It is just after noon inside Your Natural Image hair salon in South Kansas City, Missouri, on a Thursday in July. The 16-year-old Cornelius Mitchell has just come from under the dryer.
Mitchell, a Black student at Raymore-Peculiar High School, wears locs. They’re black with brown tips that extend just below his broad shoulders. Right now, they are pretty puffy, but once his stylist retwists them as part of his loc maintenance service, the hair will have a tighter, fresher look.
Locs run in Mitchell’s family, he said…