Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Ask Professah Monee: Transition Breakage

Recently, I had a fellow schoolmate/twitter-friend ask me a question about natural hair. She is in the process of transitioning to natural. The conversation went as follows....





  • RaveeRae: "What I wanted to ask you about was hair breakage; my hair is starting to break at the place where my relaxed & natural hair meets, what do you suggest?" (photo courtesty of http://braids4grow.blogspot.com)

  • Professah Monee: " That's natural when you're transitioning. Put your hair in styles where you do it once a week. Like flat twist,braids,french roll. Spray hair before you comb it."

I would have liked to tell her more, but these were text messages and you know how that goes. She later texted me that she was going to get her hair braided. I hope all goes well with her journey. If you all have any question for me, then click the "Email Me" link to the right. Chao bellas!



Monday, September 28, 2009

Just let me ask this lil' question...

Why is it called "African Pride" if it's a relaxer? Im thinking you don't have too much pride if you're relaxing your hair in the first place, am I right of am I wrong? That's an oxymoron for real!

Might I add, why did they put herbs in the perm? Talkin' about it nourishes the hair and what not. The sodium-hydroxide/calcium-hydroxide will burn all those properties out of the herbs before the box is even opened.And if it's not "dead" by then, it will most definitely be when they add that pink activator liquid and mix it up.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Po' Man's Regimen#2: Moisturizing Leave-in Conditioner

A lot of women like the Carol's daughter,Abba,and Qhemet biologics leave-in's ,but for sistahs on a budget,I have an alternative.

Recipe
*1 spray bottle, at least 20 oz. capacity
*1 part your favorite conditioner
*5 parts water(preferably distilled, but faucet does just fine;depending on where you live,lol)
*Shake up, and Voila!


Important Note(s):Make sure that the conditioner isn't a reconstructor,protein,or deep conditioner. This spray is designed for daily moisture,detangling,etc. You CANNOT use anything with protein in that nature, it will make the hair hard and cause the strands to snap.

My Way:

This is my homemade leave-in conditioner. I use 1 part of my favorite conditioner,below,and 5 parts water. I love the way this smells and so does everyone who comes into close proximity of me.

I don't add any type of oil to the mixture. If I want oil in my hair, I add it to my hair before or after spraying. The reason being, I like for my mixture to be uniform,not needing to be shaken before each use. However,I will add vegetable glycerin or honey every now and then.


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Monthly Off-the-subject:Black roles in Hollywood

Are black roles in Hollywood degrading,disrespectful,demeaning,and or stereotypical? When was the last time we had a movie that made us feel inspired or proud? I'm tired of watching black movies with the storylines such as, single mother with trifflin' baby-daddies, men in jail with families on the outside being threatened by former,fellow gangbangers, a prostitute that gets saved and off the corner, and a young girl finally making it out of the hood only to have her "man" get killed as they're packing up to leave.

Do me a favor,REALLLY look at the picture to the right. Study it. Do you see what I see? This picture embodied everything I just said above and more. Do you see that negro Red Grant? And who in the hell( yes I said Hell) named the movie The WATERMELON Heist? The Rev. Al Sharpton should have marched when this movie came out.


















I know y'all remember these great movies

Can we get a movie about a college professor of micro-cellular biology that goes back to the hood and helps inner-city kids make it out, no one gets shot or pregnant and messes up all their hardwork? What about a positive documentary on all the black doctors,scientist,engineers,pilots,and lawyers? Maybe a cinematic production on the talented black poets in America;the next Maya Angelou or Langston Hughes? In other words, can we get a movie with depth and meaning?

There may even be room for a Black horror movie? But who am I kidding? Black people are too cautious and attentive for there to be a black horror movie. We don't go exploring things! There will never be a movie about black people getting trapped in the Amazon ,after going on a hike, and being gobbled up by pitbulls with heads of anacondas and manes of lions.

Example: You're in a haunted house , you hear a ear-piercing scream and a loud bang.

  • White woman reaction: Oh my! I'm going to go see what that was! My cat Scruffy is up there! Someone may need help!
  • White woman's outcome: brutally mutilated with her cat licking the blood,leaking ligature marks of her neck.
  • Black woman reaction: Oh sh*t! Let me get my purse and go! Forget that cat! I am not worried about whoever that might be upstairs! I gotta save myself, somebody has to live to tell the story.
  • Black woman's outcome: on channel 14 news relaying all the details of her experience in the haunted house and if it wasn't for God, she never would've made it.<<<<>

Don't look too deep into this: leave the sensitivity and political correctness somewhere else.











Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Po' Man's Regimen #1: Curl Definition Products

Hey afrodites! This is the recession and even if it wasn't, it never hurts to save more money. So over the course of the next few weeks, I will be making post titled " Po' Man's Regimen#_. These will include product substitutions,recipes,and other helpful tidbits. Let see what we have this post!

Instead Of ...... at $29.99/16 ounce






















Try This.... at $4.69/32 ounce ( this is at Sally's Beauty;also availiable at local beauty supply stores)
Word is that this Eco styler gel is not crunchy,dries faster than KCC, and is OBVIOUSLY cheaper than KCC.(I'm not trying to knock KCC's hustle, but I got'sta hock my sistahs up!)
Don't believe me? Too good to be true? Go to http://www.youtube.com/ and type in "Eco Styler Olive Oil Gel" and see what those natural sistahs are saying.











Friday, September 11, 2009

My Analysis of The Season Premiere of the Tyra Banks Show



Really! What was Tyra thinking? I loved last season, but so far I'm strongly disliking this season. All the natural ladies that saw the past episode I saw ,know what I'm talking about.Especially my natural hair girls that participated in the discussion on Twitter, as we were watching the episode. And I'm about to speak on it. Somebody has Tyra confused as to what the difference between "real" and "natural" hair is.



First of all,(aaaw son! You know she means business whenever she is saying "___ of all. It's about to go down!) I'm not going to talk about the enormity of Tyra's forehead when she first walked out on the stage. But I will ask, what was up with all the blow-drying,the curling irons,and the way Oscar was combing her hair. I'm very critical when it comes to the condition of hair,so y'all may not agree; I believe she needs to fire him.






Second of all, speaking on the girl in the audience that had natural hair. She straightens her hair so much,that her curl pattern is gone. It just has the "poofy" nature of natural hair.In other words, she mind as well perm it, because in the next year she will start having serious breakage.The only person who was truly natural, was the woman on staff that ran across the stage to help Tyra when she was about to knock over the cardboard cut-out of herself.

Third of all, what irritated me the most about this episode,was the fact that she is mis-educating so many people. The evidence being the home videos sent in by her television audience.



Sandra Rose said,"I don’t recall Tyra saying she was going natural. All she said was she would reveal her real hair, hence the title 'Real Hair Day.'" However, throughout the episode Tyra did erroneously use the terms"real" hair and "natural" hair interchangeably.

Tyra can't plead ignorance because knows better. I know she does ,because she is familiar with so many natural hair celebrities and she did an entire episode on "good/bad" hair. So don't teeeeelll me she didn't know. If she knew,then why did she do this episode that way? The bigger question being, "Is Tyra selling out on the truth?"

I don't know what was going through Tyra's mind.What I DO know is that I will not be tuning in if her show continues down the path of mediocrity.









In case you were wondering,



  • Real Hair: hair that grows from the follicle of any person. It can be natural or chemically-processed. It is not a weave, track,or anything that has been attached.
  • Example: This is Beyonce's real hair.She is not wearing a weave,track,or wig. It is not natural because it is chemically-processed with a relaxer.( This may not be her actual hair, but you get the point.)


Natural Hair: hair that grows from the follicle of any person, but is NEVER chemically-processed in any way. Natural hair can belong to anyone cross the racial spectrum. Although the term is used predominantly among women of African-descent across the six continents(not seven because Antartica doesn't count,LOL).

Example: This is Solange's real hair. It has not been chemically-processed in anyway.



Note: Please be informed, there is no haterism ivolved;this is just opinion and an effort to clarify this mess that Tyra has made.