Hair Discrimination

Those who know me know that I love a good haircut and I have cut my hair on several occasions, both DIY and professionally. Since being natural, I've always had my hair straightened before getting it cut but this time I decided I was going to do something different. In essence I wanted a second big chop but as I don't have the cojones to rock an Amber Rose, I decided I would go for something slightly longer but just as stylish.

I wish I was that brave.

So there I was looking for a good hairdresser who could cut natural hair in its natural state and I soon learned something: the prices were discriminatory. I searched in both the UK and the USA and learned one thing: hairdressers that cater to black hair sometimes charge three times as much to cut natural hair as they do to cut straight/relaxed hair!

At first I was sure I was doing something wrong, surely an Afro hairdresser wouldn't charge more to cut my hair just because it was in its natural state, that would be ridiculous right? Wrong! Every single price list I looked up online and quote I called in to obtain showed a huge discrepancy in price. In some instances I even found that getting my hair washed, straightened and cut would be cheaper than a wash and cut on natural hair!

The salon/hairdresser/hair shop has historically been somewhat of a sanctuary for black women, a place where we go knowing that there's an unspoken solidarity, that this was the only locale that could 'handle' our hair and that the fact that you were here meant that regardless of shade, you were black. 

Black salon culture depicted in "How To Get Away With Murder"

It's bad enough that as black women we face discrimination in EVERY instance from other ethnicities and that within our own ethnicity we deal with colourism, but to walk into an Afro salon and be told that they are unable to dress natural hair or that you have to pay two to three times as much unless you opt for a form of straightening procedure is simply unacceptable! Every hairdresser/stylist in an Afro hair salon should know how to dress natural hair, treatments like relaxers and dyes are optional, what grows out of our scalp is not, that should be their basic hair dressing skills.

Naysayers will say I'm over reacting or that it's not that big a deal but it is a big deal when someone with a silkier texture or a looser curl pattern isn't required to straighten their hair before getting it cut, or when said customer is not required to pay a 'it's too kinky' charge! #ThatIsAll #RantOver

My Top 3 Foundations

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a beauty blogger or a make-up expert, quite the contrary actually, until quite recently I've never cared about anything beyond a good mascara.

Over the summer I realised that I was a grown woman that didn't own a real foundation (I have a tinted moisturiser) and I decided that by my birthday (shout out to all my November babies!) I would rectify that. I had no clue about foundations so I did what any sensible person would have done, I went to MAC! Lol!

I'm sure you can imagine how overwhelmed I felt when I walked into MAC and discovered they had a huge range of foundations and shades! 

The sales assistant took one look at me and said "I think you should probably try samples first". She saved my life. 'The Foundation Hunt' became my personal project and I spent the summer sampling foundations, learning about skin types and undertones, watching Youtube videos, reading blogs and combing through reviews. I sampled a lot of popular brands including MAC, NARS, Estée Lauder, Giorgio Armani and Fashion Fair to name a few. I tried all types of finishes (dewy, satin, semi-matte, matte), consistencies (liquid, powder, gel, stick) and application tools (fingers, beauty blender and foundation/buffing/stippling brushes). 

Some details about my skin:

• Skin type - Normal
• Undertone - Yellow/Golden (Warm)
• Complexion - My complexion varies slightly depending on how much sun I'm exposed to but at my lightest I'm a MAC (most popular reference) NC45 and at my darkest I'm an NC50, my average is between the two shades.

I was looking for a light to medium coverage foundation that wouldn't look 'cakey' (the main reason I've avoided foundation for so long) and would just give me a nice natural finish. The foundation had to look good on its own because I had no intention of contouring or highlighting, I just wanted to feel like a grown up lol. 

My biggest challenge, which I'm sure many women of colour can relate to, was finding the correct shade. Considering how many different skin shades there are, I was quite surprised that many brands had a very narrow spectrum of shades.  The other challenges I faced were the oxidising of foundation (MAC is the biggest culprit of this, I'd leave home with a perfect finish and return with an orange face! Yuck!) and the heavy/clogged feeling certain foundations gave to my skin.

So after all of that, here are my top 3 foundations:  

1.   YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat 

      Shade: B80

      Finish: Satin

      Coverage: Light to medium

      Price: £31.50/$57

This is my absolute favourite foundation because it makes my skin look ah-mazing! I can barely feel it on my skin and its illuminating properties are very subtle yet noticeable. This is definitely the 'my skin but better' foundation for me. This foundation comes in 22 shades and 3 different undertones so it definitely caters to a variety of complexions.

2.   DiorSkin Forever 

      Shade: 060 - Light Mocha

      Finish: Semi-matte

      Coverage: Medium to full

      Price: £32.50/$50

This foundation is so beautiful! The finish is the most natural looking and long lasting of the three. It gives you a very flawless look but doesn't give you that I-have-the-whole-make-up-counter-on-my-face look. As I stated above, I don't contour or highlight but this foundation doesn't take away your face's dimensions nor does it look flat or dull. This isn't a popular foundation amongst women of colour probably because their shade range is so limited, this is their darkest shade.

3.  MAC Studio Face & Body

     Shade: C7

     Finish: Dewy

     Coverage: Sheer to Light

     Price: £22/$27

This foundation sits perfectly between foundation and tinted moisturiser and because it's so sheer, it is the most lightweight product I have tried. It gives me the sun kissed look that I love and although it has a dewy finish it doesn't make me look greasy.

All three of my chosen foundations are easy to work with, have beautifully natural finishes and are very lightweight on the skin. I would recommend all of these foundations and although their price tags are pretty steep in the world of make-up, I think they are worth every penny. Another foundation that I liked but didn't make my top 3 was MAC Matchmaster Foundation in shade 7.5. It has a semi-matte finish and was a great match for my complexion however, it was detectable on my skin which I didn't like, I like to look like I have nothing on. If I ever upgrade to 'face sculpting' I will definitely be purchasing it.

The queen of face sculpting

I have learned a lot about foundation over the summer and I'm glad I embarked on this journey, 'The Foundation Hunt' was really fun and it was definitely worth it. I don't think I'll ever be the kind of girl that wears foundation every day, I'm just glad I've found foundations that I can reach for without the fear of 'cake face'. 

A lot of the widely praised foundations didn't work for me so I would highly recommend sampling your chosen foundation for at least a full day before making a purchase. It was blog posts like this one that helped me with my search so I hope this post helps make the search for a good foundation easier for other make-up newbies like myself.

Happy sampling!


P.S.

Marc Jacobs recently released new shades of its popular 'Re(marc)able Full Cover Foundation Concentrate' and you can imagine how disappointed women of colour all over the globe were when they discovered that they only had 3 (4 if you want to be generous) of the 22 shades to choose from. 

I'm not one to throw the 'r' word around willy nilly but it's hard not to when designers as big as Marc Jacobs enforce segregation. Yes I said it, enforce!  #NotRudeHonest

Although this is the most current example, many make-up and beauty brands display this form of discrimination, not only to darker women but also, less commonly, to women on the very light side of the spectrum. In this instance, Marc Jacobs seems to have considered very pale skin tones.

Considering that the majority of the world is 'coloured' (I hate that word!) and how many different shades of brown skin exist, it is quite ridiculous that in 2015 beauty brands haven't woken up and smelt the coffee. Put simply, they need to do better. That is all.

Angry Black Woman

Am I the only one that feels that black women are being attacked more frequently these days? If it's not our weave, its our dress sense, if not that then its our way of life and if all else fails they attack our figures! Everyone is looking for flaws in black women and it's really annoying, leave us alone already!!! 

The most recent 'imperfect black women' witch hunt came from someone who used his position to pass opinion as fact by claiming that all black women are ugly! Although I have many un-ladylike words I'd love to express, I will not allow his foolishness to ruin my mood, people like him do things for a reaction and I will not be joining the many people who gave him one, I will give him what he deserves - nothing!

It is these continued attacks that lead me to address a very common, yet infuriating, stereotype - angry black females. This concept makes my blood boil every time and even more so when I hear it from black males. Now I may not be the best person to address this topic as I do have a very, erm, 'fiery' personality but having said that, how can every woman of a whole race be tainted with the same brush?

For those of you that have not heard (do you live under a rock?) black women are apparently always angry, love to cause a scene, constantly arguing, very aggressive, easily angered, hot tempered and all carry knifes in their clutch bags! I mean, are you for real!? Although I stated that I have a fiery personality (I like to call it 'passionate' but whatever!), none of the things in that list describe me! Ok maybe one but still, I know plenty of black women who have none of those qualities, in fact I can even go as far as to say the majority of them are actually quite mild mannered! The fact that all black women are deemed to be ticking time bombs is ludicrous!!! 

The worst part is that when a back woman does get angry about something genuine we automatically get the 'she's black, what did you expect?' look and are not taken seriously!

As women - black, white, Asian green or yellow! - we are emotional beings so its only natural that when we are sad we cry, when we are happy we laugh and when we are angry we shout! That's what having all that extra oestrogen is all about! I have to admit there are some crazy black women out there but have you ever messed with a Chinese girl's money? She made Naomi Campbell's bursts of rage look like friendly banter!!!

So for all those people that have erroneously black listed black women listen up - we are NOT always angry, in fact the emotional state we are in most often is love! We don't like causing scenes, we like to keep our business to ourselves (it's your fault if you date a drama queen!)! We are not any more hot tempered than the next person with two X chromosomes! We are not all aggressive, our ranking in society forces us to be quite passive actually and if you look in a black woman's clutch bag you won't find anything you wouldn't find in the clutch of a woman of a different race!

All I want is my right to be angry without being labelled for doing so! And to all the foolish black men that help circulate this stereotype SHAME ON YOU!!! If our men can't support us, who will? As for our beauty, regardless of what any two bit researcher says, it's undeniable. 

That is all.

For Coloured Girls

About a month ago I watched the movie 'For Coloured Girls' by Tyler Perry. Now I have to say I am not a fan of his and have always thought his movies where mediocre at best but this one blew me away.

It was the right combination of a great plot (from a book called 'For Coloured Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is not Enough), great actresses and a good director/producer. The movie was so deep I cried (literally!) and it left me speechless. I'm not going to ruin the movie for you by giving you details but it just showed how much of a struggle life is being a woman and I was sad to acknowledge that whereas a few years ago these same scenes would have been shocking, now they are just part of our everyday lives.

The only problem is that I am now so paranoid (there's a rape scene) that I'm acting like every man is out to get me! This further highlights how realistic this movie was and it will definately get you thinking. I have to take my hat off to Tyler Perry for a job well done and a standing ovation to the women who made the movie come to life.

Coloured girls (and we all have one colour or another!), enjoy!

What is "real" hair?

A follow up to my last post:

Documentaries like 'Good Hair' by Chris Rock and Tyra Banks' talk show episodes based on the subject of hair have highlighted the impact of hair in the black community and the lengths people will go to have 'good hair'. But what is 'good hair'?

Sadly what I learned from these shows is that the majority of black people associate good hair with silkiness, straightness and  'the white girl flow'. Now I don't know about you guys but I have never met a black person who doesn't have a mixed heritage with any of these qualities!

On the same topic, there is a huge debate on what is considered to be 'real' hair. Is it the hair that grows out of your scalp? Does your hair stop being 'real' when you add chemicals? If you are wearing a weave made from human hair is that 'real hair'? Is it acceptable to wear another human's hair on your head?

I'd like to know your thoughts and feelings on the matter so please leave a comment.

Let's Talk Hair

I recently decided to go natural meaning I plan to stop perming/relaxing my hair. I don't have any deep or meaningful reasons, I just felt like it really. My best friend has natural hair and I therefore decided to ask her what I could do with my hair now that I couldn't wear it in my usual straight and sleek shoulder length way. She advised me to go on Youtube and look for ideas and nothing could have prepared me for what I discovered.

First of all, I thought I would find 20, maybe 50, videos on hair care and was surprised to discover that there are an endless amount of videos dedicated to hair! Secondly, each video had thousands of views! And lastly they had their own language! For those of you who knew this hair community existed you are probably thinking I'm over reacting but I can assure you I had no idea that so many people thought hair was so important that they needed to spend their time making videos about it.

Now, whereas I found some video tutorials quite helpful, I feel this whole hair thing is absolutely ridiculous! We are talking about dead protein here! I had women telling me they spent 9 hours on washing their hair the 'right way' and did so three times a week! Do these women have anything going on in their lives because I can't see anyone with a 9-5 Monday to Friday spending 27 hours a week on hair, it's a joke!

Also I could barely follow what they were saying due to the terms being used! Is hair so important that it requires its own language!? Some examples include:

* Big chop - when you choose to stop perming/relaxing and cut all your chemically treated ends off

* TWA - Teeny Weeny Afro

* Co-wash - when you replace you shampoo with conditioner therefore 'conditioner washing' your hair

* Braid outs - when you plait your hair the night before and take it out in the morning leaving your hair curly

* Transitioning hair - going from permed/relaxed hair to natural (chemically untreated) hair without the big chop

The other problem I found with these videos is that none of the 'teachers' had afro hair. I know that the term 'black hair' is widely used but there is a distinct difference between the hair of a black person with mixed heritage and afro hair therefore, for all the thousands of videos available online, an afro haired person would receive no help whatsoever!

Don't get me wrong, I do feel hair is an important part of a woman's appearance and I agree that it can make or break your look but to spend so much time on it that you're making weekly video updates is ridiculous. There are children starving all over the world, if you've got that much time on your hands go and volunteer in countries than need your help!

Hair is beauty but its nice when it comes with some brains!

Black Dating, sad but true...

As funny as this is ya'll can't deny that there are too many women like this in our society. It needs to stop!

Black History Month

Every year during Black History Month I get a little sad. I think about the status of black people in the world and I realize that for another year we are at the bottom of the food chain. Africa was and still is the richest nation in the world and somehow African's still live in unimaginable poverty.

I love being black (not that I had a choice lol!). The history, the culture, the stigma - all of it! You can say whatever you want about black people but you cannot deny, we are interesting and talented people. Did you know that the first surgeon to conduct heart surgery was black? Probably not. If I told you that the first rapper was black you look at me like I was dumb though and think "Obviously!".

Well why is it that as a black nation we do not promote all our achievements? (I don't know, I'm asking!) Why is it that it's only the negative parts that we promote? 

It's easy to blame it on the 'white man' but ladies have you ever gone to a hairdressers and heard anything other than "Shaniqua stole Monique's man!" and "Did you hear Ms. Charlene's boy got arrested last night?". Men, have you been chilling with your boys for a lengthy period of time without discussing someone that's been arrested or making illegal money? This obviously doesn't apply to everyone but you can't deny that the majority of conversation among black people promotes the negative, even if it is just by discussing it.

It saddens me that black people are seen so negatively by the rest of the world when we have so much good in us. Now I'm fully aware that we are no saints and that there is no smoke without fire, unfortunately I will be the first to admit that in the streets of London, where there's a crime there normally is a black person involved but is it just me or whenever a black person is involved in anything negative it just seems so much worse?

For example, Tiger Woods. Don't get me wrong, I do not condone his behaviour in any way, shape or form but is he the first celebrity to cheat on his wife? How many footballers and actors have been doing much worse? We all know that if his wife had been black we probably would have never heard about it (I'm just saying what all of you are thinking!). Do you remember when Usher came out with his "I'm a sex addict" cra... i mean 'problem'? Who cared? It was just black Chilli he'd cheated on, no paparazzi there. In fact I only knew about it because he made a whole album discussing it and the sales for that were legendary!

And this brings me to the other cause of my sadness - racism is not dead. If you think it is you're either not from an 'ethnic minority' (I hate that term!) or you live under a rock! 

As sad as this fact makes me, we as black people need to stop using the 'racism' card as an excuse to be lazy (yeah I said it!)! Too many black people complain about how hard it is to get a job and how hard it is to live in a predominantly white world etc. In what part of black history did you find the word 'easy'? Our race is built on hard work, endurance and survival so suck it up and do something constructive with yourself!

I few months back there was a programme on BBC called 'Welcome to Lagos'. BBC made a mockery of Nigerians and Facebook was rampant with jokes but I on the other hand had never been prouder of being a Nigerian in my life! There was a particular guy on the documentary who had a Agricultural Science degree but couldn't find a job anywhere (this is normal in such countries). He then went about explaining how he studied the meat market an noticed that all the animal blood was washed away so he came up with a scientific formula to turn the blood which was going to waste into farming by-products! Can you imagine!? This is what the black nation is built on, initiative, persistance and hard work!

In 1998 Tupac said "We ain't ready to see a black President" and now 12 years on we have one so doesn't that mean that the sky is the limit? We have black people in every field, male and female, and yes we do need to fight harder for these positions but isn't that what our ancestors faught for? Isn't that the whole point of celebrating Black History? 

The opportunities are there so take them, work hard at them, be the best at them and spread the word about them. Enough with the negativity already, let's start thinking, acting and talking positively so that the rest of the world can also speak positively about us.

The top of that food chain is wondering why we are taking so long ;- )