Don't compare yourself to others

I analyzed my position in my family, my school and just my community. Why do I always see what people think of me and not what I know of me? This has nothing to do with the outer beauty this is all about inter beauty. It's crazy how your misperception of yourself can hinder you from just being you. If you don't know what that means well you're not there. It's like a break through. Yes judgement is alive. Society gets trapped in "stuff and things" like my mama would say, not not in wise and passion. Not in hope and determination. Not in service and kindness but in cars, houses, clothes, shoes.  Life isn't about the job you have but the service you do for no fee.  It's about the love you share.  Don't compare your life with others around you. Focus on what you bring to the table. What are your strengths? Life is simple. I believe we all have a purpose from GOD and I believe we all want to be happy and to be loved. That's it.  All this need to keep up with the latest everything is simply complicated. Stay true to you. You are the only that walks in your shoes each day. You have to be happy with you each day. I think "rich" people are probably not as happy as we thing. Even the pretty girl with the long hair that I may be  jealous off or the beautiful lady with flawless skin. Or the curvy slim lady with all the right body parts is still just as judgmental as I am.  Grass isn't always green folks
PEACE

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: 7 Fabulous Natural Oils For Natural Hair

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: 7 Fabulous Natural Oils For Natural Hair: "By Dr. Phoenyx Austin You don’t always have to buy fancy, big name hair products for your hair. Sometimes the best products are actually v..."

Natural Hair Style

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9eA0hXv3IU

Where is the Natural Hair Journey Taking Me

So tonight I was thinking. I am looking at all of these pictures of myself and other youtubes and thinking it's going to be a year of natural hair in October and what do I have to show for it? That is a terrible attitude and outlook and I know this but seriously. My hair isn't at the length I would like it to be to do more wash and gos. Or is it that I am not happy with the texture?  I'm thinking of all the growth and success I see from other people through videos. But where is mine? I can map out a plan to graduate college on time but not for healthy  hair growth. I guess I thought by now I would be styling it differently and maybe it's a challenge for to find more hairstyles. Who knows.

Natural Hair is a Personal Decision

Today my sister, who hasn't had a relaxer for probably 5 months or more, not sure,said she  is going to get a relaxer soon. I'm not sure why she hasn't relaxed sooner. She said she wanted to have 2 relaxers a year. Now today my mom, who has a TWA, said my sister needed a relaxer or needed to do something to her hair because it was starting to look rough.

This was my first surprise to hear my mother say this. But I think that is more because my sister doesn't take great care of herself. So back to the story. She told me she was getting the relaxer today. I convinced her to let me do her hair in a curly style before she does this. She said she understands how harmful relaxers are but doesn't care because her edges look bad. So I said I would even straighten.

Now I was watching some youtube videos and then I realized I can't make her want to be natural. It's a personal decision. She flat out said she doesn't like her curls or the way I wear my hair. I saw my strength today because her statement didn't even make me mad. It actually made me say hmmm. Well whatever. See my hair isn't going to be loved by everyone. Just like what I wear each day won't be loved by everyone or even what I say won't be loved by everyone. But the one who loves it is me. It was my choice to embrace my natural hair and I can't see myself going back. The thought of the relaxer is making me shaky.

So I guess tomorrow I will tell her I can't make this decision for her , she has to and if she does want to get a relaxer, well that's fine. But if she wants me to straighten her hair I will. One thing I know is that natural hair is not a thing your friends should decide for you it's for you to decide. Good luck

My black is beautiful. The beauty lies within  wavy, curly even kinky texture hair.  It comes with multiple skin tones. Our beauty showcase some any different beautiful shapes. Black is beautiful.  Going to an historically black college university showcases the beauty of the African American race. The perception of beauty for blacks has been skewed by the American view.  Images and thoughts can mess up what is beautiful to black people. But beauty lives within the person’s personality and how they carry themselves.  Black people have over come so much as a people, we are beautiful because of our struggles. Black people are beautiful, therefore black is beautiful.

Beauty is a word commonly described as “in the eye of the beholder.”  After speaking to several people, they believed in the cliche phase. My aunt  believes beauty is a “beautiful person on the inside and out.” She also says “the ugliest on the earth  can be the most beautiful.” Even my grandmother, explains beauty comes from within,  “It is the love for people that makes you beautiful. “ A more mature generation sees  the true meaning of beauty. These beliefs were passed don towards my generation.

It was actually shocking not to hear a shallow perception of beauty from my peers.Beauty to young women all define beauty as something within. One believe it is about personality. Similarly, another thinks beauty is about inner beauty. Another girl  states, “beauty is undefinable.” All of these opinions are valid to the conversation of beauty in the black community. Acknowledging what beauty is in the black community gives a better understand of why black is beautiful.

Even beauty from a male’s view is similar to females’ views.  Beauty to a male is strictly for women. Most males I surveyed believed beauty is solely for women. My boyfriend  says, “beauty is a feminine word, you can call me handsome,” Another guys agrees by saying, “It’s not proper to call a boy beautiful.”  This is, however, a whole separate topic. My guy friend  defines beauty as a mental thing. He says, “beauty doesn’t have to be physical, it’s deep within.” One guy, “outer appearance is the first thing I see as beautiful but personality attitude and how she carries herself.” Male’s views of beauty gives more insight on beauty. 

Beauty within the black community is defined at a young age. In Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair,  it describes how his young daughters believe their hair was not beautiful because it wasn’t straight. Throughout the movie, Chris explains how so many black women wear weave and don’t view their natural  hair texture as beautiful. This movie, along with a few other factors made me decide to stop relaxing my hair.  This was my move towards embracing my beauty, my natural black beauty.

As a child beauty was long, silky hair, fair skin and slim women. But thankfully young women like Victoria,who is 15 doesn’t have the same views I once shared. She believes beauty is, “discovering what makes you, you and loving yourself.”  Victoria said it’s the personality that is most important.  When she was younger she thought beauty was about being pretty or cute. But  just two years  ago this whole image changed.  

The phrase black is beautiful is a saying that has been heard since the 1960s.  It’s even the title of a popular BET television show.  But why is black beautiful?  According to Victoria, black is beautiful because, “we stand out, so many different skin tones and we love who we are as a people.”  Some couldn’t really answer this question.  Yet my grandmother still says, “black is beautiful, white is beautiful, yellow, purple doesn’t matter what color they are, it’s beautiful.” 

Black people do have a confidence about them and a strong other races don’t. Perhaps this is past down because of our struggles in slavery to discrimination and so on. Beauty in the black community reaches deep. It reflects our heritage , our history and our future. Black is beautiful because we are unique people. Our shapes are different, our personalities are different, this is what sets the race apart from most.

An article from CNN “Weaves, Braids May Speed Hair Loss in Black Women” by Keren Pallartio for Health.com

(Health.com) -- Weaves and braids may contribute to a type of permanent hair loss that appears to be common among black women, a new study has found.

More than one-quarter of the 326 black women who participated in the study had hair loss on the top of their scalp, and of those women, 59 percent had signs of central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia, or CCCA, a poorly understood form of baldness that begins at the crown of the head and leads to scarring.

For many years, CCCA was known as "hot comb alopecia" because it was attributed to the use of hot combs to straighten curly hair. That appears to be a misnomer. Neither hot comb treatments nor chemical relaxers, which were used by more than 90 percent of the study participants, were linked with CCCA in the study, but braids, weaves, and other so-called traction hairstyles that tug at the scalp were.

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Black women often maintain these styles for long periods of time, and the stress they exert on the scalp can lead to the development of pus-filled bumps, says the lead researcher, Angela Kyei, M.D., a dermatologist and chief resident at the Cleveland Clinic's Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Institute. "Over time, these bumps can develop bacteria" that can lead to scarring, she explains.

Making matters worse, women who are already losing their hair are more likely to favor these hairstyles because they help disguise thinning hair, the study notes.

Black women should consider refraining from using these hairstyles on young children, and they need to think about the consequences for themselves, Kyei says. "If you start to notice this type of hair loss, get evaluated early," she urges.

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The average age of the women with CCCA was 58. The condition often presents itself when women are in their 40s, but it's sometimes seen in women as young as their 20s and 30s.

It's not clear from the study that these hairstyles are solely responsible for CCCA, however. Women with the condition tended to have balding maternal grandfathers, and they were also more likely to have diabetes. While only 8 percent of the women overall had type 2 diabetes, 18 percent of those with CCCA did?a "surprising finding," Kyei says.

Dermatologist Andrew F. Alexis, M.D., the director of the Skin of Color Center at St. Luke's--Roosevelt Hospital, in New York City, says that more research is needed to confirm a link between CCCA and diabetes. "However, it does suggest that it may be useful for dermatologists to ask their CCCA patients about diabetes and refer them to their primary care physicians for annual screening," he says.

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In the study, which was published Monday on the website of the Archives of Dermatology, researchers asked women from two African-American churches and a health fair in Cleveland about their medical history, family history of hair loss, and hair grooming practices. Dermatologists trained in hair loss examined the women's scalps and graded them on the degree of hair loss and scarring they exhibited.

Raechele Cochran Gathers, M.D., a senior staff physician at the Henry Ford Hospital's Multicultural Dermatology Center, in Detroit, says that the findings, though preliminary, provide good information about a little-understood condition. "I think that the study's excellent because it not only gives environmental factor data, which a few other studies have reported on, but also it's unique in that it's looking at these medical risk factors," she says.

In light of the findings, Gathers adds, it's incumbent upon doctors and hairdressers to make women aware of CCCA and the potential link with traction hairstyles.