Let me say first of that this is not going to be a blog about strictly hair care and product reviews. However, like most curly girls I do take pride in my hair and I am always looking for new ways to keep it healthy and happy and looking good.
This week I purchased the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Conditioner. I have mixed it together with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) (btw EVOO is a miracle worker). I first used it on my two stand twist (which I bantu knot every night), I loved the results. It smoothed my very split ends and kept my hair very moisturized. After keeping my hair in twists for four days I rocked a twist out on the fiftth day. I have to first of all say that I have a really thick head of hair and that no matter what, it will poof. However, with the Hello Hydration and Olive oil my curls we controled and bouncy and most importantly soft and hydrated and they did not poof too much.
This morning I decided to wash my hair with Garnier Fructis Moisture Works and conditioned with Hello Hydration, which I used as a combing conditioner as reccomended as safe to leave in ones hair by tightlycurly . Well, after attemptimg the tightlycurly method on half of my head I lost patients and just slicked my hair back.
I decided to get a cut inspired by Nathalie Emanuel
I showed the hair dresser the picture and he began his work. I also stipulated that i wanted absolutely no damaged ends left behind (they were split about 4 ways...until about 4 months ago I treated my hair horribly). I was in a bit of shock when he cut the first layer and he calmed me down saying that that would be the shortest. He did not style my hair because I am pretty sceptical about most peoples ability to style hair when the request is not dried, fried and lied to the side. I pretty much walked out with a picked fro which I pulled in one. On the way out I felt my hair and it was still soft from the routine I used this morning.I am going to do some pretty chunky twists tonight and see the results in the morn.
This is just a twist out on damp hair with the hello hydration and EVOO. However, my ends are coiling up again, and I am so pleased about that.
I am in total shock! Jessica Szohr is a curly girl like me. How did I not know this? Anyhow I am gonna post a couple of pictures...I wish she would wear he hair natural more often, it looks absolutely stunning.
I wonder if anyone else does this. You know that little button in the left hand corner that says next blog...I click on it a whole lot. Today I discovered this sweet blog done by this American woman who adopted two Ethiopian girls. I checked it out and I was so moved. Here there is this lady who was willing to adopt two little girls who come from this completely different background and instead of ignoring it and slowly earasing their heritage she is embracing it.
How many of us can say that we are this open to a culture that is not our own. On that note how many of us have let culture, religion , nationality or race allow us forget that underneath it all we are just humans? The issue of division for these exact reasons has always been a concern of mine. Growing up in Germany as a bi-racial child I was soon made aware that I was different. I remember my parents always saying, you are yourself and you are no colour, you are a person. Of course at that age I wanted nothing more than simply make friends and for people to like me.
How ideal would it be for every person to simply embrace another regardless of their background or the colour of their skin but simply by virtue of them being a human just like themselves. I cannot for the life of me figure out how any person cannot appreciate that basically we are all the same. It is true we all have different ways of expressing ourselves culturally and spiritually but at the end of the day for most of us it is all towards the same end.
Why do so many people shut out things that are different? Is it so hard to see the beauty in this plathora of creative expression of basic human instinct. So many religions preach that theirs is the only way and those who do not follow are dammed. However, if some gave it a second thought instead of mouthing dogmatically what has been preached to them they would recognize how utterly rediculous that it (yes I SAID IT). How could it possibly be the intention on Jah, Allah or God (whatever you want to call this higher power that most of us recognize exisits) to leave out more than half the globe because they do not suscibe to what the other is saying if he or she created us all. If it is the argument of some that we were created in his own image and likeness, then how can so many be so presumptious that his own image is so one dimentional?
What is it that makes it so difficult for people to look beyond those layers and simply recognizing themseleves.
This is not how I always saw life but more and more it is becoming my motto. You only have one life... right! Live with no regrets...this life is nothing but one huge journey filled with many lessons. Take joy in the small moments and I guarantee you that they will pile up and fill you with happiness. Its not about the huge victories but in appreciating the small ones. Live in the presant, it makes no sense doing something and thinking about doing something different...LIVE IN THE MOMENT! xoxoSheba
I have to admit I was never the biggest fan of Soca music, usually I would only listen to it around Carnival. However, I have to say this thing is an all year round thing for me from this moment on. I think I like the groovy soca as opposed to the power soca. Who knows...I might even go to soca monarch this year
Over the past few months I have been seriously reconsidering a lot of things but most of all I have been reconsidering what we as women of African decent consider as beauty in ourselves. What do we identify as beauty? Is it largely euro centric...have we been carefully manipulated into some sort of self loathing of our natural features?
Our kinky/ curly hair, our curves, our broad hips, our noses, our lips. I don't think I am wrong when I say that the picture of beauty that is projected and what so many of us have been chasing for a long time is not how we naturally look. How many of us have fallen victim to the creamy crack (hair straighteners....not actual crack) so that we can have that straight long "flowy" hair? I know I had my share of chemically altered hair texture.
When I was about 14 my hairdresser convinced my mother that I should have my hair texturized, to make it more manageable..you know...because "obviously" my natural texture could not be managed. I remember sitting in that chair with two hair dressers over my "mop" (as they called it) and complaining that their hands got all cramped up from trying to detangle my hair. When the texturizing process was finished and I walked out of the salon the first comment I got from a lady was :
"Oh I like your hair like that...it makes your face look so much softer"
I have to admit I did agree with her at the time, I found my hair a lot more manageable. I was able to just comb it into a pony tail with these nice loose curls flowing from it. Finally I was able to show of the length of hair.
A few years later my secondary school graduation rolled around and I called up my hairdresser and told her I wanted to go completly straight. I made my appointment and got my hair completely straightened. O.M.G it was soooo soft and stick straight. When my father saw it he was so disappointed. He is Rastafarian and loathed any type of hair manipulation, he still cringes when I get a trim. Until now I did not understand why he cared so much that I altered the natural texture of my hair. It was just hair right!!!
That summer I went to Europe to visit with family and friends (Btw I am biracial (mom -European dad- afro caribbean) and I was so proud of my new hair. I always wore it out, I would just wet it in the morning and scrunch it to get a light curl.
Fast forward to my first real relationship. I met this cute guy and he adored my hair. He loved how long and straight it was and he also loved when I wore it curly.
Fast forward a couple of months down the line....I had this rare condition that caused partial baldness. I had two small bald spots to the back of my head. I FREAKED!!! All my life I had this long thick hair and now I was going bald (or so I thought). In a frenzy to make myself feel better I rushed to the hairdresser and asked her to touch up my roots... I don't know what I was thinking....how was that supposed to fix anything. Thankfully she refused. My mom spoke to a friend of hers about my condition who started dishing out horror stories about how hair relaxer can cause your hair to fall out (If that is true is still to be confirmed). At that point I vowed to stop chemically manipulating my hair and decided to grow back my natural hair.
My bf at the time (yea same one) was not too pleased about my decision and as my roots grew out he even teased me a bit (I don't think he really meant harm) . He even complained that my new growth scratched him. (we broke up not too long after...not because of my hair though)
I continued to grow out my hair and cut of the ends bit by bit while wearing my hair in braids. Creativity struck and all of the sudden I made it my business to come up with new ideas of how to braid my hair. I remember sitting in Caribbean Studies class and my teacher talking about hair styles and telling us how the different intricate braiding styles stemmed from Africa. This was not news to me but somehow a bit of pride welled up in me. I felt good because unlike the majority of people I was in some way (even though by accident) staying true to my African roots (literally).
(About a year later) So finally I cut of all the straightened ends and and was left with a fro. At first when I looked at myself I did not feel beautiful (my mom loved it somehow). My hair was no longer long and I felt like a piece of me was missing. I immediatly braided my hair into single braids and comforted myself. I looked at my reflection and guess what...this was not so bad.
At that point I had a new bf (you know teenagers) and he liked my natural hair. He always complimented me and said I was the most beautiful girl he knew. That did boost my confidence a whole lot and by then the texture of my hair sort of became irrelivant to me. People stared to compare me to Empress Jeanille from Tempo (a caribbean music mtv channel). I thought she was geogous and didn't mind the comparisson.
Fast forward to University
I always wore my hair in twists and alot of the time people mistaked my twists for dread locks. I really did not mind and in some way I felt proud, after all my father was rastafrian. I rocked those twists and I still do.
Last semester I started to get really fed up of thoes twists and started to flat iron my hair and even considered going back to the creamy crack. At that point one of my hall mates introcuced me to this great web page about natural afro centric hair curlynikki.com and I fell in love with my texture all over again. It was from then on forward that I began to really understand my hair.
I started visiting a ton of blogs and suscribing to youtubers who demonstrated how they took care of their natural textured hair. A common thread ran through all of their posts. At one point or another most of them felt that how their hair naturally looked was not good enough. They all felt like they needed straight hair. Some had their permanently relaxed while others worked hard to flat iron it into limp and thin straightness. WHY ON EARTH HAVE MOST US DONE THAT? What is it that makes us believe that how we naturally look is not good enough.
It is a fact that especially in north America that many people consider that kinky or curly hair in its natural state does not appear professional. Why? I have to ask....what makes it so damn unprofessional? What are we so afraid of?
In the words of the great Bob Marley (also bi-racial) "Emanicpate yourself from mental slavery" Somewhere along the way we have been brain washed into thinking that things of African decent are not good enough and it has caused us to manipulate our very physical being. Some may say...hey its only hair lady... I beg to differ....Think about it
I woke up with this song on my mind and somehow it followed me all day. I played it at work and my colleague and friend who I have so much in common with goes....I love this song too....I have to say this is definitely the song of the day and I also have to say....Maxwell is soooo sexy
I got so excited about starting my blog. For months I have been randomly checking out blogs, mainly natural hair care and stuff of that nature and thinking to myself...I should do this. Today I decide that I should and immediately a million ideas flow into my head about what I can share with the world. At work I can hardly sit still, I am itching to get home and get some piece of mind to put it all out there.However,as as soon as I click new post...my mind goes...*crickets chirp* can u believe this crap...blasted writers block...Is this normal?
Today 15.07.10 I have not a single follower and have changed my very first blog post about a million times. I am starting this blog to write about just about anything.I suppose we can say I am making up for not becoming a journalist. So here it goes.....
I showed the hair dresser the picture and he began his work. I also stipulated that i wanted absolutely no damaged ends left behind (they were split about 4 ways...until about 4 months ago I treated my hair horribly). I was in a bit of shock when he cut the first layer and he calmed me down saying that that would be the shortest. He did not style my hair because I am pretty sceptical about most peoples ability to style hair when the request is not dried, fried and lied to the side. I pretty much walked out with a picked fro which I pulled in one. On the way out I felt my hair and it was still soft from the routine I used this morning.I am going to do some pretty chunky twists tonight and see the results in the morn.
