As many of you know, I’ve recently gone natural. That is to say, I decided to stop chemically relaxing my hair and I also cut of all of the hair that had been previously relaxed. I’ve been rocking a TWA (teeny weeny afro) for about 3 months now and the journey has included lots of trial and error. I had help from the youtube natural hair community as well as various blogs devoted to natural hair care. A few sistas around me have recently gone natural and like myself, they have questions. I’ve decided to answer some of those questions in depth. Feel free to add more questions or add to the answers below.
Q: What type of oil should I use to moisturize my hair? Read more »
Let me begin with an honest reflection. People said I was one of those little girls who had “good hair.” What did that mean to me? It meant that whenever my mother put my hair into braids/plaits/ponytails I could expect that someone, usually an older Black woman, would comment on my “pretty hair.” My mother adored my hair and spent lots of money to make sure I had every hair accessory available. I owned beads, bands and barrettes in every color imaginable. I liked my hair– a lot. But my mother loved it more. She spent countless hours combing my hair and my cousins hair. Since my mother was quite heavy handed (and quite possibly legally blind) we all have horror stories of being burned with the hot comb but rest assured, we were always sure we looked good and it was quite evident that my mother enjoyed the process. I had no negative thoughts regarding my hair growing up. Sometimes I wished it was even longer but overall, I was quite happy with the texture, length and color.
Fast forward 2.5 months into my reclaiming my natural hair journey and I come across a video titled, “Nappy Ass Hair.” I won’t repost the video. If you care to watch it, feel free to Google it. A 3 part video (I could only bring myself to watch part of 1 of the videos), the video shows a woman and a young girl assumed to be her daughter. The girl is clearly of mixed race, her mother is Black, dark skinned and looks to be wearing a hair weave. The mother is “brushing” the little girls hair. I use the term very loosely because in fact, this woman is actually beating the child’s head and yanking the brush through. In the process, she curses the child, repeatedly yelling about fixing the girl’s “nappy ass hair.” Telling the girl to shut the f*** up, the mother eventually straddles the screaming child and continues what I consider to be verbal and physical abuse. All the while someone behind the camera laughs and encourages this behavior (I later learned that the person behind the camera is the child’s older sister). Read more »
Female heads of state, while not the rule, are less of an exception than one might think. India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Panama, Europe, Nicaragua and Liberia, all boast what the United States has never had– a female head of state (past or present).
In a world where women remain oppressed in many countries, how is it that so many have managed to hold the highest office? Apparently, it is all about who you know, or in these cases, who you are related or married to. Read more »
Tags: Black women in hip-hop, Da' Brat, Eve, female identities in hip-hop culture, Foxy Brown, Hip-Hop, hip-hop dynasties, Lady of Rage, Lauryn Hill, Lil' Kim, MC Lyte, misogyny, Queen Latifah, Rah Digga, Roxanne Shante', Sha Rock, women in hip-hop
Will the Real Roxanne Please Stand Up? | Erica | 
July 26, 2009 12:35 am | 
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