This post is part of an ongoing series called Fur We Love, where we focus on people's relationship to their hair and the routines they've built around haircare. This week, we talked to Trésor Prijs, a writer and editorial consultant from Atlantic, Canada.
What are some of your haircare and grooming routines for hair all over?
I’m gonna reveal one of my deepest secrets: the raven hued mane you see before you is but a ruse. My natural shade is actually a dark blonde and I deepen it, along with my brows and beard, every few weeks. While I colour it with as gentle a hand as possible, the reality of chemical damage is ever present. I turn to reparative masks for absolution. Once a week I make a cocktail of a hydrating hair mask and a few generous drops of an oil (the Fur Oil works an absolute treat here) and leave that on under a shower cap for as many hours as I can manage. Scent is the sense though which I experience the most profound pleasure. It’s important to me that both the hair on my head and my body carry a fragrance that feels like an extension of who I am - something of an aura to share with all those who come close. For this I favour the sanguine rose of Frederic Malle’s Portrait of a Lady hair mist.
What hairstyles make you feel the most confident?
While I love to play around with all manner of looks I feel most confident in any style where my hair is a bit lived-in. There is no denying the satisfaction of a freshly lathered and painstakingly sculpted coif, but there is something quite sensual and exciting about hair that has some stories to tell. Did I go for a run or did I spend a debauched afternoon with a lover? Who knows. What can I say? I’m a Scorpio. I love a bit of mystery.
Was there ever a time you didn't feel comfortable with your head or body hair?
Puberty hit me like a brick. It was as if the hair of my beard and the hair on my body went from bud to blossom overnight. At that particular point in my life I was experiencing a great deal of dysphoria which was only compounded as this trait expressed itself with the fury of adolescence. In my mind this hair was an invader, something that in those moments I perceived as strictly masculine and in aggressive defiance of my identity. It felt as if my body was betraying me. It took many years of excavating a narrative that was not serving my wellbeing and allowing the evolution of my identity to expand beyond the binary.
What's one trick that always works for you?
Corkscrew pins have been my guiding light when my hair refuses to behave. I’ll run a styling cream or an oil (Fur Oil works like a charm here as well), twist my hair into a knot and secure with two corkscrew pins. Unlike an elastic hair tie the pins leave no indentations in the hair and distribute pressure evenly. I’ll wear the chic little knot for a while and then when I let my hair down I am left with the most soft and effortless waves every single time.
How has your relationship to your hair changed over time?
Over time my feelings towards all of my hair have softened and given way to an attitude of celebration. I appreciate it now, but I am also not fiercely attached to presenting it in one particular way or another. It’s hair but it’s also the gravity of a breathtaking moon through which I can dance with the tide in the beautiful expanse between the binary.
Do you have a hair icon or someone in your life you look to for inspiration?
Italian supermodel Mariacarla Boscono’s inky mane was the inspiration for deepening the hue of my own tresses many years ago, though if I am being honest my hair icons are not necessarily those who sport the hairstyles but the ones who create them. The bombastic fluid architecture of Serge Normant’s trademark volume and the gentle seraphic flow of David Lopez’s cascading waves are remarkable - they inspire me every time I see them.
What do you love the most about your hair?
I love that my hair can act as a conduit for self expression but also a means to visually express some of the nuances of my gender identity. There is incredible power in that expression. We often feel more comfortable in our own skin when we’re able to see threads of our own identity proudly represented in the world around us- at least that’s been the case for me. Knowing that there is even a chance that I may share that experience with another fills my heart with joy.
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