Yes!  My hair type!  I love videos that feature people with tightly coiled hair, so I definitely needed to put this on my site.

This video serves as a great instruction for how to twist, and untwist, hair.   The video features Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercreme & Curly Buttercreme.  To be honest, I was happy at 1:56 of the video where the hair model reveals her twisted hair from underneath the dryer hood.  I personally don't know how people do it... spend hours twisting hair only to untwist it.  Hmp... but both styles looked great on the hair model, wouldn't you say?

So, has anyone taken the plunge and tried Miss Jessie's products yet?   How has it worked for you?  I'm a PJ (product junkie) at heart and plan to do some serious shelf stocking very soon... so, what's the one Miss Jessie's product that I should try?

I made my first twist video!  This video is a composition of  my digital camera clips and photos of me twisting dried natural hair. Twists are a very common hairstyle usually performed on naturally coily hair. They give your hair a much needed break from damaging hairstyling methods that usually involve the use of direct heat. It may be hard to do twists on your own hair at first, but with practice they become second nature. Twisting dry hair usually takes longer than twisting wet hair.  In this video, I try to emphasize how to detangle hair with a comb or with fingers, how I part hair, and how I twist the hair (I pass the hair strands from "right" to "left".

I am showing just one of many ways to twist hair... the best thing is to develop your own technique that you feel the most comfortable with.  Through these videos, my goal is to show people how versatile and different twists will look depending on what kind of hair texture you have.  Twists on naturally coily hair will look different on twists done on relaxed hair (and yes, relaxed girls can sport natural hairstyles as well).

Model: Nigerian model & jewelry maker, Bunmi Ayo.

Here's the YouTube link... feel free to comment and rate there as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akvPpLvl1Vk

Many of you may have already seen this video, but "A Girl Like Me", by Kiri Davis, is a short documentary filmed in 2005 about beauty standards and biases amongst African American females.

I remember seeing this video years ago (and luckily I bookmarked it)... I felt so sad watching the young children in the experiment exhibiting the same results as a similar experiment performed decades ago--the Kenneth and Mamie Clark's study of color preferences among young black children.  I remember feeling like we had not come a long way at all.   When I see young girls, I go out of my way to tell them how adorable they are or how pretty their hair looks.  In doing so, I have always been blessed with a smile, and sometimes a blush, from them.  I, too, am careful how I present myself to them.  You'll never catch me spouting negative words or phrases such as "I wish I was skinnier..." because they scream "low self esteem" and indirectly would teach them to be just as self conscious.  And when it comes to my naturally coily hair, I wear it proudly so they see that there are "girls" who are "older than them" who have hair that looks like theirs.  They see me in my business attire and some in my workplace setting so they know they never have to limit themselves with how they look or wear their hair when they grow up and enter the professional world.

In this season of giving thanks, we must remind ourselves to never forget how beautiful we are!  Self love will always be deeper than what your hair looks like or what shade your skin color is.  Think about giving the youngster(s) in your life a gift that will empower them and make them feel worthy.  If you don't have self love, nothing you do to yourself will ever be good enough.

• My original video reference
• Learn more about Kiri Davis
• Get Involved!
• Rate this blog post or comment! (below)

In the African community, the problem is that many women do not know what their God-given natural hair texture looks like, let alone know how to maintain it.  Many have been conditioned from day one that it needs a relaxer.

I personally grew up with relaxers and hot combs.  I got my hair relaxed and flat ironed on a regular basis and thought nothing of it.  As a kid, it was just something that I knew I had to do. If I started feeling that crinkly curly hair growing in, that meant I needed to tell my mom to make a hair appointment for me so I could get my new growth relaxed.  If I missed a hair appointment I would be upset.   Of course I dreaded the half day process of getting my hur did, but the end result was soft straightened hair that I couldn't wait to show off at church and at school on Monday.  I began wearing braids in middle school and began self styling my relaxed hair in high school.  It wasn't until college that after having worn a braided hairstyle a bit longer than expected, I started noticing my own natural hair growing out.  It felt so strange to me, so... curly.  I heard that it was healthier to braid your hair without getting a relaxer, so I did just that.  I slowly grew used to this 'new' hair texture of mine that was slowly growing in and later that year when I took a break from braids, I decided to keep growing out this interesting hair texture of mine (read more in "My Journey").

In all honesty, I am not against other ways of wearing your hair... and these days, even relaxed hair can be seen as natural hair.  I simply encourage women to give their natural hair a chance and learn to work with it because that is absolutely the most healthy thing you can do for your hair.  Cut out the excess heat from your hair routine.  Allow your roots to grow in a little longer.  Learn to work with your hair's thickness, or lack there of, without having to use extreme methods that involve chemicals.  All in all, let the heat and chemicals be a last resort when it comes to "managing" your hair and instead keep them as secondary styling options.

"Girl, You've Got Some Good Hair!"

I have heard women complimenting other women in saying "you have some good hair" referring to the hair texture of the person as being soft, straight, 'laying flat'--ultimately, free of naps, kinks, and coils. I've caught myself a few times when I was younger complimenting other women in the same manner. Even when it comes to natural hair, I have received the "you've got good hair" when referring to my natural coily hair, as if to say they couldn't go natural because their hair was just too hard, too nappy, too thick, too this or too that.

Sometimes I felt like telling these women they should have seen my hair two years ago, or pull out old pictures of my failed attempts at natural hairstyles (pictures which I plan to eventual

ly post on this website).  I just thought why go through all of that just to prove a point.

Let's face it, a lot of women think good hair means straight and/or silky and/or soft bouncy hair--which people usually equate to the hair of a particular race.  To me, it's a problem if your own natural head of hair does not fit your own standard of what good hair is. Why would you believe that a type of hair you were not born with is THE standard for good hair? What does that make your hair?

Check out this Tyra clip from her show about what good hair is. The first girl, Shay, believes she has good hair because it has what she for some reason calls the 'white girl flow', according to her meaning that her hair swings and moves.  The second girl, Ahkia, assumes Tyra's hair must be a larger curl because it 'lays flat', and that her hair 'could never do that.'  I believe that most women who believe that good hair means straight hair really are not enlightened to what other races do to make their hair straight.  I think Tyra's show was good in showing some of the different views we as African Americans have about hair, but ultimately I wish Tyra had a hair expert or someone to give better answers and to the defining and clarifying, rather than Tyra herself or her on stage guests.  (Tyra's "Good Hair" episode continued: 2, 3, 4, & 5)

Growing up, I've seen Jewish, Indian, Persian, and Caucasian girls alike 'go through the motions' with their hair. They all had one thing in common--they wanted their hair straight and would do or try anything to get it that way.  Again, I'm speaking of girls that I grew up with.  Some would use a clothing iron to iron their hair straight... I remember one of my Jewish friends in middle school described her method of straightening her hair, which consisted of putting her long hair on the floor in her doorway in order to use her (clothing) iron to straighten her hair. Another would simply use her ironing board. An Indian girl that I was rooming with in college would use her curling iron to attempt to straighten her hair--every morning--and always wished she could get a perm (chemically straightening of the hair). A Japanese roommate of mine taught me about "Magic Straight," a chemical process that Asian women use to get their hair permanently straight. She described this thermal reconditioning process as something most Japanese girls with curly hair will do to get straight hair, including herself. My Caucasian friends and roommates all owned a flat iron, well before I ever learned about what they were and how to use them.

So, did these girls have an unhealthy self image of themselves? Or do we still see them as having 'good hair' or even 'better hair'?

I say let's stop giving other races so much credit for having 'good hair' and get real with the standards and unwritten rules that ALL women have about hair!

What do you think about the women featured on the Tyra show?

Do you have your own idea of what Good Hair is?

A snapshot from Chris Rock's documentary film "Good Hair" showing a young girl getting her hair chemically relaxed straight.

This seems to be the question of the year.  Good hair has been a topic discussed on Oprah, Tyra, and funny enough by comedian and actor Chris Rock in his documentary film titled... yep, you guessed it,  "Good Hair," which is a 2009 award winning Sundance Documentary Film to be released for screening in theaters this month.

So, what is good hair? I thought I'd start the discussion since I have been hearing so many women swearing by what they believe good hair to mean.

I've decided to break down my thoughts into several different posts because my original post was a full-on book!  My main goal is addressing the myths of what good hair is and breaking down common misconceptions about it.

"Good Hair" The Movie

Growing up as a first generation African American in the U.S., all I have ever heard was that black females straighten their hair because they have low self esteem or they hate themselves. This may be true for a certain population of black women or even women in general, but I can definitely say that this statement is simply not true for all black women.  In the movie 'Good Hair,' Chris Rock explains that his daughter came to him and asked why she didn't have good hair, and in his perspective he does not believe his daughter has low self esteem or hates herself in any way. That was what inspired him to look into why she would think this. I have met black women who love the options of wearing their naturally curly hair and heat styling their hair with a flat iron and/or hot comb to wear it straight. Some women love getting perms. Others prefer to remain with their naturally curly texture. Whatever the case, black women and women in general love options when it comes to hair as they should have options. After all, our hair is our crown and glory.

What are your expectations for the movie "Good Hair"?

Today on Oprah, she will be talking with Chris Rock about his latest movie "Good hair."   Click here to see Chris Rock's reaction when he realizes that Oprah's long locks are really hers, lol.

It's no secret--Oprah has some gorgeous hair!  And this is the year that she has really been coming out about her hair.  For years, people had been buzzing about what type of hair Oprah really had--myself included.  By now, we should all know. ;-)  What is still a secret, however, is that many Black women have gorgeous hair, but never get the credit for it.  Just like Chris Rock attributes Oprah's 'good hair' to being rich and wealthy, a lot of black women are brushed off as having a good wig or weave.  We use these tools to maintain our natural hair, but they are NOT our hair.

Check out her Hairstory and a video where she explains one of her hairstyles.  She goes through all the stages of her hairstyles since she was a lil girl... aww :-)  Now if my eyes serve me correctly, this a wig, and these (1 and 2) are half wigs with her hairline pressed over the edges of the wig.

Anyway, I'm happy she shared her Hairstory, as we all have one you know.   I will be tuning in at 3:00 p.m. PST to watch the show ;-)

Be sure to come back and let me know what you thought!

Feel free to share your own hairstory ;-)

Tamara gives some really great product advice and simple detangling and hairstyling techniques for dealing with her coily hair. Her tightly curled texture closely resembles a 4a/b type of texture. I second her on the Carols Daughter products... for anyone who are into natural hair products with good ingredients, Carols Daughter makes for a great company to start with. Tamara also does a great job in showing us several different styles in a matter of minutes. Now you can't tell me you all can't do at least one of these? She makes it look so simple and beautiful--as we all are capable of doing too!

Read up on Tamara here: http://fordmodels.blogspot.com/2007/09/tamaras-favorite-getaways.html

I love Maiysha's curls and appreciate her tried and true advice on how to care for her hair.  From her Redken Products to her diffuser, natural girls of any curl pattern can benefit from these products.

Maiysha, who is widely known as a Ford Model, has returned to her roots of singing and has released a Grammy nominated (2009) album entitled "This Much Is True."  Learn more about Maiysha here:   http://www.maiysha.com.

I love her spirit! Don't you wish everyone would embrace their hair the same way? Here's a video that shows how you too can deal with a frizzy hair day... in a fun way :-)