Comedy Central

From StyleBlazer 

Jessica Williams of The Daily Show is no holds barred when it comes to her comedic style of news reporting, and last night’s sketch on the new military regulation that bans black women from wearing natural hairstyles was no different.
The new legislation bans everything from two-strand twists, dreadlocks, to pretty much any sort of natural style, in favor of relaxed hair, braids, wigs, and weaves. The main premise of the segment is that if the people who put this ban in place understood how black hair worked, and how time consuming the approved styles can be, they would not have enacted it in the first place.

Read more about Jessica Williams’ segment at StyleBlazer.com 

With short hair comes great responsibility, and a great need for patience. Short bobs can’t always fit into neat ponytails when they’re messy, and untidy TWAs can’t always be perfected with a headband and a hair pick. However, they can look fabulous with a steady hand, a few techniques and essentials. So try not to be frustrated with your short ‘do. You, like everyone else, could just use a little help. We’ve got you covered!

Shutterstock

Bobby Pins

When God made coco bread and vodka tonics (two of my favorite things), he also made bobby pins: the tiny hairpins that treat fly-away hairs and secure perfectly executed bangs. Yes, for both natural and straight hair, a full set of bobby pins can make a big difference.

Hair too short for French braids? Part your hair down the middle, and then twist your hair toward the rear as if you’re doing two French braids, and secure the “twists” on your way back with bobby pins. If that seems too basic, try arranging the bobby pins in some creative ways.

Been dying to give yourself Bantu knots since you saw Rihanna and Crazy Eyes from Orange is the New Black rocking them? Then, you may benefit from using bobby pins to keep your knots in place. And if you don’t want to wear them out of the house, they can help create an awesome curl. If your hair is too short for Bantu knots and you’d like a managed curl, then give yourself a collection of tiny braids at night, roll and secure them with bobby pins, and then unbraid them in the morning and hit the tips with a tiny bit of pomade to keep the curl lasting longer.

Conditioner

Short-haired babes, you should condition like you’ll never see moisture again. Kidding, don’t over condition. But seriously, moisture does away with breakage and it tends to make hair more manageable. Along with cream conditioners, the use of small amounts of 100% almond oil, grape seed oil, castor oil, olive oil, or jojoba oil can make a real difference – it will give you shine and soothe the texture. Also, abandon “grandma’s rules,” i.e., don’t over grease your scalp, as many oils including olive oil and coconut oil can cause dandruff. But be sure to give that scalp a little TLC.

And beyond all of that, conditioner is the key ingredient in the “wash-and-go” look, whereby you water your hair using a spray bottle that’s a combination of water and oil. Soften your hair with leave-in conditioner, tussle it and then hit the streets.

Delicately Comb

In my opinion, particularly for natural hair, it’s best not to use a comb with small teeth. It’s simply bad for business. It should be wide tooth or bust. Actually, if you can completely forgo using your comb and use your fingers to carefully undo knots, this is best, albeit a little time-consuming. Beyond the fact that it limits breakage because you aren’t scrapping at your hair with a glorified fork, depending on your texture and usual style, you’re untangling and styling your hair at the same time.

And as a styling reminder, know that different parting techniques create different looks, and if you’re ever unsure of how to create a natural looking part, place your comb against your inner brow above your left eye, and draw the comb backwards.

Accessorize

Go glamorous! With less hair comes a great opportunity to show off those stunning cheekbones, those dimples, that smile and that glimmer in your eyes that people rarely notice. Make earrings, eyeliner and fabulous clips your thing. And if you’re feeling as though you’re over the headscarves and headbands, perhaps you just need a few new tricks for them, including using your scarf to pull your too short hair into a faux updo.

How do you jazz up your short haircut?

Source: HookieDo.Com

In continuation of the conversation from last week about the financial independence black women have been able to carve out for themselves within the booming and increasingly diverse hair weave industry, let me introduce you to Demajali West, creator and founder of the Hookie Do.

What’s the Hookie Do? Glad you asked.

The Hookie Do is a patent-pending reusable hair extension cap, which allows weave wearers to install a head full of new hair in under a half an hour without harmful glueing or sewing anything onto the hair or scalp, and simply by hooking the weft of a track onto some hooks – hence the name. An instruction video of how it all works is available here, but the overall point is that a person using the Hookie Do can quick change a hairstyle without costly hair salon visits or wasting bundles of hair.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Well it kind of is.

And late last month, West officially introduced her cool concept to the public in a Kickstarter campaign in hopes of raising enough investment capital to complete her first purchase order of the Hookie Do. She is asking for $17,000 from potential funders and in exchange, is offering a pre-order of the prototype at the $45 level (she says that the Hookie Do is suggested to retail at $89.99).

West said that she wasn’t quite sure how folks would respond to her crowd-sourcing approach considering that those spaces appears to be more occupied by white males. But by the middle of this July, West has not only managed to reach her fundraising goals, she is a couple of thousand over $42,000 in donations. And she still has five days left in her campaign.

“People say that black women don’t support each other. I can tell you that we do. And I am so appreciative of all the women who donated – even those who donated at levels that meant they couldn’t get the cap like $5 or even a $1 – just because they thought it was a good idea,” she said.

The story has all the markers of a quirky novelty story but don’t count West as either an overnight success or some potato salad farce. The Hookie Do is a culmination of two years of sacrifice, struggle, lots of money and uncertainty. It was a couple of years ago, right before the birth of her first child, when the thought came to West. Money was tight and West, who has no professional cosmetology training and education, had taken to creating and installing her own hairstyles in hopes of saving her family money. But West said that the frequency in which she changed hairstyles proved to still be financially burdensome as well as time consuming. That’s when she started to seriously begin mulling over new ways to go about getting salon quality hair at affordable prices.

It was her father, who first introduced the idea of using hooks. “Like on a ship and on a bra strap is what he kept saying over and over again. I didn’t know what he was talking about,” she said, giggling. But eventually something clicked and West said that she would test out her dad’s theory, using one of her old bras. “What I noticed is that the weft of the hair extension fit perfectly inside of the hooks on a bra and that’s when I knew I had something here.”

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I know! Another article about hair! But with the Blue Ivy petition fiasco and the debate about whether or not white women can claim #teamnatural, it’s clear that we are still not quite comfortable with the various textures that are uniquely assigned to our tresses.

A friend of mine recently decided to go for the “Big Chop” after years of perms and weaves. It took her a long time to finally go for it! She worried about whether or not she would readily adjust to such a drastically different look. She was used to having long hair, so the thought of not being able to wear a simple ponytail or a high bun, made her wary. But she was also tired of spending endless hours at the beauty salon, begging her boyfriend for money to get her expensive extensions installed. Her own hair was showing signs of wear and tear, which resulted in her relying on the security of hair weaves.

One afternoon while having brunch she announced to all of us that she was going to step outside her comfort zone by embracing the “natural hair movement”. We all applauded her and promised to give our unrelenting support. I never thought she would actually contemplate giving up her regimen, but a week later she greeted us with her new look. She looked incredible. Her eyes looked bigger, her skin glowed, and she even seemed taller. Her short Afro was everything! Finally we could see her gorgeous features without the aid of her trusted bangs and flowing mane. It was fresh, youthful and complimentary and I was so happy to see her enjoying her much-needed makeover.

She was relieved that her gamble had paid off, and even more excited that we loved it. But there was just one problem. Her boyfriend of six months was less than enthused with the prospect of his girlfriend being stripped of her long straight hair. She never really discussed it with him beforehand, which made the big reveal even more shocking and harder to digest. We tried to console her by explaining the fact that he probably needed time to get used to her shorter do. He was accustomed to her looking a certain way, and since he wasn’t privy to the fact that she was considering a major alteration, his reaction wasn’t necessarily unreasonable.

But almost two months later, her boyfriend is still reeling from the fact that she is now a bona fide naturalista. At first he started off with innocent jokes, but it has since escalated to full fledged demands. He is actually trying to convince her to go back to her weaves because she was a lot sexier when she had longer hair. Now that she has an Afro, she had lost that level of appeal that drew him in when they first started dating. Yep! He went there. Hitting below the belt by intertwining her attractiveness with the style of hair she chooses to wear.

Things have gotten so bad that their relationship is currently in code red status. They fight all the time, and there is barely any intimacy left. My friend is ready to walk away any day now, even though she is trying to hold on for dear life because she loves him. But of course she is disappointed that the man in her life is not supportive of her grooming habits. He refuses to understand why she made the change, and more importantly he won’t respect her decision regardless of whether or not he gets it.

It got me thinking about how I would react if I were in a similar situation. Is it mandatory to find out what a guy’s preference is when it comes to hair before getting serious? It sounds ludicrous, but based on my friend’s current situation; it definitely is a legitimate concern. I have never dated a guy who seemed hung up on how I wore my hair, but then again, I never wore weaves. I suppose we attract certain types of guys based on the way we present ourselves.

Would you dump a guy if he forced you to wear your hair a certain way?

Actress Teyonah Parris’ star is ascending in Hollywood right now. While many of us know her from the hit show “Mad Men,” it’s not the only credit she has under her belt. She’s going to be starring in three movies including They Came Together, Dear White People and A Picture of You and also a new project, executive produced by LeBron James called “Survivor’s Remorse.”

And in addition to being exceptionally talented, Parris has also been a hair crush of ours since she stepped out on the red carpet at last year’s SAG Awards. And though she’s been shouted out by several women and black women’s websites for the beauty and versatility of her afro, Parris told Marc Lamont Hill, of Huffington Post Live , that the transition was anything but easy for her. In fact, it was such an emotional journey that she cried and had to have a friend help her show her newly natural hair to the world.

Read what she had to say about the experience in the transcript below and then watch the video at the very bottom of the page.

You know when I first started in film, and I don’t want this to sound the wrong way, I very much tried, and not consciously, but I tried to be what I saw because that’s what I saw growing up. And I wanted to be beautiful. Who doesn’t want to be beautiful? And so consciously or unconsciously you try to mimic what you see. And I just had this moment where, I was actually in Harlem, and I was walking with my girlfriend and I saw this girl and I was like ‘I wish my hair could do that.’ And my friend was like, ‘It can.’ And I was like no, no it can’t. And I was like ‘Girl when I wet my hair, it just gets so straight.’

And she really looked at me like ‘Are you serious?’ She said, ‘It’s because you perm it.’

And I guess it was like, as Oprah says, an aha moment and I realized ‘Oh, I have no clue what my hair does naturally.’

So going natural was just a challenge to myself because I wanted to see what it did what it looked like because I hadn’t seen it since I was a little girl and even then I didn’t do it.

So it started off as a challenge to myself and I transitioned by wearing weaves and then every few weeks, I would take it out and see how much was afro and how much was still straight and then put it back up and cut off some as we went along.

And then it came the time when it was time to wear it out because it was all transitioned, all the perm was off.

Marc Lamont Hill: Were you nervous?

I cried. I cried. I was not used to seeing myself like that. I did not want to walk outside. I literally…I had to have… *pauses* oh goodness. My girlfriend, the same one who’d said a year or so before ‘your hair can do that’ she had to literally come over to my house and walk me outside because it was such an emotional experience and it wasn’t just about hair. It was about what my perception of beauty was and had been for all of my life and then I look at myself in the mirror and I’m like ‘That doesn’t look like what I thought was beautiful.’ And we literally held hands walking down 135 and Park Ave. And so that was my first moment in the world with my natural hair. And I know it doesn’t matter but that day, I got so many compliments on my big afro and I was like ‘Are they talking to me? Oh, ok.’ And it was really that moment of ‘Ok, I can do this.’ That was just my beginning of my journey into being natural. And since that day, it’s still been hard at moments. It wasn’t like ‘Oh, I was fine after that.’ No. It takes time.

At this moment, it’s not like I’m standing on a soapbox like it’s a mission but I really am personally, beyond what anybody else thinks or cares about, am trying to live in my truth and change the way I view beauty. And if other people’s perceptions change while I’m trying to work on myself, then that’s great. And hopefully a few little brown girls out there will look and say, ‘Oh, look I want my hair like that.’ And hopefully sooner than me, the age I was when it happened to me.

You can watch Teyonah Parris’ entire interview with Huffington Post Live in the video below. The part where she speaks about her natural hair starts around the 18 minute and 15 second mark.

Source: wcpo.com

“After all the rain, the sun shines again!” That’s the weather report that best describes Rhonda Lee’s inspirational turnaround after getting fired from the Shreveport, LA news station KTBS 3 in 2012 for defending her natural hair.

Since then, Lee — a proud ‘fro-wearing meteorologist — received an outpouring of positivity and encouragement. “Being called an inspiration, for me, is completely overwhelming,” she told MadameNoire over the phone. “I don’t see myself other than plain ol’ Rhonda who does the weather.” Though the whole world seemed to pat Lee on the back, for over a year, she struggled to get interviews for employment.

But as MadameNoire reported yesterday, Lee recently nabbed position at Weather Nation, a TV network in Denver that reaches millions of households.  Take that KTBS 3 news! You should expect to see her on Weather Nation on July 28th.

Check out our interview with the woman dubbed the “Rosa Parks of Natural Hair”!

MadameNoire: Congratulations on your new position at Weather Nation, Rhonda!

Rhonda Lee: Well thank you so much! I’m extremely happy. Surreal is the best way to describe it. [After I got fired], I really honestly said, ‘Okay, I’ll just get a nice station somewhere.’ And all of a sudden, somebody very reputable wants to work with little ol’ me.

MN: This just proves that you don’t need a wig or weave to be a successful black female professional.

RL: For me, getting a new job was validation for what I knew was right. It was a move of acceptance. Not one time during my interview [at Weather Nation] has my hair come up. It’s sad to say, but that’s kind of rare. I was always asked, “So, what’s up with this hairstyle?’ Without trying to be rude, I would always explain that I used to do a lot of things to my hair that just wasn’t healthy. [Going natural] was a health decision – my scalp was suffering because the chemicals were so harsh. That’s why I don’t wear my hair straight.

It was just one of those things I always had to have a planned answer for, but at Weather Nation, it never came up! They hired me strictly based off talent and the ability to do the job.

MN:  Let’s go back to 2012, when things spiraled out of control. After replying to two racially-insensitive Facebook posts, you got fired. KTBS 3 released a statement saying they sent out an e-mail on August 30, 2012 about social media etiquette. They claim you failed to comply with this policy. Did you receive it?

RL: We had absolutely no social media policy – nothing! All I know is that once upon a time there was an ‘e-mail’ sent out and I don’t remember getting it. I found out about this e-mail later, [after my termination from KTBS]. I do remember getting an e-mail from somebody who wasn’t my boss, and he actually said that he wanted us to engage on social media, so please reply whenever we see fit. That’s why I replied to [Emmitt Vascocou]. It was just me saying “I’m proud to be Black, thank you for watching.” My bosses felt that what I said was controversial, which I thought was a little strange.

I never felt that I was being disciplined either! At one point, I even asked “Am I in trouble?””Oh, no no no,” they said. “You’re not in trouble for anything.” And then to get fired for the thing that I was fired for, which was replying to a viewer who took issue with black kids winning a contest that the station held? I don’t understand why I got fired for telling the guy that we pick our kids at random.

MN: In the same statement KTBS 3 issued, they mentioned that a white co-worker was dismissed for breaking the station’s social media policy, too. Who was that?

Rhonda Lee: I remember Chris [the white co-worker] replied to anti-gay messages that were on the KTBS Facebook page. [On the day of my dismissal], I asked, “Well what about Chris? Where is he right now?” They said, “We let him go this morning.” I was shocked. I thought, “Wow!” I asked them, “So you got rid of the gay male and the black female for defending themselves against those comments on your web page?” My boss said, “Yes.” And I asked, “And you’re okay with that?” And he said “Yes.”

MN: What do you say to people who maintain that natural hair is unprofessional and don’t understand why you won’t change your hair for better job prospects?

RL: I’ve read a few comments about my story: “Oh, I don’t see what the big deal is. If you need to get a job, then you should do what you need to do.” In theory, I believe this. But I feel that this is a unique problem that is geared towards people of African diaspora…

In my industry, you’d hear consultants say, “Well, why don’t you get a bob or lighten your hair a little bit” – which is fine. But when it comes to black people, we’re asked ‘Well, can you maybe grow it out?” You’re asking me to do something biologically different and that’s where I have to draw the line.

Sometimes, I get, “Oh no no no. It has nothing to do with that. We just want you to look a particular way.” Well, would you ask me to make my nose a little smaller or my lips less prominent? If you’re asking me to straighten my hair, then that’s what you’re essentially asking me to do.

MN: Your TWA (teeny weeny afro) is harmless! How could anyone at any station have anything to say about it?

RL: For the [African-American community], my hair wasn’t a big deal. But for a culture of people who don’t understand our hair, my [TWA] is a shock. Within my first few days working there, they specifically asked me, “Is it possible to grow your hair out?” At the time, my hair was bigger and I had more hair than what I had at Shreveport. They’d ask, “Why don’t you get a nice little cut like your co-anchor?” And my co-anchor was also Black, but she had a relaxer so her hair laid down. I said, “Well, my hair is actually longer than hers.” I pulled a strand and it had gone past my ear. If you could have seen the looks on their faces! They were completely perplexed. I explained to them: “If you want me to grow my hair, it’s not going to grow down – it’s going to get bigger like this.”

They just don’t understand our texture, so that’s why they say things like that.

MN: When it comes to the workplace, why do you think Black hair is more restricted by rules compared to any other texture?

RL: Our hair has always been seen as some form of rebellion. In the slave days, [suppressing our hair] was a way of keeping us in our place, maintaining control of over us. Those days of keeping us in our place are gone – directly at least. Today, a lot of it is indirect. It’s unfortunate that our biology is what’s used to keep women down.

MN: Have you ever, at least once, thought about changing your hair to fit into the status quo?

RL: No. Not really. There was one time where I looked up a wig online and then I said, “This is ridiculous.” I thought, “When I go to the store, do I always have to put this thing on my head?” People would come up to me and say “Are you the weather lady?” And I’d have to say, “Yeah…” Then they’d say, “What’s wrong with your hair?” So no.

MN: For women who come across employers who ask them to change their hair texture, what would you suggest?

RL:  An honest discussion needs to be had. A lot of times, employers just don’t know what it is they just asked you to do; they don’t realize it. That goes back to the accidental racism that we see from time to time. I would say talk about it first. You do have rights – that’s very important to remember. If they are being violated, there are outlets – typically within the company — that you can report your issues to. But first, have a decent, adult conversation about your concerns. More often than not, this way, the problem can get resolved.

MN: Since your dismissal went viral, you’ve received an outpouring of positivity. You’ve even been dubbed the “Rosa Parks of Hair”!  Throughout all of this, has anything truly touched you?

RL: A lot of times, I found myself tearing up by all the “thank yous” and “keep goings.” I feel so grateful.

This one woman had cancer — she was a white woman by the way – and she was really down about her hair from the chemo. She told me she was [so depressed], she couldn’t even get out of bed one morning, but then she said, “I saw what happened to you and how you stood up for being you, despite your hair. Now, I’m motivated and I’ve taken off my wig.” She’s now proud of who she is, she says, because of me! It’s like wow! Thank you!

MN: You gave birth to a beautiful baby boy last year! What’s it like juggling being a wife, mom, and career woman at the same time?

RL: Well, I have a husband that’s phenomenal. And honestly, everything I do, I do for [my son.] I never really understood that sentiment, but now that I’m a parent, I completely understand that. Everything I do now requires much more thought than I did before I had the awesome responsibility of raising this little black boy who, in my personal opinion, will rule the world!

This interview was edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Kimberly Gedeon, on track for a Masters degree in journalism, is an essayist at heart — she’s got a knack for persuasive writing and social commentary pieces. Follow her on Twitter: @sweetenedcafe.

Chris Brown is known for switching up his hair. Hmm…kind of like Rihanna… But I digress. Whether he’s rocking platinum blond like Sisqo or gray like your grand daddy, he keeps us guessing…or scratching our heads. When recent images of Chris during his hearing surfaced, I noticed that, among other things, his hair had grown out quite nicely and homeboy was almost rocking curls.

And it looks like Chris has decided to go with that for a while. When he first got out we saw he styled it into a high top fade and today, he has it parted and combed over in a look that is all too reminiscent of Malcolm X’s fried, dyed and laid to the side days. If you’ve seen Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, you know Detroit Red went through all types of trauma to get his hair to lay right. Back in the day, even black men felt the pressure to straighten their strands or wear wigs in the case of Teddy Pendergrass in his early days with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

Exhibit A:

Source: YouTube

And he wasn’t the only one. See James Brown, Sam Cooke etc. Black male entertainers had a bit of their own “big chop”/ “go natural” movement. 

We don’t know if Chris is using chemicals or if this is just some gel and water but take a look at what he calls a nod to the thirties and let us know if you’re feeling it.

Guillermo Proano/WENN.com

I really dig Willow Smith. She has a confidence at just 13 years old that most grown women haven’t tapped into yet. And while I won’t pretend to understand all of her choices, I get the sense that she’s a kind and concerned person and hell, intriguing. So I was very interested to see what she had to say in her recent Teen Vogue spread.

In her interview for the August issue, which will be available on newsstands on July 15, Willow talks about everything from following her intuition to feeling like she has something to say and the people need to hear it. Here are a few highlights from her conversation with Teen Vogue below.

On turning down the lead role in “Annie” 

“To be honest, something inside me was just, like, Don’t. I’m very connected with my intuition.”

Her high low fashion tastes

For one thing, she’s a burgeoning fashion icon who’s drawn comparisons to Rihanna, and her favorite pair of heels were a gift from Karl Lagerfeld himself. (“They make me feel like I’m a sophisticated Amazon woman,” Willow says.) Ask about jewelry and she’ll gush about Cartier, referring to her mother’s gold Juste un Clou bracelet as “sick.” She adds, “My whole family, we love Cartier.” Still, Willow is experienced in working a healthy mix of high and low, professing to know her way around Target—which she calls her secret for boots, Converse, and Vans. The girl isn’t fronting. Ask about a favorite recent purchase and she’ll tell you about a cheapie dream-catcher necklace she unearthed at the Fairfax flea market in Los Angeles.

Her Style and her hair 

“My style is who I am all the time,” she says, “and who I am always changes.” For proof, look no further than her hair, which in the past few years has been green, pink, and now blonde. “My hair is super-, super-, super-, superhard to destroy,” she says with a laugh. “It’s a survivor.” As for the new shade, she proudly reports: “Blondes do have more fun!”

Her music

Despite the success of her single “Whip My Hair” and Jay Z likening her to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder,  there was never a full album. Willow didn’t stop making music she just felt, as Teen Vogue puts it, “why rush it?”

Willow says: “I have enough songs to make an album,” Willow says, “but most of the songs I don’t like.” She assures that new stuff is coming soon—just don’t ask Willow to characterize her sound. “It’s going to be something outlandish, something that nobody can imagine, something that comes from me and only me. Something we need right now.”

Her voice

Willow recently started tweeting to her 3.5 million-plus followers on topics as far-ranging as world peace (“We all need to learn how to harmoniously live on this planet without frying it like those systematic French fries the government feeds us”) and her trouble with homework (“Teacher: Why don’t you have your homework? Me: Too busy learning about life.”). “I just felt like people needed to hear what I had to say, man,” Willow reveals. “I feel like I can really give people a different view on things.”

Check out the pictures from Willow’s spread here.

Source: Shutterstock

So you quit your job to go solo, or perhaps, your job quit you. Maybe you’re on a “use what you’ve got” challenge. Maybe your usual go-to stylist just isn’t keeping your hair happy anymore. In any of these cases, you’re on a salon sabbatical and have a tight hair budget. Now that you’re in money-saving mode and trying to figure out what to do next, and the luxury of weekly or monthly visits to the salon is a sacrifice you’ve chosen to make, don’t worry. There are ways you can keep your hair in perfect condition while you’re on a salon hiatus.

Get the best products within your budget

It seems strange to advise one to raid the beauty supply store when on a budget. By purchasing the proper tools and products in the beginning, you’ll be able to further recreate styles that you love. Buying magnetic rollers, a hooded dryer, metal duckbill clips, a professional-grade flat iron or curling iron, and engaging in a little practice, you will slowly but surely be able to achieve salon styling. Plus, buying in bulk ensures that you will get great deals on products that you know work well.

Recreate your favorite salon treatments at home

Brainstorm ways to recreate your salon favorites to fit within your budget. Creativity in figuring out ways to recreate your favorite treatments make you feel accomplished. If you love relaxing under the dryer as your hot oil treatment sets in your scalp, look into buying a hooded hair dyer, or dryer attachment.  We’ve all got an aspiring cosmetologist in the family, right? Why not let them wash and dry your hair?

Look to your kitchen for guidance

Mixing up your own product saves money, especially when you use natural ingredients that are available. There are recipes to help you whip up your own product and I’m sure you have useful products and foods in your kitchen that you’re overlooking. Think about olive oil treatments, or Shea butter and coconut oil concoctions for hair and body use.

Prepare to stretch your relaxer

When you get your relaxer, arrange some time to chat with your stylist, or a past stylist. Ask her for maintenance tips or for her favorite product recommendations. She may give you a great hair profile from her perspective that will help you in your journey. Additionally, get to know those magnetic rollers. The roller set method not only helps to hide new growth you might not be ready to work with, but the method can smooth down that growth by applying some tension to help straighten roots.

Discover your hair

If your natural hair is professionally straightened, you may find it difficult figuring out your locks. You have to get to know your hair. Put your hands in your hair. Learn about your hair texture and hair behavior. If you don’t know where you’re starting, you won’t know how to properly straighten your hair or work with it in the future. Don’t risk damage because of too much heat on fine hair that can’t handle it, or too many passes through with the flat iron (or old-school pressing comb) on thick hair. Introduce yourself to your hair, get to know it and embrace it. It will save you lots of broken strands and heartache.

Consider protective styling to ease into a new ‘do

If you’re donning a short style when funds get tight, choose a protective method that will ease you into a style with less precision and that doesn’t need to be cut as often. Alternatively, if you know for a fact you won’t keep up with your new growth, you might need to formulate an exit plan for that relaxer. Consider protective styling in the form of braids, weaves and wigs that will help transition you into caring for your hair.

Embarking on a strict hair care regimen and budget—no matter the reason—isn’t easy. With some preparation, you can keep your sanity and your hair in tact.

A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the tribute Future gave to his two babies fiancée Ciara and his new son Future. If you look closely, in the Instagram picture, you can see a sneak peek of Ciara’s hair and they look like locs. As a fellow dread head, I noticed this and quickly put it out of my mind. But yesterday, Ciara released a series of images where she’s showing off her loc extensions and personally I’m here for it but the response was mixed. Wonder if Ciara was inspired by her fiancé/baby fatha Future?

Take a look at the pics and let us know if you dig these.