by Miss Gee
Great. Now can you stop with the “Erykah Badu” and “Jill Scott” jokes in regards to my hair please? They didn’t invent natural hair and I’m so sick and tired of people saying I’m trying to be like them. K? Thanx…
Oh and to everyone who’s going crazy over it, the world doesn’t stop just because some women decide to start rocking straighter hair. There’s always going to be other examples of women who rock their natural hair proudly.
by Miss Gee
So Afro Glitz had its first natural hair meet-up this past Saturday…
I didn’t expect as many people to show up because that’s just how some events go. Many people RSVP, only a few show up. So although many RSVP’ed, I only felt that about 10 people would show up. Either way, I’d be happy. It’s a start, right? Then around 1PM, when my best friend Adrianne and I were the only ones there, I thought either no one would try and come, or that people were trying to find the place, but got lost…lol.
I had my presentation together, which was going to be a platform to spark a meaningful discussion. However, there was a problem; I couldn’t find the projector that I was told was going to be left in the gallery for me. I’m thinking one of the staff moved it. It was going to be the one thing to keep me on track. When I couldn’t find it, I felt really nervous and had no idea as to how I was going to start this event, so I went back to the kitchen to get the food together instead. (Now I’m looking for a projector on Ebay, so that I can just bring my own the next time around.)
Eventually people started coming through the door through the door. All of a sudden, I got nervous thinking, “Crap! What do I do?” I was super nervous. I even forgot to put out the dressing for the salad once all the food was out! UGH! Luckily, they showed a high tolerance and just worked with what was there.
Eventually, more and more people came. Everyone was so beautiful! Skin, hair, everything! Ages from young to old, naturals, transitioners and relaxed-haired women. Many of us had one thing in common; we loved to talk about natural hair! So things went pretty well even without the presentation! Many of the stories were heart-warming. There were even some natural “comedians” in the bunch who gave the most colorful hair stories. It felt like home; like we were all sisters.
Boogie, I can hardly see you in this picture! You should have been in the front! There were many children there (as you can tell from the second picture) and overall, they were all well behaved! It also tells me that I need to supply arts and crafts for children at the next meet-up, so they won’t be bored.
Also, although it was called the Afro Glitz Louisville, KY meet-up, we had many neighbors from Lexington that showed up.
If you look at this picture, I was smiling down at Baby J because while we were chatting about natural hair, she was listening to each and everyone of us as if she understood what we were saying. Even if someone was telling a funny story, she smiled as if she thought it were funny. Even when we all gathered to speak, she sat there for over 2 hours, wide-awake, listening. She has more patience than a skeptic in church. She really was born before her time!
Cherylin, the one in the black and blue, knows a great deal about natural hair, including scientific tips.
Here’s my friend Rukiyah (the photographer) and me, along with a close-up of my latest hair experiment and bad eye make-up. Rukiyah recently cut off all of her locs and is now rocking a cute twa! For my hair, after a co-wash, I moisturized it some more with Carol’s Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey, curled the front part with perming rods, and added three rows of flat-twists going across in the back. The eye make-up was horrible. I usually only wear eye-liner, but I wanted to try something new, so I put black eye powder all around my eyes, trying to be a make-up artist for a high fashion magazine or something. Well, more like National Geographic magazine; I look like a cock-eyed raccoon.
LEFT: This woman had the most beautiful two-strand twists and she was really quiet, she reminded me a lot like myself in a room full of people. RIGHT: This is Julia rocking the beautiful, bald look. She told us her story of having traction alopecia ad her decision to shave her hair completely bald. As she told her story, I wanted to cry, but she was so upbeat, full-of-life, colorful and so in charge of running her life (and not letting the diagnosis run her), so it helped me water down my habit of being overly sensitive, a bit.
The one on the far left is Janelle. I think someone told her about the meet-up through Twitter, then she alerted me that she was coming. She’s so nice and she smiles with her pearly whites the whole time. The one on the far right is Tracy, a Twitter friend of mine. I discussed tongue rings with the Chanda and Carmen (the two in the back) because they both have piercings and I thought I would get one. Chanda is a natural hair wearer who is helping Carmen transition.
If you look closely in this picture to your right, you’ll see Baby J’s head. Baby girl is actually posing for the picture to show her frohawk!
Thank you to best friend Adrianne, Boogie, and Rukiyah for helping me with this event.
I was so relieved when my fellow naturals approved of this event. They felt that we should hold these gatherings once a month, which I will try my best to do. I’m not sure if we will have it at the Water Tower though because we’re booked for the next few months. If you know of a space that we can host this event at, feel free to let me know!
Also, although it was called the Afro Glitz Louisville, KY meet-up, we had many neighbors from Lexington that showed up.
by Miss Gee
I found some ads from the 1960′s that tried to influence black men to go natural.
It’s rare for me to see black men with relaxers in my area. I usually only see black male celebrities and pimps (lol) rocking it. At first, I never really thought about black men going natural in this day in age.
For the black men that I have seen with relaxed hair, I have yet to see them go natural, so it was normal for me to think that if they relaxed, they were in it for the long run. I also assumed that if for some reason they decided to get rid of the relaxer, that they could shave their hair off without transitioning because natural hair that’s low cut is often seen as a masculine attribute, so men would most likely not be ridiculed for it. (I also failed to realize that there’s plenty of men who like to wear their hair long. Oh, and I forgot about the texturizers too!)
That changed when I learned that a fellow forum poster was a man transitioning his hair from relaxed to natural.
According to these ads, having natural hair makes you more “black.” Do you agree? And does having natural hair show that you’re proud of your “blackness?”
Then there’s that double standard. Like when people mistook Michael Jackson’s skin disease as him using skin bleach, they were saying that it made him less black. Yet, relaxers aren’t enough to be considered that.
I don’t feel that going natural makes you more “black.” It just makes you more, “you.” No amount of relaxers, skin bleach, or plastic surgery can make a person less black in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, it can definitely make you look like someone you’re not, but for me, it’s all about the genetic build-up.
Ans although there’s naturals who aren’t proud to be black, there’s other naturals who express their pride of being black through wearing their hair natural.
What do you think?
by Miss Gee
8/4/2010- This contest is now closed. The winner is:
D. Sulcer.
Congrats! You should be getting an email soon.
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Guess what? Afro Glitz is co-hosting a give-a-way with CURLS!
This past spring, CURLS introduced an awesome product-line (specifically for naturals on a budget) at Target, because we all know how expensive hair products can be. Another cool thing about CURLS is that their products don’t contain any mineral oil, parabens, sulfates, silicones, artificial colors, or animal by parts. Their products are becoming so popular that they were featured on the popular television station, KGO (based out of the San Francisco area).
Now, they will be adding two new products to their line in August:
You have a chance to win one of the two products before they hit stores. This contest ends on August 3rd, so if you want to try this product at no cost, leave a comment telling me why you think you should win.
If your want to try their other products, you can simply purchase them at Target online or possibly at a Target in your area (see a list of locations here). If they’re not in your area, don’t panic. Target plans to add CURLS products to 400 additional stores by the end of August; hope and pray it’s near you!
