Kinky/Curly Magazine Celebrates One Year! and Tyra's Real Hair!

I wrote my very first blog entry on September 8, 2008. I let the entire World Wide Web know about my hair-story. Much of that story is still being written. I've fully accepted my crown, and I wear it proudly. I wear it well. My heart's desire is to now help other women accept theirs.

I think it's fitting that today Tyra Banks premiered Season 5 of her talk show by revealing her real hair (sans weave, still permed. It's about baby steps, y'all). She looked beautiful. She looked like that sistah at the mall, your child's always-put-together teacher, like YOU! It made me ask myself, If Tyra's gonna use weave, why use so much of it? Why must the transformation be so far from your original beauty, into a blonde, silky-haired stranger? It's gonna take baby steps, for real.

Tyra noted that the obsession with weave is not just a Brown Girl issue, noting that both Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton have hair (extension) lines, and that everyone in the industry wears weave. If everyone got nose jobs, Tyra, would you get one too?

Guests on her show revealed how insecure and unattractive they felt without weave. One Black woman said her weave gave her confidence, and that she "hated" her natural hair. A White guest with hair extensions stated "I am my hair." Where did the notion that long hair (straight, or natural) equals beauty come from?

Many men and women I asked said simply that long hair is more feminine, attractive and sexy. Women use it to flirt, men think it's a turn-on and want to run their fingers through it. It's what distinguishes us as the opposite sex. It's magical, the lore of fairy-tales, and it's romantic, and quite frankly, short hair is for lesbians. Not my words, Curlies. Don't shoot the messenger!

I challenge anyone reading this to question your own ideologies about hair and beauty. Can you emerge from the barber's chair rocking a Caesar and still feel FIERCE! If not, what's holding you back? Did you just "big chop" and now you can't wait for your "natural" hair to grow long so you can feel pretty again? Are you obsessed with vitamins and frequent "length checks", counting down the days until your hair is "bra strap length". If any of this rings true for you, ask yourself 'Why'.

Shaving my head made me feel strong and liberated. I defined beauty for myself, beauty was Me. Still is. I challenge you all to do the same.

Next season, Tyra? A twist-out? Can't wait! Until next time, Curlies.......

Jiggaboos and Wanna-Bees

I love Chris Rock for making this movie, exploring the topic of "good hair" in our community, and owning up to the fact that there is still self-hatred and ignorance among us. I hope this film is an eye opener, and that women see themselves in this film.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!"- Spike Lee's "School Daze"

I LOVE My Hair

My hair is undergoing a rebirth of sorts.

Every summer since high school, I would sashay into a local barber shop and request a Dark Cesar. All the fellas looked on, some in horror, others in disbelief, as I sat in the chair and made what seemed to them to be an awful decision. There were whispers of "Is she gay?", "Naa, she's too pretty to be gay.", and "Girls without hair are just unattractive." I simply took a deep breath and tuned out the buzzing sound of ignorant chatter and the barber's clippers.

When the cape dropped, and I rose, I looked at my beautiful face in the mirror. My eyes looked brighter, my complexion was glowing and there was no hair to hide the shape of my pretty, round face. Everyone in the shop would have to eat their words. I. Was. Fly.

As I reluctantly creep up on 30, I don't want to chop off my locks anymore. I''m desperate now to cultivate meaningful relationships, both personal and professional, so why not start with my hair. In my younger days, my hair was not pretty. No one loved it- not my mother who hated combing it and was sorry she never learned to cornrow, not older ladies at the Beauty Nest in Brooklyn who hated pressing my hair ( at least three times over), and certainly not me. How could I? All I heard was how hard, ugly,nappy,short,and difficult it was. That I could be pretty if it were long and straight. We've heard it before, you know, that "good" hair. But things are different now. Now, I love my hair.

First things first. Kinky/Curly Magazine is dedicated to the cultivation of healthy, natural Black Girl hair. Healthy Hair 101: Nothing in the Ethnic Hair Care aisle is good for our hair! Natural hair needs love from Mother Nature. Our locks thrive when they are pampered with rich oils like jojoba and coconut, drenched and conditioned with honey, olive oil and avocado hair masks, and twisted and coiled with shea butter and lots of love.

In this magazine you will learn new ways to love your hair-and yourself. Until next time...