It happened this morning...

I shared this with my friends over at Black Hair Media when I got to work this morning and wanted to post it here as well.

I woke up this morning, walked into my bathroom, took off my satin bonnet, looked in the mirror and ....I smiled! I didn't say,"What am I going to do with this front??" I looked at the mirror and I was happy with my jacked up front (gotta love shear happy gals) and the way it was smushed to my head. And y'all...it happened, I cried. I just stood there and cried. I was happy, I felt GREAT, I was looking at ME. Just ME. And it felt amazing!! I decided that I wasn't going to do the frohawk today (but I WILL mslitta!!!). I was doing ME today. Rocking my curly fro and loving it!!

So, I hopped in the shower, co-washed my hair, plopped it with my CurlEase towel and I was done. I slapped some aloe vera gel in it to keep it from frizzing up while it dried, shook my head from side to side and smiled. Like this!! => <= I put on my silver hoops, my new lip gloss and was HAPPY. HAPPY with ME, just me. D@mn this feels good, it feels AMAZING!!!

I get to work, I'm walking down the hall to my office and the Speech/Language Pathologist was walking ahead of me (in the same direction) so she hadn't seen me yet. I called out to her, "Good morning." She turns around, greets me with wide eyes and a big smile and says, "I LOVE YOUR HAIR!" I said, "THANK YOU!!," showing EVERY tooth in my mouth at the same time. Then, I turned to my daughter and BEAMED some more! And she returned the smile.

Here are some updated pics..not the greatest ones, but I'm working on that. Can't seem to find the right lighting. *sigh* At any rate...the first one is me trying to put some flat twists in the front of my hair and the others are self explanatory. The curls in the front are A LOT smaller than the ones in the back, but I love them all!. Hope to have better pictures soon.

Toodles!

Well...guess what I did?

Late last night (technically it was earrrrrrrly this morning, at about 1:40ish am) I began snipping at my hair. When I finished and twisted it all up for bed, it was after 4 am. I was sooooo tired I couldn't even be excited! :( LOL

I wasn't nervous at all...likely because I was so tired when I began. My eyes were going all cross trying to look at the back of my head and cut. I was recording with my Macbook, a camcorder and TRYING to take pics with my Fuji camera. TRUST, this was not a one woman job and I FAILED! lol Didn't take nearly as many pictures as I had hoped or thought I would. But I did mangae to get this.

Sooo....looks like I'm "au naturale" now, huh? :<) I'm still so very tired. After I've gotten more rest, I'll post my reflections and maybe some pictures of my hair styled...likely a wash and go.





Toodles!

Do YOU know what today is?

(Please scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the music prior to playing the video. I hope you enjoy today's selection! )



Yes ladies and gentlemen,

TODAY IS THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF MY TRANSITION BACK TO NATURAL HAIR!

I'm sooooooooo happy, thrilled and excited!! What I feel is beyond JOY! I can't believe this journey feels so good! Who would've thought? Certainly not me!!

I'll be back later today to post pictures!! Yayyyy me!! Can you tell I'm excited??

I'll let you in on a little secret....I just cut a little patch of hair on top of my head, I couldn't help myself. LOL




Toodles!

A TRULY inspirational mother

You all know that I am VERY passionate about the images we feed our daughters as it relates to standards of beauty and self love. Those of you who have been following me or have most recently read my first entry (and the subsequent entries: "And a child shall lead them" and my "Dr. Miracles outburst) can attest to this.

Well, I had the honor and joy of running across the blog of Nappturality.com member, mamaprincess. Her blog, NappySexyFly is THE BIZNESS! And it turns out, she's a mother after my own heart.

Please read her most recent blog post (below) and click on the link (<= here or above) to her blog so that you may see the beautiful natural mane of her daughter enlarged! I've said it a million times and I'll say it again...We HAVE to do better by our babies. Thank God mamaprincess believes so too! I hope her words (and actions) touch you as well! Now, without further ado..

HER daughter's "Beautiful Naps"

My daughter has a whole lot of nappy hair as you can see. Her hair is below waist length stretched. In the above photo I pulled a section of her loose hair in order to stretch it out so that I could show it's length (my hand is somewhere down there but cannot be seen in the pic), then I took the picture with my other hand. She is 5 years old and of course has never had her hair straightened. She knows she's beautiful because we always tell her that she is sooooooo beautiful. She knows nothing of self loathing. She loves her skin and hair and everything about herself because we adore her and tell her so all the time. We live in a predominantly white community so she interacts with them on the regular but has no issues. She attracts love and kindness like a magnet because this is what she experiences all the time in her home. This is her foundation. It's all in how you treat your children. It's all in the messages you send them. A child should not feel insecure, ugly or unwanted. Our job as parents is to make sure they know they are perfect and precious. Their lives even when we are not around will reflect the love we planted in their souls.

As for her hair, their is no way on earth her hair would ever be as healthy or achieve this length with a relaxer. I have older twin daughter's who's hair was as long as this. Their father begged me for years to relax it because he couldn't do it on their visits so I gave in eventually and let him take them to have it done. I knew what would happen but he didn't believe me when I told him. Their hair was super long and healthy to start then it began to break off. It eventually broke off to chin length in a year's time even though they had their hair done professionally and kept it up. Needless to say, they are both transitioning now and never want to see another relaxer as long as they live. Now when I send them to their father for visits, their hair is in braids. They know how healthy their hair was prior to the relaxer and how badly it damaged their hair. Relaxers hold no mystique for them. They will not be begging me to perm it for prom. Nappy hair is fragile not strong and chemicals break it down to the point that it is even more fragile and prone to breakage.

My youngest daughter (pictured above) is by my husband. We both agreed no chemical would ever touch her hair. Her hair got this long by treating it the way nappy hair needs to be treated. Very little manipulation. I put her braids in and don't take them down for weeks at a time. I wash her hair in the braids. When its time to redo, I take it one braid at a time making sure to moisturize and oil to prevent breakage. I separate and smooth with my fingers and very gently comb the ends with a wide tooth comb and re-braid. She usually has anywhere from 8 to 12 braids. It takes about 2 hours to do her hair because I don't yank and snatch through it like it needs to be punished. The keys to healthy naps are moisture, low manipulation and a gentle patient touch. That's pretty much it. Her hair is also never blow dried, in fact no heat is used on her hair.

For all those who use hair typing, we are both 4b in other words nappy. Her father is a pure blooded Ghanaian (Ghana, West Africa, blackest Africa, home of the purest naps and deepest melanin endowed gorgeous dark skin where the majority of us can trace our roots because it is from there that the majority of our ancestors departed) :) I am an African-American with no recent interruption of my African bloodline, in other words not mixed. Yes, true African naps can achieve length if so desired if you honor God's blessing by nurturing and loving them and caring enough to learn about how to take care of them instead of trying to murder them with toxic chemicals.

As long as I am in charge, my daughter will never feel the burn of chemicals or the heat of a straightening tool. She will always know and not question the power and truth of her own God given beauty just as she knows it at the impressionable age of 5.

Thank you NappySexyFly, for allowing me to publish your entry here and for being the true inspiration that you are!! *hugs*



Toodles!

I wish you all a beautiful day!

*cues the music* Oops, I did it again...

This time it wasn't out of frustration, but...just 'cause. My twist out was busted and when I walked into the bathroom my ends were yelling, "Cut me, cut me!" So...I did. :D


Look at the length of some of those pieces! But you know what? I wasn't "in shock" afterwards or anything. I had planned to put my hair in a flat twist bun today...but after my hair cutting frenzy as of late I don't know how that will work out. Oh well!

Fast forward >>>

I hopped in the shower and decided to go ahead and wash my hair while I was in there... and I start to laugh OUT LOUD! Why? Because I can feel the fifty million different lengths in my head at this time. LOL I shrugged my shoulders and kept going. I really did a whack job on the left side of my head let me tell you!

I got out of the shower and realized that the left side of my hair (in the very back) is in fact significantly shorter AND with the exception of a few strands is almost completely natural (in that spot, of course). So...what do I do?

You guessed it!!





















So here is the left side of my hair (in the back) in comparison to the right. (no product)

Now to camouflage the cutting I've done. LOL



Toodles!

How do you spell relief?

S-H-E-A-R-S! That's right...



The past few weeks have been gruesome! I've been sick, work has been hella stressful and tonight it all came to a head. I walked into my bathroom and just started grabbing pieces and cutting. Some places I cut as much as an inch (or more), in other areas maybe a fourth. There was no pattern, just whatever I got my hands on. Perhaps I shouldn't have put it all in a pile this way, you can't really see how much it is. No this isn't the BC, far from it. There's plenty of hair left.

...I feel much better now.




Toodles!

Just because I love me some him!

(be sure to scroll to the bottom and pause the music on autoplay so that you may enjoy the video)