Straight natural hair guilt

My 4a/4b natural hair is a lot of work. It requires constant moisture otherwise it quickly turns into a tangled mess. It doesn't respond well to shampoo and it also never wants to turn out like the YouTube tutorials say it will. For the most part, I keep it in buns and braids but eventually, even those needs to be taken out *tears*. What do I do after taking off my braids ? I straighten it. I feel very bad doing so, I can hear my sister talk about heat damage (easy to judge when you have 3C curls, please shut up). But I still go through with the frying of my hair. I am lucky my hair is so coarse that straightening doesn't affect my hair too much (so far).

Somewhere in the natural community, a cardinal rule was written that a natural shall not straighten his/ her hair or he/she will will be subject to shame and irreparable heat damage.

And yes, I agree most of the reasons why I prefer my hair straight is because it's just easier. Easier to blend in with my coworkers. Easier to do my hair in the morning, Easier to fit society's beauty standard with long stretched hair. I could go on. But sometimes, truly, it isn't a political statement. I just want to go to bed without worrying about twisting my hair for 30 minutes. I don't want to get pneumonia when working around with wet hair in the Canadian winter. These may still be superficial reasons (except pneumonia, that one is real) but I don't think that having straight hair diminishes my #BlackGirlMagic. Sometimes, a girl just wants options.

Maintaining Braids

Ever since I've become natural, I've mostly kept my hair in braided hairstyles. They are easier to manage, look cute and require little mainipulation. If taken care of, they can last a while and if they start looking frizzy, I pretend I'm Zoey Kravitz and continue to rock them. Here are my tips for maintaing your natural hair while it is in braids:


1. Moisturize - Every monring and night, I spritz my hair with my magic concunction : water + drops of very light oil (apricot, almond, avocado) + few drops of pepermint oil + few drops of tea tree oil. This keeps my hair moisturized while it's mixed with dry plastic synthetic hair. The peppermint oil soothes my scalp and prevents itchiness and leaves a refreshing smell

Note to my fellow minorities following the American Election

On November 9th, we woke up to the devastating news that a reality TV star, known for making racists, sexist and bigoted remarks was going to be the president of the United States. Hillary Clinton had lost the presidency, despite the overwhelming reassurance of the media. On that Wednesday morning, you woke up confused, shattered, shocked, perplexed. The Clinton administration would not erase all the wrongdoing that had been done to us over countless years, you were not naïve to think so. The segregation, the denial of opportunities, the mass shootings by the police, the illegal taking of our lands,  fucking Iggy Azalea, none of that would disappear, you were not foolish to think that. But at least, you did not think we would go backwards. That a person openly supported by the KKK would be voted into office. That a person who is against women reproductive rights would be elected president of the United States. But alas, it happened.

Understandably after such a shock, anger follows, Sadness, despair. I myself cried for hours that Wednesday morning but I  doubled up on the concealer and went to work. I am the only minority in my office. Any day of work missed is much more visible than my coworker's. We do not have the choice but to continue to better ourselves. To continue to prove that we have always been worthy, On Tuesday, we cast our vote. Overwhelmingly in favour of Hillary Clinton and it feels as if didn't matter. But we push through. People fought for our right to vote and have a say in elections. Maybe we do not sway the outcomes of elections as our White counterparts but we will in the future. And for that reason we must continue to vote, we must continue to cast our ballots. We must show our children that their voices matter, because they are our future. We need to de-normalise this new wave of passive racism and discrimination. We need to call out what is not right. Because even tough we are minorities now, they cannot avoid our presence. We are visible, and we are here to stay.