Texture Diaries is a space for Black people across industries to reflect on their journeys to self-love, and how accepting their hair, in all its glory, played a pivotal role in this process. Each week, they share their favorite hair rituals, products, and the biggest lessons they’ve learned when it comes to affirming their beauty and owning their unique hair texture.
“I feel like nobody’s ever going to be able to put me in a box,” singer-songwriter Liv.e tells Vogue over the phone from her L.A. apartment. She takes inspiration from jazz, bossa nova, classical music, and Janelle Monae’s ArchAndroid album, but Liv.e has nonetheless carved a funky, soulful lane that is uniquely her own, made apparent in her 20-track 2020 album, Couldn’t Wait to Tell You. Liv.e (née Olivia Williams) came from a musical family, but didn’t always plan on pursuing music as a career. “I denied myself of my passion for it for a long time, because I wanted to be different [from my family],” she notes. But after realizing college wasn’t for her, she embraced her love for the craft.
Today, the rising star—who has toured with Earl Sweatshirt and counts Solange, Tyler The Creator, and Erykah Badu as fans—is releasing the music video for her song “You the One Fish in the Sea.” “The video is this dream world where I’m hoping my [romantic] wishes will come true. But instead, I’m stuck with the companionship of my loneliness,” the Dallas-born artist explains of the dreamy, aquatic visuals.
“Sometimes a blonde mullet is the door to free another character in my mind.” Photo: Courtesy of Liv.e.
Much like her ever-changing exploration of music, Liv.e also embraces the freedom and beauty of switching up her look; experimenting with everything from sandy-hued afros to braids and sleek auburn looks. “I had a love-hate relationship with my hair for a long time,” she says. “I think I cared too much about my hair in a negative way. I really wasn’t in love with it until I became more independent in general.” Around age 18, she started cutting her hair off entirely. “I would grow it out for a year or two then cut it off again. I would rock wigs, the braids and the bantus.” Now, she sees her hair as another form of self-expression. Today that means long, onyx strands with blunt bangs.
Liv.e notes that Spike Lee’s film Girl 6—with its choppy bobs, blunt bangs, and blonde mullets—is among her hair inspirations, along with New York’s drag ball culture. To keep it healthy, she keeps her product line-up minimal, reaching for As I Am’s Coconut Cowash and rice water because “it doesn’t dry out the hair.” Beyond taking the health of her hair seriously, Liv.e says she’s learned “the importance of not letting anyone stress you. Protect yourself. Just do you.”
“All relationships take time, too,” she notes, including the one with your hair. “Don’t get discouraged. If someone tells you not to do something that you want to do, do it anyway. Sometimes people just don’t understand your vision.”
“I’m enjoying the long, dark hair right now.” Photo: Courtesy of Liv.e.
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