Aug 27, 2026 · 24 min · 9 segments
New York state implemented a law this year requiring cosmetology schools to teach students how to work with textured hair. We speak with state assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages, who pushed to make it…
Michaelle C. SolagesGuest
Priya AnandHost
I'm a New York State Assembly member, and I represent parts of Long Island in the New York State Assembly.
Us curly girls have all had this experience where we walked into a salon thinking that this person understood our hair and didn't.
Whenever I'm working on a new episode for the show, it makes me realize just how interconnected each of these stories are.
Our last episode was about why so many people are secretly curly at the office, and since then, I've heard even more stories.
The other day, one woman told me that when she was 16, her boss at Aeropostale told her not to come into work with her natural hair.
After the Crown Act, during that process, we were able to meet with many cosmetologists and many individuals in the field.
And they were describing to me that technically this is a niche topic in cosmetology school.
And so that was the impetus for us to present this legislation that would require them to learn it.
I'd like to say that two-thirds of people, there is a statistic, two-thirds of people in the world have so-called textured hair.
So why are we calling it that instead of the reverse, right? Why are we othering ourselves as the majority here?
And it's funny, when we were passing the bill in the legislature, my counsel was just enthusiastic about it because her daughter had curly hair.
And she told me about the stories of going into different And it was just nice to see that this is going to be an impactful piece of legislation because anyone can now walk into a salon and at least that person behind the chair understands their hair and has learned about their hair.
I'm a New York State Assembly member, and I represent parts of Long Island in the New York State Assembly.
Us curly girls have all had this experience where we walked into a salon thinking that this person understood our hair and didn't.
Whenever I'm working on a new episode for the show, it makes me realize just how interconnected each of these stories are.
Our last episode was about why so many people are secretly curly at the office, and since then, I've heard even more stories.
The other day, one woman told me that when she was 16, her boss at Aeropostale told her not to come into work with her natural hair.
After the Crown Act, during that process, we were able to meet with many cosmetologists and many individuals in the field.
And they were describing to me that technically this is a niche topic in cosmetology school.
And so that was the impetus for us to present this legislation that would require them to learn it.
I'd like to say that two-thirds of people, there is a statistic, two-thirds of people in the world have so-called textured hair.
So why are we calling it that instead of the reverse, right? Why are we othering ourselves as the majority here?
And it's funny, when we were passing the bill in the legislature, my counsel was just enthusiastic about it because her daughter had curly hair.
And she told me about the stories of going into different And it was just nice to see that this is going to be an impactful piece of legislation because anyone can now walk into a salon and at least that person behind the chair understands their hair and has learned about their hair.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
