To Straighten or Not - Weighing In

Hey family! Quick post today for my blog readers....I really need your advice. So I am preparing for a few interviews for position career enhancement. Very excited that God is moving in my life and the promises he told me or manifesting. Well, the conversation (not negative at all) has come up on how I was going to do my hair for these face to face interviews.


Keeping in mind that I want to always put my best foot forward and be the best candidate for the positions,I wanted to get my family's suggestions on how to approach this. I am a firm believer that you can be natural and land a job (no brainer), but as a newer natural, friends and family were wondering if I was going to rock the fro, the puff or straighten my hair to guarantee that I am ininvertely "discriminated" against due to my look.


Keep in mind I am meeting these individuals for the first time, and once I land the job, I can rock my hair the way I want (as it fits into the company climate of course). I don't want to give ANYONE any reason to doubt my skills and if I will be able to perform the position as required (which I know I can no matter what...but I digress).


So I pose the question to my blog readers....Should I or should I NOT straighten my hair to guarantee an offer for the positions I seek?


The orAKAle has spoken.....

All Twisted UP (current hair style)

As promised, below are pictures of my hair after taking my braids out. For those of you who may not remember, I wore a set of GORGEOUS braids fof about 2 1/2 months. Click here to see the results. I have never received so many compliments in my life on my hair, then when I had those braids. Definitely will be getting some again soon!

After the detangling fiasco of 2009 (lol) from removing those braids, I decided to do a protective style for the month of November and December. I must admit, I freaked out a little when cleansing my hair after having it braided up. I think the issues was the products I use. Luckily I had some of my staple products Karen's Body Beautiful handy to hook me up (look for a future post on my current hair regimen and products I use).

Take a look at the below pics and tell me what you think. The first 3 are of a wet twist set.

I usually wear this style for 1-2 weeks (depending on my schedule), cleansing the the scalp with Sea Breeze. It helps to keep the hair clean so I can wear them longer. So after wards, I untwist my head to get the below (please note no make up so no comments):

I'm so excited with my progress. My hair is growing faster than I anticipated and in great shape. Officially, I'm 17 months chemical free and 14 months ALL NATURAL. As always, I take criticism and suggestions. Tell me what you think all!


The orAKAle has spoken........

Hair Myths - Holy Grail & "Ethnic Hair"

Hey family! With keeping my promise of providing more information on natural hair topics, I came across a GREAT post from hair stylist and curly hair expert Tiffany Anderson. This article speaks mountains for us coily, curly and kinky sistas of all shapes and colors. Don't be fooled and stop running around sounding crazy....there is no such thing as "the holy grail" curls. Read and learn...I sure did :)

Hair Myths?

We now interrupt this blog for two small conversations that will most likely result in having lots of things thrown at me...or a collective belief that I have gone over the edge and no longer have the slightest idea what I'm talking about.

But as I've said before...I am not nor will I ever be 100% right 100% of the time. My thoughts, posts and advice are based on what I believe and observe from my professional training and my professional career as a hair stylist and curly hair specialist. If it works for someone, that's great. If it doesn't and something else works better, then that's great too. But I'm largely Italian, which means I'm always going to open my mouth when I have something to say, LOL. And there have been two topics on my mind lately I feel I need to address.

#1 - There is No Such Thing as "The Holy Grail"
Many curly girls get obsessed with finding what is known among us as "The Holy Grail" for their curls - that mythical, miraculous, one-of-a-kind, priceless treasure of a product that will give us impeccable, frizz-free, red carpet curls--the kind that always snap back into perfect ringlets even in the worst rain, hail, humidity, sleet and hurricane-force winds known to mankind.

The good Lord knows, I was on an HG quest myself for eons and there are times I still find myself falling into that trap. Even when I find a product combination that makes me look great 99% of the time, I'll catch myself thinking: sure, my curls look great...but what if I stop looking now and that one great product--that one single elixir of magical fairy tales--is just over the hill? And what if I never find it because I was happy with "second best" and I stopped looking too soon? It was enough to drive any curly girl to drink.

It was with a mixture of relief and sadness that I finally came to the conclusion--after doing hundreds and hundreds of curly heads, and studying reams of information on hair type and product ingredients--that, despite our greatest hopes and wishes, that mythical "Holy Grail"

just. doesn't. exist.

Yes, there are products that are great for our hair and will work wonders the vast majority of the time, sometimes even 99% of the time. There are products with ingredients that love our particular hair type--our texture, our porosity, our elasticity--and will make our curls look the absolute best they can possibly be.

For a time.

But ...

Hair type changes over time. Texture changes, porosity changes, elasticity changes. Weather changes. The chemical composition of your water changes. Hormones change. Medical conditions change. If there is one thing we can count on in the crazy world of curly hair, it is change. And that means no product is going to work 100% the best 100% of the time.

The same product might work almost as great, but from the bottom of my heart I do not and will never believe one single product can unfailingly give you what I call "red carpet curls"...the perfect, rockin' kind of curls that make any Hollywood A-lister turn around and think jealously, "I want HER hair." Unless you live in an environment and in a body where absolutely nothing changes, the Holy Grail will have to remain the myth it is.

Incidentally, that's why it is all the more important to understand your hair type and your environment and, subsequently, what product ingredients work the best for your particular situation. There might not be a single Holy Grail...but that doesn't mean there can't be a foundational core of products that act in tandem with each other to give you red carpet curls all the time.

#2 - There is No Such Thing as "Ethnic Hair"
Didn't see that one coming, did you?

I get a lot of questions on whether or not I know how to handle "ethnic hair" or about the special needs of ethnic hair. And I'm here to tell you there is no such thing. Hair is hair is hair. Period.

Your hair is fine, medium or coarse. Your hair is porous, overly porous, or has low porosity. Your hair has normal elasticity or low elasticity. Your hair is thin, medium or thick. It does not matter what your ethnic background is. Fine, porous, elastic, thick hair is fine, porous, elastic, thick hair whether it is on an African-American woman, a Caucasian woman, a Native American woman, an Asian woman, a Latina woman...you get the picture.

Now, you may have a genetic predisposition to have a certain type of hair based upon your ethnic background. African-American women often have much finer hair and a much tighter wave pattern than women from other ethnic backgrounds. Asian and Native American women can be so coarse and stick-straight, cutting their hair is a huge challenge because every slice of the shears can leave a visible mark. But there is no guarantee your hair will follow a certain pattern just because you belong to a particular ethnic group. I have African-American clients with loose waves and medium texture; I have white clients with coarse hair and extremely tight coils. And that's just the way it is.

That's not to say we shouldn't take pride in ourselves and where we come from, or not seek advice from others who share the same culture as we do! But by realizing that "ethnic hair" truly doesn't exist and knowing that our particular hair type is the key to taking the best care we can of our curls...we will always have those red carpet ringlets, no matter what our ethnic backgrounds.


If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to subscribe to The Silky Chronicles. To find out more information on Ms. Tiffany Anderson, check her out on her blog - Live Curly, Live Free.

I'M BEING FEATURED

Hey Family,

In case you couldn't tell, I'm am super excited right now...why....because I was recently featured on Ms. Floyd's "Natural Hair Rules" blog - http://www.naturalhairrules.blogspot.com! It feels great that someone saw my story of transition and journey to a natural Silky exciting and inspiring enough to solely be discussed on her blog. I didn't think I had much to talk about or to say, but Soror Tamara was encouraging and really inspired me to want to inspire others...for that I say thank you girl!

While my journey has been tough at times, the one thing that kept me grounded and I could always could count on was the grace of the Lord! You will be surprised on how he can work in your life if you just lean on him and seek him first. I can truly say that this journey was well worth all the struggling, enduring and happiness that I've experienced. Some scriptures I live by and reference include (but are not limited too):

Trust in the Lord with thine heart and lean not until thine understanding. in all ways acknowledge him and he will make straight thy path.(Proverbs 3: 5-6)

I returned, and saw under the sum, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise. nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all (Eccelesiastes 9:11)

For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith(Mark 11:23)

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13)

And the list goes on and on.....

The lesson is to make sure anything that you do, you are doing it in fact for YOU. Grow and develop during your journey and enjoy every minute of it. Below is the link to her wonderful blog. Take a look at the feature, leave a comment and if you want, subscribe!

http://www.naturalhairrules.blogspot.com

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Addendum 7-07-09

I have also been featured on Curly Nikki's blog page as well http://www.curlynikki.com
Check me out!!!!!

The orAKAle has spoken.......