Friday, February 19, 2010

Still Learning to Embrace Our Beauty



Just being silly.
My nieces and my husband. Just being silly, yet again.
BOTH OF my nieces are ALL natural now.  Woohoo!
T
Passion
& Me.

P.S. We're all still loving it and learning to embrace our beauty.

My niece T, just decided she wanted to be natural.  She opposed it for so long.  I actually didn't want to cut her hair beause I didn't think she was ready for this journey.  But I did, against my better judgment.  I'm still not sure I made the right decision; however, I am certain that hair grows back.  And if I can teach her now to learn to see her beauty, first within, then on the outside, then I'm glad I started now. 

As followers of God, we believe that God looks at the heart.  Therefore, the heart is where true beauty should be.  It doesn't matter how wonderful and nice you look on the outside if you are not beautiful within.  God doesn't care how much good we do if our motives are selfish.  And that, from the inside out is what my husband and I are trying to teach our nieces.  And they are learning, slowly, but surely.

But we do not ignore the media and how women, even younger girls, are protrayed in our society today.  Everyone is thin and beautiful.  Girls, even black girls, have long, straight hair (often times with the help of extensions, for both whites and non-whites).  So when my niece returned home to Chicago, after "going natural" she was made fun of.  She was told her hair was "jacked up" and that she was "balded head" and had "nappy" hair.  I asked her how these things made her feel.  She said she didn't care.  That made me proud.  It also made me sad that for many women our beauty lies within our looks, not within that which is in our hearts.  It made me sad that a young, African American girl would even be made fun of for wanting to get rid of the chemicals that damaged her hair.  That an afro could strip her of her "beauty".  Come on America, it's time for a reality check!  Beauty fades, hair falls out, and that's why I believe that God is real and the Bible is true: "Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the inside."  In the end, what is inside is what matters most of all.  And maybe if we all believed this, we'd all be a lot happier, less shallow, and could save tons and tons of money on make-up and botox!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

FroHawk!

 

Here's a quick style I have done on my nieces!
This is my first attempt on my own head, which you'll  be able to tell with my crooked parts.
I don't braid my own hair because it's far too frustrating.

First, I divide the hair into 3 parts.
I will have braids come up the sides, meeting at the middle where I live some hair out
(hair that is to be twiseted later).

Each side of my head has 9, unfortunately, crooked braids.
               Right Side!                                                                      Left Side!

Once I am done, I'll have a bunch of hair collected in the middle.

Here ae some better shots.


Finally, the coils (blog to come).
I take a small amont of gel and wet my hair.
I then take my pointer finger and begin to rub the hair around my finger until it coils up.
The result:
I know, terrible parting job.  But I just couldn't see and my arms are so short.
Practice makes better.  It can only get better from here, right?!  I sure hope so.
The back.


Quick, Easy AFRO Hairstyles!!!!!! 2 Strand Twist and Twist Out!

This is my BIG o' forehead and my MINI afro!

This is the product I will be using: Olive Styling Gel by IC.
Cost: $4.00-$5.00 (with taxes)

I begin by taking a fair share (1 tablespoon) of gel in my hand.
I pick up my hair, based on how big and thick I want my twists to be.
I put my tablespoon of gel on my selected hair.             And I begin to twist the 2 halves together, into one!
Back view of what the twists look like!
I'm not balding. First day (until the twist out) there will be spots in your hair, unless you comb it out (at the root, as not to undo all of the curl).

Side View!

Big O' Forehead again!  Can't seem to cover it up.

Day II-Twist out
(I unravel each of the 2 strand twists)

Side Shot of Twist Out!
Notice I can continue to split twists apart to get even smaller, fuller curls.

Front Shot of Twists Out!!!!!!!