Showing posts with label Ariel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ariel. Show all posts

Monday, November 14, 2011

The Young, Curly and Fabulous - Hair Care in a New City

Please join us in welcoming our newest contributor to YAIS, Ariel. She is a college student hailing from NYC and currently studying Fine Arts in San Francisco. She was featured as a Style Icon at Black Girl Long Hair and between studying and creating her art she will be contributing to the blog a couple of times a month; show her some love!


My first semester here in San Francisco, I made the mistake of putting my hair care system on my shopping list with toothpaste and razors. I was thrown into a panic when I went to the Walgreens and saw the smallest black hair care section I had ever seen. Imagine your hair greeting to a brand new city are choices  of Pink Hair Lotion and some obviously misplaced bottle that says "for difficult hair.” I'm spoiled; I grew up in NYC where beauty supply stores are like Walmarts and Sephora is giving you her best come hither look. I was clicking my massive Chuck Tailors crying "there's no place like Fordham road.” 

I ended up settling with Mane n' Tail which, when now thinking about it, isn't really settling at all. Should we talk about the benefits? The jumbo bottle is relatively cheap, its super moisturizing, and I've noticed when I use it as a leave in (multi-uses yay) my hair comes out super shiny and I'm less likely to see split ends. (Where do the split ends go? Maybe they got abducted by aliens the world may never know.)

But let's say one day you’re completely tapped out. You can't “five finger discount”
some Cantu or IC Fantasia Gel, not because it's super bad to steal and you'd totally be breaking the law. Believe me, no one has sympathy for your dandruff and broken edges sob story. But your pockets are really tight at the moment, and your scalp is crying out in need. The Vaseline for your knees is tempting you right? Well let's try something else you use for your especially dry spots: Shea butter. I did this when I was a little hard up for cash. I borrowed some olive oil from a neighbor and whipped them together into a really smooth consistency. I dressed my hair like normal focused mostly on my scalp and ends while my hair was damp. I'm assuming this is really great for really dry hair. This will hold you by until you get to your old routine, or maybe you can make it part of a new one if you like it enough.

 Have you ever gone some place new and had to adjust your hair care? Let us know how you did it!

Friday, October 14, 2011

The Young, Curly and Fabulous - Another Curly Perspective

Please join us in welcoming our newest contributor to YAIS, Ariel. She is a college student hailing from NYC and currently studying Fine Arts in San Francisco. She was featured as a Style Icon at Black Girl Long Hair and between studying and creating her art she will be contributing to the blog a couple of times a month; show her some love!


Ariel
Art student, poet, visual artist, amateur chef, social commentator, sister, friend, daughter, procrastinator, and full time daydreamer. *Phew*. Oh, and did I forget to mention I'm a 3b, no poo, bleach-blonde (for the moment) curly? I bet you're wondering how I balance pigment stripped hair, two online classes, two studio classes, and a life.

I've been a natural my whole life, and I didn't have my first real roller set at a salon until I was fourteen. I know that's not every little girls story, and some curls are late in life which is totally fine. Hair at the end of the day is hair. I never had a choice; after a lifetime of perms my mother never wanted either of her girls to have one. But as any normal teenage girl, I wanted to rebel. My mother loved my curls so I straightened them in all the wrong ways. I've flat ironed my hair wet, slathered it in Dax, hot combed it, blown it out, colored it black and bleached it to blonde with a 40 volume. In case you didn't know, all those things are bad. I'm not a professional, but I do have a crap load of experience in damage control. I can save me some damaged hair like nobodies business.

Now that I think about it, I use to tell myself I didn't want a perm because it had the potential to damage my hair. Honestly coloring is not that much different. I choose to be curly because I love my hair. I like that I can have a neon yellow bone straight style, a hot pink fro, or have ebony black finger waves. You don't ever really know who you'll be tomorrow. With that being said I feel like just as unknown as the future me is, my hair should reflect that unpredictability.As silly as it may be hair means something to me; as impossible as it is to find a decent black hair salon out here in San Francisco (that doesn't require you to give up your first born child for a wash and set) I would never perm my head. I look at my hair in the mirror an I see potential. I see that it needs attention, care, I see that its wild and romantic, its strong, I see my blackness (or should I say I can see my Africa showing). I see me in my hair every morning. So, if I can depart some words that might
make others feel similar so shall it be.

Questions for Ariel? Send an email to: yais.nyc (at) gmail (dot) com with "Ariel" in the subject line, or just leave a comment below!