Hair Crush: Corbin Bleu

Day in and day out we see plenty of beautiful women with gorgeous heads full of curls in our little natural hair blogging world we've created for ourselves, but very seldomly do we get to beef it up with a little testosterone. Let me be one of the ones to add: Corbin Bleu of Disney's High School Musical.

I was never really a High School Musical Fan (saw it once and it was cool), but I did definitely have a certain attraction to this dude's hair. I always remember thinking that he had the perfect head of spiral curls that were perfectly bouncy and frizz free. I think seeing his hair was also the first time I saw such perfect tiny curls... I'd only seen the perfect curls on people who had bigger curls, like Tia and Tamera Mowry for example. I guess in a way, I could kind of say Corbin Bleu was one of my first hair inspirations, before I had any idea of natural hair forums, blogs or anything of the sort. I secretely always wish my hair will look like Corbin Bleu's as it grows out, lol.

With the way we know shrinkage can be, this dude's hair must have been down to his waist!

 

Corbin has since cut his curls into shorter more coifed styles, but as a woman who personally likes men with hair, I think his short curly hair looks great. You can tell he takes great care of his hair, as it always appears shiny, healthy and frizz free.

Did you love Corbin Bleu's Curls too? 
 So what do you think ladies, are you into men with hair? 

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

Hair Memories: Males Helping You With Haircare?

I remember a few times as a kid where my mother hadn't braided my hair and sent me to my father's house in Brooklyn. I grew up Muslim and mostly had my hair covered, but my hair still had to be neatly groomed to fit a scarf over my head!

 Age 8 with one of my younger sisters, "N"

I've always had a lot of hair and it seemed to frighten my father whenever he had to manage it by either ponytails or braids, neither which he could do! Once when I was about 6, we stood in front of the full length mirror trying to pull all my hair back. I was annoyed because what he was doing was NOT how my mother or Nana did it; he was using Vaseline and water to slick my strands back, and by that I mean that he "sprinkled" water on my head with vaseline just sitting there on top; and I have no idea what he was trying to use as a ponytail holder. Am I doing this right? he kept asking. Eventually I shoo'd his hands out of my hair and took matters into my own hands and decided to do my own ponytail. Hey - it was better then him trying to deal with my hair!

To this day, my father does not deal with hair. My younger brothers have thick bouncy wavy/curly hair and he keeps it cut low; when one of my other sisters "A" - who has the same texture as mine but with larger curls - was younger, he would always ask me to put it in braids because he had no idea what to do with it ("A" also tried to convince my dad at age 10 to let her have a relaxer, and he would've had I not explained to him what a relaxer was). The point is my father seems mystified and bewildered about haircare with three girls, and while he marvels at how nice it looks, I will forever remember his attempts that could've made me bald.

Since I'm a "grown-up" now I do my own hair. Occasionally Mr. Smooth helps me wash and comb it, and he used to help me take my box braids and twists out. I told him that if we were to procreate, hair care for the rugrats would probably fall on me but that he needs to have some skills so that the poor children don't look back on their childhood pictures and remember that their dad did that to them.

Do any of you have memories of Dads or Uncles trying to do your hair? If you have kids, do you let their fathers or other males in the family tackle hair care? Share with us!

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!

Old School: Greasing Natural Hair

There's been seeing a lot of chatter lately about hair grease and how naturals have been ashamed to come forward and say they use it. It's been said that grease is no-no because of ingredients like mineral oil. Here are our opinions on it's usage:

Curly Film Chick: I used to use Indian Hemp all the time for my scalp because it was always itchy and flaking; this turned out to be a bad idea because it made my scalp flake with gross gooey stuff. I found that my scalp is at it's best now because I wash my hair frequently and apply either tea tree or coconut oil to it. Products with mineral oil at the top of the list really clog my pores and leave my hair feeling funky so I tend to avoid. However, I'm open to the idea sealing my hair with some sort of "grease." Maybe I should try Indian Hemp on my ends and see what happens?

SP Styles: I'm in the same boat as Curly Film Chick, growing up on the blue and green Dax & African Pride (you know, the one with all the specks of stuff... what's that about anyway?) which my mom used to use to twist my hair after washing, grease my scalp, or of course the good ol' grease, water, and a brush to slick natural hair into a ponytail. Once I got to junior high/ high school I was using Doo Grow, the light formula for my light strands and optimism in it's promises to grow my hair. It's funny because (secretly) I had started to every once in  while use some of the grease I had in my product closet when my hair was feeling a little dry to seal in the moisture. It's cool sometimes.

So what about you guys? Have you given up on grease? We have a poll set up on the sidebar about hair grease usage so please vote and feel free to let us know your thoughts!

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!

Repost: Natural Hair Memories: Mistakes As A Natural Head

 How I felt once I realized the mistakes I made with my hair!

I've been natural all my life, but being a hair enthusiast wasn't me until about a year and a half ago. After all I've learned, I've been shaking my head at myself for all the havoc I used to put my hair through. You will not believe it! Not that I'm a masochist, but I really did abuse the hell out of my hair. I did things like:

*Dry comb my hair although in all fairness I always used a wide-tooth one
*Stayed away from water because I thought it was the death of me
*Flat-ironed dirty hair and almost everyday to keep it straight
*Flat-ironed or blew out hair without a heat protectant and watched my hair break off
*Greased my scalp with thick butters and pomades gross!gross!gross!
*Used rubber bands for ponytails specifically, large blue or pink ones that hold produce together like broccoli that pulled my hair out
*Slapped products on top of my hair instead of distributing it evenly with a comb or some other method, and then wondered why nothing worked!
*Using those damn boxed dyes without following up with some sort of deep treatment
*Scratching the hell out of my scalp with a comb to get all the "flakes" and that gave my scabs like you won't believe!
*Using products with mineral oil and petrolatum  these ingredients may not bother some people, but they make my hair very icky and no me gusta!
*Using shampoo and no conditioner O_o when I was low on funds, I often had to choose which one I could buy and usually bought shampoo even though I hated it

I could go on and on. I was such a naughty person when it came to dealing with my hair. I was definitely not educated.

What were some of the things you used to do, fellow hair enthusiasts?

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.

Race and Racism surrounding Natural Hair

When we say "natural hair" we automatically think of a big afro or some curly, ethnic type of hair.
Living here in NYC, i am submersed in all the cultures of the world in my own back yard, mixed cultures included, and i love seeing all the curly heads walking around. So many different types of curls and textures, it is a wonder how people can still be racist to this day. I just appreciate each curl and culture for what it is.


I would definitely say this post was inspired by those "good hair, mixed hair" comments and of course questions of race. Being a mixed race person myself and having a very diverse family, i see all different types of hair and i have seen all different types of hair from all over the world. Okay, so there is obviously a "Natural Revolution" going on out there, and i couldn't help but notice that it's going on with hispanic girls a lot too. Growing up around a lot of hispanic people, i noticed that they always loved to get their hair straightened, and even later learned that some were getting relaxers. I always questioned why they would do this, since they always seemed to have pretty manageable curls to me. Now all i see are all these perfectly curly afros on hispanic girls and other mixed race girls that back in the day would have been permed or blow-dryed out. It is nice to see women taking pride in their natural beauty, no matter the race.


It is unfortunate that many people still can not accept people for who and what they are. The reason why racism even exists is because people are always ready to compare instead of accepting differences for what they are. I am Brazilian, Caribbean mixed, and as you can see my hair is verrrryyy curly! When i was in high school i wore my hair natural, pulled back in a banana clip everyday. I used to get all types of remarks as to what i was. Was i dominican? Was i mixed? "You're not like other black girls. 

What was that supposed to mean?

 I noticed how people treated me different depending on how my hair was. Being that i am a hairstylist and have always done hair, you can imagine that i've been through many hair phases and styles. With each hairstyle, it seems as though i had a different identity. When my hair was short, relaxed and dyed, nobody knew where i was from but i always heard that i didn't look like a 'regular' black girl. When i had it short and dark, i was obviously African-American.

 I also found it funny how some of the biggest problems i had with people accepting me were my own kind.  Besides the color of your skin, hair plays a major role in your looks and i think i learned that rather harshly, but im glad i did. People are always ready to categorize and critisize upon what they see, as opposed to asking and learning something new. Whether they like it or not, this is me, as mixed and curly as i want to be and loving it <3

I'm so proud of all the natural women who are wearing their hair with pride.

Viva la Natural Revolution!

Natural Hair Memories: Going Natural

A while ago a cousin of mine got a relaxer. She was a teenager, and I vaguely remember her hair being about shoulder length and straight and I believe it was also a blonde color at the time. One day I was heading towards her building to meet up with brother and sister who were around my age and I saw her stick her head out the window. She had no hair! She was sporting a TWA. When I asked my mom why my cousin had no hair she shook her head approvingly and said, that's what happens when women in our family get a perm. Your hair falls out and you gotta cut it all off.

Interestingly enough, when another cousin came to live with us and she had a relaxer my mother and grandmother informed her that she would be growing it out (she was about 10 at the time). My mother transitioned her hair with protective styling, careful not to put beads in hair hair like she did my sister and I because it wasn't strong enough. I watched slowly as she cut off her straight ends because my cousin still wanted long hair.

And finally, there was my phenomenal great-grandmother aka "Big Nana." For as long as I could remember she had really curly hair that she kept short that I now realized was a texturizer. I thought it was her natural texture and even hair color (she was born a red head) but one day I remember her telling my mom that she wanted it all off. So my mom took her clippers one afternoon and gave Big Nana a short TWA. Big Nana not only embraced her soft cotton coils, but she also embraced her white hair. To this day, she sports braids or big buns under summer hats.

A lot of these techniques that have names now (TWA, transitioning, "big chop") were things I witnesssed before blogs and Youtube. I didn't realize that these three people were "going natural" but it must've have been emotional. I remember Big Nana's grin on her face as she turned and asked if we liked her new look. My older cousin now sports long blonde locs. They did this before it was popular (in the mid-late 90s) and I remember them now.

Do you remember anyone going natural in your family, especially before the youtube/blogs? Feel free to share!

Early Memories of Natural Hair: Extensions

Relaxers (or perms as I knew them growing up) was not a normal thing in my family. As I may have mentioned before, women in my family wore their hair natural but not necessarily loose in their own hair. After being part of the natural hair community for about a year and some months now, I've come to understand that getting a relaxer was like a right of passage for young girls in their pre-teens and teens. In my family, you came of age by getting your hair done with extensions.

My cousins and my mother all rocked all kinds of braided styles. Just think of any black celebrity of the 90s who wore braids and that's how the women in my family wore their hair. They even added yarn to their hair! My younger cousin and I pleaded to have our hair done like that because it seemed grown up. My mother said that she would do it for us when we turned 12. We were excited for a little while, counting down the months and years to get our hair done. But when the time came both of us had lost interest; I had become a bit of a tomboy and disliked the process of getting my hair done. And I became fully aware that it took a long time to add extensions. So I buried the idea.

To this day, I never got extensions honestly because of the time. I do not want to spend hours getting my hair done lol. Which is another reason I probably thought that having natural hair was limiting, unruly, and annoying because of all the time it seemed I had to invest in it, while other people with "nice hair" could shake and go and didn't seem to slave away for hours doing hair.

What were some of your early hair memories? Feel free to share!