Meet the five-year-old boy who, with the help of his mother and his remarkable head of hair, is taking Instagram by storm…
Photography: Kyle Galvin
“When I went for my pregnancy scan, I wanted to know if he was a boy or a girl and they couldn’t tell me that, they could only say ‘the child’s got a lot of hair’.”
Bonnie Miller, mother of the Insta- famous Farouk James, is explaining
to us the moment she realised her son had such incredible locks. We’re sitting in Errol Douglas (@erroldouglas1), the Knightsbridge salon famed for its knowledge and understanding of afro hair, where Farouk regularly has his mountain of thick curls snipped and styled to perfection.
The five-year-old wriggles uncomfortably in his chair while he waits for his hair to be finished. The appointment has been sandwiched between a full day of school and our photoshoot, leaving us impressed by just how well he’s coping with the constant preening and primping, for which he must sit absolutely still. Most five-year-olds would be throwing a screaming fit right now, but not Farouk.
Fast forward an hour and we’re in an East London studio, Kidz Bop blasting as our photographer hastily tries to capture Farouk’s inventive dance moves and infectious energy. It’s not hard to see why his photos and videos get so much attention on Instagram, where he’s built an impressive following of over 150,000.
“When he was a baby, he was very popular, people would literally cross the road to come and see him, it was like the baby Jesus or something,” Bonnie, 40, explains.
His popularity sparked Bonnie’s interest in setting up a social media account for him, but she quickly lost interest in the Twitter account she
was using and eventually stopped posting. Interestingly, it was only when a photo of Farouk was lifted from a family member’s Instagram account and posted on someone else’s page that she realised just how popular he could be on the platform.
“A lady in America used a picture of Farouk and pretended it was her as a child. It’s not the greatest thing to have happened because she was a stripper, a famous one.
“She put this picture up of Farouk on her page and it was very 70s because he had corduroys on. He had just come out of Harrods after buying two Power Rangers and was walking with his new little Harrods bag.
“There were two things I thought. 1: He’s really popular and people are really loving him and 2: there were people commenting because it was apparently her as a child.”
While seeing her son’s picture on another account highlighted how interested people were in his looks, there was also another reason Bonnie decided to eventually set up an Instagram account for Farouk.
“I thought, ‘well, this is quite interesting’ because at that time his father and I had broken up; his father actually said ‘you’ll never see me again’. This idea came to my mind: ‘imagine if I set up a page for Farouk, and then his father sees him?’. If he could see him maybe it would encourage him to be a father to Farouk. And it happened, it worked.”
Bonnie was pleased to find that her initial reasons for setting up the page were quickly achieved, but was surprised by just how quickly Farouk’s following started to grow.
“It just took off, and I was so surprised. He got 2,000 followers in about a month. It just grew and grew,” she recalls.
The obvious popularity of his account inspired Bonnie to take a more active role in promoting the photos she was posting, and she began researching how to best use hashtags and target afro and natural hair events to ensure each post was being seen by as many people as possible.
“I looked at events around the world and I would see what was on and I would check all of the time frames.
“I worked on a whole book full of popular hashtags and how many hashtags got used and how many times and I put them into categories.
“I really did my marketing research. Sometimes I would have to be up until four or six in the morning to catch the LA time-frame when I posted. If there was an afro hair event, I would hashtag that event so he would get seen and he would get lots of exposure.”
Her techniques worked, and Farouk’s account steadily became more and
more popular. This popularity did, however, make Bonnie wary of who exactly was following her son’s account and she developed ways of monitoring who was viewing his pictures and video clips.
“Originally when I set up the page, I set up another page where I followed everyone that followed him because I was worried about paedophiles.
“But because he was getting so many followers, I couldn’t follow back as quick and that idea went out the window.
“The new followers are a bit slower now than previously, so I do check as they come through and if I see that their page is a bit dodgy, I block them. I try and do what I can, but it’s really difficult to monitor.”
Farouk’s understanding of his internet fame is also something Bonnie monitors – she’s keen to keep him grounded.
“It is a concern [people telling him he’s famous]. I wouldn’t like for him
to have a big ego so I don’t want that attachment of ‘famous’. You look at child stars and it’s not always a positive thing.
“I make it quite clear to him that we’re doing this so that other kids can learn about how to do your hair and we can inspire other children to let their hair be natural.”
The natural hair movement has gained momentum in recent years, and Instagram stars like Farouk are integral to spreading the message that natural, afro hair is something to embrace and celebrate. Social media has also allowed people to connect in a way that was never possible before, meaning even those in the most remote places in the world can talk to people with similar hair types at the press of a button.
Since starting his account, people from across the world have reached out to Bonnie and Farouk, sharing their natural hair stories and asking for advice.
“There’s one particular girl I know who’s mixed-race and she said she’s the only mixed-race person in her town.
She was saying to me that it’s only via social media that she has any interaction with anybody with hair like her own,” Bonnie says.
“For some people, it’s life-changing for them, it really is life-changing and they have this self-discovery of who they are and they grow with it,” she continues.
“We’ve been on it nearly three years now and I’ve seen young girls grow this confidence just due to having that social media interaction with the natural hair community. Without it, they would just be lost, they would be totally lost.”
Bonnie and Farouk now regularly attend natural and afro hair conventions across the world and frequently speak to children with similar Instagram accounts.
“We Facetime with kids around the world. So it doesn’t feel like he’s any different to anyone else. It’s an online community and he’s part of it,” Bonnie explains.
With Farouk attending so many different events and the popularity of
his account, it’s easy to wonder just how aware he is of what’s going on around him and how popular he is.
“I thought he didn’t know anything about it for quite a while, I thought he was oblivious,” Bonnie says.
“But recently he had an interview and he was asked how to become famous on Instagram. He told them to go on the Google Play Store and download the app and then take a picture and post it. I couldn’t believe he even knew that much, I was really shocked,” she says.
“He’s really aware of social media, it’s second nature to him and his friends (who aren’t even on Instagram).
“Even the kids in his class watch YouTube videos and they come to class in the morning and say ‘I’ve seen you, I watched your video last night’.”
Now that Farouk is more aware of his account, Bonnie has started to involve him more in the decisions about what is posted and the themes for his videos.
“I give him 3-4 pictures and I ask him which one is best. Now he’s getting a bit older, I want him to have a bit more say in it because if Instagram lasts for 10 years, he will be looking at these pictures in 10 years time.
“He helps with the outfits as well, with what he wears, and he helps with the poses; he decides what kind of pose he wants to do.
“We talk about how we want the videos to be seen, if it’s an emotional one, or a serious one, or if it’s a fun one. Sometimes we get into character and he chooses the picture he thinks is the best and then he will tell me his reasons for why as well.”
So, what’s in the future for Farouk?
“Ideally, I just want my son to be happy. Educated and happy. If he likes the performance road that he’s involved in and he wants to continue modelling, that’s fine. But if I see any sign of him not enjoying it, I’ll just pull him out of that,” Bonnie says.
“I’m negotiating with publishers to actually publish a series of books, which will start by featuring him and talk about boys with long hair.
“There would be a group of kids, maybe six kids, with each one from a different culture and it would be the sort of book series that every child in the world could read.
“It would aim to break down some barriers and try to get people to understand each other more.
“If you can get children to understand when they’re young, it will stay with them for life.”