2 posts tagged “mobile”

I promised myself that I wasn't going to post about this topic. But after all of the other conversations that has gone on as well as Chris Rock's media appearances, I feel compelled to say something.

I'm not that interested in seeing Good Hair anymore. At first, I thought that it may be an interesting conversation starter but the more I hear about it, it sounds a showcase for Chris Rock to talk about how superficial and high maintenance black women are using hair as an example.

I've watched the conversations turn into straight vs nappy and I think that dichotomy is stupid. Your politics, self-image, and potential self-hatred are not solely dictated by the hair on your head. But I think that with any lifestyle choice, you owe it to yourself to be honest about why you made those choices.

I used to hate my natural hair. I thought it was unruly and impossible to deal with. I believed that it had to be beaten into submission with relaxers, pressing irons and curling irons. I resented that my hair didn't grow long and felt resigned to wear my hair short, thin, and flat or braided.

I didn't stop resenting my natural hair until I learned how to care for it. I didn't learn how care for my hair until I stopped expecting it to behave like straight hair.

And that is the core of the problem. We have to reprogram ourselves and society out of this idea that straight hair is the baseline and the norm. Yes, hairstyles are choices but your hair texture is not. And it is wrong to judge all hair textures as presentable against a single, arbitrary baseline.

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Over the last month or so, I have noticed a change in my hair color. At first I thought that maybe my locs were getting duller due to buildup. But with regular baking soda washes and vinegar rinses, I ended up with squeaky clean, build up free locs that were starting to turn brown.

Now I have seen lovely brown locs. My mom's have slowly lightened over time and look great. But I am kind of attached to having black hair. So this seemed like as good of a time as any to try my first home dye job.

I have used henna at home before and ended up with great feeling hair and no discernable change in color. As much as I like the way henna makes my hair feel (and I do have some henna to dye hair black already) the lengthy messy process with a disappointing end result wasn't what I wanted this time. So I went to Sally's to investigate hair dye.

I only looked at semi-permanent and temporary dyes - I'm just trying enhance my natural color and I'm going darker so no need for the havey artillery. I ended up getting Ion Color Brilliance semi-permanent dye. It seemed easy to use and came in it's own applicator bottle. I picked up a brush to distribute the dye and I was all set.

Although the process was less messy than henna (especially the rinsing part) the application stage was still a little tough. Fortunately, I managed not to stain anything. 2d minutes with a shower cap and a rinse later and I had lovel get black locs.

I don't think that I rinsed my hair enough so I ended up washing it the next day. My hair does feel a little drier now but not excessively so. And I had the added bonus of the dye covering the lint. I'm planning to use temporary hair dye rinses to maintain the color from her out since my major concern is about my ends rather than the roots.

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