Celebrating Juneteenth!

Miss Jessie’s is the Title Sponsor of the 2012 Best Southwest Juneteenth, Nappiology Fro Fest

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Time: 1-6pm

Desoto Civic Center

Bluebonnett Rooms

211 E Pleasant Run Rd

Desoto, Texas

VENDORS, WORKSHOPS, NATURAL HAIR showcase and sooo much more!

VENDORS – catering to natural hair

Conversation with Miko and Titi Branch, Founders of Miss Jessie’s Original followed by a Q&A

WORKSHOPS

Transitioning workshop by Denise Valentine – Niecy’s Natural Hair Salon

Loc Styling 101 with Ms. Ray – Deep in the Roots Salon

embrace, educate and celebrate natural beautiful hair and nappy roots!

Hello NAPPIOLOGY!!!!!

Whew!  What a time! What a Time! What a time!

I want to thank all of you for coming out to the Nappiology Expo held on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at the Hurst Conference Center in Hurst, TX!  I was so happy and proud to see so many beautiful men and women coming out to get their natural groove on!  I was even more excited to see so many of my good friends and supporters.  Boy, did we have a great time!   The Nappiology Expo featured expert stylist, Anthony Dickey of Hair Rules, free hands-on demonstrations, natural hair classes, natural hair products and a natural hair stylist showcase.  Attendees had more workshop sessions to choose from than ever before, including Hair Rules with Rene Syler, founder of Good Enough Mother and DJ Frances Jaye, founder of Neo Soul Café as hair models, a fitness workshop by Crystal Adell, founder of Black Women “Do” Workout, and the launching of Goin’ Natural by co-owners, Vicella Tinde and Monica Sowell and so much more.

The workshops and their presenters were FROtastic.  Special thanks to Malaika Cooper, owner of Dreadz and Headz, Ansylla Ramsey, owner of My Hairitage Holistic Hair Care, Vivianne Pearson, owner of Lock Couture Salon,  Keisha Ricks, owner of NappyBliss Salon, Rayshunda “Ms Ray” Holt, owner of Deep in the Roots Salon, Crystal Adell, founder of Black Women “Do” Workout, Anthony Dickey, founder of Hair Rules and Anita Hill Moses, owner of Braids and Dreads for taking the time to provide valuable natural hair information to those in attendance.   I have heard nothing but great things about the workshops.  I know that the passing of all of that great knowledge was appreciated by all.  I can’t wait for next year to see what the many natural hair experts have to share with us.

First count and it appears that this year’s expo was attended by over 2000 participants.  It was just a wonderful sight to see all of the diversity of hair that was on display.  It was so beautiful to see men, women and children bashing in the glow of their naturalness.    

I want to thank the hair stylists that were there and participated in the hair show.  The hair show was outstanding.  The models were fun and the hairstyles beautiful.  They gave a great visual presentation on what the many options were in how to wear our hair.

I want to thank the vendors that came from near and far to participate.  I look forward to seeing you all again in 2012.  I want to thank all of the volunteers that helped to move from place to place and answer questions and whatever was needed.  To the volunteers and members of Nappiology, I give you my thanks and my love. xoxo  Thank you ALL for a job well done.

 The success of last year’s Nappiology Expo can also be attributed to a dedicated Planning Committee of women for their tireless hours and creative ideas they have invested in this project.  Special thanks go to those who served on the Nappiology Planning Committee:  Stephanie Johnson, Diane Walston, Jeannette Abrahamson, Nikki Perez, Kemberly Jones, Toya Thompson and Tameka Lewis for their OUTSTANDING contributions with the 2011 Nappiology Expo – THANK YOU LADIES for your love, friendship and support throughout the years!  xoxo

Nappiology Expo 2011 is now gone and we are busy planning Nappiology Expo 2012.  I hope that all who attended the 2011 expo enjoyed this year’s expo.  To those of you who missed it, please stay tune because you don’t want to miss Nappiology Expo 2012.  Nappiology Expo 2012 will be bigger and better than past years.  We promise that we will continue to build on the mission of helping to educate, embrace and celebrate natural beautiful hair and nappy roots.

 much love and nappiness!!!! 

De Phillips Johnson

Affects of Stress

Stress is a daily conversational topic lately.  At one time our conversations encompassed rearing children, current events, education, and our hopes and dreams.  Now we want to share our pain in a competitive nature to demonstrate success in one’s busy stressful life. 

Let’s first look at how stress is defined by Dr. Fred Luskin and Dr. Kennth Pelletier authors of Stress Free for Good:  “…the amount of energy you need to adjust to the internal and external demands of your life in a given amount of time.”  In other words, the balance between the things you have to do and the resources you have available to achieve them.

Do you realize stress is a major underlying contributor to dis-ease?  There is an emergence of over-the-counter herbal combination remedies and new pharmaceutical drugs advertised to help reduce stress.  Of course these solutions sound like a great idea, especially for a society that wants a quick fix.  Herbs are great and drugs have dangerous side effects, but there are alternatives that are just as effective without adding any drugs or supplements to your daily regimen.

As we go through our daily activities, if we are unable to identify our stress and understand what triggers it we will continue to feed dis-ease and begin to experience physical stressors like one or more of the following:

Ovulation Failure

Impotency

Hypertension

Heart Disease

Adult Diabetes

Bone Decalcification

Migraine Headaches and Fatigue

Increase susceptibility to colds/flu

Depression/Anxiety

I’ve only listed a few that have been scientifically proven.  Next time we’ll take a more in-depth look at stress types to help you identify your type and its triggers then start the drug-free transitional journey to a stress reduced life.

Akosua Nelson

Legacy Wholistic Health Group, LLC

~The “Good Hair” Myth

by Amber Frank

Many women I know and meet in person and through social sites have expressed to me that my ability to wear my hair natural is due to having “good hair” and my hair cannot be described as nappy or napptural because of the texture/hair type…moving forward I am speaking solely from my own experiences in taking care of my hair and many others over the past 17 years since my last relaxer which have caused me to form my opinions stated below.

I want to explain why I have such a passion for natural hair care. It is not only to revolt against mainstream Americas twisted views of what’s beautiful or acceptable, but also to EDUCATE black women who doubt their ability to obtain “good hair” in the true sense of the phrase which to me means healthy, strong hair, full of elasticity and shine. I despise the term when used as a means to divide ourselves in an inferior vs. superior way. Black women (even in 2010, smh) still use the term “good hair” to divide ourselves and define our level of comfort with who we are and our level of esteem with it. Those with daughters that are feeding into the “good hair” myth are the ones I really feel for. Terms like “good hair” confuse children. They don’t get it. I get more little ones 5-12 young girls telling me they luv my hair then I get grown women and that is because God created us this way. It’s our innate desire to embrace our true selves especially as children. We brainwash ourselves and inadvertently our children into thinking less of themselves if they don’t have “good hair” in the false meaning, which to me is BS!(pardon my french).

I grew up chemical free getting mayonnaise treatments since I was a toddler by my Mother. I got my hair pressed out with a pressing comb every two weeks like clockwork. I loathed rainy days in fear my natural texture would show and convinced my Mom to let me relax my hair at age 15 and by the time I was 19 my hair was barely neck length. After transitioning back to my natural texture, which was the obvious thing to do, I have never looked back. I still switched between straightening w flat ironing more often than not and natural until 13 months ago when I decided to leave the heat alone completely. It was the desire that lead me to free myself not following a trend.

Being natural doesn’t mean your hair will grow healthy, effort must be applied. Some women can wear a relaxer and grow long healthy hair, I’ve seen it. However it is not the norm and 99% of the time they stretch in between relaxers (relaxing 3-4 times a year only) which if not careful will cause severe breakage where the new growth and relaxed hair meet (line of demarcation). They almost always follow an ayurvedic regimen, deep condition weekly sometimes twice a week, take vitamins, exercise, eat healthy, and allow their hair to air dry to minimize heat damage and stay wearing some type of protective style. Bottom line they take their hair care and maintenance into their own hands and do not rely on a person in a beauty shop with a license to work on chemically relaxed hair or straightened hair that is clueless on healthy hair practices. Women with healthy relaxed hair take the time to EDUCATE themselves and that in my opinion is key. Not all, but the majority of traditional salons do not practice healthy hair maintenance simply because the focus is on hair styling, not hair health. I’m not saying going to a salon is bad, I’m saying become proactive when it comes to your hair, natural or relaxed. Know what your hair texture or “type” is, know what products work best for moisturizing your hair, know what products are good protein builders for your hair, know when to tell the person in your head the weave tracks or braids are uncomfortably tight, and most importantly, know what’s inside those unlabeled bottles the beautician is squirting into your mane. Don’t be afraid to ask, if they won’t tell, you don’t need to be sitting in their chair.

There are so many reasons black women tell me for not wanting to wear their hair in its natural state. From relaxed hair being easier to maintain, to not being able to find a man or their present man will not support their transition at all. At one point in time I didn’t think a man would look twice at me with my hair in its nappy natural glory because I grew up with two older brothers who would laugh at me when my hair wasn’t pressed out. Luckily for me with age came wisdom and the more I started wearing my hair natural I realized that my thinking was so far from true. There are men that support and love black women to wear their natural hair texture and ladies if you are not embracing your true self in fear you will not be able to enter a meaningful relationship with a black man, much less even date one …you are either not looking at the right type of man, or you need to quit being race loyal and love those brothers that love you, the natural you. I know there are black men who would love to meet a natural sister. Brothers ask me questions all the time about my hair and I luv it. I have nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of, this is me, and if he wants me, he will have to love it too. Bottom line…Always, embrace your true self…like the Bible says in John 8:32, “…the Truth shall set you FREE!” Amen….Peace n Blessings!

Hey did you see Nappiology on the news? This is just another indication that natural hair is here to stay -  Here is a link to the story.

much love and nappiness!

Naturally, when I first went natural, I followed that same regimen for some time.  As the years passed, I started questioning myself:  Why am I not retaining length?  Why am I cutting my hair so much?  In reality, I was trimming hair just to be trimming hair.

For us naturals, trimming is not a must do.  Don’t get me wrong, we should trim our hair BUT we don’t have to trim on a schedule like before.  Keep in mind if you wear your hair flat ironed or use heat tools, you may find that you need to trim more often.

Well, why do we have to trim?  The simple answer is weathering – this is the process of our hair splitting, tangling or knotting.  So now, let’s talk about how to trim our natural hair.

First of all, if you are in doubt, please visit a professional.  Also, if you are trimming yourself, invest in a good pair of hair shears that will be devoted only to trimming.

Trim while twisted: this is my personal favorite way of trimming.  I do not wear my hair straight often so this is an easy way to Do It Yourself.  Start with clean hair and do small or medium twists.  Let the hair dry naturally and cut off the very end of each twist (1/8, 1/4 or even 1/2 inch).

Trim while blown out: This method works if you wear straight styles regularly and need visually even hair.  Start with clean hair and using heat protectant, carefully blow out your hair moving quickly (so as to avoid heat damage).  Once it is dry, take section by section and trim all over.

Hair by Hair Trim (eyeing method): Take sections of clean, dry hair and while looking in the mirror, clip each section to your desired likeness.

I believe one unique difference about trimming natural hair is that it is best not to trim while wet.  We have to remember that natural hair is prone to shrinkage.  Also, each of our heads may have several different textures that shrink at a variety of different rates.  If your hair is cut or trimmed while wet, you may be in for a rude awakening once your hair fully dries!

Finally, what can we do to retain length and to overall trim less?  (1) Wear protective styles such as twists, coils, buns and/or cornrows.  You can even try extension styles that are not done too tight; (2) Avoid heat – plain and simple, excessive heat can cause damage; and (3) Protect your ends with good oils such as olive, coconut, jojoba and/or shea butter – remember those are the hairs that you’ve had the longest.

Happy Trimming . . . Or Not.

Monique Bland, natural hair stylist

Keep It Natural Hair by Monique

Dallas, Texas

keepitnaturalhair@yahoo.com

TaMika Steward

www.nappturallyyours.com