Stunning Tangle Teezer Pride campaign celebrates the beauty and diversity of the LGBT+ community
Tangle Teezer.
Tangle Teezer has dropped a dazzling Pride campaign celebrating inspirational stories from the LGBT+ community and empowering queer voices.
Marking Pride month, the #PowerToBeMe campaign features LGBT+ activists, artists and creatives both in front of and behind the camera.
It stars musician and founder of Gaysians Reeta Loi; drag artist Timothie (otherwise known as Grace Shush); singer and akt youth engagement coordinator Jason Kwan; and dancer and model Sakeema Peng Crook. Spanish photographer Francisco Gomez de Villaboa helped bring their stories to life.
Tangle Teezer is also putting their money where their mouth is and donating £10,000 to akt, a charity that helps LGBT+ people facing homelessness and unsafe situations.
Kwan has volunteered and worked for akt for two-and-a-half years, and says it’s a vital lifeline for LGBT+ youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. One quarter of young people (aged 16 to 25) experiencing homelessness in the UK are LGBT+. Of those, 77 per cent had to leave their homes because their families don’t accept who they are.
“We try to put these young people into safe homes, to help them build their skills, to make sure they’re looked after, and to make sure they can find a community to belong in,” Kwan explains.
Reeta Loi talks about the conflict she felt between her cultural identity and her sexual identity.
“I could be gay or I could be Indian, but I couldn’t be both,” she says.
“I couldn’t celebrate both of these beautiful parts of the gifts that I’d been born with together, holistically.”
She says that by finding other people like her, she has been able to feel connected to both parts of herself and “find love from that pain”.
Timothie credits drag with helping them feel empowered.
“Drag saved my life,” they reveal.
“It has introduced me to people who are trans, non-binary, pansexual, bisexual, everything.
“And not feeling ever like I fit… that was such a moment of lightbulb for me – hearing the word non-binary and having it explained.”
Sakeema found personal liberation through the ballroom scene. “Seeing reflections of myself is something I didn’t grow up seeing so much, especially in terms of queer POC representation” she explains.
“Seeing other Black queer folk [in ballroom] that were expressing themselves freely and playing with gender and feeling their own fantasies is such a magical thing.”
With more and more LGBT+ people struggling with their mental health and feeling isolated, it’s more important than ever to see positive representation of LGBT+ people and hear queer voices amplified.
Visit Tangle Teezer for more and to discover their iconic new Pride Power Compact Styler.
