When the school day ends, the learning at P.S. 171 in East Harlem continues.

In a classroom at Patrick Henry Prep, fourth grade teacher Jade Lambert lets down her hair as she leads the school’s Natural Hair Club. It’s a chance for girls to learn a new skill: the art of braiding and appreciating the beauty of their own hair.

What You Need To Know

Fourth grade teacher Jade Lambert started the Natural Hair Club at Patrick Henry Prep in East Harlem as a way to teach students a new skill: the art of braiding and appreciating the beauty of their own hair

A nonprofit called ROX did a study of more than 17,000 girls in fifth through 12th grades and found that the number of girls who reported feeling confident actually dropped between 2017 to 2023 from 68% in 2017 to 55% in 2023

Lambert applied for an identity-based clubs grant that allowed her to purchase the extra supplies she needed to take the club to the next level

“Cornrowing hair takes practice, practice, practice,” Lambert said to a group of students. “You might not even get it fully today, but you can’t quit.”

“For me, it’s really built a culture around loving your hair, appreciating this difference that we have, and that our hair is all different, but we can find common ground in it,” she added.

That’s important for girls at the school. According to NYC Public Schools data, P.S. 171 is 23% Black and 59% Hispanic.

Tani Kennedy is a seventh grader who’s been in the club since the last school year. She doesn’t want to be a hair stylist when she grows up, but she says it’ll be a good way to make extra money during college as she works towards her dream career.

“I want to be a OB-GYN,” Kennedy said. “I love babies, and I’m not saying there’s not a lot of nurses in that, but to be a girl doctor, I just want to do that in my life.”

Kennedy knows doing a client’s hair is more than just being skilled.

“Making sure they feel safe in your hands, and making sure they feel comfortable is everything that people want sometimes,” she said.

Lambert says the club helps her students feel like they belong.

“Kids love to see themselves in the classroom. So they see themselves in me, they see themselves in Hair Club. So it’s making them more confident. It’s making them feel like they have a space here,” she said.

It’s a space to not only have fun, but to be themselves and appreciate how special their hair truly is.

“Wearing our hair is a point of confidence for us, so focusing, yes it’s about Blackness, because hair is a very central piece of being a Black woman, being a Black person,” Lambert said. 

“But it’s also important for everyone to learn this stuff, right? For everyone to learn how we’ve gone through different hair through history, how history how hair has been a point of oppression for us,” she added. “And now we’re learning, we’re embracing it, and now it’s a point of confidence — it’s a point of individuality.”