My sister is contemplating ‘going natural’ with her hair. I did my Big Chop about 30 months ago, and tried not to be that natural girl, you know the one: she feels the beautiful coils and kinks growing out of her head and starts singing about “touching Africa and coming back darker” and generally being a [...]
I mentioned that I went natural back in January 2011. I cut off all my relaxed hair, bought a shit-ton of hoop earrings and became an advocate of eyebrow threading. I also began to watch a hell of a lot of YouTube videos about caring for and styling natural hair. I began to collect photos [...]
While organising some stray folders on my desktop, I came upon a photograph… This is me, with semi-permanent burgundy hair in March 2012: And this is Janet (Ms Jackson if you’re nasty) all the way back in 1997: *pause* Yes, I’m giving myself the side-eye right now too. Happy Monday, kids!
In January this year, I cut off most of my hair. I’d been relaxing it pretty constantly since I was 14 [I had a mild punk phase and shaved it off. Let's just say that particular haircut caused my mother to say scornfully, "You look like a boy. An ugly boy" and leave it at [...]
Well this is embarrassing. I am the blogger who cried wolf: “I’m taking a blogging break, everybody! Yup, two months!” I said. “No, I can’t stay – I NEED A BREAK.” And then I returned, and not even a full week has passed. But don’t worry – this is only a small relapse into the [...]
The Ritzy Cinema in Brixton has been enjoying some Hollywood star power recently. Last Friday night, it hosted the premiere of Tyler Perry (sigh)’s movie, Why Did I Get Married Too, with the director and one of the stars, Janet Jackson, in attendance. Imagine – a red carpet in Brixton! Anyway, last night I went to the [...]
Teehee. To be fair, this used to happen a lot more in the past. That and compliments on my “beautiful teeth!” Found via Kiss My Black Ads.
Woohoo! 110%! Burn baby, BURN! What? Sorry, I can’t hear you over the glorious rush of technicolour endorphins I’m experiencing! I’ve got a shine, and I’m feelin’ fine! I’m well and feelin’ swell! I’m ace and I’ve got a face! That last one didn’t make any sense, but you know what? It doesn’t matter. Because I [...]
I don’t have a clear memory of the first time I went to a ‘hair shop’, but I’ll wager that I was very young. The importance of hair for Black women starts early, so there’s no reason for me not to believe that I was in one while still in utero. Black beauty supply shops are [...]
My friend John has given me many things over the course of our friendship – food, comfort, writing and editing advice and a SNL compilation DVD among them - and I hope to remain friends with him for a very long time. But I can tell our friendship has aleady peaked; and it has everything to [...]
Happy Friday, everyone! It seems like everyone has a new and exciting Friday Feature – the granddaddy of the microblogs, Twitter – follow me, validate me! – is doing it on a global scale with more than half of its top trending topics on a Friday being established Friday Features. In that vein, I too will [...]
I got a weave while I was out in Lagos. I went to Make Me, a fairly swanky salon on Bode Thomas Street, in Surulere. If you don’t know Lagos, particularly in 90s Lagos, which is when we lived there, then that address will mean nothing to you. For many though, it conjures up images of [...]
I have the unholiest crick in my neck. Why? Because I spent every waking hour (including many of the wee ones) between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon taking out a few hundred braids. I even missed out on going to see the recording of Charlie Brooker’s new show. When I’m rich enough, I will hire [...]
I went to get my eyebrows waxed two days ago (thanks, Kim!), and in a bit of serendipity, I came home and watched a 6-minute clip of a short film called Why We Wax. My brow still smarting slightly, you can bet I was more than a little interested. The movie is written and directed [...]
I don’t hold much truck with those comedians who do the old “You know the difference between Black and White people?” routines. It’s lazy and most of the time, very unfunny. We’re a collectively complex beast, we humans, but essentially, we’re the same. Ahem. Having said that, I will now step off my morally/intellectually superior [...]
