My mother told me that when she was a child there were some top schools whose dress code insisted on straight hair so if you didn't naturally have straight hair you had to sort it out to go to those schools. Things have changed since then.
I agree with you, curly cap, we are so lucky.
I do think a big part of why type 4 hair gets such a bad rap as so difficult is that pretty much how that lady s hair was was the situation for enslaved people under their head wraps, at least field slaves. I am not just guessing or talking out of my hat, I did original research for my senior college thesis on life for black women under US slavery and what I could find about hair care from the sources very strongly suggests this. so, yeah, you'd hate your hair, even not considering oth r r factors.
Proud to be a tightly curly!
(SL-APL-BSL-Midback-Waist!)
My mother told me that when she was a child there were some top schools whose dress code insisted on straight hair so if you didn't naturally have straight hair you had to sort it out to go to those schools. Things have changed since then.
I haven't posted in a while. I have been getting regular blowouts for the past few months, but now I am letting my hair rest until the end of April. I'm wearing individual plaits. If I have somewhere important to go I throw on a wig.
Lady Bella de las Chicas morenas in the Order of the Long Haired Knights
Well, no good news to report.
I went back to the shelter today with a bag of hair goodies. I approached the elderly lady, and two long term employees told me to stop. "Her hair is too uncontrollable and you don't know what you're doing. We've asked about it and we're going to have someone flat iron it."
Yep. Without asking me a single question, they said I wasn't qualified as a volunteer. Furthermore, they will have one of the full-time employees who is staff "press her hair to make it softer and easier to manage". I found it very ironic that this employee is also a cosmetologist who gets a bonus for "managing" the hair of AA clients.
I told the staff members that I didn't really feel hot tools were necessary and that I was very comfortable with her type of hair. I was laughed at and told to come back another day.
I feel really bad for her and the dismissal of her hair. I feel that bad someone is going to probably profit off her in these circumstances. I feel bad that this whole interaction was so full of stereotypes and misconceptions that it was mind-boggling. Sigh.
Grew out the pixie.
Acquired a mane.
Cruising toward Classic.
**For my routine, please see my blog posts.**
It's sad.
and yes a lot of people hugely profit. don't start me on the subject of black hair dressers
Proud to be a tightly curly!
(SL-APL-BSL-Midback-Waist!)
I haven't been to this thread for a while and its GROWN! I couldn't even catch up with all the new pages so forgive me if I've missed something important.
My trip to Ghana over a month ago now was interesting hair observation wise. I noticed almost immediately that long hair is booming over there. Mostly as straight weaves or braids but I would say the average length for these was around tailbone with some at mid thigh length and longer. It was really nice to see hair that long. On the other hand most women who wore their hair natural was at a short length (no longer than ear length), I think the longest natural hair I saw was my auntys which was around armpit length, the first day I saw her she had it flat ironed. Hair dressers were common and market stalls selling hair products was also common. Another thing I noticed was the relaxer billboards. I noticed around 10-15 of these on my travels (went to around 3 cities).
CurlyCap - you did a very nice thing for that lady and it is unfortunate that they were not willing to allow you to continue.
I'm a little behind, but I'll try catch-up.
Yvette, hang in there and just stick with what does work for you for now. It took me at least 2 years before I found a routine that worked well and 4 before I got to a point where doing my hair felt 'easy,' (Clearly, I'm a slow learner). From what I've seen, your hair looks to be in great condition.
CurlyCap, that was really sweet of you to go out of your way to help the lady at that shelter. I'm dissappointed that the staff dismissed you like that but I'm sure that woman appreciates what you did. I hope it doesn't discourage you from helping anyone else.
Hiya ClassicAim! Glad to see you're back. I hope this thread keeps growing because I'm constantly learning from all of you. That and it's just more fun when there are more people around.
Did you buy anything hair related while you were over in Ghana? I kind of hoped that the trend/lifestyle shift towards going natural would have caught on by now but I guess it will take a while. Relaxers were relatively common in my country too. There's nothing wrong with relaxers, but it's just exciting for me to see people embracing the hair they never knew they had or had gotten unfamiliar with.
I just got a large ficcare off the swap board and I am in LOVE.
Usually I'm battling with hair toys because my hair explodes out of them, but this is a very good hold and does not got anywhere until I move it. It's such a nice feeling because I tried a lot of the usual LHC hairtoys and they just don't cut it. I found myself eventually migrating back to to patience+bobby pins for updos.
Sadly, I will likely need two to contain an entire bun, but right now I'm making it work with one because curly hair is awesome and sorta sticks in place.
In other news, apparently I am getting a new manager tomorrow who is know for "disliking ethnic hairdos", which, frankly, is probably illegal. I'm gonna feel him out and if he's a terrible person, I'm a wearing twists all month long and he can bite me.
Grew out the pixie.
Acquired a mane.
Cruising toward Classic.
**For my routine, please see my blog posts.**
So I did the inversion method last week. I used MN for scalp massages, did the GHE overnight, and was pretty consistent with doing the inversions. I only tracked the growth in front. Gained about an inch from my lips to my chin
Now to see if I can find more MN and keep doing this
fade -> EL->NL ~> APL ~> BSL ~> MBL ~> WL (stretched goals)
Cut off locs and restarting hair journey
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