What Does Natural Hair Freedom Mean To You?

All this talk and thought about protective styling made me really realize how much I really appreciate my natural hair freedom. What do I mean by Natural Hair Freedom?
When I thought about going natural, all I envisioned was long, beautiful free-flowing curls or big bouncy afros, not the hair restriction that comes with weaves, braids and a lot of protective styles. People with straighter, less textured hair seem to have a freedom I sort of envy... not having to worry about the rain or what their hair will look like the next morning if they don't sleep with a scarf or bonnet... I wanna wear my hair out everyday too!!! Aside from long jumbo twists and braids, I never envisioned or wanted any of the other styles like coil twists or a full head of cornrows or mini box braids... I just want to let my curls flow freely in the wind... Is that too much to ask for?! lol
Natural hair freedom to me, means being able to do whatever you want with your hair! Not having to re-twist at night if you don't want to, let that twist out get big and wild over time. It means wearing your hair out whenever you want to... knowing that you might have to detangle a little more or trim a little sooner but dealing with it. I don't mind daily moisturizing or twisting every night if it really means my natural hair freedom. I'm crazy for length right now... but not crazy enough to live in braids or weave for any substantial amount of time like people who do these things back to back for years and never wear their hair out.. not knocking it, just not for me. I Live in twist outs because they give me natural hair freedom... I'm able to wear my hair out, or pinned up, or pushed back with a headband... anyhow I want really!

What Styles Define Your Natural Hair Freedom?

Where Are the Natural Hair Trends for Spring 2012?

My allergies coming out full force this past week has reminded me that it's indeed Spring. My favorite seasons are Spring and Fall mostly because it's the perfect time for clothing and accessories I love to wear. I enjoy shopping for outerwear, shoes and accessories mostly so for me Spring and Fall are scarves, light jackets, cute sweaters, dresses-with-leggings and boots weather. If I had money I'd be out shopping everyday.

So anyway, I decided to get the full idea of what Spring will be like for 2012 and searched for images of "Spring 2012 Hair Trends." I'm not really a "trend" follower but I do take note as to what's in. I saw a lack of "ethnic" faces which didn't surprise me, but I did spot a couple of styles that incorporated twists and buns that were interesting:

Apparently ponytails and slicked back and glistening hair are big for the Spring. I can't say I saw anything too exciting or any styles with natural hair in mind - again not surprising. I looked through this slideshow of "Must Try Hair Trends for Spring 2012" and was utterly unimpressed, especially with the one "textured" style they had. I'm not trying to discredit the work or ideas of stylists especially for the fashion world, which I am merely just a consumer of, but it would be nice to see styles with different kinds of hair in mind. Straight hair isn't a default for everyone after all. If you look at the instructions on how to achieve the "must have" styles it doesn't take into account for those with texture. So how do we go about embracing ourselves while being fashion-forward? It seems that for those of us with texture/curls/coils we have to look to our list of individual naturalistas, like Solange or Tracy Ross and other hair crushes to give us inspiration of what to try.

Personally, I think this spring will be a "messy" textured looks. I'll do ponytails that won't look neat and like this one and buns high buns with texture. Curls/coils are always in style no matter what in my opinion, and we can make them work for the trends! We're working on a hair style gallery for YAIS so stay tuned for that in the future!

The "Right" Kind of Curl (Repost)

**This deserves a re-post due to an interesting conversation today about natural hair and the lengths we go sometimes to make sure it's still "accepted" before accepting it ourselves.***

Even with natural hair becoming more popular these days, there is still a long way to go to define what institutes as "curly hair" or "good hair." When mainstream people think of curls, they are thinking of specific images.

I still wonder sometimes if I have the "right kind" of curls. I'm guessing not because they aren't big springing ringlets, but at the same time I've been told by folks of different cultures and walks of life that my hair is just right for me. People may admire the hair, but I raise my eyebrow whenever someone, especially a non-person of color says, wow I wish I had your hair. It always makes me think back to a girl I knew in high school who was Italian and Puerto Rican. She was really frustrated with her hair because it was tightly coiled and thick and if I remember correctly her hair had the same curl pattern as mine. I remember her venting to me once that she hated how it shrank, how it was difficult to manage and how she wasn't supposed to have this hair--that my hair was okay and looked cool for me but not on her because she was white and she's supposed to have "white people hair." Eventually she got a relaxer and she loved it. To this day she still gets them and keeps her hair straight. It's okay to admire, but if want to get my hair, you'll have to get the baggage that comes along with it!

I remember in college another girl, Hispanic, mentioned how envious she was of folks with curls. She had straight hair on the coarse side and when she said this I smiled and said really? Yeah she said. Like the big bouncy beautiful curls, big spirals. My smile faded. I realized she wasn't talking about having hair like mine. Because curls like mine aren't desired really, right? They are a nice splash to fashion maybe but in the end when folks think of curls they again, are only thinking about a specific images.

I spoke to others about this more in college, by accident. Two women, both hispanic--one Cuban and Puerto Rican the other Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican--were transitioning out of relaxers. I thought I didn't have the right kind of hair, I'm hispanic hello! one of them told me. My cousins had the proper hair and I had the kinky morena thing going on, so relaxer was the solution. But now I'm just gonna let this grow out and cut little by little because I have nice curly hair, just different. During down time, besides discussing projects (and playing the SIMS lol) we discussed braid outs and twist outs and shampoos and conditioners. They liked my hair, and understood it, and we bonded over the fact that we didn't have the "right kind" of curls.

I guess in conclusion what I'm trying to stress is that approval really is pointless to seek in others. No one can love your hair for you. You have to love your hair for yourself and not other people. Compliments can be really great and make you feel good, but that cannot be the base of your relationship with your natural curls/kinks/coils.

Restoration Continued

Happy Monday YAIS readers!

I forgot to put up Sunday's Question yesterday but never fear, we'll have one for you next time. I was pretty bummed about my henna fail last weekend, but I've still been using my tools to get back on track; deep conditioning hasn't happened yet but I've been sticking to low manipulation hairstyles like my high bun and loose ponytails and I twisted my hair yesterday.  I twisted on damp hair, using conditioner as my leave-in and sealing with Vatika oil. I unfortunately could not find my rat-tail comb to part so they are pretty messy but it's not too terrible. Here's a quick pic of my twists:

I've also been exercising to get rid of the stress and finally started cooking again. Before I had been eating out (or not eating at all) but I finally went grocery shopping and made a really simple pasta dish last night - just egg noodles with garlic, sauteed spinach and boiled egg (for protein) and added a little hot sauce. I know it sounds weird and I don't have a really good picture of it but trust me it was delicious and best of all quick to make. I'm so proud that I was in my kitchen after nearly 6 weeks and have leftovers for lunch today.

Back to hair, I did notice that I don't have a lot of single strand knots as much as I do splits in my hair. I am happy to see that it's breaking less and that most of the hair coming out is shed hair (yes, I was examining all the strands that came out just to be sure!) so that's already a step up from the horrible breakage I was experiencing before. No set regimen for my hair yet, but sticking to my restoration plan I should be alright soon enough!

Outifts & Hairstyles

I hate when I get so busy that I don't get to post as much as I'd like to, but the good thing is I'm always taking photos so I can post later! I'm so happy my hair is growing, as well as my options in styling.
I live in twist outs, with the occasional blowout and very seldom straightening. In the past summers with short hair I've lived in Wash & Go's, but now that my hair is getting longer, I just realize my hair gets way too tangled with Wash & Go's... I think I may try overnight banding If I i still want to wear a semi-Wash & Go look with my own curls... plus i love the feeling of washing my hair everyday in the summer... I guess that's one thing I'll miss about having a TWA... that's probably it.  Lol
Here are a few photos I've posted on Instagram of some different outfits and hairstyles I've rocked over the past 3 or 4 weeks.

 What is your go to hairstyle?

Also, is anyone interested in Curly Film Chick and I posting outfits of the day? Let us Know!

Repost: Who (or What) Inspired You to Go Natural?

I think this question has probably been asked a million times, but it hasn't been asked on here =) I'll go first: I been natural my whole life but never really knew how to handle my hair until junior year of college. If my hair was loose it was straightened and if not it was in braids or twists. I was actually trying to get a relaxer because I honestly was frustrated with limitations I felt my hair had. It also didn't help that people were encouraging this idea (except for Mr. Smooth who openly opposed it)

One of my sisters, who was ten at the time, was crying to my father about wanting better hair. And better hair as in straight hair. My dad wanted me to do her hair more often and since he knows absolutely nothing about hair he asked me about straightening it. I was genuinely confused as to why my sister wanted straight hair when she has more "acceptable curls and texture." So I'm busy trying to convince my sister about how beautiful and versatile her hair is and I suddenly became curious about dealing with my hair. I was researching styles and methods and tested them out on myself and realized that some of them worked! So whenever I would visit my dad I would wear my hair loose and let my sister play in it and what not. My dad would join in and be like wow look at your sister's hair, isn't it lovely (and then I found out he really meant it). So showing my sister how nice her hair was led me to realize that my hair was nice too. I didn't want the relaxer anymore.

This started around this time (Spring 2009) so in a lot of ways I'm celebrating an anniversary as well. I've had a ton of hit and misses and frustrations but the journey has been great and I'm still loving it and realizing the importance of the natural presence!

So folks, what about you? What made you go (or stay) natural? Who encouraged you? How has the journey been? Let us know!

The Mystery of My Henna Fail

I was so excited to do a henna treatment this past weekend, but I don't think this was a successful application. Based on SP and I's previous henna experiences, I must say I was disappointed to have no color deposit, I'm still shedding something awful, and I cannot tell if it's conditioning benefits actually reached me (my hair is nice and shiny but was it the conditioner?) I used the Jamila brand which is one I've used before. I think that my application may have failed because of the following:

1. Didn't let henna sit long enough
2. Used too hot water when I mixed it with tea - caused the dye release to happen too quickly

Jamila Henna

Henna powder

Allow me to explain the second point. To get the coloring benefit of henna (red or red-orange, depending on the crop) you have to mix the powder with a slightly-acidic liquid for dye release. When this happens, henna will turn from green to brown. I use green tea for dye release which usually works - and this time as soon as I added the tea my henna just went brown. I tested the henna on a paper towel and there wasn't really a stain. So I wonder if it's because the water was way to hot (which I've read you shouldn't do) and/or I just didn't let it sit too long #ponders.

But I did use a new shampoo. I'm not sure how I like it yet but it smells amazing and it touted as paraben and sulfate free, and can be found locally. Try and guess what it is YAIS readers, while I scratch my head with this henna situation.