afro – This Square Peg.

The Frompadour Files.

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017Beauty, Hair, Me, SummerLeave a Comment

Oh, hey. Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you, dear reader? Have you longingly gazed at your notifications, hoping to see that I’ve reached out to you with another post? No? Well, I love you anyway.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about this fro (known as She) on my larger-than-average head. Let me catch you up: for the past several months or so, She’s been giving me life. Why? Because She’s been obedient! We all know how She does her own thing and follows her own rules and decides when she wants to feel moisturized and so on. But for the past several months, She’s been actually responding to my attempts at styling and care-taking. It’s been slightly surreal. But I’ll take it. Anyway, since the dawn of summer, I decided to start fashioning her into vintagey pompadour styles that She’s really responded to. Take a look.

I’ve loved the creative, natural hair updo look forever. Throw in that retro feel that some of the styles evoke and I became an immediate fan and decided to try my hand at them. Even better: the style protects my dear ends, which are tucked away comfortably while I wear these styles. Here’s a quick how-to (or how I do) on them:

I start with hair that’s been stretched by an old twist-out, or Bantu knot-out, or really any style that I’ve worn for a while. Note that stretched doesn’t necessarily mean straight. Some naturalistas do these styles on straightened hair, but I like to just have my hair stretched to a malleable point.
I then apply moisturizer or whatever styling cream I want to use. Before that, I like to spritz my hair with a tiny bit of water and/or leave-in conditioner, but not so much as to lose the stretch and bring on le shrinkage.
Now I style. Perhaps here, you’re waiting for some rhyme or reason to how I style the hair into the frompadour (fro + pompadour)? Sorry. I don’t have one. I literally stare in the mirror and start moving my hair around to see what I like. Sometimes I want a front swoop thing like you see in the photos. Or I want to create a “flower” with my hair in the back. It’s really up to what I end up doing. As long as I have an abundance of pins and a bristle brush to keep sides and edges smooth (to no avail), I just end up with a nice style that I wear for a week or so.

That’s all she wrote. I get some of my ideas from Pinterest, of course, where you’ll find plenty of ladies with similar styles. Barring the falling into the Pinterest rabbit hole, that’s a great resource for ideas. YouTube, as well.

So what new things are you doing for the summer summer summertime?

fruit salad.

May 4, 2017Beauty, Hair, Me, WomanLeave a Comment

Can I tell you how much I miss my tropical paradise/coconut/fruit salad?

I will.

December 2016 was the last time I:

saw my curls
got the chance to ~~detangle as I go~~ run my fingers through my kinks
engaged in hours-long twisting sessions while catching a movie on the Netflix
“tamed” these edges before pushing the fro into a puff
massaged my scalp freely
just loved on it.

Protective styles are great. I’ve expressed this before. They give me a break from doing too much of #6 above, they help me to get to work on time (because I’m not spending all morning undoing the results of #3), and they’re just pretty and creatively done. Will I continue to protective style? For sure. Will I continue to complain that I miss my hair? For sure.

In December, I had Senegalese twists. I followed that up with regular box braids. After that came crochet braids. Other than brief intervals when the styles were removed so the scalp could breathe, I really haven’t experienced my hair for six months. But lest you believe some fairy tale grandmother forced me to put in these protective styles, it was my choice to keep the strands tucked in until May. I needed to leave it be. There was also some damage to my ends after coloring my hair last year (we’re not going to talk about that right now; I’m still in my feelings), so it was just necessary to leave it ‘lone for a while. This time, however, I made sure to moisturize and oil and do all the things you need to do to actually protect the hair while it’s in a protective style.

This weekend, my stylist will take out my crochets. My natural hair will then receive a much needed deep conditioning and a trim of ends that have likely declared mutiny since the last time I trimmed them.

Will I weep when I touch my scalp again?

Maybe.

Happy Thursday and onwards and upwards…and frowards.

“edge control”?

January 27, 2017Beauty, Hair, Hilarity, Me, Woman5 Comments

Who are the scientists or hairologists that create the gel for those of us with edges that have temperamental minds of their own? They need to work harder. Because people like me with edges like me laugh at these gels, these silly things that do absolutely nothing to tame these rebellious follicles that rest on the borders of my hairline. Normally, I wouldn’t care. I’m the kind of naturalista that puffs my hair and doesn’t take the time to smooth things out at the front. Smooth isn’t that important to me. But then I started taking Biotin and vitamins to make my hair stronger and yay, my hair started really growing and getting fuller, but whoa, my hair started really growing and getting fuller and goodness, I looked like I lived in someone’s backyard. And with braids (I’ve had braids since December; done and re-done), if one wants a ponytail or to pull the braids back, the edges cannot shame you. But mine shame me. Every. Single. Day.

So I purchased this “edge control” gel, which a woman at the shop claimed would do wonders for my edges. Nope. Nope. Nope. The hair lays for approximately 5 seconds and then rolls its eyes at me and sticks right back up. Wild and curly and crazy. Unabashedly untamed and unkempt.

But you know what? I’m c’est la vie-ing it, folks. That’s life. Bushy edges and all. I can’t change them. There is no control.

But am I the only one? If you have rebellious edges, kindly let me know in the comments. Edge misery (not really though) loves company.

Happy Friyay, bon weekend, and onwards and upwards.

Bonjour, December.

December 1, 2016Beauty, Hair, Me, WomanLeave a Comment

I welcomed the new month with a high puff, a little red lippie, and a sweater/turtleneck combo because it’s currently freezing in Dallas. Yes, you read that right.

Welcome to the last month of the year. Wherever you are, may you remain warm and toasty.

(I’m 4 years natural this month, y’all! So the posts this month will certainly have a hair theme. Onwards…)

Blogvember #14: Le Fro and Le Chapeau.

November 14, 2016Autumn, Beauty, Fashion, Hair, WomanLeave a Comment

I’m quite happy to inform you that I bought a chapeau (hat) this weekend. Of course, discovering that le fro (also referred to as She) could handle hats isn’t new; I discussed that wonderful revelation here. And yet those reservations about hats and fros and large heads don’t entirely go away, do they? We need to constantly remind ourselves, we in the Big Head Society, that it’ll be ok: hats will fit.

While shopping with the bestie this past Saturday, I saw my new hat and I instantly wanted to try it on. That was the clue that it was meant to be mine. But that still didn’t stop me from muttering to the bestie that it likely wouldn’t fit. Try it on anyway, she replied, as she busied herself with perusing the sea of scarves in the aisle she was in. Shrugging, I reached for it, secured it atop my twist-out, and headed to find a mirror. Before I reached said mirror, Bestie was already gushing that it was beautiful. When I finally saw it, you guys…

The chicness. Oh, the chicness of it all. And that color. Even better: the ole noggin didn’t feel like an unknown object had taken up unlawful space there. Very comfortable. I also loved how little peeks of my coils were visible. As I said before: I made it mine. Naturally, for the rest of the day, my new chapeau became the centerpiece of several admiring selfies. (Because why not?)

By the way, I’m wearing Oh-So Wicked lipstick by Rimmel in these photos. Since autumn is here, I’ve been adding darker shades in between my tried and true red lippie. Don’t you love the variety of it all?

Anyway, bienvenue, mon chapeau…

(Are you a hat wearer? What are your favorite styles? Give up the goods…)

Blogvember #5: Any Frolunteers?

November 6, 2016Hair, Me, SillyLeave a Comment

Saturday night with le fro. Who’s coming around to twist this thing? Anyone?

Bon first day of the weekend…

calling all big heads.

March 23, 2016Beauty, Fashion, Hair, Me, Mom, Woman5 Comments

Let’s get right to it, shall we? For most of my days on this planet, I’ve been reminded by my mother about how this thing that sits on my neck nearly cost her her life. If you have a large coconut, I’m sure you’ve heard similar stories from your mom. And lest you think Mom is exaggerating or teasing me unnecessarily, kindly note that for my high school graduation, my cap had to be special ordered from another state because the ones they had at school didn’t fit my head.

Now you understand.

Obviously, I rarely wore hats throughout the years. Moreover, once this lovely fro of mine was nurtured and came into bloom, there was no way I was going to attempt to fit a hat on it. Alas, however, I soon discovered that sometimes the old college try works out: a big head and an afro aren’t obstacles to anything (other than sitting in front of the television). See Exhibit A below.

The caption says it all, no? So now that we’ve obviously mastered hats and fros, the next thing I’d like to try are head wraps. I’ve always been fascinated by the head wrap look, primarily because I grew up with Ghanaian women who could tie a wrap around their heads like nobody’s business. These days, I also love seeing my fellow chocolate ladies rocking them, too, especially other naturalistas. And just like a larger-than-the-average-bear sized head/fro isn’t going to keep me from adorning it with a hat, the next stop is head wraps. Naturally, I sailed on over to Pinterest for some styling ideas, and also to get some, uh, tips on actually tying one. (Mom has shown me more than once. Just like binomials, I don’t get it.) Here are a few beauts I saw.

Don’t you adore the looks? Chic, practical, fun, gorg.

Summertime, and the wrapping is easy…

Tell me: are you a head wrap lady?

Summertime, and the Cutting is Easy…

June 22, 2015June 22, 2015Hair, Me3 Comments

It was going to happen eventually.

My longing for change would be manifested via my hair, and that’s exactly what happened. Without further ado…

I cut my hair.

What what?

Yes, after making promises to myself that after my cut in January 2014, I would just grow it out patiently and see where it took me, I decided to stop flirting with the idea of a cut (I’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time) and just do it. So during my trim and color (went back to black, as you can see) this past weekend, I asked my stylist if we could do a tapered cut. I wanted to retain some length, but I also wanted a shape and a style. Bim bam boom; she snipped, she did her thing, and I love it more than the sliced bread I’m avoiding.

It was time. Other than longing for a change, as I mentioned before, here are some other reasons it was high time for a style and color change:

1. As far as color, my formerly red hue was growing and looking old. Rather than spice it back up, I decided to just return to my black hair. Yes, my gray strands will be popping like crazy soon (I’ve been graying since high school, ya’ll), but whatever.

2. Honestly, as much as I love twist-outs and Bantu knots and all of that, I kind of wanted a quicker way to style my hair.

3. Tapered ‘dos are super chic!

4. It’s summer. Enough said.

Oh, and:

5. Red lippies (which you know I love) pop like crazy with dark hair.

Are you wondering if I’ll keep this look when summer ends, though? I am, as well. It’s something to think about. I really love the look. Which means I might keep it longer than these hot days. Growing out my hair was my initial goal when I big chopped, but I have to tell you that I’m a sucker for chic and quick. And whether long or short, I just want healthy hair. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

Along the way in this fun, discovery naturalista journey, my hair changed. There was some breakage, some damage.

Deciding to color it certainly didn’t help. So I think it was high time I cut it, not only for a style and a shape, but to kind of start over. So whether or not I grow it back out or retain this look, the change was necessary. We’ll see what happens. For now, I am incredibly pleased with this change.

My mother didn’t faint, by the way. She was very happy with the change, probably because I mentioned that I’m done coloring my hair. And she’s used to her oldest change fomenting change by way of hair, so there’s that.

You like? What summer changes are you up to?

there’s really no other way to say this…

May 13, 2015May 13, 2015Exercisin', Fitness, Hair, Me5 Comments

…I think I have guns.

Look at those arms. Look at them. You see some kind of definition there, don’t you? Don’t you?? I snapped this photo last week in the dressing room of my favorite place, Ross, while trying on that dress. And dare I say it, I think my hanging out with weights on a weekly basis might be doing something.

Here’s to women with no upper body strength hoisting 20 pound kettle balls.

here we go.

May 20, 2014Hair4 Comments

Was this post a result of an insensitive comment thrown in my direction by another woman who felt the need to share her very unsolicited opinions about my hair to me? Perhaps. Opinions. Ain’t. Facts. I cannot stress this enough, party people. Furthermore:

1. The fact that you don’t care for my afro? Means nothing.
2. The fact that, once in a while, I choose to wear a different style and my hair is all curly and coily and you prefer that style over my big, straight afro? Means nothing.
3. The fact that you felt the need to tell me that women of a “certain age” don’t need to wear their hair in an afro style? Means nothing.

Variety being the spice of life, women can do whatever they want with their hair. This means that the same freedom you enjoy in presenting your hair the way you like should be afforded to me. And despite popular opinion, I didn’t return to my natural state to incite conversations, or to provide you with opportunities to offer your–I repeat, unasked for and unsolicited–thoughts about it. K? We good? Good.