Nappy Kitchen

The Real Me

I lot of people (especially men) have told me that I was cute or looked better with longer (read: long, straight) hair. While I agree that the hairstyle itself was cute, I can't say I miss it. When I rocked that hairstyle the men weren't looking at Lisa. They were looking at an image of Lisa, one created specifically to meld with the rest of the crowd. They were looking at a Lisa that was trapped within the confines of popular beauty ideals. In short, not the real me.

Honestly, I used my hair to hide, whether it was naturally mine or not. Those long bangs were a shield of sorts, much like I feel my eyeglasses are. It's hard to explain, but those that are or have been really shy will identify with what I'm saying. When I cut my hair, I forced others as well as myself to really look at me. Straight Lisa, no chaser. This is who I am. This is who I will be.

Long straight hair = more appealing to men. This is an equation that holds true for the vast majority. Nothing I can do about it, and I'm not particularly inclined to care. Anytime a man asks me more than a few times if I'm planning on "keeping" my natural hair or constantly mentions how good I looked with the long hair, then I know he's having trouble dealing with my hair. Quite honestly, it's a bit of a turnoff. I don't expect every person I encounter to immediately remove their societally forced perceptions of what is beautiful, but I do expect any person I deal with to accept that this is my choice. And I would prefer that any man I'm involved with actually like my hair as is. I'll be damned if I get with someone that's merely willing to make allowances for my hair. You ain't got to do me no favors! Love all of me or bounce. It's as simple as that.

When I run my fingers through my hair and it feels soft and healthy, I think about the dry brittle shit I used to deal with and wonder why I waited this damn long to come to my senses. Unless somebody straps me down and applies it to my hair, I will never go back to the relaxer. The only thing temporary about my hair right about now is the length.

I would like for people to understand that my nappy hair is not a style. It is my hair period. I'm letting it do what it's supposed to do: grow wild and unencumbered by caustic chemicals. Love it or leave it. Either way I'll still be doing me.

Shrinkaaaage!

I twisted my hair yesterday, with no product to see how they would turn out. It actually went pretty well. Oh wait...I did have to use a little gel on the top twists though...lil unraveling things! But for the most part, no product. I also made them a tad bit chunkier, which turned out nicely. It took a lot less time, too, since I sat down and FOCUSED on getting them down. That encourages me to do them more often.

BUT. I got caught in the rain yesterday, and though the rain nicely weighed down my gravity-defying hairdo, it resulted in major shrinkage. And this morning when I got up, they were looking right fuzzy. See for yourself:

But damned if I didn't have a great time knowing I could walk in the rain without ending up looking like a wet dog!

I think I'm going to unravel em and see what I can do with a twistout. I'll look at this as a good practice run for this weekend. I shall post pics when that takes place. Toodles!

Nuthin Huge

I've been meaning to update this thang, but I haven't been doing a whole lot of creative stuff with my hair. And when I do fix it up, I'm too lazy to take pics. I'm sure a new camera would give me more incentive, but alas that's not going to happen any time soon. *sigh*

Tales of Relaxer Hell

#1 - For some reason, I always get approached in the beauty supply store for hair advice. This never fails to amuse me, as I'm the person with the nappiest hair in the place. At any rate, this woman approached me about conditioners that would help strengthen her hair. Apparently her hairstylist (using that term very loosely) neglected to wash all of the relaxer out of her hair. Poor thing didn't notice until she got home, started combing her hair and noticed it was coming out in clumps. A quick glance at her hair (which was mostly hidden under a hat) confirmed that it was indeed damaged. It was sooo thin. *sigh* So I pointed out some good conditioner which apparently was too expensive for her. She mentioned going to the dollar store to get something close to it. Pffftt. In some cases you do get what you pay for. People will never learn.

#2 - This girl at the club!! Y'all she was all on the dance floor schweating it out, working it for the people! *sigh* How bout when she came off that floor, her hair was hanging about her head like limp vermicelli. It looked all sparse and stringy like that Tales From The Crypt dude.

Moving on...

My hair is still growing at a pretty good rate. Funny that I'm finally getting to a point where my hair tangles more easily. Short hair spoiled me quick! I'm adjusting as I go along though. Every day something cool is going on with my napps.

Here's my fro a month ago:

And now:

Here's the headband/fro combo:

Here's a pic of my club 'do. The PHHB was darker than that btw.

I've been steadily trimming my hair over the course of some days to get rid of crispy ends as well as even out the fro some. So far I haven't taken a huge accidental chunk out. *thumbsup*

Oh and before I forget...I finally tried Daily Defense Tender Apple. Man, that works good as hell to be only a dollar. I recommend it and stuff.