I decided to come up with this new campaign called "You Can Kiss My Curls!"
this will be partnered with Fitness Goddess campaign "FU@K My Hair: I'm Gonna Workout" which is at www.NubianFitnessGoddess.blogspot.com.
This campaign is to help women of color to accept their natural hair. We want women to see how easy it is to maintain their hair, show different ways to style it, talk about your diet for healthy hair, how to take care of it while exercising, recommend products and much more! We will also be doing many Do It Yourself videos to help you at home. So please join in on the movement and subscribe to our blogs and tell them I said, "You Can Kiss My Curls!"
Which now leads me to my new post:
Yesterday I was sitting in the salon when the topic about the Gold Medalist Gymnastics Winner came up about her hair. Now being Pro Natural of course I was defending her, but then the subject turned a little as I started talking to a client who is an actual gymnast. Her name is Chelsea Bailey who is currently in college. She told me, she has been a gymnast ever since she was 5. So I asked her, how did she feel about the situation? She replied saying that when she would go to competitions and there wouldn't be anybody able to do hair and make up for the African Americans. You would have to do it yourself. So then I asked her about wearing ponytails, since that's all I see them wear. She said, you can't wear your hair in your face, your hair must be pulled back into a ponytail at all times. And if your hair is not long enough you must grow your hair out or put on a "Phony Pony". But I asked, most of us can't put it back into a neat ponytail we have to many curls. She told me that she had to relax her hair at very young age so that she may be able to put hers into a ponytail. She went on saying that she was told she wasn't even allowed to wear braids.
So this is what's disturbing to me is when girls like Chelsa become gymnast at a very young age they are being told that an "acceptable" hairstyle is to be straight and pulled back into a ponytail. Now I do agree given all the twists and turns they do, for safety issues hair should be off the face. But for the little black girls, who can't just pull it back. Why can't they wear braids? I mean they are off the face and when they sweat the hair stays. So aren't braids acceptable?
Chelsea did not have an answer for that so I did a little researche to find the answer. I was kind of amazed at what I read. I googled the guidelines on how a gymnast should wear her hair. On AeroGymnastics.com it said that hair should be tied up neatly in a ponytail, two french braids or a bun is acceptable. I even found a website www.gymnaticshair.blogspot.com that showed many different ways to braid. But I didn't see hardly any styles for us. Recently Polish gymnast Marta Pihan-Kulesza wore cornrows and glitter in her hair for the Olympics. But why was Chelsea told that she was not able to wear braids? When I googled braids for African American Gymnast hardly anythings pops up either.
So here are some theories, braids are acceptable as long as the hair is straight? Or they can wear braids and we have to wear ponytails? I mean why is that we have a sport that has the ability to conditioned a childs mind telling us that our hair isn't acceptable? We should be more involved in things like this. Chelsea is one of the many who were told she couldn't wear braids. And I am happy that she decided to go natural.
This is why I decided to have "You Can Kiss My Curls" we need to self-educate and teach our kids to understand the beauty in being black. We don't want our kids being taught that our hair is unacceptable. I mean let's think back, in the 60's 70's and 80's when natural hair was the thing to do. We had a revolution going on where even other races wanted the "Afro". And now in 2012 people are afraid to wear natural styles to work. So what happend between then and now? Where did we drop the ball? This is only the beginning so please constantly check back for more info from "You Can Kiss My Curls". And don't forget to subscribe!
this will be partnered with Fitness Goddess campaign "FU@K My Hair: I'm Gonna Workout" which is at www.NubianFitnessGoddess.blogspot.com.
This campaign is to help women of color to accept their natural hair. We want women to see how easy it is to maintain their hair, show different ways to style it, talk about your diet for healthy hair, how to take care of it while exercising, recommend products and much more! We will also be doing many Do It Yourself videos to help you at home. So please join in on the movement and subscribe to our blogs and tell them I said, "You Can Kiss My Curls!"
Which now leads me to my new post:
Yesterday I was sitting in the salon when the topic about the Gold Medalist Gymnastics Winner came up about her hair. Now being Pro Natural of course I was defending her, but then the subject turned a little as I started talking to a client who is an actual gymnast. Her name is Chelsea Bailey who is currently in college. She told me, she has been a gymnast ever since she was 5. So I asked her, how did she feel about the situation? She replied saying that when she would go to competitions and there wouldn't be anybody able to do hair and make up for the African Americans. You would have to do it yourself. So then I asked her about wearing ponytails, since that's all I see them wear. She said, you can't wear your hair in your face, your hair must be pulled back into a ponytail at all times. And if your hair is not long enough you must grow your hair out or put on a "Phony Pony". But I asked, most of us can't put it back into a neat ponytail we have to many curls. She told me that she had to relax her hair at very young age so that she may be able to put hers into a ponytail. She went on saying that she was told she wasn't even allowed to wear braids.
So this is what's disturbing to me is when girls like Chelsa become gymnast at a very young age they are being told that an "acceptable" hairstyle is to be straight and pulled back into a ponytail. Now I do agree given all the twists and turns they do, for safety issues hair should be off the face. But for the little black girls, who can't just pull it back. Why can't they wear braids? I mean they are off the face and when they sweat the hair stays. So aren't braids acceptable?
Chelsea did not have an answer for that so I did a little researche to find the answer. I was kind of amazed at what I read. I googled the guidelines on how a gymnast should wear her hair. On AeroGymnastics.com it said that hair should be tied up neatly in a ponytail, two french braids or a bun is acceptable. I even found a website www.gymnaticshair.blogspot.com that showed many different ways to braid. But I didn't see hardly any styles for us. Recently Polish gymnast Marta Pihan-Kulesza wore cornrows and glitter in her hair for the Olympics. But why was Chelsea told that she was not able to wear braids? When I googled braids for African American Gymnast hardly anythings pops up either.
So here are some theories, braids are acceptable as long as the hair is straight? Or they can wear braids and we have to wear ponytails? I mean why is that we have a sport that has the ability to conditioned a childs mind telling us that our hair isn't acceptable? We should be more involved in things like this. Chelsea is one of the many who were told she couldn't wear braids. And I am happy that she decided to go natural.
This is why I decided to have "You Can Kiss My Curls" we need to self-educate and teach our kids to understand the beauty in being black. We don't want our kids being taught that our hair is unacceptable. I mean let's think back, in the 60's 70's and 80's when natural hair was the thing to do. We had a revolution going on where even other races wanted the "Afro". And now in 2012 people are afraid to wear natural styles to work. So what happend between then and now? Where did we drop the ball? This is only the beginning so please constantly check back for more info from "You Can Kiss My Curls". And don't forget to subscribe!
