Take Credit for Those Beautiful Curls

Last week Curly Film Chick and I had a cute little dinner date, forgot to photograph the dish, but as usual we got into our many talks about our lives, and growing up and hair experiences. Which led me to one of mine... never realizing I had curls.

When I was a child, my mother kept my hair in box braids and single strand twists as an easier way for her to deal with my hair, and whenever I wore my hair out, it was generally in afro puffs. I never knew that I had curly hair, and I dont think any one else did either. Not to mention that once I was able to do my own hair I was obsessed with piking it out... I think it had something to do with watching Marsha on the Brady Bunch and thinking you needed to brush your hair 100 times everyday to have the prettiest hair, lol.

I remember I used to love shampooing my hair in the mirror because I would see it get all wavy and thought that was beautiful, but once i took that pik to my head there were waves no more, so I just attributed it to the shampoo making my hair that way...

When I was in Cosmetology school at the Carsten Aveda Institute, I did my first big chop (click to read the crazy story!) because of a crazy chemical process I did in Brazil  gone wrong. My hair died on my head, and after about 2 months of holding on to dead hair, I chopped it off. I would let my friends wash my hair in school for the scalp massages, using Aveda's Be Curly line, adding the curling products, so again, I attributed my curls to the products. 

Had I knew how to manipulate my curls, I would have taken credit for them a long time ago and I would have already had the natural hair I always wanted. Lesson Learned.

What ever your hair type, take credit for it's beauty and love it for what it is, instead of hating it for what it's not. Take credit for your curls because they're yours, not because you're mixed with whatever. Take credit for your curls because you love them.

When did you first realize your hair's true beauty?

1st Curlformer Set On My TWA

I FINALLY got the chance to borrow Curly Film Chick's Curlformers so I can try them out! 

Okay, I'm just going to get down to the nitty gritty:

The Install - I did not enjoy any part of installing these, at all! lol I know it was my first time doing it on myself, as I had done them for CFC when she first got them over a year ago, but for some reason, things were just not working for me.
It took me three hours, 2 snacks and few arm stretches to get through this set. I felt and heard my hair snagging at different times and I didn't like that, and everything just wasn't as easy for me as it was made to seem... I know, I just need to do it a few times to get the hang of it, but if I don't like it somewhat by the third try, Never Again!

I didn't want to try sleeping on the Curlformers just yet, so under the dryer I went to also get in my mani time :) 

I didn't calculate the time I was under the dryer, but I think 45 mins to an hour later, Curls! I did not enjoy the Curlformer take down either. My Verdict on the curls? 
Curls - Loved the curls! I definitely like it better for long hair, but in the meantime it's a cute little look for my TWA when I need a change from twist outs, roller sets, and even my own curls. As CFC had mentioned to me, they don't really get all of your ends straight if you have really curly hair like us, I could see that from the time my hair was in the roller, but I still love the outcome and they got my roots extremely straight... reminds of when I had a relaxer and would get those roller sets like this, lol. It was definitely cute and I'd like to see how I can manipulate it more in the future... and get the set to last! *Note to self, find good holding product to use with Curlformers!

I knew the set wasn't gonna last so I just threw my hair in a ponytail to sleep, and brushed it out the next day and wore my hair in 2 loose flat twists. 

Quick crazy story: I had on sunglasses while walking down a shady block, so naturally I did not see that I was walking through a swarm of gnats, until I felt the need to swat profusely. When I got to my destination I realized I had like 2 dead gnats in my hair (EEWW!!! FREAKED OUT) and realized they probably drowned in the oils in my hair, did some more freaking out while ripping the twists out and whipping my hair back and forth like a mad woman... which resulted in this look, lmfao. And I'm pretty sure I got all the gnats out too.

Have you used Curl Formers on your TWA? I also wouldn't mind hearing a few crazy natural hair stories! Send 'em in to Yais.nyc@gmail.com!

Natural Hair Appreciation From other Cultures

I was walking down the street when I saw this Japanese cutie!!! It was about 3 weeks ago so unfortunately I don't remember her full name, just her nickname, Mimi. She didn't really speak much english so I didn't ask her much about her hair or regimen, but she did allow me to take some photos of her awesome hair. I'm going to assume she has a curly perm and did a braid out on hair that was maybe a little teased out... idk.. but i thought it looked super cool for trying to imitate naturally highly textured hair, especially coming from super straight asian hair. 

Funny thing is, I would say I'm semi-obsessed with Japanese culture, especially Harajuku culture when it comes to fashion, and I love the fact that there is an openly huge admiration for black culture and beauty in the Japanese culture (I say openly because we all know a lot of other cultures rob our cultures/swag and give us no credit). 

As we go to great lengths to achieve our straight, acceptable by society hair with relaxers and heated tools, it's really cool to see people who appreciate our hair enough to go to the same lengths to get our look. 

Origato! Namaste!

De-Lurk Friday (We See You!)

We're so happy to see that we've been gaining more followers and more readers to our little blog! From SP and I (Curly Film Chick) we thank you so much! Especially those of you who have been following us for a while. We've been at this for about a year-and-a-half and we appreciate all the comments and feedback we've received.

For those of you who are new, this is a lifestyle blog; natural hair, make-up, recipes, and random thoughts and musings from SP and I about what it means to be young women of color in NYC.  We hope you continue to find our posts at least amusing if not completely informative.

So let us know: what are your weekend plans?

Long Hair Only Lovers, Please Speak Out!

Okay, those of you long hair only lovers out there, young or old, black or white, please, speak out!!
My question to you is: What's the deal with long hair that you can only have long hair? What are you so attached to, or hiding, or afraid of?
This is a question I have always wondered and could never understand...
As a hairstylist, I've learned to be sensitive to people's individual feelings concerning their hair, but I've seen one too many women with long hair FREAK OUT over getting something as menial as a trim. I mean literally, grown women, throwing tantrums, crying, screaming and cursing, rolling on the floor, the list goes on (I'M SERIOUSLY NOT JOKING)... Spiral into depressions even over a hairstylist trimming an inch or 2 of stringy, see through ends... And I'm talking about trimming an inch or two off of at least waist length hair.  
Now of course this is not every woman with long hair, as I know there are people who grow their hair to their butt and chop it off every 5 years, or just decided one day to chop their beautiful long hair to a short cut and never turn back, but for the others, I find something kind of disturbing about someone with a good amount of years on their life who's never had hair shorter than their arm pits or shoulders (the one's who consider bra strap length short and would never get a haircut)... If you notice, she's the one who always wears her hair down. When it's time to take a photo, she's the one who brings all her hair to the front on both sides, covering most of her face and body. She's the one who never wears her hair pulled back away from her face... Her Security Blanket. 
I especially can't stand when people have long hair who really shouldn't, like people whose hair is like 10 strands strands thick... the Bad kind of "Hippie hair"... Please let that go! Your hair will look fuller shorter anyway! 
(Sorry for yelling. I just really can't stand that.. when keeping it real goes wrong, lol) 


I'm currently feigning for length, wanting to finally grow my hair really long for the first time (just to like hip length stretched..) but I've never felt like I couldn't have short hair or was afraid of short hair.... It seems like women who are attached to long hair are afraid of short hair... they act like they would die with a haircut, even if it's a trim of an inch that will grow back in a month or two... I just don't get it...
My Theory is:  Let's just say you live on average 80 yrs... If you get a haircut once in your life, it would take you a year or 2 to grow your hair back, maybe 4 if you're growing it pretty long... but that still gives you about 76 years with long hair... 
Like seriously, would it kill you to try and embrace a short haircut once? Please, Speak Out!!!

(If it has anything to do with Religion or Tradition of course I'm not talking to you in this case :)

From The Black Swan Diaries: Hair We Go

I came across this beautiful dancer on facebook on a friend's page and immediately took interest. She is a beautiful African American ballet dancer who blogs about her experiences facing adversities as a black dancer. She went from being told her career as a black dancer was over, to being Zoe Saldana's dance double in the movie Center Stage. While sifting through her blog looking through beautiful photos of her dancing, I noticed that all I saw was beautiful waves brushed back into her ballerina buns... a few minutes later, I found this post:

Hair We Go by Aesha Ash of The Black Swan Diaries

"I came across this photo while doing some research on my last post. It was the observation in the paragraph that followed which presented an interesting topic and stirred up some uncomfortable memories from my past. The comment went as follows:

“i find the natural hair charming/interesting, esp because a black ballet dancer would almost certainly have to straighten/pull back her hair, unless the company was alt/up-and-coming/deliberately provocative. but i don’t think i’ve ever seen a picture of a black ballet dancer with a fro. natural hair, yes. fro, no.”

This comment made me recall several instances where my hair caused me to feel distant and removed from the classical art I had grown to love. There were many ballets where the dancer was meant to wear their hair down, and the image of long flowing locks billowing through the air as the dancers movement graced the stage was a breathtaking image for all who observed. Many of the ballets highlighted hair as the dancers were required to either wear long ponytails or have lengthy hair that draped and flowed during performances. This built in aesthetic posed real challenges to many girls no matter what ethnicity, but an even greater challenge for myself and other dancers of color. Luckily, we all had tricks up their sleeves to overcome these natural challenges. One particular instance during my time at Bejart Ballet will forever stick with me. While choreographing a new piece, Maurice Bejart instructed each dancer to let down their hair to see if he could incorporate that into the piece. He instructed each girl, one by one to take down their hair, and as I stood their watching each girl’s hair fall gracefully down their backs, my insecurity begin crawling its way up my spine. My hair is textured and not prone to falling down straight like what I have seen in many ballets. I believed in protecting my hair by keeping it natural and avoiding harsh and damaging chemical perms and relaxers.  I also enjoyed the versatility that my natural hair provided. However, inside I knew this was not the image he was looking for.  I certainly had never seen any evidence that my hair type was desired as the above comment so pointedly stated. Therefore, when my turn came and I loosened my hair band—my hair puffed out crinkly and curly, not straight down.  Maurice smiled and some dancers chuckled. Luckily, I was a much more mature dancer and was able to brush off such a reaction. I could only image how such insensitivity would have affected me as a younger dancer. However, this episode still bothered me. It never feels good to be laughed at because of who you are. However, although I was offended and disappointed, I was not surprised."

To read the rest of her post go to Hair We Go by Aesha Ash of The Black Swan Diaries

Willow Smith. So Cool... Too Young?

We all love Willow Smith, I think there's no doubt in that! We love her funky daring style and big personality, but is all the cool too much for her age? As a young fashionista in my own right, I was dressing myself and picking my own clothes by the time I was 5 and I took over doing my own hair by the time I got to Junior High, dyeing it by the time I was in the 7th grade. I totally understand self expression is a must and she is so unique, but sometimes I think her influences are a little too mature for her. I've seen semi-sexy pics of her around, copying images I've seen of Rihanna or Amber Rose... For me, if I was a parent I wouldn't allow my young child to think it's okay to be so sexy and mature at a young age... I would try to show her role models around her age category to pull inspiration from. I won't get into any incidents or stories but I'm sure you've read them for yourself, so I don't think I'm too wrong here, lol.
I think it's great that they allow her to have her freedom, but she needs some type of barrier or filter. It's so important that we don't let our children grow up too fast, as we all learn to realize how short our childhood really is... What ever happened to the preservation of innocence?!

What do you think? 

Braids too ethnic for the office?

So with all these thoughts of protective styling on my mind and wanting to be able to put all of my hair away, I've been thinking of putting large extension braids back in my hair, but one question arises over and over: Are extension braids too ethnic/ghetto/unsophisticated? Now I only use these terms, not as my own feelings, but as terms I just know would be said/used to describe me or my hair if the people in my industry percieve it negatively. I could just hear them making fun of me now... "Girlfriend is giving me Dashiki!"
I guess the question is: Do I truly care about what they think?
Yes and no. I take my right to freedom of self expression through my hair very seriously as someone who changes my hair, and I haven't worked in any environment where I was told I needed specific hair or that they didn't like my hair. In the end, I would only care because I want to continue my internship and I wouldn't want something like hair to mess it up, because I can find other alternatives if needed...

What do you think? Any one work in High Fashion? Law? Any other appearance conscious occupations and haven't been sure how a certain natural hairstyle would go over at work? HELP!

R.I.P Whitney Houston

Remembered by us for the good and the bad, but forever missed. Her amazing voice will live on and continue to touch our hearts and souls.

Hair At Union Square

This is us yesterday after shopping a bit and devouring Chipotle.

Curly Film Chick's Hair: poofy, not really detangled, undefined braid out. (Which really means the night before, I got home from work and threw my hair in some big plaits before passing out.)

SPStyles: Mo-Hawk twist-out that I was lusting after as if I didn't know her and never saw her hair before LOL.

(We're going to try and take more hair pics together, because we see each other a lot more then we make it seem like)

How have you been wearing your hair lately? Drop us a comment! And enjoy your weekend!

LOL

Thank you Media Take Out for your hilarity when it comes to this one, lol 

(I only posted about this because of the Side Show Bobanna pic, too funny to pass up!)

This just cracks me up! The Actual look?

Um, okay... I'll start by saying that i do like the attempt at a big and natural look, and i do like the red on her because it's a nice shade of red and it's not a terrible shade for her complexion.... otherwise, i think this wig is a bit ridiculously huge... I think she would look beautiful in any style done right really, but this wig just wasn't it.

Natural attempt 1: FAIL!

A Little Natural Hair Education

 I saw these paintings about a month ago hanging in the Ikea in Brooklyn and thought they were adorable! I loved how the little black girl associated having her mom do her hair in corn rows with love <3

So i've been babysitting two little caucasian girls in my building for about the past 2 months and hair has definitely been a major topic with them. They are 6 and 9 years old and wise beyond their years. I knew they would want to touch my hair because that is just how little kids are, so i was ready from the jump to explain the differences of hair to them.

Upon learning that they aren't allowed to watch much TV, french braids/cornrows is now a big part of our day because i'll play salon with them and do whatever to their hair they'd like. The 6 year old, as spunky and honest as can be, decided she wanted to touch my hair, to which she replied "Is there cream in your hair?" Lol. At the time i was on 2nd day hair with KCCC so I told her that i did have cream in my hair and explained to her that different kinds of hair need different things, and my hair likes cream to keep it soft and moisturized, to which she replied "It's not soft." in a very matter of fact kind of way. The way she said it definitely cracked me up. My rebuttal, "It is soft, just different."

Their father has curly hair so although the 6 year old has straight hair like her mom, her sister's hair is wavy and puffy. I explained to her that all different types of people have different hair and that that's a great thing, just like her mommy and daddy have different hair, and her sister's hair is different from hers. I saw the light bulb go off in her head so i knew she understood.

After not seeing them for a few weeks, i decided to blow my hair out into an afro around the time i was going to babysit them again. When they saw me again, their friend told me my hair grew really fast and they all agreed. I told them i was gonna grow my hair really long and then i could wear a huge afro and they all looked amazed, and at the same time confused, lol. Now they love my afro and wanna play in it and touch it and feel how soft and puffy it is, the 9 year old even telling me that i should make a pillow out of my hair if i ever cut it. Im excited for my hair to grow and even more interested in their reactions and being able to educate two young caucasian kids about curly hair.... wait until i finally straighten it.. what will they think then?!

When does your TWA graduate to just an A?

Since deciding to go through the process of chopping and re-growing again, i now have some more experience and some different ways to approach growing out my hair this time around.
I've sort of been reminscing about the hair that i could have had this year, if i had only left my hair alone and not colored it, as i just passed my one year anniversary since i had my last relaxer a week ago.
Looking back at photos of my hair over the months led me to a question, when is a TWA no longer a
TWA?

I'd say when my hair was between 3.5 - 4 inches it started to feel a whole lot less like a TWA and more like an A. I started to realize that i had to style my hair, where as with my TWA i could wash & go and really just wash, and go! My curls started to hang as opposed to always sticking up and i could start to feel movement in my curls and in my hair. I noticed that it was starting to take more product to do my hair and i would sometimes miss spots, not realizing how much hair i had and how long it had really gotten. I started to see how much work it was going to be going through the in between stage of TWA to a length that is at least ponytail-able (meaning = easier), something around NL or SL.
I mean... When does your TWA graduate to just an A?

I do have a little confession to make.... so honestly... my plan was to grow my hair out some more and cut off the colored ends after new years, but i was also getting lazy with how much work longer hair was starting to become... so i chopped early. I am glad i did because i love my haircut this time and I'm glad i  got a second chance to learn to appreciate it, as i don't plan to wear short hair again for a very long time, if not ever again, lol. I'm dreading the in between stage again and can't wait until i can make it into at least a banana clip but i am prepared and ready to start this journey over... no turning back this time.

Ha!

This is how i feel about bad weaves, wigs, hair extensions, and lace fronts...

Just sayin... lol