Random – “Excuse me miss, your hair is blocking my view”
Tiyami Tosha – “In case you missed it, my hair IS the view!”
That’s not an actual conversation Tiyami’s had, but after seeing some of her work that’s how her clients should be responding. Our hair is our crown, and with more people taking pride in their natural look we should keep learning how to take care of it and style it well too. That’s where Tiyami’s skill comes in. Originally from South Sudan, born in Cuba, raised in Kenya, Tiyami Amum (prefers Tosha) has lived in Australia since March 2003 making that 14 years and some change. Her journey as a hair stylist was kicked off by a curiosity to understand braiding patterns and she remembers having a eureka moment around age 5.
Tiyami is a self-taught creative braider and African hair stylist. She’s worked at several salons with extremely talented professionals. She’s also applied her knowledge from studying Naturopathy to refine the process of creating products that work for our various hair types. As her craft centres around the art of styling African hair, she’s realised that it’s not something she can go to school for here in Australia. Tiyami has therefore embarked on a project she refers to as her most exciting & challenging one, “Tuko Nyumbani”, an African hair & youth exhibition that she worked on in early August in collaboration with photographer Buk Duach. The exhibition was on for two weeks at the Connection Art Space and it was something that allowed her to get a little introspective about her connection to hair.
Recently, Tiyami has styled for Tkay Maidza, Candy Bowers and co-star Nancy Denis for their theatre show – One the Bear. She’s also styled DJ duo – The Maiisisters. She was also a part of the styling team for the AMKA theatre show which recently showed at Art Centre Melbourne and in the same light, ‘Black Girl Magic’, an event which starred Kween G along some of Melbourne’s most talented poets & creatives.
As she’s quite young and fresh in the business, POCreative asked Tiyami what opportunities or collaborations she’s after?
“My absolute goal at the moment would be to style SZA whilst she’s touring Australia early next year. But other than that I have a very open approach to my work as a hair stylist, I’m always ready to exlpore concepts and try out new and old things alike with any creative minded individual that comes my way.”
We hope the universe answers your requests Tiyami. Our readers can find her on Facebook and Instagram @safiandabalo – she takes bookings on both platforms.
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