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88bernice
February 25th, 2013, 11:47 AM
Hi people!

Today I feel inspired by the hair culture in my country, Puerto Rico and I want to talk to you a little bit about it. When it comes to celebration (birthdays, holidays, weddings) or just a daily hairstyle, women prefers a very straight hair. The most requested hairdo is to get your hair as sleek and straight as posible. I dare to say everywoman knows how to blow dry and flat iron hair better than a profesional. When the hair styling is finished we do something we call "dubi", that its mainly wrapping your hair and putting some clips in it. We stay with the dubi for hours, more is better, bacuse the dubi helps to avoid frizz and while we fix it and reverse it the oils spread trough teh hair. It is so common to see women shopping or in the middle of the party with their "dubies". The sad thing is that because we are a mix of Taino, Spanish and African the most common hair is curly, as mine is, but no one cares about it. It think some reason women prefer to style their hair straight is because they do not know how to style and mantain curly hair or they think straight hair is beautiful than curly. Even the little girls have to get flat ironed hair for special occasions. That is why it was so dificult to me to quit flat ironing my hair weekly. Now, after years dealing with it, I feel different (in a good way) and free and I only straight my hair few times in a year.

This is a dubi if you want more information about how to do it you can ask:

http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q657/88bernice/3400853559_f9e00393eb_zpsfee26a1f.jpg

SugarPlumDreams
February 25th, 2013, 12:03 PM
Hola 88bernice! Soy Americana, pero yo vivo en la isla nena :) (translation, so no one is left out: I'm American, but I live on the little girl island)

You're right about the general attitudes towards hair here in Puerto Rico. My boyfriend is Puerto Rican, and when I first met his daughter 4 years ago, she regularly straightened her hair. I spent as much time as I could commenting on how beautiful her hair was when it was curly, and pointing out other women with gorgeous curly hair. She mostly wears it curly now, and I like to think I had a little part in that :)

I do have to say though, on Vieques, I find way more women with waist length or longer hair in its natural curly state than I see on the main island. So, I have plenty of inspiration every day :)

But the dubi, oh the dubi... lol... I love it! I've worn 'em! But never outside my home!

SugarPlumDreams
February 25th, 2013, 12:07 PM
Also, you might like the Diosas al Natural page on FaceBook. It highlights women around PR who are wearing their hair naturally and are loving it! They also have a tumblr (http://www.diosasalnatural.tumblr.com).

spidermom
February 25th, 2013, 12:08 PM
Oh my goodness; it would be very weird to see somebody with the dubi here in the Pacific NW.

My former stylist was from Puerto Rico, and I really appreciated her attitude about hair. For example, here on LHC people are often commenting that the roots don't know what is going on at the ends of your hair, but my stylist would say "Are you kidding me? That root knows everything about that hair. It's a proven fact that when a hair is damaged or split, the follicle diverts energy away from growing toward more sebum production in attempt to protect that hair. That is why trimming away damage is so important." I don't know if that was her personal view of the process or whether it is more the Puerto Rican view. Either way, I agree with it.

88bernice
February 25th, 2013, 12:18 PM
I live in Rio Grande at the begining of the road that heads to "EL YUNQUE". Even though Culebra and Vieques belongs to PR, I think there people are a bit different than here. They are more united, humble and doesn't care about style as people on the "Isla Grande" or main island do. I wish this summer I could visit Vieques or Culebra, they are a paradise....

88bernice
February 25th, 2013, 12:37 PM
Well spider mom I think you are right. Here in Puerto Rico more women prefers to cut all the damage than deal with it. I was one of them before attempting to grow my hair. Since I was a child I had Classic length of brushed curly hair. But when I entered 8th grade I asked a hairdresser to cut my hair to shoulder and do a relaxer (I dont have coarse or kinky hair but I hate when my hair gets frizz and puffy after blowdryed). Since then I never got my hair again :( and I think a reason was that always I ask the hairdresser to cut the damage they cut it at shoulder again and again. Now I am trying to deal with 7 inches of dry and damage hair but sometimes the idea of cutting it all makes me think :'(

88bernice
February 25th, 2013, 12:43 PM
Spidermom the issue is they are drastic about damaged hair, the mayority of the women can't wait to grow the hair and cut inch by inch they prefer to cut it all and not because the damage can spread but they don't like how it looks.

jacqueline101
February 25th, 2013, 05:26 PM
I agree with Spidermom the hair roots know what the ends are doing. I think the naturalness of hair is better. I took the no trims for a year challenge. I did a micro trim my hair was breaking off.