completely back to life and back to reality! I dyed my hair black and straightened it maybe one time that year. I was all braid outs and wash-n-go’s that year and I stopped worrying about what others felt like my hair should be and just did what I wanted. I missed the care free hair life I had as a little girl and wanted to get back to that.

my hair now

My hair now is all wash n-go’s! I wash my hair once a week and I use either mixed chicks or kinky curly leave-in conditioner, let it air dry, pick it out with my fingers and I’m good!

If you haven’t already heard of Black Actress check out the first episode below (you also get to hear Andrea sing during the ending credits). For more Andrea, follow her on Twitter and Instagram!