Sharing......

So it occured to me that probably about all the pictures I have posted on this blog so far are of my hair as it looks when I make it wazy by braiding it and letting it dry that way after I have washed it. I find that I wear my hair like this most of the time but every few months or so I decide to just let it dry "straight." I am in one of those periods now.

So I thought I would share some picture of me after a recent washing and re-twisting.....




Oh, and at the urging of Brunsli and her talk of 600+ SLs, I once counted mine. I am somewhere around 200....

Catching up........ Should Brunsli trim her hair?

So I was remiss in posting a comment to Brunsli's posts about whether or not she should trim some of her locks because they are uneven. First let me say that I am not a beauty salon type of person. So my approach to this question probably comes from a different place. I would not think, "Should I get my locks trimmed?...." Instead, my thought process is more like this, "My locks are uneven..... Where are my scissors??" So, given that, my advice is as follows:

If your locks are uneven, then trim some. Just pull out your scissors, get in the mirror, pull one of the locks tight and cut! Make sure you account for the bounceback when cutting but go ahead and do it! If you cut one too short, that is okay. Correct on the next one.

Go Susan Taylor!

So I had been thinking about posting my thoughts on Hampton new "hair policy" for business school students, especially in light of my educational background (I have an MBA and recieved my MBA 6 years into having locks.) I am really disappointed by the narrow-mindedness of the university and the discriminatory precedent that it is setting. I have yet to have a problem, either in business school nor interviewing for jobs becuase of my hair and I don't think that we should allow or encourage people to make an issue of it when it should not be. Encourage the students to be polished and put together but to imply that you can't do that and have locks or braids is....... small-minded.

Anyway, I am happy to say that someone of note has stood up against this policy. See below:

SUSAN L. TAYLOR PROTESTS HAMPTON’S HAIR POLICY:
Essence exec against school policy about unacceptable ‘braids and dreadlocks.’
April 14, 2006

*Susan L. Taylor, the editorial director of Essence magazine, pulled out of a speaking engagement at Hampton University recently after learning of its policy on acceptable hairstyles for students in the five-year master's of business administration program.
"Braids, dreadlocks and other unusual hairstyles are not acceptable" is the university's policy as reported by Journalism's Richard Prince on April 12. Taylor, who has worn long braids for years, decided to protest the rule by withdrawing her participation at the school’s 28th Annual Conference on the Black Family held last month.
"I recently withdrew my participation in the 28th Annual Conference on the Black Family at Hampton University,"
"I began receiving emails from numerous sources advising me of disturbing regulations disallowing locks and braided hairstyles for Hampton students,” Taylor told Murray for his Monday BV Buzz column. “One such email included an Associated Press story headlined: 'University Bans Certain Hairstyles for Students.' As a businesswoman and public figure who has proudly worn my hair braided for more than 25 years, I was incredulous and felt insulted. My executive assistant, Debra Parker, contacted the university for clarification, and when she was advised that this was the school's policy, I easily made the decision to cancel my visit.
"The freedom to wear our hair in ways that celebrate our heritage is one of our 'rites of passage.' Students would benefit from learning how to care for and groom locks and braids and wear them in ways that are appropriate in a business setting," Taylor wrote on March 28.
Taylor said she even recommended that Dr. William R. Harvey, the university president, "reconsider this policy and invite informed image consultants to address students in your business program about how to make individual style work in the corporate environment. Perhaps the greatest challenge . . . students will face in the work world is remaining whole and true to themselves in environments that are often hostile to African-Americans. Staying connected to our community and culture is critical. Trying to transform themselves to fit into hardly welcoming environments has scarred countless numbers of Black people."
Ultimately, Dean Sid Credle of the Hampton School of Business is standing by the code, “and said a more clean-cut look can be an asset to almost any student seeking advancement in the corporate world," wrote Ieesha Mckinzie in a March 27th story on Black College Wire.
Story courtesy of http://eurweb.com

I don't want to offend any of you HBCU'ers or Hamptonites out there but...... Boo on Hampton!!! And everyone, make sure your Essence subscriptions are up to date!

Acknowledging those in your community....

Sorry, it has taken me so long to post something new..... I have been fighting with a browser hijacker virus all weekend.... Please everyone, make sure that you have antivirus, antispyware and firewall software and that it is up to date and actively monitoring. Especially if you are doing a lot of surfing..... Take it from me!! I am still fighting this stupid thing!!!

Anyway, thought I would solicit your thoughts on something, you anonymous readers out there. There is something that I have noticed since I have been here in Atlanta and I am wondering if it is an Atlanta thing or just a change of the times because there are so many more people with locks out there in the world.......

Used to be, a few years ago, when I lived in another city, when I would encounter someone with locks on the street, or in the subway etc, we would acknowledge each other ---- with a nod or a hello --- an acknowledgement of the brother/sisterhood, of our joint membership in a society, an acknowledgement that we had something in common. I would liken it to the nod that black people would give each other when they passed each other on the street --- a sort of "Hey, you are like me. We are members in the same struggle" nod or greeting. (which, by the way, I don't see that much of anymore either...) What I am trying to say is that this doesn't happen to me in Atlanta. I mean, occasionally I will get people, mostly those without locks, coming up to me to compliment my hair but very little acknowledgement from those who have shared in a similar hair journey with me!

So, I am wondering...... Is this a common experience? Is this the same experience that you all are having out there? Or is it really, as I suspect, that Atlanta is different. That for some reason, that feeling of camaraderie does not exist here. I could be wrong and I am open to hear all opinions. So please, let me know what you think and what you have experienced...... I miss it!

Brunsli knows what I am talking about. She wrote about it here a few months ago....

Oops! I forgot Jamaica......

I got obsessed with getting these pictures posted and forgot to talk about Jamaica. Went to Jamaica with Brunsli and I got called Rasta Princess everywhere we went! After that, then they alternated between hitting on you, trying to sell you weed or both...... Did go to this local restaurant and had someone tell me that I looked like Maxi Priest's sister. Not like I look like Maxi Priest, but that he has a sister and I look like her......

Pictures to go with previous post.....

So, here are the pictures that were supposed to be integrated into the previous post..... I may go back and try now that things seem to be working.....


Sorry, I dont have any pictures from India..... My camera got stolen there.... Long story.....










Turkey: Under thre canopy at Topkapi Palace



















Me in a club called Skuba in Chile! Fun!!!!!















Copacabana Beach in Rio.......












With a Brazilian friend at at y friend's wedding in Peru......

















With the mariachi guy on the Tequila train in Jalisco, Mexico and on the beach in Puerta Vallarta...

Hout Bay on the southern coast of South Africa, near Capetown! Breathtaking!!!!!!

Traveling internationally with locks....

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. I thought it would be interesting to share my experiences related to traveling internationally with locks. A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel to a number of different countries and got varied reactions to my hair in the different countries that I visited. Thought I would share.....

So, I think the place where I caused the most stir was probably India. It was actually a little surprising to me because I have the coffeetable book Dreads, by Francesco Mastalia and Alfonse Pagano, with a forward by Alice Walker which shows locks in all their forms, worns by all different people around the world and I had remembered that there are a kind of holy men in India who have locks. Anyway, the reaction actually started before I even left the airport! I was traveling with a couple white grad school classmates, doing some research and we were standing in the customs line, waiting to get our passports stamped. I went through the line first and the customs guy just smiled and stamped my passport. When my friend, who was behind me in line stepped up to him, I noticed that he asked her a bunch of questions. When she was through, I asked me what he said. She told me that he was asking her about my hair, if it was real, if it was mine etc! This actually happened more than once. Another time, I was walking across the street to the internet cafe with another classmate, a guy this time, and when I went to cross I turned around and my classmate had not crossed at the same time. He was actually still standing on the other side ofd the street talking to this guy who had stopped him. When he got across, I asked him what the guy asked him. He said that the guy was asking him about my hair! A complete stranger on the street. Mind you, strangers weren't coming up and asking us things on a regular basis when we were there so this was notable. I am used to people coming up to me and asking me about my hair but that is the first and the only time that people have stopped my traveling companions to ask them about me, especially since there was no language barrier. I don't know if there is a cultural component to that or what but it has stuck with me. There was another time on the trip where we traveled to this very rural village and while we were in this building the word got out in the village that we were there. All this kids had gathered around outside to see us and if one of us would stick out head out the door or look out the window they would scream and laugh but I think that was as much if not more because they had never seen white people as me........

I was in Turkey for one day and got to do a fair amount of sightseeing on our 12 hour layover. Luckily, a classmate and I had a friend there in Istanbul who had just finished a semester of exchange at our school a few weeks before so he offered to give us the whirlwind tour! We hit all the big spots --- Aya Sofia, The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, The Grand Bazaar...... We were in Topkapi Palace looking at, I think, jewels and other artifacts from the Sultan's collection and I noticed this girl, who worked at the museum, came up and started talking to our friend in Turkish. She sounded sort of excited and I asked my friend what she was asking...... He siad she was asking about my hair, was it real, she thought it was very cool and asked if she could touch it. I told him it was okay (I try to keep a good attitiude about these things, I appreciate that people want to learn about locks. I think it is better than having them walk around with incorrect perceptions and stereotypes in their heads....) and she was so excited that she pulled out the only English she knew to try to communicate with me. Mind you it was a line from a Sprite commercial but I thought it was cute!

In Latin/South America, I haven't gotten much reaction that I could tell to my hair. Nothing notable in Argentina, Chile, Brazil or Peru. I think especially in Brazil and Peru they have exposure to locks. Not much happened in Mexico except one weird reaction when I was entering a club in Puera Vallarta with a bunch of friends -- it actually sort of spooked me out. I was coming in the club, showing my ID, paying my money and we got to this bouncer/security guy at the door. He didn't say anything or make any expression whatsoever, his face was very stoic, he just reached out and grabbed my hair, like right by my neck, below my ear. And he was just holding it. I looked him in the face, and he was looking at me but his reaction had not really changed and he hadn't said a work. So what could I do, I looked him back in the eye, grabbed my hair, pulled it out of his hand and went on my merry way. Nothing else happened after that but I just thought it was weird......

I also lived in South Africa for two months, Johannesburg, and don't remember any reaction to my hair whatsoever. That was actually to be expected. This is a majority black country and I did see a fair amount, although not a whole lot, of people with locks. Also, since Johannesburg is really like the "New York of Africa" folks have a fair amount of exposure to other cultures. I mean, I must say, when I got there, aside from the driving on the other side of the road, I felt like it was almost in the US. They had billboards with movies that were showing and albums that had just come out in the US (Vanilla Sky and Michael Jackson's Invinsible, to be specific) and Oprah was on TV everyday!

Okay, I tried to add pictures to this post but I seem to be having technical difficulties. Come on, Blogger!!!

Not bad, Yahoo.....

I am not sure that this collage does justice to the comparison but there are apparently limited editing collage options in Picasa.....

I have to say that I am relatively impressed with the avatar options that Yahoo provides for YM users..... As you can see, Brunsli and I have been pretty successful creating avatars that approximate what we actually look like (if you ignore that fact that we have the same face!) I am rather impressed that Yahoo would actually have a range of personalization options that approximate multiple natural hair options for black women. We know this doesn't happen often! I am actually working with a guy from Yahoo right now for work and he mentioned that they actually had an avatar look a like contest last year. I think Brunsli and I could have placed pretty high. Not bad, Yahoo!

My evening with the man!

Recognize his royalness??? Last Thursday night my roommate and I went to see Tamar featuring Prince in concert. Who is Tamar, you ask? She is Prince's latest protege who is lucky that he is touring with her in concert so that she can charge $60 per ticket. Now, don't get me wrong, she can sing really well (which we can't say for most of his proteges back when he was sleeping with all of them) and she is a good dancer. But she doesn't have an album out yet (it is supposed to come out in May) and about half, if not more, of the songs she sang were covers. And her background singers where these skinny twins with long straight light brown hair in heels. They had a lot of really good, well coordinated choreography but all of it reminded me a little of a Las Vegas review.

But anyway, who cares. I was watching Prince most of the time anyway. He played guitar and sang background on all of Tamar's songs. He is so tiny..... but there is no one like him! We were lucky because he sang 4 songs that night (the previous night he only sang 1 1/2) ----- Purple Rain (Yes, yes, yes!!!!), Let's Go Crazy, Partyman (from the Batman soundtrack) and Black Sweat (his new song.) He could have stood up there and not said a word and just played guitar and I would have been happy! Sigh.......

If the show comes to your city, consider going. They are playing smaller venues so that is nice and they pull folks up on stange to dance. It was a 2 hour show and we really enjoyed ourselves....

Getting the smoke smell out of natural hair!

I was reading Brunsli's blog and she asked for a solution to getting the smell of smoke out of locks. I have a suggestion and thought I would share it with all of you.

Try Jamaican Mango & Lime Hair N'Cense.




This stuff works pretty well at getting the smell out, as I remember. You should be able to get it at Sally Beauty Supply or online at a number of online stores.
Try it out!