Okay, how fly are these pics?! These photos of actress Viola Davis (The Help) are from a recent spread done for Los Angeles Times Magazine. Viola is seen frequently on red carpets rocking wigs and weaves. I had no idea she was sporting a fab TWA underneath it all. I personally think she looks amazing and should wear her natural hair more often. There is a lot of oscar buzz surrounding her performance in The Help. I hope she wins.
A good friend of mine found this on Youtube. It was made in good humor and it is pretty funny – especially when she says “Why you not running?”, however it sheds some light on the negativity and ignorance we naturals have to deal with sometimes. I’m sure all of us have heard one or two of the comments in this video.
I came across this picture on Facebook after I was tagged in a birthday related post. I don’t know if these are Barbies or Bratz, but these dolls are Fab with a capital F. I love everything about them from the glam outfits to the gorgeous hair. If anyone knows where I can get these dolls let me know asap.
I celebrated my birthday this past weekend with my SO and a bunch of my fab girlfriends. Because I love all things sparkly – I picked out a very Fab on a Budget dress from a boutique shop in the Prince George’s Plaza mall called Rumors. I paired the dress with 4-inch black satin heels from a store called Traffic. I opted out of wearing a lot of accessories as to not overwhelm the look.
My hair is a twist-out done on wet hair with Taliah Waajid Lock It Up Gel (review coming soon). I did small to medium twists on my hair, let them dry over night, and unraveled them the next day. When untwisting, I further separated each piece at least once to give my hair more volume. Then I moisturized with Bee Mine Balanced Cream Moisturizer (review also coming soon).
So, yea. It has been a looong minute since I have updated this blog. I apologize for that, but it was for fairly good reasons. There have been a lot of changes happening in my life in the year since I last posted and they kind of diverted my attention away from this blog. But it is one of my New Year’s resolutions to be more consistent with updating this thing. Look, I even changed up the background. What do you think?
As for what’s kept me away? First, I started a new position over the summer that was a better both professionally and financially and I love it. I work in higher education and am currently an academic advisor at the University of Maryland 
Second, I got my own place and my Significant Other and I finally moved in together. Its been a long road (and a long story) but we are finally in a happy place. I also took on a second job just for some extra cash during the holidays last December so that kept me pretty busy for a while.
But enough excuses. I’m back and I’m so excited. I have lots of things I want to write about and share with you guys regarding my hair, product reviews, fashion and more. If you are reading this, thanks for coming back and visiting!
“I think it should be emphasized that for many women relaxing their hair is a habit that is based on a choice that was made for them when they were very young.”
“While I don’t think of perming as a form of self-hate, I know perming for ME was a result of me not knowing my options or realizing what I could do with my own hair in its natural state.”
These quotes are parts of two different comments I read today on CurlyNikki.com in response to an interview of an African-American guy on his preference of natural textured hair and his dislike of relaxed hair. The link to this interview can be found here:
http://www.curlynikki.com/2010/12/sometimes-hair-is-just-hair-follow-up.html#comments
These comments really struck me because I identify with them so much. I as an individual never made the choice to begin relaxing my hair. That choice was made for me many years ago by my mother because my hair was deemed “bad” or “nappy.” Every time I sat down on a pillow in between my mother’s legs on the floor when it came time to get my relaxer touch-up, I had to endure the disappointed announcements that my perm “didn’t take.” The blame for my perm “not taking” or not effectively chemically straightening my hair was always put on me for not allowing it to sit on my head long enough. Perhaps the reason was because no matter what lengths I went to prevent burning (including not scratching my scalp and applying a relaxer base), my scalp would always feel like it was on fire after 7-10 minutes. This was practice occurred every couple of months until I went natural a year and a half ago. It was all I knew. Every woman in my family got their hair relaxed. Black women’s hair was SUPPOSED to be relaxed unless you were “blessed” with loosely textured hair (or you know, had Indian in your family *cough*). There shouldn’t even be a question about it. If you started to let the time stretch between touch-ups, there would be the constant questions of “When you getting a perm?” or “When are you gonna do something to that head?” The practice of relaxing was so ingrained in my head that I was unaware that there were alternative ways to manage African-American hair and I myself thought of my hair as a problem that constantly needed to be dealt with. I know that I have been frustrated with this practice for years. I was sick of burning the skin off my scalp every three months, paying $80-$90 dollars every time my hair started to become “unmanageable”, I was sick of the breakage. But I kept relaxing because in my mind these were part of the perils of being a black woman. This is what we HAD to do to look presentable in society.
I am aware now that natural haired ladies have always existed, but for some reason until a year and a half ago they were never on my conscious radar. Perhaps because no one in “real life” wore their hair that way. It took a friend going natural for me to realize that there was another way to be. She too had to do a big chop due to years of hair damage from relaxers, weaves, half wigs, etc. And at first I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I teetered between shock, awe, envy, and disapproval. How dare she walk around in public without a perm? I mean, I guess it’s cute. Her hair’s not so bad, but I know *I* could never do that! But her hair grew on me. She wore it with such swagger and style that I envied her confidence. After a few months I began to think to myself, “Maybe I don’t have to put myself through all this misery. Maybe I can go natural too.” And thus began the mental transition (which trust me, starts long before the physical transition) of breaking free of the slavery to the relaxer and to the salon.
Many consider this “natural hair movement” to be a trend or a fad. That may be true, but I think it’s a good thing. Why? Because exposure is everything. This fad is demonstrating to women of the African-American community that there are other options and alternatives if you are tired of the perming. I wish I had been exposed to it sooner. Perhaps years of frustration, giving my hard to come by money to the stylist, and the infamous hair catastrophe that led to me choosing this option could have been prevented.
Went out in DC for my friend/old college roommate Nadine’s birthday. This was totally a last minute style.
I decided to snap a shot of how long my hair was getting in the back. This was taken back in October. Its been 15 months since I went natural. My hair would be longer if I hadn’t done a second big chop in September 2009.
I need a trim…
Here is a shot of a wash and go that I wore to work a couple of months ago:
And here is a close up shot of the curly coils
Hey everyone. So my last post was three months ago. Yea. Life has been a little crazy these past few months. I graduated from University of Delaware with a Master’s in Counseling in Higher Education. I got a job at University of Maryland, College Park as an Academic Advisor and I love it. It’s my first 9-5 with benefits so I feel like I’m on my grown ish now lol. It was kind of like a world wind. I had my first interview Thursday July 22nd and I stayed with my grandparents who don’t live to far away. I was driving back to central Pennsylvania that Saturday where I was living with my boyfriend until I found a job and they called me mid-trip to invite me for a second interview. The second interview was Tuesday July 27, so I turn around and come right back after a day. My boyfriend’s lease was ending and we were both planning on moving back in with family until I found employment so I just packed all my stuff and moved back to my grandparents for good. They offered me the job on August 4th. Needless to say I was ecstatic. I had been job searching since January and was afraid that the school year would start without me getting a job offer. I accepted the job during the same phone call that they offered it to me. They say you aren’t supposed to do that, but to wait and think things over but screw that. I needed a job!
So, I ended up back in my hometown area of MD/DC and my bf moved back to Philadelphia. We are working on figuring out how to get him down here. It’s complicated.
In addition to that, I had to buy a new car. So yes, I bought my very first new car. It’s a 2010 Honda Civic LX and I bought it because its perfect for me. Affordable, small sedan, high reliability ratings, good MPG and it will last me a long time. I wasn’t looking forward to a car note but I kind of brought it on myself. I bought a 10-year-old used Ford Escort last year and basically did no maintenance on it so things were starting to all apart. Rather than spend thousands of dollars on fixing an old car that wasn’t guaranteed to last much longer, I just put that money toward a new one. Here it is:
2010 Honda Civic LX
This major purchase along with the fact that my student loans are no joke, I decided to get a second job. So now I am a Seasonal Sales Associate at Macy’s. The hours haven’t been too crazy and depending on how I deal with a second job this winter I may keep it.
I have also been catching up with friends and family who all seem to have migrated to this area. It good to be near everyone again after living out-of-state for so long.
So that’s what’s been keeping me from keeping up with the blog. I started this blog as a way to document my natural hair journey. I started making videos on YouTube but for some reason I find it to take a lot of effort and time and I don’t think I am very good at it. I will still make videos from time to time but I find myself to be better with a digital camera and will probably use pictorials as my way of journaling my hair. I also want to talk about other things like fashion, entertainment and current events. It’s my early New Year’s resolution to be more committed to this blog and see where it can go.
So in order words: I’m back bitches!
