Hello again ladies,

Now, before I tell you or post the results online, I want you to know what the judges decided first. So without further ado, here is what Dajuan Jones said:

I feel compelled to acknowledge how tough this years competition has been.  These ladies have met each challenge, overcoming so much for each contestant with various duties, hurdles, and circumstances along the way.  Adding to that, trying to grow each week in order to better there individual abilities, while also competing against each other.  I commend each and every sister for her participation.

But now we are down to the last three!  When I received this weeks email from Mireille, I was in disbelief that this was the last week.  Bitter sweet.  And as I laid eyes on the final submissions, I couldn’t help but smile as I saw just how far Jayme, Farah, and Lydia have come.

I’m a photographer, and I’m going to judge this last challenge solely on the contestants modeling in this finale.

Jayme, you gave us attitude, rebellion, school girl smiles, business woman swag, haute, along with your natural room brightening smile and seeming lightheartedness.

Farah, you unleashed the repertoire in your finale.  Your incorporated your entire body: hands, arms and legs in addition to facial direction and the play of your eyes.

Lydia, you brought style, attitude, a brilliant smile, creativity (I love my hair:  I see you!), and just enough fierceness (all in the window!).  What was I thinking last week?

Now comes the most difficult challenge for me, picking a winner.  Each of these ladies has their own individual strengths, with few overlaps, simply different.  If I had to pull of three different shoots with different looks for each, no doubt all three of these ladies would have their part.  But to pick just one winner, I’m going to fall back on the pursuit of a model in general, someone able to pull of a variety of looks and styles.  That would have to be Jayme. 

Regards,
Dajuan Jones
In His Image Photography | Facebook | Twitter | Pinteres | google+

And Michelle
I was so afraid to look at the competition today. I knew this would be the toughest week to make a decision. I am always concerned about the impact of rejection, especially for us as black women. All the ladies of the competition are beautiful and represent well wherever they are live and work and play. To say you’re not good enough bothers me to the core. Then, I am reminded that being a model takes a certain amount of courage, confidence and responsibility and you have to be strong to keep coming back in spite of the circumstances. With that I found the courage to grade the competition-so thank you ladies. We learn alot from you as well and we are all growing in this process. I will miss seeing your refreshing looks and creative shots and with that I say thank you! Please be sure to connect with me on The Knotty Truth Social platforms I’d love to see how you trend going into the future!

Soulseed Tees/ I Love My Fro
I got chills. And I can’t ignore that you were the only one I got chills for in this round. You brought your all and it showed. There are 2 things I like the best about you: 1) Your hair is unapologetically textured. I like that you dont promote the hype regarding curl definition, this helps others coming behind you to embrace their true texture. I feel there’s a certain level of nappy love that is reached when you can embrace your hair for how grows from your scalp. The mental transition is key to embracing the journey and freeing us from product dependency. You do that and you’ve done that consistently. 2) You are a chameleon with your looks. You gave us multiple poses and I swear if I didnt know better I would wonder if you were the same person. The diversity of your poses and attire were a big win for me with you. You bring the sexy, mature, little girl and you close the sale. I’m even looking into the t-shirts because they resonated with me on you. Great write up, thought and time to express yourself. I’ve enjoyed seeing your growth. Ps. Nice make up choices, thanks for mixing it up. I think it allowed you to push the envelop and set yourself a part. Congratulations. However this competition goes, I wish you the best in all your endeavors.

Challenge 8: Evolution of the Soul
I love your choice of hair style and clothing. The braid was an excellent touch and the use of texture style are beautiful. However, there were more poses I did not prefer (as discussed earlier in the competition). The baby doll dress pose is especially adoring and I just love love love it! Your look is refreshing, innocent and stands out. I definitely would want you to me my daughter! I know your mother is proud of you. Nevertheless, in the world of modeling, bringing the edge with the innocent with the sexy is critical to pushing the product. Its so hard for me to type this because what the world values, has nothing to do with what spirit values and I recognize that. Still, I have to get passed my personal bias and look at the overall purpose of ANNM and what Mirielle needs to do to take natural hair care to the next level by capturing the attention of a wider audience. So, my decision to not choose you is not reflective of your beauty or your look at all.For the competition I have to look at the wider audience. Please continue to strive to find venues that will use your look for promotions. We need to see more of you! The best in all your college endeavors. Reach for the stars!

NOLA beads for SoulSeed Tees
You are a creative spirit, edgy and diverse. I like how you continue to incorporate a flair of the NO into your shoots and the diverse use of make up. However, their are more poses that are not complementary to your look than are. I want you to be encouraged because you are a beautiful model. Your write up was wonderful and you gave 120%. however, I didn’t feel the it when I looked at your shots. For this to be the last week of the competition, I did not feel it was your best shoot. Please continue to share your wit, beauty and diversity with the world, challenging traditional beauty standards with your unique look. The best in all your endeavors! Thank you for representing us globally with your beautiful tresses. It’s so important to embrace the crown that God has graced us with and you do this with confidence that will draw others to embrace the crown of their glory as well.

Keep It Knotty!
M. Michele George, M.Sc., CPT, CNHS, MHMc
CEU Provider for the State of Ohio Cosmetology board, 2009-2011.
Author/Certified Natural Hair Consultant
www.theknottytruth.net | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon | YouTube | Pin Me!!

And then there is me.
As usual, I enjoyed looking at your photos but this round I also enjoyed watching you on video. That was really great. I think you all speak very well. I would be proud to send you all out in the world to represent Going-natural.com or natural hair in general.

It is funny that the three of you made the top three. I had all of you as a winner at one point in the competition. Of all the competitions I organized this never happened. To me it says that it was truly a neck a neck race which is of course super exiting for us and the audience.

Lydia, I think you have a great spirit, I enjoyed your passion and dedication throughout the competition. I love the ideas you stand for and admire you for making them happen.

Farah, same goes for you. You worked really hard juggling your student body agenda at the same time you were doing this competition and that is not easy. It was hard for you but you were always on time and I really admire you for that. It tells me people can count on you which is very important.

Jayme, I loved the versatility you brought to the competition. Your determination to show that all textures are beautiful came across. Looking at the photos of this round, I agree that you delivered the best ones. Looking at the whole competition, I find that you were very consistent yet improving every round.  It seemed as if you used the feedback of the judges every round to get better. This and the fact that you delivered great pictures throughout the competition is why you are the winner of America’s Next Natural Model 2013. Congratulations!