Highly Textured

Hey guys!

The new blog is on its way! Just finished the redesign this weekend. (I hope y'all like it!) Soon as I edit my next video, Highly Textured will be back in full effect! (Wheeeeee!)

In the meantime, I wanted to share this, which came across the newswires this morning... Payless (yes, the shoe company) is getting into the beauty business!

From the press release:

Payless ShoeSource, the retailer well-known for democratizing the latest fashion, design and ideas in footwear and accessories for all to enjoy, today announced an alliance with Maesa Group, recognized as the most comprehensive "Beauty-on-Demand" product resource, to create a collection of new beauty and body care products to be available exclusively in about 1,500 Payless ShoeSource stores this fall.

The forthcoming new products will include a range of body care and beauty items such as lotions, creams, butters and shower gels for body, hands and feet; fragrances and mists; color for eyes and lips; as well as nail polishes, among others. Like all Payless products, the new beauty merchandise will be available at a great price -- as low as $2.99 an item.

The products are slated to hit stores in September and will be sold under two brand names -- Zoe & Zace and Unforgettable Moments.

What do you think? Would you try out Payless beauty products? Shoes, handbags AND lipstick... all in one place?

Allo? Is this thing on?

Happy new year all! So I'm resurrecting the blog! Whoo hoo! Soon, Highly Textured will have a new design and will make its reintroduction to the world as a video blog. (I LOVE video blogging! Seriously!) So keep your eyes on this space. Relaunch coming in 3... 2.....

:o)

Awhile ago I shared with you guys that I was mulling over what to do next with the blog. I've finally decided to focus solely on the video aspect of hair blogging (or vlogging, if you will.)

That means not much more writing from me here on Highly Textured. I think my fellow bloggers will agree with me when I say the writing, formatting, finding and coding pictures takes A LOT of time. Going to video is simply SO much more efficient.

My YouTube channel is here: www.youtube.com/highlytextured


So thanks everyone who's been a loyal reader thus far. And don't hesitate to go through the archives (there's some good stuff in there!). I'm not completely abandoning this space, as I'll be posting my vids here. Just not as many words as before. :)

Love ya lots! (Oh, and if you have any questions or video suggestions, please, feel more than free to share!)

- V.

As a person who spends her free time blogging about hair, I have to say...

...we have become WAY too obsessed with what other people do with their hair.

Live and let live. Discover, explore, experiment. Leave with what you like. And don't question someone else just because they like something different.

It's getting old. Seriously.


{end rant.]

'Sup guys?

I know, I know, it's been a while. But truth is, I've been rather uncreative with my hair as of late. Lol. Wash, condition, go ... repeat three days later.

I've also been mulling over what to do with this blog. I've been getting busier and busier, and yet the blog keeps getting more followers each day (my YouTube channel has 800 now! Wow!). What does that tell me...? It tells me that more and more women are going natural (two of my friends have chopped within the last month) and that they're looking for ways to care for their new hair.

So Highly Textured will be going back to basics, i.e. starting from scratch. Quick, easy posts on care, styling and products. The site is going to have a new look too. Meanwhile, all the older posts will be still be available in archives. So stayed tuned and stick around... we'll be back in just a moment. :-)

Every day, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, or just randomly surfing around the web, I see another woman who's gone natural. Some say it's a trend (and for a few girls, it may be just that), but I can't help but think it's becoming a growing lifestyle shift for scores of black women. It's exciting!

So imagine my delight when, in the space of a week, two of my favorite writers posted their natural hair stories on their blogs. The first is Erica Kennedy, author of Bling and the recently-released, fiercely-funny Feminista. (Buy both! Great reads.)

On her blog, she talks about getting used to her natural texture, and about wearing long, silky, clip-in hair for her author photo. An interesting tidbit:

"The third reason [for using the silky-hair picture] is, I will admit, that I felt it might be better to present an image that was more palatable to the mainstream chick literati since I already know I'm going to get shit for writing this un-chick litty chick lit, which Publisher's Weekly is calling 'bitch lit'."

Still, she made sure to post a pic of her TWA on the blog (as atonement for the silky pic. Lol).

The other writer who documented her hair journey is Aliya S. King, who's written for just about every major urban magazine and runs a blog that's a fantastic resource for aspiring writers. A pictorial of her hair - long, short, krinkly, curly and straight -- appears on Black Voices Hair Talk. She remembers the styles she wore when she was single, married, pregnant, and as a new mother, all the while trying to find something that was simple and looked good. She ends with a series of pics of her TWA, and writes:

"Am I happy with it? I’m not sure. I don’t have a forehead. I have an eighthead. And this cut just emphasizes my HUGE noggin. So hopefully, it’ll grow in and take a little attention away from the projector screen I’ve got going on up there.

But I do know I was out of Lynn’s chair in record time yesterday.

And when I woke up this morning, I felt like... me."

Make sure to check out both their blogs, and their work. Erica and Aliya are pretty friggin' fly.

After the blogosphere went all a-Twitter this week after Racialicious' questions about curls and the New York Times' explainer on black hair politics, I was amused to open this week's issue of Time and see Jenee Desmond-Harris' piece, "Why Michelle's Hair Matters."

The article -- again -- explains for a mainstream audience the weight of expectation and politics that we carry in our strands. And it makes mention -- again -- of "Good Hair," which, I suspect, is the reason all these articles and essays are coming out in the first place.

I find the most interesting parts of the article are the author's own reflections. Desmond-Harris shares:

Even though I'm biracial and should theoretically have half a share of hair angst, I've sacrificed endless Saturdays to the salon. It is unfathomable that I might ever leave my apartment with my hair in its truly natural state, unmoderated by heat or products. I once broke down at the airport when my gel was confiscated for exceeding the 3-oz. limit.

I'm neither high maintenance nor superficial: I'm a black woman. My focus on hair feels like a birthright. It is my membership in an exclusive, historical club, with privileges, responsibilities, infighting and bylaws that are rewritten every decade.

Not once when I've seen an image of our First Lady has it been lost on me that she is also a member. I don't see just an easy, bouncy do. I see the fruits of a time-consuming effort to convey a carefully calculated image. In the next-day ponytail, I see a familiar defeat.

In the end, it's the same issue, same conclusions, just a different publication. On one hand, I enjoy seeing black women's issues showing up in newsprint and magazines. On the other hand, I wonder how we're going to move the conversation forward. We keep lamenting. We keep complaining. We keep resigning ourselves to external forces imposing their expecations on our hair.

When will we start exercising autonomy over our hair, and what -- whether curled, coiled, pressed or relaxed -- it means?

The world's greatest entertainer would have been 51 years old today, and people around the globe are taking the opportunity to celebrate. Spike Lee is throwing a huge bash in Brooklyn later today (and he'll be on our show this morning to talk about it!).

Let's have a little celebration here on Highly Textured. What's your favorite Michael Jackson song, video or moment?

Oh, and to set the theme for the day, here's a little diddy to dance to in celebration....

Enjoy Yourself - The Jacksons

Hola chicas.

You know how everyone is on the search for that ever-elusive, yet oh-so-effective moisturizer. I may have just found mine. Well, created it. Unintentionally.



The ladies and I took a last-gasp-of-summer trip to the beach recently, and, knowing I'd be getting my strands wet in the tide, I brought along two favs in the product arsenal -- coconut oil and Aussie Moist conditioner. The oil was to protect my hair before I jumped into the waves, and the conditioner was around to moisturize and style the curls after I was done frolicking in the water.

But a strange thing happened in the sand. For some reason, I decided to mix the two together. In my palm, half oil, half Aussie. Rub together, and apply.

You would have thought I found a rainbow.

My hair instantly became incredibly soft. And a number of the curls that had fuzzed-out (you know what I mean) sprang back into happy, defined coils.

Oh man, what a discovery. Especially since my last (intentional) experiment didn't turn out so hot.

I don't know exactly what makes it work, but it certainly works for me. Since that trip to the beach, I've been using it as an all-over moisturizer between wash-n-go's. A note though -- it can build up over a few days. But that's nothing a simple co-wash can't take handle.

What about you? Have you discovered any concoctions that just made your hair sing?

As the discussion around black women's hair grows around the blogosphere and now in the cinema, it was only a matter of time before the issues we seem chat about only in selected company made it to the mainstream print media.

Today's New York Times features a story by Catherine Saint Louis, exploring the tangled politics surrounding the hair of black women. Saint Louis writes:

In the face of cultural pressure, the thinking goes, conformists relax their hair, and rebels have the courage not to. In some corners, relaxing one’s hair is even seen as wishing to be white.

For some, the battle lines are drawn.

But in recent interviews, a number of people of color expressed a weariness with the debate. They asked, essentially: Why can’t hair just be hair? Must an Afro peg a woman as the political heir to Angela Davis? Is a fashionista who replicates the first lady’s clean-cut bob really being untrue to herself?

The article, for all intents and purposes, is essentially an explainer of all the discussions that we, as black women, have had for years, packaged for an audience who may very well be completely oblivious to the politics of black hair. But it also adds a layer to the conversation -- in these days, the choice to be natural or to straighten your hair isn't so cut-and-dry. Not every woman with a perm is trying to "look white." Not every sista with a coil is trying to be "down for the cause." There are times when I personally wonder, "Are we doing this to ourselves? No one else seems to care how black people wear their hair."

And while Saint Louis mentions the sheer ugliness thrown at Malia Obama when a picture of her twisted hair showed up on conservative blogs, I couldn't help but feel, well... indifferent. I do agree that it was disgusting the way some people hurled insults at a child, but personally, Internet bigots aren't the kind of people I want to impress anyway. (People with an insipid, hardline way of looking at the world do not concern me and don't affect my life path. But that's just me.) I will say that in my experience, any negative reaction to my natural locks (and there have been many) has been from within my own race. As Nia Long is quoted as saying in "Good Hair":

“There’s always a sort of pressure within the black community, like ‘Oh, if you have good hair, you’re prettier or better than the brown-skinned girl that wears an Afro or the dreads or the natural hairstyle.’ ”

Key words: 'Pressure within the black community.'

It doesn't mean the mainstream in totally absolved of alienating women who wear their natural coils. The Times article closes with an experience of one Howard alum (pictured above):

Shayna Y. Rudd, of Washington, wore a past-her-shoulders weave to have a better shot at the Miss America title. She said an adviser gave her two choices: imitate Beyoncé’s long luscious look or Jada Pinkett Smith’s flowing mane. “I couldn’t be who God wanted me to be,” Ms. Rudd, 24, said ruefully. “I didn’t win. My spirit was crushed.”

She has since sworn off relaxers and extensions; instead, she occasionally presses her tight-curled hair and slicks it into a bun, which is what she did earlier this month when she won the title Miss Black USA. (She bested 28 other contestants, only 3 of whom wore their hair natural.)

“Don’t buy into anyone else’s standard, set your own,” Ms. Rudd said.

And at the end of the day, after all the films and television reports and newspaper features about what we do to our hair -- it's up to you to have the last word.

Omigosh, I swear I ALWAYS forget how busy convention weeks are. I just returned from the NABJ convention in Tampa yesterday and I am exhausted. In a good way. I had a great time with all my journalism friends and came back rejuvenated. (Sleepy, but rejuvenated. Lol.)

How'd the hair hold up? Ugh... can we say humidity? It was ridiculous. Borderline oppressive. AND it rained every day at about 4:30 on the dot. The clouds would roll in and then WOOSH -- rain. That "convention blow-out" that I showed y'all in the last vid -- it was done five hours after I got off the plane. Lol! So I had to rethink my strategy and ended up doing a few updos for the rest of the week. Although I did try the blow-out one more time, that time making sure to stay out of the humidity and inside a climate-controlled environment at all times.

Another tidbit: I got a pass to see a screening of "Good Hair." Exciting, right! Except when you get lost on the way to a movie theater in a strange city. *le sigh* So by the time we arrived, there were no seats left. Luckily, the theater offered to let us see another flick for free, so we ran across the hall to watch "Julie and Julia." Very cute.

I will say this -- "Good Hair" got great reviews. My friends who saw it (because they got to the movie on time) said it was funny and thought-provoking. And it was a basis of great conversation in the group shuttle back to the airport the next day, between a TV reporter who regularly rocks weaves to appear on screen and a print reporter who was wearing her natural hair in long twists.

All in all, convention was a blast, as always. Whatever profession you're in, I STRONGLY suggest you joins its national organization and make friends. My NABJ friends are not only some of my best buddies, but also some of the best in the business, and I'm so glad to see them every year.

Next stop -- San Diego in 2010!

Finding Blessed and Highly Textured just got a little bit easier.

You can now directly access the blog at HighlyTextured.com. Update your bookmarks and tell your friends. :-)

Thanks all!

Whoo hoo!

The lovely Afrobella is now also pulling double-duty as the hair blogger for AOL's BlackVoices.com. This past week, she posted a list of YouTube's Best Hair Bloggers -- and Highly Textured made the list!

Woot woot!

I'm really excited. I love Afrobella and honored that she included me. Go show her some love at the BlackVoices Hair Talk and at her own spot, Afrobella.com.

...at least, not in my spray bottle.

I keep a little red spray bottle handy at all times for whenever my curls need a mist of moisture. It's a simple mixture: Giovianni Direct leave-in conditioner and water. But this morning, I noticed it was going to be particularly humid today, and feared that my coils would turn into fluff. I figured I could prevent that with mist that also provided a little hold. In goes the Kinky-Curly Spiral Spritz. I dropped some into the spray bottle, shook it up, and when about my day.

Fast-forward about four hours later, while I'm sitting at my desk. I'm rummaging through my bag for my iPod when I pick up the spray bottle.

It's chunky inside.

Ew.

I shook it up, thinking maybe it just need a good -- well, shake.

No luck. It's still chunky.

Ew.

I don't know why the Giovanni and the Kinky-Curly don't like each other, but when the two liquids come together in a spray bottle, they make a solid. A lumpy, chunky, piece-y solid that floats on top of the water.

It's actually pretty gross.

*sigh* Take two.

Here's something weird.

My hair is purple.

Okay, not hot, shocking violet. And no, I didn't dye or color it. It's just something I've noticed since I've let my hair be its natural color. (Before this blog, it was colored in almost every shade of red, brown and black possible.) My hair is basically black, but in the sun, it shines purple.

It's so weird.

I noticed this, of all places, in the car. I had the sunroof open on a sunny day, and when I looked up in the rear-view mirror to change lanes, I saw a red-violet/magenta-y kind of color reflecting in my strands.

"My hair is purple," I said to my friend, who was riding in the passenger seat.

"What?" She likely thought I lost my mind.

"My hair is purple," I said again. "Look. It's reflecting in the sun."

My friend looked. "Omigosh," she said. "Your hair is purple."

It's the weirdest thing I've discovered about my hair thus far. And I have no idea where it comes from. I mean, on one hand, it's kind of cool, but on the other hand, I really want to know how I ended up with hair that reflects violet.

Why is my hair purple? The world may never know.

Have you discovered anything about your hair that's out-of-the-ordinary?

It's a fabulous way to start the morning.

Never have I updated THREE times in one day, but I kinda have to today.

I'll preface this by sighing and saying... "Only on the internet."

Solange (inadvertently) caused a shockwave when pictures of her close crop hit the Internet today. I, like many hair, beauty, and entertainment bloggers, posted the picture. I knew readers would enjoy seeing a celeb rocking a cut so many women are contemplating. And You ladies had nothing but good things to say, much like the readers of Afrobella. But elsewhere in the digital universe... well, apparently, all hell broke loose.

Let's just say that blogosphere and Twitterverse had less than friendly things to say about Solange and her hair. And with every new comment, I couldn't help but think... "She didn't even ASK for this."

Folks are speculating whether she is "trying to make a statement," is "looking for attention" or is even "trying to be like Amber Rose." The only affirming comments have come from the natural hair circles.

For those with questions, here are some answers... on Solange's Twitter page she says, one) this hair isn't new, it's been cut for a few weeks; two) she's cut her hair like this TWICE before; and three) the photo was snapped while she was taking her son to school (which makes me question our whole celebrity-obsessed culture and wonder if I was complicit by posting the photo myself.)

If you take cue from her Twitter page, you'll see that she's quite annoyed (at best) by the whole thing. And I think she summed up the ridiculousness of the "controversy" as best as anyone could:

From @solangeknowles:

dont. need. your. attention. or. your. co-sign. i am #3. trending topic. before. IRAN. &. some of you cant even locate it on a map. its sad.

dont. want. a. edge. up. or a perm. because. im not trying. to make this "a style" or a statement.

i. just. wanted. to. be. free. from. the. bondage. that. black. women sometimes. put. on. themselves. with. hair.

this. phase. of. my. life. i. want to spend . the time. the energy. and the money. on something else. not in the hair salon.

im. not. mad. at . all of you. that have made your opinions known. and have sent negative. energy. my way. i expected this of you.

you. have. the right to have. an opinion.

ONLY reason i responded to this i have is because i was disappointed to see my name more talked about then #iranelection

we. gotta. do. better. people.

From D-Listed...



After she was spotted with her natural crop yesterday, Solange attended a party for Dita Von Teese with this fringe-y 'do. Afrobella shared the link on Twitter.

Thoughts?

(An aside... I'm feeling the lip color.)