zezi

random post.... uber cool curly girl zezi
listen... sometimes pictures speak louder than words, and i'm currently eating Ghanaian food, so i'm distracted... i shall elaborate later, but in the meantime, check out her myspace page and beautiful copper locks. http://www.myspace.com/zezitron

head scarves!

head scarfs are super cute... its an indisputable fact.
as a self confessed 'africa-obbsessive', i love wearing them... kente, wax print, silk, satin, linen etc (most of which you can make yourself or buy cheaply)
tied correctly, they make the wearer appear distinguished, cultured and sophisticated.
overtly stylish, the headscarf is as practical as it is aesthetically pleasing.
i'm wearing one right now... and what appears to be a bohemic addition to my outfit, is admittedly a hair cover up!
recently, i've tried and failed (may i add) to create a turban wrap... erikah badu style... it looks so easy but it never ever works for me!
help me guys!!!!!!! :(
in the meantime however, i'm content with the simple side tied look.... here's an insight into the what inspired my love of scarves......

looking after natural hair

natural beauty!

todays curly favourites... nicole murphy, chanel iman, wakeema hollis and yasmin warsame



















my favourite?
nicole murphy
she wears her hair short and neatly styled... i love this do, as hair styled at this length is rarely worn curly. I wear my hair like this currently. in places my curls are tighter, but the style is simple, therefore easily achievable.
alot of the time, short curly hair looks boring, so teasing a few ringlets to the front definately suggests an educated style choice.

vogue italia

did anyone else feel disappointed by the 'all black' vogue italia? call me a cynic if you must, but i thought the conceptual dream was to destroy stereotypes and celebrate the beauty and editorial relevance ofthe balck woman... and yes, they achieved this to a certain extent, but... minus the naturally curly, bi-racial girls, the models all wore head-wraps, hats, lacefront weaves and silky wigs.... hmmm i'm still sensing an underlying attempt at 'european' assimilation. grace jones was featured.... wearing a straight bob????? i would have loved to see natural hair... masses of it, but having said that, it wasnt all bad...

ethiopian woman love olive oil, and it makes a hell of a lot of sense.
















According to my cousin, using 'cooking oil' on the hair is weird... to me it's always been perfectly logical.
olive oil makes the hair sooo manageable and soft, plus it promotes amazingly fast hair growth and makes each strand super strong.
my reason for loving it, is its very cheap and makes transitional hair look great, you may start loving your short hair!
- i massage the oil into my hair and scalp every night, then wrap up in a silk or satin scarf before i go to bed
- for a hot oil treatment, olive oil is perfect so once a week i wash my hair thouroghly, saturate my hair with the oil, and wrap in a plastic cap before the oil cools. the results are ashtonishing.
- styling the hair with olive oil works also.... its a natural curl enhancer

check out this great haircare recipe that i found on
http://www.naturalhairdigest.com/

OLIVE OIL HAIR CONDITIONER with honey and rosemary
honey for shine and olive oil for moisture -- enhanced with essential oil of rosemary to stimulate hair growth.

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup warmed olive oil (2 tablespoons for normal to oily hair)

4 drops essential oil of rosemary

1 teaspoon of xanthan gum (available in health food stores)

Place all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into a clean plastic bottle with a snug-fitting cap. To use, apply a small amount to your slightly dampened hair. Massage your scalp and work the conditioner through your hair until it is completely and evenly distributed. Next, cover your hair with a warm towel (your microwave or dryer can heat it up) or shower cap; leave the conditioner in place on to nourish and condition for 30 minutes. Remove the towel or shower cap; shampoo lightly and rinse with cool water. Dry as normal and enjoy shinier, softer and healthier hair the natural way.

Protein packed Coco Conditioner recipe (Not for locs/dreadlocks)

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons light sesame oil
2 whole eggs
2 tablespoons coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoons coconut oil

targets targets targets

i think i'm gonna post two personal target pics... you know, like a 3month - 6 month plan...
now given the nature of curly hair, water based products, moisture etc etc shrink the hair (in appearance) so i'm putting at rest any fanciful notions.... my hair isnt wavy like myas, but its is super curly like tracee ellis ross'.... the latter probably having longer hair than the former... appearance isnt always the best length indication.....
i have no idea who that little monologue benefited, but nevertheless, here are some target pics (i plan to recycle these images to compare and contrast later)

3MONTHS = 17th july - 17th october















well first an foremost, a successful 3months of natural growth would enable me clip my hair back... my hair is around 2inches long! so believe it or not i cant do that yet...... and i need at least 3inches growth to do so
as we all know, a clipped back style leaves everybody guessing.... is her hair ear length?, is it waist length? etc and generally feels and looks feminine and professional....
i do like the short do, but i love the versatility of an up-do... correct me if i'm wrong, but it also retains moisture better.
i'm planning a trip to ghana in august... i'll be doing alot of volunteer work out there, so i seriously need an easy style!
i'm pretty sure that my humble coconut / olive oil, silk scarf and wide toothed comb will make this quite achievable.


6MONTHS = 17th october - 17th january















i think its safe to say that 6months of natural growth would facilitate this length (give or take an inch or so and maybe with the aid of a light blowout), its a simple curly-fro... just about enough length to thrill me to bits and stop the constant 'why did you cut your hair?' comments...
this is a stylistically driven do, not a "my hair was breaking so i got it shaven off" 'dont'
definitely my ultimate target, the preceding months will be positively blissful once this goal is achieved.

i plan to update this blog everyday or two, so i'm going to post transitional growth pics, my steps to success, newly discovered products and images of the cool curlyz among us!

the big chop

well this is me.... nessa, and like many other black and bi-racial girls, i forfieted many years of blissfully curly comfort, by purchasing and indeed burning out, atleast 3 pairs of hair straighteners.... so i decided to go for the big chop! and take a year or so to document my restoration process.
as a bi-racial woman (african/ european) with naturally ringletted curls, my hair had always been pretty hard to manage, partially due to a lack of knowledge but mostly due to my ridululous insistance on doing my own hair as a child (arghh)...
growing up in wales literally meant that i had two pre-destined hair-care routes.... pomade/relaxer or hair gel/hair mousse.... neither particularly suitable for a bi-racial curly haired kid i hear you say... nevertheless, i took both routes and routinely forced my hair back into a tangled up bun...
then i moved to london! and after the forceful insistance of a cousin, i visited a salon with my mother and had my hair pressed into submission... think oil, plus heat, loud sizzling and a burnt scalp....
but wow, it looked amazing.
straight hair became my thing, my hair was soft, long, moved in the wind lol and required little more than a wide toothed comb and coconut oil.
however...the problem with humans i feel.... is that we nit-pick beyond belief.
realising that my roots and ends routinely curled up (generally a day or two after straightening) i decided that pressing it every single morning (highest heat setting) would aleviate this problem... and yes, it worked... a little too well.
4years (and hundreds of african history books, angela davis, malcolm x autobiographies, style formation and intellectual advancement) later.....i stumbled across an unfortunate reality.
pressumably a few of you have experienced the following.....
you decide that curls are once again beautiful, wash your hair with the frenzied excitment of a reformed bank robber, only to realise that those mid brown, blonde streaked ringlets you once hated, but now long to revive..... equate to little more than waves with straight ends.
hmm
not exactly impressive.
i learnt from my mistake... and after a few months of denial, and persistant straightening, i cut it all off....
my mission as forementioned, is to...
-grow it back 1step at a time
-look after it using natural products only
-understand my hair and what it needs
-AND GROW A FLY CURLY FRO

join me on my journey, share your own stories and we can do this together!!!
whether bi-racial or afro-caribbean .... i'd love it if you could all send me pictures of your monthly natural hair growth or documented evidence of your big chop! so i can post them up and we can create a special lil' community!....
think of it as a weight-gain plan haha