Embracing Your Natural Look; Going Afro

Myself

Sometime last year, I shared a post with you about natural short hair. I had just cut my hair at a time. I went natural for a well but I went back to my extensions and weaves lol! I have always had weaves, extensions, braids and wigs on.. almost my entire adulthood. I wouldn't leave the house with my natural hair, it was like a taboo :-D . I would undo my hair today but I wont leave the house till I have a new hair-do. That went on for a very long time without realising I was damaging my follicles. I also used a lot of creams (hair relaxer creams), that made it worse.

Precious (my cousin)

I think natural Afro hair is Hot, Sexy and Classy. Lots of us "women of colour" like to hide our beauty in all these artificial hair extensions. Some of us don't even remember the last time we walked out of the door with just our natural hair. I have a cousin who is also a very good friend of mine, (Precious) she has had kinky Afro hair for as long as I have known her! She looks really beautiful. When we go out, people would be staring at her hair, others would want to touch it. Its beautiful and she is beautiful too.

Then we have celebrities like Lupita Nyongo, Lira; the South African singer, we have Solange.., to mention but a few who have embraced the natural short hair. I like Lupita's short hair. It looks easy to maintain. I am thinking of keeping mine to that length. Or maybe twist it a bit like Solange's ;-) (thinking...). Lets see how it goes, I might just keep it short and dye it red lol! The options are numinous.

last week I decided to cut my hair once again and let it breath for a while. (the picture above). Honestly speaking, I like this natural short hair look. I think am gonna keep it for a lifetime! I had posted this picture on my facebook timeline, I should say that the response from my friends is quite encouraging. As I am writing this post, I have 116 Likes on it and probably the most liked of my pictures since I joined facebook lol!

DURING MY TIME OF HAIR EXTENSIONS AND BRAIDS

Make a fashion statement with a Headwrap this weekend.

Headwraps have been around for decades. And they have been commonly worn by African women. Headwraps also called head ties, have a very significant history in the African American community ( I will write about it in another article).

On the African continent, they have been most common in Southern and Western parts over the past years. Historically, headwraps, head ties or turban have different meanings and cultural statements in different countries. For example, in my country (Zambia) long ago, you would only see headwraps been worn by elderly women and young women would only wear them at the funerals. I guess its been the same in many African countries. In Zambia we call them "chitambala" in Nyanja (the most common name, we have 72 languages and they are called differently in other languages). In Malawi and Ghana the headwrap is called "duku", in Zimbabwe the headwrap is called "dhuku", in Botswana the headwrap is called "tukwi" and the Nigerians call it "gele".

Fashion revolves with time and the headwraps are no longer symbolises culture or spiritual or slavery or anything like that. It is the in-thing now! It is what is trending in the fashion industry at the moment. And you don't only see the African ladies wrapping it up, we have the white ladies rocking the head wraps too. That's the beauty of fashion, it has no race and it breaks all the boundaries.

Myself

I have added a few pictures as an inspiration for you. In case you are thinking of trying it. There are a lot of tutorials on youtube on to tie headwraps or turbans. I like headwraps myself and sometimes I use just a small piece and use it as a headband.

And remember, its all about colour ;-) .

Brandy, rocking it in a headwrap

Myself wearing my favourite black headband.

Tyra Banks wearing a headwrap. Looking good

My model friend, Kate. Looking real African.

"WRAP-IT-UP THIS WEEKEND!"

Hairstyles for short African hair

Myself

A few months ago, i decided to cut my hair. Maybe cutting it for the first time in about 15 years!! I know what you are all thinking about..hehehe! But you have stubborn and very slow to grow hair like mine, you will understand why its a big deal to cut it. And the reason for cutting it was because it was falling off from using the wrong hair relaxer and for having hair extensions and wigs all the time.

Ladies, your hair has to breath too. I know that most of us cant even go out without having a good wig on, its understandable but leave it to breath from time to time if you can, otherwise you will be damaging your hair follicles. Anyway, hair means so much to me and cutting it meant that i needed to find very nice hairstyles that i will be trying on. and i found the following, i hope you will find them helpful.

LOOK ONE.., Keeping it short and is really a hot look and it just looks amazing and easy to maintain. You can actually do it yourself from home, no need to go to the saloon .

LOOK TWO...., You can either keep it plain and simple like the talented Lupita Nyongo or you can do some twist.

LOOK THREE...., Am actually in love with the shaggy style, am just waiting for my hair to grow a bit longer so i can be doing it. You can also go for the short dreads, which is a killer look, just make sure that your make up is right.

This is one of my favourite looks of natural hair. And Lira has maintained this hairstyle. She has had it for years, i guess she knows how good it looks on her. Some hairstyle like hers, normally they would go with the shape of your face. Looking good Lira Molapo.

Video of doing your own shaggy hair. 

African American Celebrity HairStyles we LOVE.

Harry Berry

As an African woman, we come to really struggle with what kind of hairstyles to go with. Even if we wear weave or we have Afro hair, it is difficult to really know what suits you. I have done different hairstyles and permed my hair in different styles many times till i came to one hairstyle that really suits me, i think i like this bulky hairstyle and it has become like my hair statement. I will still try other hairstyles in future but i think i will maintain this one for now till i get fade up with it that is if i will ever get tired of it. We have Hollywood celebrities who have maintained the same hairstyles and they still look good. Some of them change it from time to time like Rihanna and Solange Knowles but they still good and even if they change it, they still maintain some sort of  ''same hair concept'' and i like it. Lets look at some of these celebrities now;

We have Rihanna who just looks fabulous in this hairstyle, it shapes her face. She changes hairstyles sometimes but she has maintained this one and it actually looks great. And in my country, maybe its the same everywhere..,when you go to a saloon and you want to do this hairstyle...,you tell the hair dresser that you want a "Rihanna". keep it girl, we love it.

6 Amazing Afro HairStyles.

Afro has been in existence since the 1800's. And it is back on the street of Africa, America and the world at large and its most common with the black women. We have celebrities embarrassing this hairstyle big time including me ;-) . I love this hairstyle, others wear the Afro wigs, others grow their own natural hair and just style it..,which ever way, it still looks good. Actually in the 1960's, the Afro also known as the natural became more than a hairstyle or fashion trend but a political statement that allowed black people to express their cultural and historical identity. The hairstyle emerged out of the Black Power Movement, which rejected Dr Martin Luther King's emphasis on non-violence as a form of political struggle. Just a little history about Afros, but am going to give you the best Afro hairstyle i think are amazing.

And of course i don't leave myself out (I.P.M) with my two ladies (Solange and Diana) who inspire me hair-wise!

        ITS ALL ABOUT THE HAIR LADIES!