In an effort to teach San Francisco hair enthusiasts the essentials of natural hair care, self-proclaimed master braider Jewel Parker presented a natural hair-care seminar entitled "Back to Plaits" on Friday October 28, 2005.

The event was held at the Southeast campus of San Francisco City College and drew a small crowd of women, including a few young ladies from San Francisco's Youth Guidance Center, eager to learn more about the subject.

Parker first became interested in natural hair care after losing her hair.

"I started this business because I loved wearing my hair frosted, permed all that stuff," she said, “And one day my hair said to me 'okay, I’ve had enough' and it decided to leave and it did.”

After moping around about the loss of her hair, she decided to revert back to something that had always helped her hair grow as a child; plaits or braids, as they are called now. It worked so well that she began to research it more.

“True beauty really comes from within and when a person is unhealthy, there are many signs of the system breaking down and the hair is a major sign,” Parker said.

She teaches that healthy hair has a lot to do with nutrition. Something she learned a lot about as a Home Economics major at SF State.

“I just took the classes that I took from state and converted them into hair care,” She said “That’s where the nutrition comes in and that’s where the design comes in.”

After learning so much about the hair she decided to pass it on to her assistant instructor Utopia Hammond who was just recently named San Francisco’s Natural Beauty stylist of the year.

Hammond said that it is important for her to encourage more women to wear their hair natural and encourage more hair stylists to become familiar with natural hair care practices.

“I want to encourage other African American women to grow their natural hair and appreciate it,” Hammond said, “There’s so many styles you can wear it. It’s so healthy for your hair and it doesn’t do anything but help grow it so why not become more educated in this field?”

It is also important for her to pass her skills on just like her mentor.

“I’m hoping to one day open up a braiding school in San Francisco for the girls locked up in juvenile,” She said.

Stephanie Ramirez, an inhabitant of San Francisco’s Youth Guidance Center was in attendance and is looking forward to learning more from Hammond.

“I know how to braid,” She said, “I learned it myself and I would like to take this into a career.”

Ieasha Bordelon, who is also a resident at YGC, wants to brush up on her skills so she can be a professional hair stylist.

“I know how to braid but I really want to learn how to do designs, twists and stuff like that,” she said.

Parker hopes that the girls continue on into the field of natural hair care and keep the things that she has taught them close to their hearts.

“You are responsible for being kind to people,” she said, “You are beautifying that person's mind, body and spirit.”