Invited by my former teacher Cynthia Mc Leod, researcher, accomplished author and UC Regents Professor at Berkeley, I headed to 1st ave in Manhattan to see The Ark of Return, the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade at the United Nations.
Read More “My day at the UN visiting the monument to remember Slavery”
While many across the country were knee-deep in mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, Avenue Music Group (AMG) was giving back to their community and Going-Natural had the pleasure to support the venue.
Read More “Going Natural helps AMG Spread Love on Thanksgiving Day”
Maybe this will be disappointing to you because I certainly did not save lives but I did have an inspiring day and I hope your Martin Luther King Day was at least as fruitful. I went to the famous Apollo theater in Harlem where Brian Lehrer and the great Melissa Harris Perry hosted an Uptown Hall Meeting themed MLK’s Voting Rights Legacy; America’s Strata.
Yesterday Brooklyn College held its 2nd annual Women of Color and Identity Conference in the Gold Room of the Student Center. Men, women, natural, relaxed and weaved heads came together to discuss the topic of Black hair from different angles.
Read More “Weaving through the Kinks; A Natural hair day at Brooklyn College”
Life in Puerto Rico was getting better every day. I loved it here. Suddenly, I started to get sick. After I got out of the hospital mommy found out there was mold in our apartment. The lady that owned our apartment would not fix it, so we had to move really fast. After Christmas we moved into our new house. We were still in San Juan, but we were not in the Santurce section any more. The Montessori school was now too far away, and mommy did not have money to send me back after she paid for us to move, and paid for our new apartment. Now I had to go to public school. I had been to public school in New Jersey, and it was fine. I thought this would be the same.
Read More “I want to go to school to learn not to fight every day”
I was so excited to start the first grade here in Puerto Rico. The night before the first day of school I laid out my clothes, and I even laid out my green barrette to match my green shirt. I could not sleep at all. Every time I closed my eyes, my brain would be filled with happy pictures of my new school. I went with mommy to register me a few weeks ago, and the school did not look like a school at all. It looked like a big beautiful house. It was a Montessori school. I was not sure what Montessori meant, but I could not wait to go to this fun looking school, and learn lots of first grade stuff, and meat lots of new friends.
Invited by Praise Iyiewuare, Master’s student at Columbia University, I attended Columbia Kinks and Curls, a Black Hair Event she put together with the on-campus Black and Latino Student Caucus. The goal was for Black students, faculty, and staff to come together for a dinner and discuss their experiences of the politics, ramifications, and perceptions of Black hair. Another topic addressed was the ways in which Black hair impacts physical and psychological health on an individual and community level.
“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Continue To Bring Peace To Our Lives And Our Children. Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Hi Going Natural family,
I hope this finds you well. I want to invite those of you naturalists that are in the RTP area of N.C. to attend my meetup groups NNHMD event on May 19th. Check out the link and if not in the area check out www.nnhmd.com to find a local natural meetup near you.
Real Curlfriends of N.C. would like to invite you to our meet up http://nnhmdrdu.eventbrite.com/
Keep it Curly,
Chassity
Overall I enjoyed the challenge. There was definitely variety between each model, and each of you did your best to capture your version of love and make proper use of your wedding pieces.
For this Challenge, we were told to talk about a Romantic Style for Valentines and Natural Brides. Valentine’s Day to me means showing the people or that special person in your life that you love and appreciate them! I feel this should be done every day, but Valentine’s Day is just that one day out of the year to pay extra special recognition to the ones you love and to show a little love to yourself! When i hear the word “Valentine”, I think of my husband and I think of my kids!
It has been a long time since I have wrote to update on my life since doing my big chop. I have to say I am still very happy with that decision of getting rid of my relaxed hair. It has been worth it through the compliments and complaints that people have made about my hair. One thing that bothers me is that all the complaints have come from other black women. Most of the compliments have come from people of another race and culture which disturbed me alot of times. Why is it as black women we do not know how to support and ecourage one another? Why do we knock each other down before picking each other up off the ground? Today I am going to make sure to show love to everyone I come across we never know what battle they fight each day in their life.
Shop Natural Hair Products by Black Women at whatnaturalslove.com
Enjoy this beautiful day and I hope your doing the same!
Shop Natural Hair Products by Black Women at whatnaturalslove.com
Summer is the perfect time to flaunt your napps and rock your fro. There are days however, that it may be better to hide them. For instance when there is rain in the forecast. Our coils are naturally happy, spiraling up to the heavens. Not even a few drops will get them out of their element.
Ok so its naturalqueen guys and for all my natural sistas out there im pround of you!!! But why is it that we have so many problems? Like 2 day this chick comes up 2 me asking me why do you wear your hair like that;( So i aske her why she isnt proud of here heritage u know i dont say why are u frying ya brain cells with hair crack!!! So can someone tell me why so many people have an issue with our hair? So to all my queens weather u have a fro or locks or curls just whip it!!!!
Shop Natural Hair Products by Black Women at whatnaturalslove.com
The day my idol (hair extensions) was toppled
My hair story . . . . where do I start? Sadly, I have to confess that beginning of 2008 was the first time I wore my own hair as an adult woman. And when I say my own hair I mean relaxed but sans extensions. For me that was a major breakthrough considering that I had a lot of self esteem issues tied to wearing my own hair. It was a deep rooted issue that I needed to be delivered from. Through earnest prayer and many conversations with God the steps towards a deliverance began to take shape and soon became a reality.
The deliverance came full circle the day I mastered how to look at myself through God’s eyes and in realizing that I did not need hair extensions to feel or look beautiful. It became glaringly clear to me that I was a jewel in his crown irrespective of what my hair looked like, or what others thought about it. Incidentally, during that period I began to pray for God to remove any idols that were present in my life. Unbeknownst to me my hair happened to be one of them and God was about to do something “special”. Well, what then ensued was a huge blessing and somewhat of a quandary to say the least. One Sunday afternoon during the 12 o’clock service at BT my twin brother (bless his heart) who happened to be sitting next to me accidentally yanked the pony tail I was wearing off my head. Oh my gosh! I was totally mortified. What was one to do?
Pray for a chariot of fire to supernaturally appear and sweep me into the heavens like Elijah maybe? That seemed to be the most plausible idea. To add insult to injury, I was sitting in the third row from the front with the choir right in front of me and the band to my left, so making a seamless escape was not an easy feat. Defeated and unwilling to embarrass myself any further, I decided to stay put, throw the ponytail on my friends lap (much to her horror) and keep a straight face like nothing had happened. What a humbling and sobering moment it was. God had decided to topple my idol in front of the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation. My first reaction was to be cross with God, because I felt slighted and could not reconcile why He had decided to do it in church, knowing fully well I would have to face these people every Sunday.
Couldn’t He have chosen a different venue to unleash His rebuke? To correct me? Well that question remains unanswered. All I can attest to is the incredible feeling of freedom and being liberated that followed. It was unprecedented and outweighed the embarrassment and humiliation I had been dealt that day. I am also blessed to have a great brother and such amazing friends who downplayed the whole incident and chalked it down to the working of the holy spirit in my life. I must say their words of comfort and assurance helped a great deal to succor the blow I had received.
Fast forward months later, I am happy to report that I have not worn any kind of hair extensions since. Not because I abhor hair extensions, but because I don’t feel the need to wear them anymore. It feels incredible to be free from bondage and hair captivity. God works in mysterious ways 🙂
The next hurdle for me to conquer is wearing my hair natural. I cannot tell you how much I admire women who do it and who do so proudly and with confidence. I welcome the day when all women can just wear their hair the way they please without feeling the need or pressure to conform to a certain standard or ideal. That was Tafadzwa not so long ago and it is not a good place to be. I am not going to be a hair Nazi and criticize or police women who wear hair extensions. That said, let your hair loose, wear extensions, wear your hair natural, to put it plain and simple rock whatever hairstyle you choose. Whatever you decide to do, I implore you to do it because that’s the style that tickles your fancy and not because you feel inadequate or pressured to fit into a mold that society (in other words someone who can’t even answer your prayers) dictates. God fearfully and wonderfully made all types and textures of hair and that includes yours. Let us gladly and boldly parade them all and ACT LIKE WE ARE FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE. ~Tafadzwa~
This is my hair story now please join me on this platform to just talk . . . . about our hair!! Share YOUR hair story.
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Wife. Mother. Natural hair blogger https://2dimplzs.wordpress.com/. Cookie baker (my peanut butter cookies are THEE bomb!). Lover of music and contributing writer to grownfolksmusic.com. Sports fanatic. GO Packers, Bucks, Brewers, Badgers, & Golden Eagles!
