"The Best Thing That Happened to Her Was Weave"

I have heard that said to or about people and I have even read it online. Harsh much? Yes.

To me, basically, that statement means that girls aren't naturally beautiful and need fake things to look good. How disturbing.

What are you thoughts on this?
Weigh in!

My Reaction to the Ebony.com Article, "White Women on #TeamNatural? No, Thanks"

Okay! I'll start by saying this, I'm pretty sure some of you have read the article on Ebony.com titled, "White Women on #TeamNatural? No, Thanks." Please remember, what it says is just Jamila's opinion and not that of Ebony.com (I hope).

So, here's a summary of it, "The black hair movement does not need to be racially diverse."

My Reaction

Whaaaaaaat? Hol' up! So, are y'all being racist? Are y'all discriminating against white women? No? But you want them excluded?
Wait! So, black women were made slaves, told they were not beautiful and started slapping on some creamy crack, skin bleach, et cetera because they wanted to seem more white, "more beautiful"? Now, they're standing up for what they have and embracing it and their beauty so white people have to stay out? Umm.....hol' up! How many slaves does Sarah (lady mentioned in the article) have? How many black people has she mistreated? Don't make her suffer for what her ancestors did.
And black ladies need to stop victimising themselves. I'm not saying racism has ended completely because we all know it hasn't, but black ladies need to realise that they need to stop saying things like, "people don't consider black women as beautiful" because I have heard of many black women that are said to be beautiful and I, someone who looks like a full-black, have been told that I am beautiful by both white and black people.
Stop making it seem like black ladies have it SO BAD and whites have it SO GOOD! Stop making it seem like straight hair is SO EASY to take care of. I have seen that it isn't.

Many white women struggle with their looks. As a matter of fact, many white, Asian or Arabic ladies who we think are naturally straight are actually naturally curly. I have a Japanese fried who surprised me when she told me that she gets a relaxer when she gets noticeable new growth (and I did see her new growth a couple of months ago and it was curly). I have an Arab friend who pretty much detests her curly hair and wishes she was born with straight here. I have a WHITE friend who straightens her hair every. single. morning. because she believes people find straight hair more beautiful than curly hair. BLACK women have felt and some still feel the same way so what makes them any different from the blacks when it comes to this hair thing?

So....what is this thing we call, "natural hair"? Basically, it is our hair in its natural texture/has not undergone a texture-change with the use of chemicals. We have made that term, "natural hair," relate to just curly hair now, aye? So, Sarah has curly hair. She didn't always accept it, but now she does. Is she any less natural than any black woman that has been featured on CurlyNikki.com? I think not. If everything in the post/feature/interview/article about Sarah on Nikki's site was the same, but the pictures in that blog entry were that of a black woman would there be this controversy about the post? Will Jamila's article on Ebony.com exist? I think not.

Jamila works for Ebony.com and I'm pretty sure that recently, Ebony.com was (for the lack of a better word) celebrating that (Black) African writers are in the Vogue magazine. If I'm write, that magazine was started by a white person and bought over by a white person. If blacks are happy to be in a white person's thing, then why can't we be happy with a white person being in a "black person's thing?" Think about that. Remember! I'm not saying Jamila's opinion is the same as that of Ebony.com!

Seriously, to all the black people out there, if you really want racism against blacks to end, quit making statements like Jamila's, quit not accepting whites in what you consider to be a "black thing," quit discriminating against whites and quit discriminating against yourselves. And please note, I'm not saying that all blacks do this.

Lupita Nyong'o is Braidin'!!

Written by Vogue's very own Mackenzie Wagoner

Watch Nyong’o demonstrate her braiding skills in the video above.

On a recent Monday afternoon in June, Lupita Nyong’o is hovering above six of her closest friends, who are swiveling atop the black leather barber style chairs inside New York City’s sunlit Ludlow Blunt salon. They have come from all over the Eastern seaboard for the day to have Nyong’o braid their hair. “Lu’s ‘Do’s,’” they call out, referencing the Oscar-winning actress’s hidden talent for professional-level plaiting, before breaking into peels of laughter. “Four and a half stars on Yelp!”

As Nyong’o sets to twisting Bantu knots, sculpting dookie braids, and meticulously sectioning hair into cornrows, her friends close their eyes and lean to her will. It’s a ritual they’ve been taking part of together for over a decade, since the Kenya-bred actress made a vow to master the skill while attending Amherst’s Hampshire College after finding herself “morbidly disappointed” with braiding salons stateside. She vowed to learn how to style her own and held hopes of turning it into a money-making “side hustle” at drama school. It turned out to be neither; holding her arms above her own head for such a long time felt like “an act of madness,” she laughingly admits, and she didn’t have the heart to charge her friends.

What braiding did become was an unlikely asset for acting training—she credits the skill with keeping her awake during hours long classes at Hampshire and, later the Yale School of Drama, and for forging lasting, intimate relationships with the “genuine,” “honest,” “creative” friends who continue to “challenge me and require me to grow as a human being.”

The women in question are Jennifer Odera, a graduate student and childhood friend who, like Nyong’o, started having her hair braided when she was “itsy bitsy” in Kenya (where there were hairdressers “on every street corner”) in order to adhere to their primary school uniform dress code; Tashal Brown, an educator and Nyong’o’s roommate from Hampshire College; Yale classmates Miriam Hyman and Hallie Cooper-Novack,  as well as Stacey Sargeant, an actress whom she met while at the university; and Nontsikelelo Mutiti, a professor and artist who is currently hosting an art show revolving around the culture of braiding at New York City’s Recess gallery.

Upon seeing each other reunited for the occasion, their voices jump an octave and Nyong’o exclaims in excitement, “I’m going to cry!” They hug, they sing, they dance across the salon’s white tiled floor, but now that the braiding has commenced, they move into more meditative catch-ups, occasionally breaking for laughter when topics turn to Da Brat and Kris Kross—“I definitely wore my jeans backwards,” admits Nyong’o. When she finishes a friend’s twists, she brushes off her shoulders in jest.

Joking aside, it’s a painstaking process that Nyong’o takes seriously. “Your hair is your frame—it’s so important,” she says. And, she emphasizes, “braiding tells a story,” marking the body with a symbol of communal affection. As Mutiti says simply, “braiding connects.”

These days, as the growing responsibilities of life, family, and career take hold, the ritual remains precious between friends. “I’m really hoping the acting thing does work out,” says Nyong’o with a smile. “Then this can remain a hobby for those lucky few."

My Crochet Braids Regimen

So, I've had my crochet braids in for about 2-ish months now and it still looks fabulous.
I have a different type of extensions in this time and it's closer to my natural hair texture.

I haven't worked out as much since I got them installed so I haven't had to wash or rinse them out as often.

Here's my regimen:

• When I feel buildup on my scalp, that's when it needs to be cleaned. I either spray a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water between the cornrows or I make the mixture, get some on a cotton ball and gently move it up and down, left and right between each cornrow. I live the ACV in my hair overnight and gently rinse out in the morning. No conditioning.
• Every morning I refresh my curls with wet hands and whenever I wash my hands I dry them in my hair to refresh it some more. This has helped it stay defined and look good.
• I cut out tangles joining clumps of curls together and any flyaway-like strands of here at the bottom of each clump of curls.
• I work oily hands through the curls when it needs that extra shine.

I think that's all.

I've swam with this hair and I won't advice anyone to do that. It gets SO HEAVY! Ohmigosh! And the chlorine dries the extensions and your hair quite a lot too.

Summer Look Book

Hola chicas y chicos!

So, here's my summer look book with stuff I'm considering doing this summer!
So not gon' do all though!
Ain't nobody got time for that!

Faux locs

Marley Twists

Havana Twists

Stretched (NOT STRAIGHTENED) Hair

African Threading (Ghana Plaits)

Bantu Knot Outs

Three strand twist out

And that's a wrap!

What would you consider doing this summer?

~Sammy

After Insanity

Heyo!

So, y'all know I did the Insanity workout ("DID" I SAID, "DID!" I ACTUALLY DID IT AND FINISHED IT THIS TIME! OHMIGOSH!!). So, in this blog post, I am going to talk about my results and my future plans because I feel totally useless every night just sitting in my room or what ever. I need to continue working out daily.

Okay! So, Insanity started off well, and then we did plyometrics and I was like, "heeeeeeeeck no!" But I did it and kept up with the other workouts in month one always craving a Cardio Recovery, the day off, and looking foreword to the Recovery Week. So, Recovery Week came and that was a joke. Recovery, aye, Shaun T.? Stuff was still intense! But I didn't give up. Month 2 started with Shaun T's attempt to get me killed - Fit Test AND Max Cardio Circuit. I did it though, and kept craving Max Cardio Recovery, Core Cardio & Balance and the day off. Eventually, I finished the entire Insanity programme and I was as happy as.......ohmigosh!

I took pictures on my first day, at the start (I think) of month 2 and I am yet to take an after Insanity photo (that's bad, I know). In the first 2 set of pictures, I could see a difference. My body was WAY more toned! Looked really good. I was proud of it.

So, anyways, Insanity's over now and it ended with me having a bad knee. Yay! Fun! Not! It's painful! About a week or so after I was done with Insanity, my joints in me shoulders, elbows, wrists, both knees and my ankles started hurting. Like hurting enough to make me cry and spend most of my time in bed because it hurt to move. I don't think the joints issue has to do with Insanity, but hey! I have Nigerians in my family! Blame it on the I..I..I..I..Insanity, blame it on the I..I...I...I..I..I..I..I..I..I..Insanity! If they're reading this, they won't get the whole "Blame it on the Insanity" thing I just did. Hehe. Hey, family! :)

Anyways, so, I've decided that a week after ALL my joints are fine, I'm going to start a new BeachBody workout and it's going to be Shaun T's Rockin' Body! I couldn't decide between HipHop Abs and that, at first, but then I heard the soundtrack for Rockin' Body and I was like, "old school music! MY JAAAAAAM!!" and knew I'll have LOADS of fun burning 1,500 calories a day while jamming out to my favourite tunes. Gotta do what you love if it's of benefit to you!

So, yeah, that's all for now! :)
Stay natural! :)

~Sammy

Journey to a lil past APL

Picture Courtesy of ACurlyGirlAllTheDaysOfMyLife

Heyo!

So, first things first! Some people say, "don't count your transitioning days in how long you've been natural!" So, what does that make me? Two years natural? Dunno!

I transitioned for about 12 months. During that time, I got heat damage which I transitioned out of during those 12 months that I transitioned out of a relaxer. Two years? Is that right? So, I've been natural for 2-3 years? Okay!

So, anyways, y'all know my story! But I'll say it anyway:

SKIPPING THE BEGINNING OFCOURSE (the whole story about having a relaxer for most of my life, not being born with a hair manual, yada yada).

Okay! So, being natural wasn't the easiest thing and I guess I put my hair before other things in my life which was a terrible decision, of course, but my hair benefitted from it, I guess (though it would still have benefitted even if it wasn't the main physical thing in my life).  It took a while for me to decide what products I actually needed and how to work with them and it took a while for me to learn to work with my hair well and embrace the annoying things of being curly like shrinkage (the #1 annoying thing. The #2 is having your hair get stuck in things you walk past).

So, y'all know my goal had been BSL by the end of last year and unfortunately, I didn't get that. That was a bit of a downer. However, I've been on this protective styling journey that has helped in retaining quite a lot of length! You see, I'm a first-year college student (sixth form) and my mum thought it would be a lil stressful trying to take care of and style my hair while trying to get used to a new environment, teaching system, a bigger amount of workload and all so she had me decide to protective style. So, I was like, "okay, I'll get crochet braids done" and she installed them for me (I had mini twists in prior to that, but they were WAY too frizzy I had to take them down). I had my crochet braids in for about 4 months before I took them down, rocked my hair for about a week or two and then went back to them for about 3 months, took them down again, rocked my hair for a couple of weeks then put them back in. The second time I took them down, I had a lil past APL length hair! Oh me, oh my!

Okay! So, anyways, for 63 days, I did the Insanity Workout. Now, y'all might be like, "sixty-three??" Yup! the Insanity workout is advertised as a 60 days workout, but honey, it ain't! Count the days on the workout calendar! Stuff is 63 days long! They lied to me!! I finished this workout last month which means that I started it in March? I think? Can't remember? Too lazy to calculate? I believe the working out helped stimulate blood circulation in my scalp which in turn helped stimulate growth because I had quite a lot of new growth under my crochet braids before I took them down and noticed all that length. I have been off working out for a while now. I mean, I did Zumba once a week after Insanity, but I had a bad knee during the last week or so of Insanity and it got worse then about 3 weeks ago, my joints in my shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees (both) and ankles started hurting, I had to go for physiotherapy (been to it for about 4 weeks now) and I've had to see a doctor twice now so I've been off all workouts for a while now! I am going to pick up another workout that I'll do everyday a week after all this pain stops 'cause honey, it hurts to move.

Anyways, so that helped with my hair growth. Another thing that helped was that I started drinking more water which is really good. It's like watering grass. Water's gon' help those grass blades grow! Your hair's gon' grow if you water it and if you keep the soil (which is your scalp) hydrated! 

I also started eating WAY healthier! Although my guilty pleasure was popcorn and now it's ice cream. I'm not really a fan of ice cream (the only one I kinda actually like is Strawberry Cornetto), but if you live in Somerset or near Somerset, you would know that that place is HOT! Oh my gosh! It's like Nigeria all over again! (minus the perpetual smell of outside, the brown and grey skies (not blue!), the constant fighting, shouting, honking of horns, et cetera) I was sweating every night! You can't blame me for reaching out for some ice cream! I actually left where I live over there, walked for how many minutes, just to buy one Cornetto! Anyways, I felt sick afterwards. My punishment. With the popcorn, I ate it at night, which was bad, but that was just because that was when I had time to watch my series (Arrow, Vampire Diaries, The Originals and 24 (shout out to my fellow fans!)). Besides those guilty pleasures, I'm a healthy eater. I mean, I eat "grass" (a friend of mine calls my green, leafy salads, "grass"), I drink green juices (I have a bottle of it right beside me), I eat a bowl of fruits and/or veggies every night, when I make pasta, there's veggies in it, I cook clean (I avoid processed foods). When I eat what the school makes, I'm not sure what's in the food, but the food's not really unhealthy, I have one liquid meal a day (soups for lunch), I don't eat actual/cooked food after 5pm! And I have tried cutting off the popcorn, I actually deprived myself of it for a while (IT WAS TORTURE!! 'Cause I had a bag that stared me in the face whenever I opened up the cupboard to get some food ingredients). My popcorn was Metcalfe's Skinny Topcorn which doesn't have that many calories, doesn't have all that flavouring, preservatives and nasty stuff added into other popcorns. I did indulge in some toffee popcorns, but they make me feel sick, make my teeth feel weird and my fingers sticky and I hate sticky and dirty fingers (I've helped a friend teach a clay club for about 2 weeks now and I was like, "uugh! my fingers are dirty!" when the clay messed it up. I'm girly when it comes to dirt!). Anyways, the healthy eating benefitted my hair as it is stronger, shinier and longer (I eat loads of protein (eggs) for breakfast, which helps).

What else?

When I take down my crochet braids, I have my hair out on some days, especially when leaving my house, and then, I prefer to rock a bantu-knot out. If I'm staying indoors, psh! Ain't nobody got time to detangle, style or simply just manipulate my hair (no touching!)! I just leave it up in a satin scarf, how I slept. That helps retain length :)

Anything else?

Aah! My fingers don't get into my hair (new growth under my crochet braids), and if I have a bobby pin in, it stays in (as long as it's not in a position it can get tangled in my hair in while sleeping) and if I have my satin headband/hair ribbon in, it stays in because the more I put it in and take it out, the more my hair weakens. I mean, it's like bending and straightening out a piece of metal or plastic or something. It's gon' weaken and break!

Oh! oh! I drink green tea daily too! Had about 10 cups in one day to my best and closest guy friend's utter disgust. :) I drink it just 'cause I love it and well, in return of that love, it boosts my metabolism, which I read recently, could stimulate hair growth and it stimulates my hair follicles according to some university's research.

There's already quite a bit of new growth under these new crochet braids which I've had in for about a month or a little over that now. This could be as a result of the new green tea addiction and also because I cleanse my scalp with apple cider vinegar instead of washing it often with a sulfate free shampoo then conditioning. This prevents abrasion which can lead to breakage.

Anyways, this is longer than I planned for it to be so I'm going to stop here!

Gotta study!

~Sammy