A wonderful surprise greated me in the mail today: My sisterlocks birthday certificate! I had forgotten that I had sent the request form to the home office. Dr Joanne Cornwell
I have yet to come up with a new sisterlocks photo montage to commemorate my first year, so this post of my certificate will have to suffice for now!
Happy lockiversary to me...!
Dr. Joanne Cornwell
Here are a few quotes from some of my favorite hair books.
More to follow...
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"'Natural hair? You must be kidding,' I would say. 'Why in the WORLD would I wear my hair looking like THAT?'...I knew nothing about my natural hair. It was that mess that grew out of my head...It was that unprofessional, bad, embarrassing stuff that if I were to wear in public, would doom me to everlasting singledom and job failure because, surely, no employer would employ me nor would a suitable life partner love me with hair like 'THAT.'"
-Patricia Gaines a.k.a. "Deecoily", founder of Nappturality.com, in the Forward to the book by Mireille Liong-A-Kong entitled 'Going Natural'
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"We have the same spiral in our hair as electricity, tornadoes, whirlwinds, DNA, galaxies!"
-Nekhena Evans, Hairlocking: Everything You Need to Know-African, Dread & Nubian Locks
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"The misconception that Afrikan hair is hard to manage is based on the custom of daily combing and daily styling one's hair.
"Natural Afrikan hair does not need combing or styling everyday because hairstyles stay unimpaired for at least one week on average...most combs are unsuitable for natural Afrikan hair...to be able to comb through the hair on a daily basis cannot be used as a standard to define our hair as 'hard to manage'.
"Defining nappy hair as unmanageable based on the above standard would be like, defining straight hair as unmanageable because it...can hardly keep a braid, a cornrow or a curl. It doesn't make sense does it?"
-Mireille Liong-A-Kong, Going Natural
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"I believe many Black women experience a visual oxymoron when they see long locked hair. It can't be real because everyone knows that nappy hair doesn't grow long enough to hang, it only grows out, as in an afro. Plus, the long hair fantasy...is all about long, straight hair or braid extensions tricked up to look like straight hair. Not locs. So when women see waist-length locs they see a comb and a dream: if they can comb it out and make it straight, they can get to the promised land."
-Lonnice Brittenum Bonner, Nice Dreads: Hair Care Basics and Inspiration for Colored Girls Who've Considered Locking Their Hair
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"I am always relieved and joyful when I influence a woman's decision to stop putting chemicals on her scalp...The more I see grown women who are struggling with this "hair thing," I understand that some women will constantly feel guilty about it...I expect women to get weak and relapse. It's a part of the transition and fight with addiction to hair abuse; to keep repeating the same compulsive behavior, a behavior that is temporarily fulfilling...don't give up on yourself...you may feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps backward...[at least you are] aware of your behavior...the turning point is when you discover why you keep doing it...I hope this will help you resist..."
-Pamela Ferrell, Cornrows & Company, Let's Talk Hair
Nursing must be the most 'loc'd up' profession on the planet.
I don't know about other cities, but here in the ATL, the hospitals are full of natural hair wearing nurses, many of whom sport locs.
Of note, I know three nurses with sisterlocks and too many nurses to count with traditional locs...
Curly, dyed, traditionals
[Don't take my face! No make-up!]
Loc jewelry
My sisterlocks
Dr. 'TwistyLocs' (OBGYN)
Hog Ridin' Jane's traditionals
Fancy Loc up-do!
Naturally You! Magazine: Behind the Naps!: No, Texturizers Are Not Natural
[^the article that inspired this post]
Lately, I've read a few posts on some natural hair sites that mention the use of texturizers to 'loosen the curl' and help with 'manageability'...and other post that make no bones about rejecting 'texturizers' as 'glorified relaxers' - like Nappturality.
Some of you might remember the old afro 'blow-out' kits. Others might even remember 'conk cream.' Well, texturizers are a modern day version of those old blasts from the past...
Is a texturizer just a glorified relaxer?
A way to deceive oneself that one still has natural hair because it still has some curl?
A way to tell the world that the hair of 'mixed chicks' is just a bit 'better' than that of other African ancestored women who have either no European ancestry, or who happen to have a few more generations between themselves and their European kin?
Does texturizing ones hair subliminally reinforce that old Euro-Brazilian saying: white women for marriage, mulatto women for sex, Black women for work?
Or is texturizing one's hair merely a preference, completely detached from, and not at all influenced by acculturation.
I'm particularly interested in reading the opinions of others in light of the preliminary results of the current active poll on this blog. To date, "ease of styling" is the most popular reason given in response to the question, "Why do you straighten your hair?"
Feel free to weigh in.
Hotep
One of my very first post was about having received an award from our local medical association (2008 Young Physician of the Year Award).
This year the winner of the Atlanta Medical Association 2009 Young Physician of the Year Award is my friend and colleague, Dr. Lisa Perry-Gilkes.
Lisa, Young Physician of the Year 2008
Lisa joked upon her acceptance that she was amazed that she could win both a Young Physician of the Year Award and be recognized for 25 years in practice! (One must be under 40 or in private practice 5 years or less to qualify for the Young Physician of the Year Award)
I couldn't possibly have gotten photos of all of the lovely loc'd docs, scholarship recipients and guests at the event, but I have included photos of a few attendees below.
Mrs. Dr. W in Traditional locs
Medium, traditional locs
A Scholarship Recipient in Sisterlocks [Go Meharry!]
