My Type of Christmas Giff!

ahhhh, the holidays. hot apple cider, Christmas trees, seasonal carols, sugar cookies, and (of course) the age old question most moms ask ourselves:

once it's all said and done, will i at least have enough money to buy MYSELF something that doesn't come on a dollar menu???

as if in answer to that question, i received an email today from a local natural hair care salon here in my city with some amazing news. i'd heard about this sale once or twice over the summer, spoken like an unconfirmed rumor. it is, in fact, a reality:

Miss Jessie's Christmas Special

Buy One, Get One Free for Items of Equal or Lesser Value.

November 26, 2009 - December 31, 2009

The featured products for the 2009 Christmas Special are Miss Jessie's products that are 16 oz, 12 oz and 8 oz in size.

having never tried Miss Jessie's because of the price, this is something i can honestly get behind. i mean, who WOULDN'T feel better about spending $40 for a 16 oz container when you're gonna get two? ....why yes, that was the sound of a needle scratching a record you heard when you read the words "$40 for a 16 oz container."

nonetheless, go forth and have yourself an awesome natural Christmas.

i always suspected Santa was into natural hair...

A little ditty for the stranger on the bus.

there is a sort of solidarity one feels when you see another woman wearing her hair natural. maybe it's because you know not too many women choosing to no straighten their hair are receiving positive feedback. when you see other women "doing them" and being completely confident in that, it's an awesome thing.

and that is why i basically wanted to turn into a blathering fan-girl when i saw another woman on the morning express bus with some of the most amazingly spoingy, moisturized, shiny curls i have seen!! I wanted to ask her what she uses, how long she's been natural, what's her care routine, does she wrap her hair, what kinds of reactions have you gotten.....but you know, she was talking to someone and i didn't know her like that.

or at all.

But since i didn't ask these questions, i will instead devote this song to the curly stranger on the bus. Work It, Girl!

Shingling: a technique that may make your heart sing.

poking around on the youtube this evening, i decided to drop Miss Jessie's Silkening into the search box. i love watching youtube videos because there are so many women who have created helpful videos sharing their tips on styles, care, and how to choose the best products for hair texture.

i happened across a video which illustrated a technique called shingling, which apparently is one of the signature styling techniques used by the ladies at Miss Jessie's salon.

let's just say i cannot wait until i have enough hair on my head to try this out.

it.looks.AWESOME!

additional instruction can be found at the Miss Jessie's website as well. Go check it out!


* that's not shingling but i included the pic because her hair is gorgeous.

The Big Chop...2 weeks later

so about a week and a half ago, i ended my weeks...nay...months of torture and cut off all the relaxed hair on my head.

all of it.

and i gotta admit, i don't regret it in the least.

ok, ok, let me step back a moment from my billy bad ass steeze and say how it all REALLY went down:

i went to the hairdresser with the intention of getting my hair set on small rods again. but i knew that i was in a little bit of a jam with my hair because a lot of the curls had come out and the relaxed hair was a wee bit matty.

it had been two weeks since i'd combed my hair. the situation was grim, my friends!

walking to my car, i was talking to a friend and i bounced the idea of just cutting the hair off. she cautioned me from doing something too extreme and suggested i just trim some of the perm off until i'd grown my hair some some more.

i took that into consideration, but i still planned on talking to my hairdresser about going ahead with the big chop. my main questions were this:

how much unprocessed hair do i actually have on my head and can i pull this look off without looking like The Brown Hornet?

once i got in the chair, however, i was still undecided about what to do. i was still a little skittish about getting the big chop too soon, but i was devastated about how my relaxed hair lost curl and refused to regain it, leaving me these Sylvester the Cat wings hanging off the sides of my head.

you really really really start to resent your relaxed hair while you are transitioning. funny, because it used to be that you couldn't live without your perm, every 6 weeks. now, the same thing that made your hair more manageable was fucking up your life!

....anyhoo...

any wavering i felt completely melted when my hairdresser sat me in the shampoo bowl. and started washing my hair.

well, we all know what happened next, right? large matted clots of relaxed hair. and who do you think really felt like submitting to getting those mats combed out, mats of hair that you had no intention of keeping anyway, mats of hair that betrayed your best efforts at a decent hairdo??

well, i can tell you who definitely didn't feel like it. and so i asked:

"Fran...what do you think about just cutting it off to my new growth?"

she was very positive and very supportive. and she cut my hair.

and i love it.

a quick note on my daily routine:

wet hair in the shower, apply Marc Anthony Strictly Curls Frizz Sealing Conditioner, running my ringers through to detangle and clean. let sit for about 15 minutes and then rinse with lukewarm water. shake excess water out of hair and then apply Vigorol curling mousse all over.

let air dry while getting me and kids ready for day.

it's that simple. this is my result!

if i had known how much easier cutting my hair was going to make my life, i swear i would have done it a long time ago. and at this point, i honestly cannot remember why i was so frightened.

and that is the very real, super true story of how i stumbled my way into a Big Chop.

anyone fearfully considering the Big Chop, you can do this. do your research, look at videos and photos online, and believe you can do this. you will not regret it.

before i cut my hair, i told a coworker how much i liked how Solange had cut her hair. she asked me "why don't you just go ahead and cut your hair too?" and i replied "because i'm not that brave."

huh. turns out i was.

what i gained when i lost hair.

today, i did it.

i cut quite a bit of my hair.

and then i had it set on small perm rods so that it looks really short.

and then i had an under the surface anxiety attack.

here's what i thought as i was turned around in the chair and faced my new look in the mirror:

oh, god i look old oh GOD i look like my mother i'm not sure i like this jesus christ i cut my hair i cut my hair do i like this am i feeling this maybe after i put on some makeup an earrings jaysus i look like my mom does this mean i picked this hairdo 30 years too early ok i got this i got this i can work this look oh dear god what have i done!

here's what the stylist said: "now THIS is cute! and when your permed hair is completely gone, your new growth is going to curl right up. it's gonna really look cute!"

here's what i said to the stylist: "it looks great!!"

i'm sure she thought the sheen in my eyes was excitement.

it was terror.

terror because when you have shorter hair, you have no place to hide, so to speak. when you have shorter hair that's not straight, you are really playing with fire.

...i got more side-eyes today from the male persuasion than usual...

As much as i told myself otherwise, i am keenly aware that long hair equals femininity. and even though i've worn my hair much much MUCH shorter than this, i still felt very self conscious about my new look.

the only thing i can think is i feel different now because my hair isn't straight. i am standing outside the beauty norms forced upon us as black women. and it is uncomfortable.

but i'm not going back.

i'll just keep wearing big earrings, eyeliner, and an highly inappropriate, merely decorative headband until the next level.

in the meantime, i found a great new hairdresser thanks to a friend's referral. and she's right next door to where i live, halleluyer!!

Jane Carter Solution! Lissen UP!

My Transition Buddy let me know she's found a product that is amazing!



Jane Carter Solution Nourish & Shine

Transition Buddy raved that it made her hair soft, shiny, and manageable. she's also very impressed that it is full of natural, healthy ingredients. She was able to find it at Whole Foods in her city and found that, even though it's a 4 oz container, it is well worth the money.

I found a product review for your consumption. LOVE this girl's hair!!!



The Jane Carter Solution

Mahogany Curls Youtube Channel