Celebrating 1 Year Natural Today

CELEBRATING 1 YEAR NATURAL TODAY

&
A BRAND NEW YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Today's a Big day for me. 1 year ago today I cut out my last weave and officially went natural. Since then I've been sharing each step of the way with you here on the Blog, Twitter and Facebook.
To mark my 1 Year anniversary, I'm finally gona start a Youtube Channel, and my first vid is the footage from this day last year when I took out my last weave. Eeek! I was so nervous and clueless back then.



For some people what they choose to do with their hair, whether weave, relax or stay natural, is not a big deal to them, and I can understand that, because for a long time it wasn't a big deal to me, but somewhere along the line something changed. I decided to go natural for a number of reasons, each of which probably needs its own blog post, but they mainly breakdown into the following 7:

 -Breakage-         -Accidental-         -Cash-       -Children-       
-Faith-       -University Studies-        -To Inspire-

A year later, what does a review of my Hairevolution look like?

Breakage:
Relaxing and straightening the front, edges and top of my hair to blend in with my weaves was leading to embarrassing breakage.

1 Year Later:

My heat appliances haven't seen the light of day (except blowdrier for deep conditioning). My hair is growing back healthier and longer on the front, edges and top of my hair than it has been for the last 3 years.

By Chance:

When I got tired of rockin the Rhianna cut, I wore weaves again to grow my hair out. I had no concept of the term "going natural" but I was intrigued by my re-growth so I didn't want to relax it. However, I had NO IDEA what to do with it so I just kept hiding under weaves.

1 Year Later:

Now I'm completely natural I'm still intrigued by my hair. I never realised how great it is to get to know and understand your own hair.

Cash:

Because I wore weaves that covered almost my whole head, it was cheaper to just leave what was hidden un-relaxed aka natural. I figured there was no point in paying for something that couldn't be seen. I was spending approximately £200 every 3 months on my weaves & relaxer = £800/Yr

1 Year Later:

I haven't been to a hairdresser once, and despite being a product junkie I've still saved at least £500 (and countless hours of waiting around.)

Children:

my little sister

One day I really hope to be blessed with children, and if I have a daughter I want her to feel beautiful about herself. I began to question what beauty ideals get picked by children from their parents.

1 Year Later:

I dont yet have children but I do have a little sister who's becoming a teenager and who's mother bought her straighteners - No Further Comment! *rolls eyes*

Faith:
I began to question why I felt so uncomfortable with my own hair if, as a Christian, I truly believe that GOD doesn't make mistakes, and He creates us perfectly.

1 Year Later:

It definitely my belief that He was right all along. He doesn't make mistakes!

University Studies:

A lot of my research focused on the politics of appearance in particular the Black female body. I was able to test many of the facts & theories against myself and came across 2 things that really made me think.
Firstly, a Post-Colonial theory of "Mimicry" by Homi Bhabha which made me adamant that I dont want to be (or wear) a poor "imitation" of anyone...
...and secondly, Kobena Mercer's question/ quote "What does the Black spectator identify with when [their] mirror image is absent or present only as other?"

Olive Morris, Shirley Bassey, Anon, UK Black Panthers, Claudia Jones

1 Year Later:

Compared to my previous life in beauty pageants I feel
 much prettier natural.

Unlike before, I now know that if I ever decide to wear a weave again it wont be to hide my own features, in attempt to meet a beauty standard based on something that can't ever naturally be me. And if I ever choose to wear a weave again I'll feel equally as good about my appearance without it, as with.


1 Year Later:
I'm still passionately driven by the "Black spectator"question. I know I cant do much about the limited number, and sometimes absence, of Black British women in the history books of the past, but I'm gona do my best to make sure there's something there for the future. This blog is hopefully the beginning of that and the coming projects for 2013 will be a continuation. What's even better is how many other women I've met this year who want to help do the same.

To Encourage & Be Encouraged:
I wanted to document my natural hair journey, not just for myself but hopefully to inspire other ladies to do the same. Everyone's experiences will be different and I just hoped by sharing my thoughts and feelings it could help encourage others to share theirs, 

1 Year Later:

I'm definitely not a Hair Guru, nor do I intend to be, but I'm definitely happy about the amount of interaction encouragement and support that us #Teamnaturals give each other.

In summary, I never knew I would love my natural hair this much, so happy natural-hair-year-day to me. May it be the first of many!

AND....

It wouldn't be a celebration if I didn't share it with you guys so congratulations to the WINNERS of the NEW YEAR NEW HAIR COMPETITION!!

The Winners Are:

• Winner of the Roo-2-Tip Twurly Butter is.......... Sabrina Creary
• Winner of The Keracare Cleansing Cream is..... Rae
• Winner of Going Natural by M L-Kong is.......... Marie-Claude Rivierez
• Winner of Mmm Hair Revitalising Spritz is....... Tynesha Whittaker

                    Congratulations!
You'll all receive confirmation emails within the next 24hrs.

(There'll be loads more exclusive opportunities for subscribers to win other goodies so check out the *NEW GIVE AWAY* sponsored by Manestream Beauty)

P.S Thanx 4 Subscribing x