Big hair goddess Julee Wilson has been ensuring BIPOC women will feel and be seen in the media for the entirety of her 15+ years in publishing. Journalist, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend and consummate cultural JOY LEADER, she is the ultimate woman crush. Immense beauty, brains and wit for days, every thought she communicates is a moment within itself. 

Over the years, she’s shared poignant reflections on societal shifts as they unfold, subsequently expanding community points of view. Her body of accessible, honest commentary has afforded her a loyal family of supporters who truly feel engaged and immersed in pertinent conversation.

As we continue to highlight how BIPOC women’s hair influences their experience in the world, I am so grateful to Julee for sharing her personal hair journey and extraordinary contribution to the beauty industry. Get ready to be inspired, swoon, belly laugh and make a new soul sister. 

(the following interview has been edited for clarity)

Tamu McPherson: We’ve known each other since your days at Huffington Post, when you were already bossing out and winning the trust and respect of Arianna herself, and making big waves within your organization on the platform, and opening up a world for us Black girls, creating a platform for us - a space for us. You were already communicating in terms of beauty and representing in such a beautiful way, and I remember your early pieces, and all of us just finding joy and feeling seen and feeling represented. And you have built a fabulous career because of your authenticity, because of your pride in the culture, because of your commitment.

You’ve had the same goal and purpose from the beginning, and you have really carried it forward in such an honest, frank, unabashed way. If you think back all those years to today, what’s your reaction to… how you’ve been able to do that all?

Julee Wilson: I feel really blessed. I don’t take it for granted that I’ve been able to create a voice and a platform in an industry where that’s really hard - there’s a lot of people, there’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of opinions - so, it wasn’t easy, and so I’m grateful that the work that I’ve done has spoken to people, has touched people in this industry. It’s really gratifying, it keeps me going, I think it’s really important that I can keep being inspired to do more, because I know it’s helping, you know? I think you and I can both agree, we all work very hard, we do all the things, and still sometimes it can feel like” I don’t know if anybody’s here for this”, “I don’t know if anyone’s listening to these stories I’m telling, or interacting with the content I’m putting up”, but when you do see that it’s just so nice. Because you’re like…  I’m not doing this in vain. I have a seat at the table, I don’t want to take it for granted.  So I feel like I’ve moved with that level of energy, that I don’t want to take my seat for granted. 

“I’m not doing this in vain. I have a seat at the table, I don’t want to take it for granted.”

Tamu McPherson: I feel like we’ve been watching you care for your hair for years through your Instagram, and we are always so grateful for the intimate way you share and celebrate your process. Can you tell me where your routine comes from?

Julee Wilson: I think my routine comes from just getting to know my hair in all of its iterations, right? It’s exciting, because I work in the beauty field, so I am able to try all the things, so I’m able to really curate what works for me, what works for my hair. So the routine is really trial and error, it’s having a lot of fun with product, it’s not being too serious about it, in a sense of like, “well if that didn’t work, ok we move on! We do something else.” But I think a part of our Black Girl Magic is that we can do so much with our hair, and it’s so exciting to be able to manipulate her, and figure out what she likes, what she doesn’t like. My mood changes as my hair changes, and I have different textures over my whole entire head, so it’s cool to again get to know my hair. It’s an ongoing process-  I’m not there. It’s a journey, and we are still on the journey.

Tamu McPherson: I am obsessed that you call her her.

Julee Wilson: Yes!

Tamu McPherson: When did it occur to you that you should refer to her as her?

Julee Wilson: It’s so funny, it just happened - because you know our hair has its own personality! So, it’s a her! It might be a they/them for someone else. Mine is a girl. She is temperamental - she’s acts right sometimes, sometimes she doesn't. She’s very much like the woman who she’s on. So I love - I talk to her, I’m like, “Come on sis, a photographer’s about to come over and take your picture, act right!” Or before I go on The Today Show segment, I’ll be in the mirror like, “Curls? Don’t fail me now! I don’t need one of you going rogue!” And then I'm watching the segment later and all I can focus on is the fact that one curl is sticking where it shouldn't be. So I’m always like… “let me talk to her nice!” So like… we can all be aligned. 

Tamu McPherson: But you never speak to her sharply or negatively.

Julee Wilson: I do sometimes, and I have to check myself. It’s just like how we talk to our bodies. Uh I wish my belly wasn't like this.. There's time when I’m like I wish my hair was like this, or this twist out didn’t turn out the way I needed it to, and then I have to say: this is what she wanted to do today, this is how my body is presenting itself. I’m trying to be more accepting of who I am and who I show up as I am today. And we can work on tomorrow and next week and next year, but I have to be kinder to myself. So I do check myself if I'm getting a little sassy with her, you know.

Tamu McPherson: Has your routine or perspective changed since Orion was born?

Julee Wilson: For sure, I don’t have so much time. He was born almost 8 years ago. My wombfire! So between him and now Nadir, you definitely don't have as much time, so you have to be extra thoughtful about the time that you do have. I have to be very focused on the time I'm allotting to self care, I can’t just add this extra step just do it - I’ve got to be very intentional and do it so I can get back to being a mom and a wife and a friend and a sister. But I don’t mind that, because it does allow me to be a little more regimented with my time, and I'm not wasting time doing other things. It’s nice. I get Me Time. I get optimal time with my family.

Tamu McPherson: Did you have any hair change through pregnancy?

Julee Wilson: Oh yeah. I feel like I got my hair got - you know how they say when you're pregnant your hair gets all glorious… I don’t think I had that. My hair got really dry. So I found myself doing more treatment, like moisturization, to make sure that my hair was moisturized and hydrated. I also had some postpartum shedding, especially around my temples. My edges have never really given me a problem, thank god, but that was the first time I noticed, with both pregnancies, that I definitely get shedding there.

Tamu McPherson: What did you do to address it? Did you use anything specific?

Julee Wilson: I used lots of different oils to help stimulate my scalp, but also knowing I had to keep that area moisturized and hydrated, so that the growth happens, and it's not breaking off because it’s too dry and brittle. There's this elixir from Phaido that I use on it, and then the oils that I use kind of vary.

Ulta beauty is basically in my house. I might have like at any given time like 15 different hair oils at my house.  So also because our hair changes because of the weather, our diets, our moods, stress levels, that all affects how our hair reacts to product, she reacts to our manipulation of it, so it’s really nice that I have that arsenal of products cuz then I can adjust what oil I want to use on my hair depending on what she's doing. So lately I’ve been using the joy of curls. I have that elixir that's like a rollerball, and I just roll it and let it soak in, and then after I go in with an oil just to make sure it's hydrated. 

Moisturizing masks, different pomades, I got all the products.

Tamu McPherson: How have your relationships with women in your family informed your haircare? Cuz you are close to the women in your family and the bonding level that you guys have is amazing. 

Julee Wilson: My mom always loved on me and my sister and our hair, and we would wash each other’s hair in our big tub that we had in our laundry room, and that was always built-in mommy-and-me or sister-and-me time. But honestly, I think one of the most interesting things is that a lot of my hair journey and closeness and relationship-building through my hair was with my dad. I chemically straightened my hair for a few years, and then it was just like… this isn't working. My mom was like, “Ok we can get you a relaxer”, but then I was acting like a white girl and just not taking care of it and swimming without a cap, and it was breaking off and I wasn’t caring for it the way I was supposed to with chemicals. So then I was like, “Ok no more chemicals”. But I do like having straight hair, I do like being able to manipulate it like that, so my dad would straighten my hair, literally with a hot comb on the stove. Not the plugin electric one… on the stove, straightened my hair every weekend, every Sunday. I went to boarding school in high school and sometimes I would come home on the weekend and he would straighten my hair, so that was really nice because it gave us bonding time as father and daughter, we had really deep conversations. I feel like he could probably ask me more serious questions when he's holding a hot comb to my head and I had to answer (laughter). I just remember those times as being so great, and I remember sitting there and being like, “Wow, my other girlfriends don't have this type of built-in daddy-daughter time”.

“I think one of the most interesting things is that a lot of my hair journey and closeness and relationship-building through my hair was with my dad.”

Tamu McPherson: I have rarely heard of that, because… I mean, we have definitely evolved as a community, and we are seeing on lots of men taking the role as the groomer for their little girls, but when I was growing up, I grew up with my grandfather - who made me an egg sandwich and that was the best egg sandwich I’ve ever had, and that was the way that he and I would bond. But where did our dad even learn the technique??

Julee Wilson: He grew up in North Carolina and he had three sisters and one brother - there were five of them. He was the oldest, and his mother died when he was 10. So five kids 10 and under without a mother, with a father that was working, and they lived in a one-room shack. My dad has told me stories that still boggle my mind to this day, because he talks about picking cotton. We were sharecroppers. This is my dad! Not my great great grandmother. This is my father, who was like, “I would pick cotton before school and then after school I would take care of my brother and sisters”, and he was like, “I had to step up. So I would help do my sister's hair.” And so that's how he learned. And it's just such a dichotomy between the man that he was in the world - I mean he was the provider for our family, my mom worked too, but he was an accountant for GM for 30 years, and before that he was in the NFL, he played professional football! So he’s this big burly strong man, and here he is hot combing his daughters hair. So it’s very cool.

Tamu McPherson: I kind of feel like he is an example of just how complex the black male figure is, who doesn’t get that recognition often in our community. To be so involved in his family. First as a brother and a son, and then as a father. I know he’s amazing cuz you talk about how amazing he is!

Julee Wilson: I mean he is so dope, he is so amazing, and now he’s great with his grandkids, and my brother had special needs, and that was a whole thing too! This is his firstborn child, and like I said this is a man who played in the NFL. He has a son and that son is born with mental and physical disability, and then has two girls. He has a very complex life and it's just so amazing. And now he’s quilting, which is wild. 

Tamu McPherson: We grew up in the same era, and I went through the same things you did in terms of not taking care of my chemically processed hair very well… I also didn’t get a relaxer until I was 17! You kind of touched upon your experience, but what were the signals or experiences that left the biggest impression on you, when you looked around at other BIPOC women and saw how we were treated, or how our hair was treated, or the negative perceptions directed at our appearance?

Julee Wilson: I mean, I always looked at black women in all of our iterations as just stunning. It would always be like, “Oh my gosh, look at her afro, look at her braids!” Any which way we showed up in the world, I was just always like “Oh my god, we are stunning.” But the world didn’t necessarily reflect that sentiment and rhetoric in the media and advertisements and commercials. I always knew internally that we are fly - like the flyest people on the face of the planet - and I was just hoping that at some point some day, the world would catch up. I think we’re getting there. But that was hard growing up. I think that's also why I was like, I can be internally celebrating this and love it, but I still feel like I should straighten my hair. I grew up in a predominantly white community. So I was always being judged against white women and white girls. So I wanted to fit in in a sense, or even just not stand out in a bad way. Because it just becomes a conversation, when you show up with your hair like this when you've been straightening it forever.

I remember that happening when I was working at Real Simple, my first job out of college. In college I wore my hair in braids most of the time, because I was a Division 1 track athlete. So I kept my hair in braids so I didn’t have to deal with my hair while I was sweating so much during the day. So when I went into the workforce after I graduated I was like… ok, I definitely need to go back to straightening my hair, heat straightening and all of that. But I do remember in between wash days or straightening my hair, I would come into the office with my hair curly, and people would be like, “Are you ok?? What's going on??” And I would be like I’m fine… this is just the way my hair grows out  of my head, I need you to all just calm down. 

“I always knew internally that we are fly - like the flyest people on the face of the planet - and I was just hoping that at some point some day, the world would catch up.”

Tamu McPherson: What do you think about The Crown Act, which just passed in Illinois recently?

Julee Wilson: And the biggest news too is that it's now being considered on the federal level. So it's great that we are taking on the states but once it becomes a federal law, then everybody gotta listen. So I think that's really exciting. Because again, how are you going to police me for the way that my hair naturally grows out of my head? It’s wild that you can be fired from a job, that you can be kicked out of school, for the natural state of your hair.

Tamu McPherson: I mean, looking back and thinking about all we endured… we had to manage our feelings and emotions related to our hair, that just adds to our overall trauma as Black people, not just women, but Black people in general. When you think about the stress of it… always being so aware of your appearance. When you walk into a room, are they going to stare at me because a strand is out of place, in addition to just the pursuit of beauty in general. We had an additional layer to look a certain way, even within our community. Thank goodness these bills are being passed now. 

Who are your top 5 hair idols?

Julee Wilson: Whoa. The Rosses, mama and daughter, Diana and Tracee together, they are everything. It's so funny that when you went away (on Zoom), the Cicely Tyson picture came up, because she's a total hair icon for me. But even Nina simone. I like looking back at old pictures and just being inspired by their artistry then. The things that they did the way that they manipulated their crowns is so inspiring for me. So yeah, Cicely, Nina, Diana, it doesn't get old, it still inspires people to this day, people reference that all the time. That's when you know you are iconique - when you've done something a million years ago and it's still being referenced today as inspiration.

Tamu McPherson: Two others. We have many!

Julee Wilson: Do they all have to be celebrities? I love Micaela Angela Davis. She’s like my sister. And everytime i see her, I'm just like… your beautiful crown. I love her hair, I love how she manipulates it and plays with it and honors it. And… Snoop Dogg. His silk presses have been iconic over the years, if I'm gonna do a silk press, I have referenced a Snoop Dogg silk press. 

Tamu McPherson: I love that mix of people. Snoop is so iconic. He only gets better with age.

Julee Wilson: And who would have ever thought he would partner with Martha Stewart? Like when he first came out… you couldn't have written that if you tried. 

Tamu McPherson: You have steadily climbed through the publishing world, which is such a white dominated space, particularly in beauty. You have consistently championed and celebrated Black beauty representation. Going forward, how would you like to see the results of your work play out across the industry?

Julee Wilson: That’s such a heavy question, Tamu! I want to have made - I honestly can't control or dictate how my work will play out. My only hope is that it changes things. That the work that I do is not in vain, like I said before. I spend more time working with my family and doing other things, so if I'm going to dedicate myself to this work, which I have, when I leave God's green earth if I could have made a difference, if I could have helped to pave a path - which has already been paved for me but that I can help pave further for the next generation - and that my story and my storytelling inspires someone someday or now, that is what I'm hoping for. I hope that in 100 years, someone brings up the cover story I did on Misty Copeland and is like, “this is an example,” maybe at Columbia's journalism school, “here’s an example of an amazingly written cover story”, and people being like, “Oh who’s this Julee Wilson?” in 100 years.

Or, “Wow, Julee Wilson was one of many of her era to change beauty standards and make sure that diversity and inclusion was a part of the fashion and beauty industry, and she was around during that time when Tamu and Marjon and all of these people were there doing the work.”

“I honestly can't control or dictate how my work will play out. My only hope is that it changes things.”

Tamu McPherson: When I think about all of the people that you have also honored, whose stories you have shared and who you have really amplified how we see people of color being represented in beauty - because we’ve only just touched upon all of the people you have featured or shared on your platforms - and as your talking about Misty, my brain started to go back and think about all of the other people, and maybe if you weren't doing the work you might have not seen those people in the light that we saw them.

Julee Wilson: But to your point, that is literally one of the biggest things that brings me joy in my job: really celebrating others, helping others step into their light. The fact that I have relationships with beauty founders who are like, “You gave me my first credit, you were the first person to big me up in social media.” That is the battery in my back. Like, wow, I can use my voice and my platform to help other people. That's essentially what I do. I’m writing these stories and stuff, but in writing a cover story, I'm celebrating that person. Writing a product review, I'm celebrating that product and that founder. I’m able to bring that joy to someone to be like, “Oh my God, I'm in the magazine.” That is so exciting.

Tamu McPherson: I have always felt the joy, and I've always felt super informed, I've always been curious to find out more, and that's what you bring, and I think that overall, when you're doing that for the culture, you’re impacting us in the culture, but your also impacting the world at large. I'm getting excited thinking about it now.