beauty

Poetry | Intergalactic Void of Cliché,

This is something I wrote last year and I just stumbled upon it while searching through some folders on my computer. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s just my sarcastic thoughts running wild.

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Intergalactic void of cliché,
now that’s an oxymoron.
so futuristic, yet so past tense like homecoming jitters.

submissions for america’s next top model.
eligible? no.
try your luck at america’s next kim kardashian.
No intellectual originality necessary,
only the superficial need apply.

test your skills at being perfectly flawless,
ditch your personality at the door.

mindless drones are the way of the future,
elevate your body, abandon your thoughts.
hints of originality are punishable by law.
you’ll be exiled light years away,
so keep an eye out for those ghastly black holes. 

Afros x Curls | My Second Time-Around Going “Natural”

In 2009 I made the decision to go natural, but due to my impatient personality and moments of “identity crisis,” I decided to rekindle my addiction to the creamy crack — the relaxer (perm.)

I regularly relaxed my hair up until July 2012, but one day before taking a trip to NYC, I decided it was time to cut my hair off. I just got tired of all the work it took to keep it straight, and I briefly “dated” this guy who always made me feel bad because I didn’t go and get my hair “done.” Over and over again, he always reminded me that I’d look good if I got a weave or my hair cut into a fancy style (which would of course wash out the moment I worked out.) Well, he’d look better if he lost 75lbs…but I didn’t make him feel bad about it, but he just wouldn’t shut up about my hair. SMH.

Big Chop to Now

So, fueled by my irritation of his constant rants on what makes a Black woman beautiful (weaves and long hair, in his opinion,) I made the decision to no longer feel like I had to wear my hair that way.

I cut it. I had my mom just chop it all off. I told her it was the last time I’d ever have to force those scissors into her hands and beg her (even though she was willing) to help me make the transformation.

I made my first big chop in 2009, so July 2012 was the last time I’d have to say “I’m Going Natural.” Since then, I’ve been “natural.” I put it into quotation marks because I’m not 100% natural, considering the purple/red tint to my hair. But as far as the texture of my hair; as natural as it gets.

Even now and then I’ll rock a fro on my Black Power days. I get into an Foxy Brown (Pam Grier) mood and just love having a 70s vibe. I even had a guy tell me, “You’ve got a 1970s beauty.” Wow, such a cool compliment! He then preceded to tell me that I reminded him of a Black Hippie…yet another compliment I gladly welcomed. I love having different looks that I play around with. And the beauty of it is that I’m just doing me. I’m not even sitting their knocking girls who wear weaves, wigs, or their hair straight. Werk it and be fabulous! It’s just not for me…and you know, that’s okay.

I’m always on the hunt for new styles as my hair grows. Rock the fro, don’t rock the fro. It changes. Other days you’ll find me playing with my curls. Ihave a lot of shrinkage, so my strands are tightly coiled together, resulting in moments of pulling curls and smiling with excitement as they spring back into their place. I was never able to do that with my straight hair! Twirling my strands where fun, but pulling them and feeling the bounce is even better.

As my hair continues to grow, I play around with new products and of course, constantly feeding my natural hair inspiration database. Product wise, I keep my routine simple with Leave-in Conditioner (Motions) and a Gel (using IC Fantasia right now, but want to switch to Eco Styler). 

In need of some natural hair inspiration? Check out my favorite site to visit inspiration: http://ohh-yo-fro.tumblr.com/

Solange Debuts Stylish New Visuals For ‘Losing You’ [Official Video]

Everyone has that one person they look up to for style inspiration, and my style guru is Solange. I love her big natural hair! I can’t wait for my natural hair to grow out into a big wild mane…ah, it’s going to be fabulous! Oh, and can we talk about her fashion? When it comes to fashion and expression, I’d give the award to Solange any day over her sister Beyonce. Sorry, I just don’t like Bey’s style.

Anywho, this post isn’t about a style off between the two sisters. So what is the purpose of this post? Um, Solange just totally debuted awesome new stylish videos for her single “Losing You.”

The music video was filmed in South Africa and it features Solange hanging out with some locals dressed in fantastic threads. The style is so quirky yet classy, and Solange shows us we we first fell in love with her in the first place; her voice is beautiful!

Watch the new video below. I’m warning you ladies, you might get fashion envy from watching it. I seriously want that orange suit she is rocking.

Monae Music Activate!

Music is such a beautiful thing. Expression in general is quite wonderful; true expression not that weird “want to belong” kind of expression. Not the kind of expression that gets you in with the cool kids. I hate the cool kids! Why do they think they’re so cool? How dare they. Stupid cool kids with their smug sense of superiority and their sunglasses, and lumberjack hats! Why do they wear Lumberjack hats? Am I the only one that knows cool kids that wear lumberjack hats? Could those guys just have been Lumberjacks? I’m not sure now.

Point being, I love true expression. I love when someone finds out what they want to do and expresses that, shares it with the world, and adds their own uniqueness to this teeny tiny massive planet of ours. I say all that just to say I’m a huge Janelle Monae fan! I love her. I love her music, what she sings about how she expresses herself, that thing she does with her foot….I love the thing she does with her foot! How does she do that thing? I want to do that thing. I can’t…I’ve tried. I hurt my pinky toe, which is a big deal to me. If it’s not her multi ranged voice, splendid accompanied instrumentation, or the foot thing I so love, it’s also her style! I enjoy a woman who knows how to sport a good tie. Don’t ask me why, that’s just the way it is. For too long the tie has only been regulated to a certain portion of the population. Then avril lavigne came along and made it popular for ties to be worn in the most unfortunate way ever! (I’m not a hater I just crush a lot…mostly the dreams of children.) Janelle knows ties. She knows ties well. I need tie advice from her. I need tie guidance! I’ve mentioned time and time again that ties are cool, well she’s cool and she wears ties, so thus far my statement is just constantly being reinforced and I’m kind of a genius. I haven’t been wrong yet! Just wait until I write about Bill Nye. You’re brains going to explode neon plasma and the plasma will most likely be tie shaped!

I also like her hair. I have no idea how she got her hair to do that. Is that some kind of woman magic? Am I being sexist? Is it sexist to imply that women have magical powers?……Can women fly? If I could be granted a wish it would be to fly and have my hair changed to hers at a whim. I’d be MonaeHair Man!….Or something. I don’t know exactly what I would do with that power. I’d probably be killed immediately. Again I don’t really think through much things. I like my hair as is but it’s always fun to have options. If you saw someone walking down the street with that hair I’m sure you’d freeze in awe. I base this off nothing. I base this on mostly what I would do. I’d want to touch it. I should probably never meet Janelle Monae. It would suck to get beat up for attempted hair caressing….what am I talking about? I don’t know. I guess I’m trying to emphasize my fandom. I personally discovered her music on the ancient dinosaur known as myspace. I’ve been pretty hooked since. I purchased all her music because, well I wanted to participate, and I felt that I would gain some of her powers somehow…It didn’t work. I sing off key less badly now though and lumberjacks give me the thumbs up, which makes me feel good inside.

So what else can I say? Does this make any sense? How many questions can one man ask? If you write too many questions are they just as annoying as when you do it in person? Will this get me slapped? Are you answering my questions? Is this all pointless? NO! It’s about the ArchAndroid Lady Monae. You should buy her music and listen to it. You should get a tie, a nice white shirt, get a funky hairstyle and start tiptoeing on some tightropes or something. Not actual tightropes! I don’t want you to die. Tiptoe on no ropes. Make sure your shoes are cool, and if you can find a bunch of people who sort of dress the same as you and go in the local Walmart. Just start dancing. Confuse them. No one will get hurt. At worst you’ll get strange stares, at most you will unite the entire world in dance! So do it! For the love of  Monae do it!   FIN…