Tips For Afros

Creating a perfect Afro is not always as simple as it may seem, but with a little TLC doesn’t always come naturally — growing and caring for a healthy Afro requires conscientious hair care and a little bit of patience. Here’s how to grow your hair into the perfect style.

Too frequent washings can cause your hair to become even more dry and brittle, so try to wash your hair no more than once a week. (You can simply rinse it with a little water in between washings when needed.)

To combat dryness try baggying. To baggy, get a conditioner cap and some oil – pure olive oil, grapeseed oil or and jojoba oil – and add a generous amount to your hair at night before bed and put the conditioner cap on. Put your regular hair scarf over the bag for added moisture. In the morning, your hair should be soft and easy to comb. Add your regular moisturizer and seal. You can baggy every night if your hair if very dry and you should see results after two weeks.

After a last trim, just let your hair grow for several months until it achieves the length you want. When your Afro gets to the length you want, hit the salon regularly to get a trim to ensure that it is growing evenly and achieving the look you want.

Rather than use a comb to tame your Afro, use your fingers, or a wide-toothed comb. When choosing a wide-toothed comb, try to find one as wide as when you spread out your fingers.

What A Relaxer is Really Doing To Your Hair

It’s common knowledge that relaxers or perms are chemically altering to our hair. However, many women choose to relax their hair to achieve straightened locks that won’t revert to curly. While it is certainly every woman’s pejorative to do what she chooses with her hair, education is key whether you choose to relax or go natural.

Green Beauty YouTube channel posted a thorough video on what relaxers do to your hair. Informative and full of chemical knowledge, the video breaks down the relaxing process on a biological level.

Check out the video below.

Box Braids vs. Senegalese Twists

by Kweli Wright

There’s not that much of a difference between the two except for the fact that the braids are bulkier than the twists, which also means that the twists are more flexible to wear up in different hairstyles. And when it comes to removing the hair, the twists are definitely easier to unravel. If you’re considering giving your hair a break this coming sunny season, take a look at this gallery of braids and twists. I’m still on the fence, Which do you prefer?

Janet Jackson revisited her famous Poetic Justice braided style this year at Fashion Week in Milan.

Up and out of the way, these Senegalese twists are done in a bun.

Box braids in a French braid.

Twists pinned to the side.

Jada Pinkett Smith twisted her braids into a half Mohawk.

Half-up, half-down twists.

The longest of box braids are summertime fine.

Senegalese twists with a simple side-aprt.

Natural Hair Crush: Aïssa Maïga

Actress Aïssa Maïga is a Senegalese born and lives in France. With 54 flicks under her belt, you can get to know her work in this year’s French film Mood Indigo, but we’re currently crushing on her natural hairstyles. Flip through to see her Afros and updos!

A curly poof.

A Diana Ross-inspired mass of hair.

A funky updo.

Blown-out and pinned up (her eye makeup is everything).

 Protective style perfection in braids.

Hair Interview with talented senegambian singer Mary Ndiaye

Bio

I was born the 13th April 1987 in Stockholm, Sweden. My Senegambian mum raised me in an environment with pretty much a perfect mix of two worlds. I got to experience the European pop music scene and structured lifestyle but also got a taste of the Senegambian “heat”, colorful culture and music. I don’t remember the exact age, but I think I was around 4 or 5 years old when I first discovered Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. Growing up with their musical influences I just knew music had to be part of my destiny and I guess that’s how this “Big Dreamer” was born.

What advice would you give someone who wants to go natural?

 Natural is beautiful but A beauty you cant be adviced or forced to understand. It took me some soul searching and getting to know my self before I truly started to love to look of wearing my hear in a fro. Once you truly see that beauty it’s like a wait has been lifted of your shoulders and you just understand that you are beautiful the way you are.

Why did you make the decision to go natural? 

My hair was so damaged from chemicals so I decided to cut it all of and grow it out again. In order words, it was not that much of a choice, I had to.

When and how did you transition into natural hair?

I don’t remember exactly when. But I remember first using Afro wigs and braiding my hair instead of wearing it straight in a weave, and I guess I just started loving that African look more and more. 

 In what ways (if any) has going natural affected you?

 For me it’s not so much about going natural but more about the massage I want to spread to my fans through my look. I do love the fact that I feel natural and beautiful wearing a fro and hope that more black women can be confident and see the beauty in leaving their hair to grow naturally or braiding it wich is also a much more healthier option than using the chemicals. 

 How would you describe your hair?

My hair is pretty rough. My mum still helps me braid the sides the sides so that I don’t need to comb the entire hair every morning, but only the middle, which i usually wear in either one ore two puffs.

What is your regimen?

When ever I stress too much, eat bad and or forget my vitamins my hair starts braking, so I try to exercise, eat and drink good. When ever I feel good, my hair feels good too.

How do you retain length and moisture in your hair?

I wash my hair more often. (3 times a week), I use Bag Balm which is so good for the scalp. My whole family is hooked. You can buy it in animal shops lol. 

What mistakes have you made with your hair that you’ve learned from?

When i was younger I straightened it and short after bleached my hair which resulted in major damage of the hair. I have not put any chemicals in my hair since. 

What’s the best/most effective thing you do for your hair?

Washing it more often and cutting it. 

Who’s your biggest hairspiration?

Solange Knowles

For more  Miss Mary Ndiaye, go to www.maryndiaye.com

En mors fortælling om hvorfor hun har valgt at gå natural og hvorfor hun også vælger dette for hendes datter.

Hvor gammel var du at du fik dit hår relaxed?

Jeg var ca. 9 år.

Var det din ønske at få din hår relaxed, eller var det noget du blev presset til, og hvis det foreligger således at du blev presset til det, hvad var grunden bag?
Tværtimod, jeg pressede min mor til at glatte mit hår. Hun var ikke helt enig med mig men gav efter, da det var i forbindelse med min første kommunion.

Hvad slags problemer har du haft ved at have relaxed hår?

Alt gik godt, indtil vi flyttede til Danmark. I Afrika var det nemt at passe mit hår, for vi havde en dame, som kom hos os hver tredje uge og flettede min søster og jeg og plejede vores hår med diverse kur og olie.

Hver tredje måned fik vi vores hår relaxet og stylet hos en rigtig frisør.

I Danmark har jeg har haft knækket hår, brændt hår, tørt hår, misfarvede hår mm. og dette skyldes, at jeg hverken har tid eller råd til at få den samme pleje, som jeg fik i Congo.

I hvor lang tid har du haft Relaxed?

Jeg har ikke relaxet mit hår i de sidste 18måneder. Dette skyldes, at mit hår blev ødelagt eftersom jeg begyndte at relaxe mit hår og flette dem på samme dag.

Hvornår valgt du at går Natural og hvad var grunden bag?
Jeg vil ikke påstå, at jeg er gået 100% (hår) natural. Jeg vil sagtens kunne relaxe mit hår igen og gå med påsætninger. For mig at ”gå natural” er meget mere end bare ”hår”. Jeg forbinder det mere med at være selvbevidst og stolt af at sin identitet.

Jeg valgte at lade mit hår få ro for ca. 18måneder siden . Jeg havde fået dårlig vaner med at relaxe og få fletninger på samme dag. Dette resulterede i, at jeg begyndte at miste hår. Faktisk så har mit hårgrænse flyttet sig ca. 4cm., hvilket er ret surt.

Hvordan havde du det, den første uge hvor du gik rundt med dit naturlig hår, og hvilke kommentere kom folk med?

Det var dejligt og befriende, for i mange år havde jeg den ’latterlig’ forestilling om, at jeg skulle have barbi hår for at være smuk. Jeg blev overrasket over, at jeg fik flere komplimenter uden hår. Jeg blev rørt, da en pige stoppede mig på gaden i Stockholm og sagde: TAK! tak fordi du tør…

Du er mor til  en af de smukkeste piger jeg har set, og hun går også rundt med hendes skønne skønne afro, hvorfor valgt du at hun skulle bibehold hendes naturlig hår og hvad svare du hende, når hun siger mor jeg vil også gerne ligne Pernille, fordi hun har lange lokker?

 Tak, Felicia blev født med hår, og det første lægerne sagde til os var, at de kunne se en masse sort hår. Det har været naturligt for mig at pleje hendes hår, for hun havde så meget af det, og det har altid været sundt. Jeg har faktisk tænkt mig at bestikke hende med, at hun får betalt sit kørekort og får en bil, når hun fylder 18år, hvis hun beholder sit naturlig hår Lol…

Hun har selvfølgelig kommenteret det faktum, at hendes hår ser anderledes ud, og at nogle veninderne har glattet hår. Jeg har siden hun blev født været forberedt på det tidspunkt, hun vil begynde at stille spørgsmål omkring sin identitet, hvilket er sundt og naturligt taget i betragtning af, at hun er født i Danmark og bor på Frederiksberg.
Min opgave som mor er at eksponere hende for skønhed generelt… ikke kun Afrikansk, amerikansk, kinesisk etc…. Hun lærer om næstekærlighed, og om at skønhed kommer indefra. Felicia har brune og mørke dukker og ser tegneserie med brune, mørke og lyse prinsesser. For hende har skønhed altid været universalt, allerede fra dengang hun begyndte at have en opfattelse af ordet/udtrykket. Så for at konkludere, så har jeg ikke oplevet, at hun misunder sine veninder for deres hår Hjem hos os, er hun min prinsesse, hvilket betyder at prinsesser har også afro

 

5 Tips Natural & Relaxed Girls Can Learn from CurlyNikki’s Better Than Good Hair

Natural hair blogger Nikki Walton’s new book, Better Than Good Hair, has already been coined a go-to natural hair bible. Walton, who is affectionately known in the natural hair community as Curly Nikki, has spent the last four years helping women transition from wearing chemically processed hair to their natural curls on her blog.

However, Better than Good Hair is not just for naturalists. Lets take a look at 5 hair tips all women of color can learn from Curly Nikki’s new book.

1. How to Defend Your Hair Choices

Better Than Good Hair is a book on how to maintain and style natural tresses, but even if you have a relaxer the book doesn’t judge. It’s main focus is to provide tips on achieving healthy hair and confidence in your hair choices — whether you rock bone-straight hair, braids, weaves or a picked-out fro.

Many of our hair choices as African-American women are determined by popular culture and fear that our loved ones and/or significant others will not like our new do.

Curly Nikki says going against the grain with your hair choices is one of the “bravest things you will ever do.” For natural girls she writes, “Going natural means facing many of our fears. It also means standing up for ourselves and learning a new skill set.”

2. How to Wash and Condition

For your hair to retain the most moisture, Curly Nikki advises washing with warm water and rising with cool water to seal and smooth your cuticles.

3. How to Love Your Hair

Some girls go natural and find that they aren’t “in love” with their hair texture. Likewise, many girls get relaxers only to find their hair still has a mind of its own and doesnt want to stay straight. This leaves us no other choice but to embrace whatever texture God has blessed us with.

4. How to Style Your Hair

Many of the hairstyles mentioned in the book are great for naturalists, and relaxed girls who are looking to protect their hair or get a new look.

Rollersets are great for girls with two textures, twist outs are popular and also braids of every kind. The book gives step-by-step guides on how to achieve many of these styles at home.

5. How to Protect Your Hair

As part of your healthy hair care regimen, Curly Nikki recommends always using a heat protecter before adding heat to your hair, avoid combs that increase breakage and remember that a silk bonnet  is always your best friend!

Cheers to wavy, coily, silky, kinky, shiny and curly HEALTHY hair!

Now, tell us why you love your hair — whether you rock it curly or straight.

A Conversation With Rihanna’s Hair Stylist, Ursula Stephen

Rihanna’s celebrity Hair Stylist, Ursula Stephens shares and reveals everything, from the industry’s standard of beauty, discrimination as a black hairstylist, natural hair and the movement of natural hair. She talks about her trip to South Africa where she worked with African women, that had damaged hair because of  the chemicals in the relaxers and taught them how to care for their hair. Read this exclusive interview from the Huffington Post by Journalist & Cultural Critic, Robyn Carolyn Price.

Via: Huffington post

Robyn Carolyn Price

“Hair brings one’s self-image into focus; it is vanity’s proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices.” – Shana Alexander, American journalist

Ursula Stephen

Celebrity hairstylist Ursula Stephen cried as we talked about… hair. It caught me off guard as I hadn’t considered the possibility of tears during an interview about celebrity cuts and color. What I discovered however, was that Ursula was a woman who was not only well-versed in the mechanics of her craft, but acutely aware its profound social, cultural and political significance. Barely speaking through her tears, we talked about her trip to South Africa where she worked with women of color whose natural hair texture was almost unrecognizable — marred by years of improper relaxers, no conditioner and an incessant desire to manipulate their hair into straight, Anglo-inspired styles. As she ran her fingers through the hair of women who knew virtually nothing about how to care for their own hair, she understood that their dry, brittle strands were vestiges of their apartheid past. Their hair whispered stories of their history; and Ursula was moved to tears by what she heard.

Despite the fact that Elle magazine has lauded her as ” hair royalty” Ursula Stephen remains remarkably humble and painstakingly human. She’s yet to allow herself to become jaded or disconnected from the essence of her craft in a haze of global jet setting with one of the biggest popstars on the planet. Her two Vogue covers with Rihanna haven’t rendered all else unimportant. She remains firmly grounded using her talent as a conduit to help women feel beautiful, empowered and recognize better versions of themselves. From those uncovering their identity soaked in layers of racial injustice, to a pop-princess asserting her power as an icon, Ursula remains equally inspired.

Below are excerpts from my conversation with Ursula Stephen, who proves that in her industry, style does not always trump substance.

Robyn: What are your thoughts on the increasing number of women of color who are choosing to wear their hair in more natural styles?

Ursula: I think the movement that’s happening right now is really great. Women are gaining a certain sense of self confidence. For a long time, if you wore your hair natural, people didn’t associate you with being pretty, stylish or sexy. And now, with so many different styling options and different products available, it just makes it so much the better for the natural girl to really show her beautiful self.

I’m a hairstylist and I’m down for whatever — weaves, braids, bald heads, short hair, etc. I appreciate styles for what they are. I think everything is beautiful. Every image. Every picture. Every person. But the fact is that so many women are losing themselves behind weaves and extensions. So I’m happy that women can feel and be beautiful with natural hair because they were losing that sense of themselves for a long time. That’s why they were losing their edges and hair because they were becoming essentially dependent on these extensions. They forgot about their own natural hair and how beautiful and how healthy it could be.

At the end of the day, a healthy head of hair is the foundation for a great hairstyle. So they sacrifice their own hair because they want to wear these expensive weaves and braids… but then the weaves and braids start looking crazy because they don’t have any hair. It was like a bad cycle that we were going through. I think this movement is helping women to get back to who they are and really appreciate themselves. Women are learning that weaves and braids are just accessories to be worn for a certain amount of time, and to be taken out for a certain amount of time.

Robyn: You cut Rihanna’s hair into the infamous bob — a haircut which many people credit with helping to catapult her career into superstardom. Tell me a bit about the thought process that went into going short. Because prior to the cut, her long hair, flowing tresses mirrored her popstar counterparts. You guys were taking a bit of a risk because the long weave seemed to be an essential part of the popstar formula.

Ursula: That was one of the reasons why we did it — because she was tired of looking like everybody else. Plus, I was tired of doing the same old thing for her and for everybody else. And we just went for it. But we never thought that it was going to be talked about to the extent that it was. That wasn’t the aim. It was really just a matter of being tired of looking like that… like everybody else. It’s something that we just did. We never knew that it would be this world-renowned haircut. So I wasn’t nervous when I cut her hair, because we had no idea it would be so big.

I think I realized that the cut was a big deal when I started seeing everybody, not only in New York, with the haircut. It had even gone overseas. No matter where I would go — New York, L.A., London, Paris, Germany — somebody was taking some piece of what she had done to her hair. It was everywhere. It was crazy.

Robyn: What has been your experience in the entertainment industry as it relates to standards of beauty… particularly black beauty?

Ursula: I think there is a little prejudice towards it, but it’s unsaid. No one speaks about it. You know, you have other artists that are darker skinned and they just don’t really go that far. There are a few exceptions. But the percentage is so small. No one really speaks about it.

I don’t think anyone has ever come to me and said, “Oh she’s too dark, so we won’t show her or we wont put her in front.” Nothing like that. It’s just something that silently happens. There are all of the artists out front — the light-skinned girls with long hair and all of that. But that’s what I liked about the whole movement with Rihanna. She did cut her hair and she did shave her hair. She was this super pretty girl that was so rebellious with her hair that it was an oxymoron. So it messed everybody up. It let people actually see that you could be gorgeous, successful, and make it in this industry and not have long hair down to your knee caps or boobs up to your chin. It’s possible. So it is possible to change these standards. And I think it is happening now. Now people are embracing it more because you have the rule breakers like Rihanna who have shown that.

It’s funny because every time I have creative meetings with an A&R executive, or whoever is in charge of how they want an artist to look… it’s usually men. And that’s what men want. They want to see the light-skin-and-long-hair girl because that’s their fantasy. Before you would go into a creative meeting and people would give you references of all these long-hair artists… you know, the Mariahs, the Beyonces, and all that type of thing. But now that Rihanna has come along, she’s changed the game. Now I go into creative meetings and they give me references of my own work… of funky, short hair cuts. And now that’s in the limelight. That’s what’s beautiful. So it’s changing. It’s definitely changing. It’s absolutely changing.

Robyn: How does it feel to know that your work has made a cultural impact?

Ursula: That part makes me feel great. It makes me feel happy and proud. Because I am that young girl who was different than other young girls growing up. Who didn’t really know exactly what I wanted to do. Even with my hair and my identity… I went through that too. So the fact that I can give that confidence to to other girls, that’s the best part of the whole deal.

But I don’t want people to minimize it either, and think that you can just cut your hair in a bob or shave your hair on one side and you’re going to be a popstar. It’s not just a cookie cutter method. And so my point in saying that is we did it because it was real. We weren’t in a lab saying, “Oh, this is going to make them go crazy.” We did it because it was real. It was a real feeling. It was a real movement. It was a real team behind it. The team worked together from hair to makeup to wardrobe, to everything. And that’s important when you are an artist. You have to have a great team. And you have to work well together.

Robyn: When you were in South Africa with Motions, Rihanna tweeted the following : “*Meanwhile on set* Being able to do hair and being able to do black hair are 2 different things! #magazines please pay attention.” What were your thoughts when you saw that statement?”…Read the rest of this interview here 

5 Reasons We Loved Teyonah Parris’ Natural Hair Updo at the SAG Awards

1. The style is unique.

We’ve seen pompadours and French rolls galore but Teyonah Parris’ style incorporated a roll and a bun in a fresh way.

2. The execution was flawless.

From her French roll to her bun to her sleek sides, there was not a hair out of place in Teyonah’s spectacular ‘do.

3. It’s easy to recreate.

Though it looks exquisite and polished, Parris’ look is fairly easy to replicate. You can separate hair on the crown to the top of your head and create it a French roll by twisting and securing with bobby pins. Brush the sides and the back into a ponytail then twist and wrap hair around in a full bun.

4. The look was elegant.

Some critics would have you believe natural hair can’t work for formal events, but few hairstyles were as elegant, regal and sophisticated as Parris’ yesterday evening.

5. You don’t see it enough.

It was refreshing and exciting to see natural hair represented so beautifully on the red carpet.

By Clutch Magazine

Kelly goes Natural!

I’m so happy to see that more and more celebrities are jumping on the wagon! They have a voice, they should use it! be inspired girls!