Name:
Rae Sanni
Age:
24
What do you do?
I’m a stand up comedian.
Mane’s Name:
I never thought to name her before today, but I guess I’ll call her Lil’ Nappy. (Yikes.)
Mane’s Age:
My baby is about a year old. She looks like she’s only 5 months though. My parents are Nigerian, so my hair is the kinkiest of kinky.
Did you Big Chop or transition?
Big Chop!
Why did you decide to go natural?
I had the weird Rihanna/Kelis/Every “trendy” artist ever shaved side haircut and I was growing bored of it. A coworker with gorgeous locs told me that to get her locs started she just cut her hair off and went for it. So, during lunch that day, I ran to the barber shop around the corner and cut it off for $8 dollars! It was so mother effing liberating.
Biggest challenge with your hair?
I didn’t know what my texture was when I cut off the hair, as I had been relaxing since i was 9. I was expecting my baby fro to look one way, and it doesn’t. I thought it’d be easy to manage, and it wasn’t. Coming to understand my texture and learning to work with it has been the biggest challenge.
Favorite thing about your hair?
Getting to play in it. It’s very soothing. Also, the number of black men who hit on me has risen significantly, which is very exciting. They’re hot and I’m very pleased.
What has been your go-to style?
I just let it rock. It’s too short to really do anything with, so I just put some product in and go. I try not to comb it though. I like the coils, and combing it really really hurts!
Must-have products and accessories:
The whole Curls Unleashed line is wonderful. Especially the Curl Refresher. Moroccan Oil leave in conditioner is wonderful too.
Hair Idol?
Solange. I love her hair, and I love that she gives no fucks. The confidence she has about herself and her hair is enviable.
Hair goals?
I’m not sure yet. I’m just letting it grow and seeing what comes.
One thing you’ve learned about your hair: It’s about as stubborn as I am.
One thing you’ve learned about yourself: We all know that there are societal beauty norms that black women don’t necessarily fit, particularly natural women. While I once did care, I no longer do. I’m fine with not fitting. That was exciting to discover.
Now you’ve always kept your hair short as long as I’ve known you. Do you plan on doing the same with your natural hair?
I’m not sure. I’ll see what it’s like in the next year or so. Maybe I’ll get a big afro weave like Erykah Badu or Leela James. Yah, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll get a big afro weave!
Are you ever tempted to relax again?
All the time! Whenever i see gorgeous, funky cuts that work well on straight hair, I want so badly to hit up a Dark N Lovely relaxer kit. And watching Love & Hip Hop Atlanta this season is going to be terrible because ⅔ of that cast’s hair is LAID. But i don’t think I could ever do it again. The permanence of a relaxer is scary and the amount of upkeep is daunting.
Tell us about life as a comedian. Where do you usually perform?
Comedy is hard. It’s fun, and exciting, but also a lot of grinding. Lots of open mics, lots of not ideal situations. I perform in bars and comedy venues around New York City, and I co-host a biweekly show with 2 awesome women.
It’s not often you see Black women in comedy. Why do you think that is? How has this part of the experience been?
There are quite a few black women in the underground comedy scene, actually, they just haven’t climbed the ranks as quickly as other comics do. There are so many factors contributing to that– women as a whole are marginalized by society to some degree, and I think black women have been largely invisible to folks. The comedy scene is a microcosm of society in that respect. I try to think about why black women aren’t that successful at standup (with the exception of like Wanda Sykes or Whoopi Goldberg, etc.), and I don’t have any one answer. Maybe folks don’t like what we talk about? Maybe it’s the way some of us communicate? I haven’t a clue. Alls I know is, I get on stage and do what I do.
Has your new image with natural hair affected your confidence at all? Positively or negatively?
Initially, I felt ugly. I was scared men wouldn’t like me. I was scared people would assume that I’m militant and making an aggressive statement, you know, all the silly things people assume about natural hair. But now I feel so good about being natural. I don’t care about any of that silly stuff anymore. I don’t feel ugly; I feel like myself. I barely remember what I looked like with a relaxer. Before, I’d never leave home without makeup. Now I do it all the time, even without jewelry. It’s kinda fun to just be like, yup, this is it. This is me. It’s wonderful.
Have you been received differently on stage?
Well, I used to have a hard time getting black women audience members on my side, but since the mini fro, they’ve been really supportive. I dunno what changed– maybe I got better, maybe it’s all in my head. But that’s the only difference I can think of. Ha. I might have just made that up.
What made you want to pursue comedy? What do you think your impact will be? What do you hope to gain from the experience?
As a kid, I saw a VHS tape of Eddie Murphy Raw and fell in love with comedy. Over time I found Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Ellen DeGeneres. I loved all of them. In high school, I was kind of a loud kid who would entertain kids in the Student Center, and that feeling of having folks listening and laughing at things you say is addicting. I never really thought I wanted to do stand up in particular until I saw Dave Chappelle’s Killing Them Softly when I was about 15, but it was a fantasy. Like thinking, how amazing would it be if I was a famous comedian? I didn’t really put it into action until I was about 20. I was going through a lot of things, was really depressed, and figured, look, you hate life. Go out and do something you like and make life fun.
I haven’t a clue what my impact will be, and to be honest, I’m not concerned with that much. I know that I’m a smart person with unique experiences and points of view, and I know that I can bring that to people who don’t share those viewpoints with me.
How did you friends and family respond to your hair? How about your fellow comedians?
Everyone was super supportive. My sister was already natural, as were a good portion of my friends. The comedians were super supportive too! To be honest, most of the black women comics I know are natural. As I sit here, I can’t think of a black woman comic I’m good friends with that has a relaxer. Natural hair is taking the comedy scene by storm!
Spread some knowledge:
Martin, the character from The Cosby Show is a deadbeat! And nobody ever wants to talk about it. He married a woman he barely knew, took his child away from her mother and moved the girl into his new wife’s parents’ house. Then he left the child there with this strange family to go with his wife to Singapore! Horrible. Relevance to this article? Umm, I dunno. Denise had locs during this period of the show.
Related posts:
Meet Jess:
