Vacay Hair?

I am having a very hard time deciding what i want to do with my hair for this impending vacation. My fellow black girls, i know you are quite familiar with this dilemma. My hair gets very curly when it gets wet. The thing about it is, it doesn't stay as cute and curly when it dries. I absolutely don't want to deal with a mop of bad curls when I'm supposed to be looking like a tropical bronzed goddess.

I did my hair yesterday to see how long it would take and determine whether i should just tough it out and bring the blow drier/flatiron with me and straighten as necessary.

I started here:

(a bad blow dry job that took about 40 min)

and ended up here:

(a flatiron job that took about 45 min)

Now, do i really want to spend almost 2 hours doing hair while on vacay? hell no.

I thought about doing this look (in black of course):

But my mom gave me an ear full about how terrible this look is for me. Yes, i have tried it before.

And god forbid i do typical vacay hair (aka wet and wavy). I need a solution, and fast because it needs to be done today! Suggestions?

Ugh....

How Not To Wear Your Weave

Weaves, wigs and extensions are all double edged swords. On one hand, they can help you to look unbelievable fly. On the other, they can make you look like you are wearing a bird's nest on your head. Please, ladies, avoid much ridicule and humiliation by taking a few necessary precautions before you venture into the realm of supplementary hair. Here are a few things for you to consider, before you let some hairdresser convince you that you look like the next Beyoncé.

1) Are your tracks showing? Ladies, this is a cardinal offense against the weave gods. Do not let your tracks show! Either cover them up or put on a hat, because exposed tracks just eliminate the purpose of the entire weave.

2) Don't opt for the cheap stuff! There is a wide array of hair available to you at every price point. However, DON"T use that as an excuse to buy the cheapest half-plastic-half-horse concoction out there. Spend the extra money to get (at least) something that sprouted from another human; and then if you can, go for the better quality human hair.

3) Keep it natural looking. I don't care what type of Polish-Chinese-Indian-Cherokee you claim to be mixed with. Nobody can grow 5 pounds of 24 inch hair. No one. Don't try to jam 5 packs of hair on to your head. It will make you look like a furry lollipop.

4) If you are going to do a lacefront, or any wig for that matter, don't let it eat your forehead. Try to get one with a realistic hairline that is not 2 centimeters above your eyebrows. And avoid gluing a wig to your forehead. That just doesn't even sound right.

5) Keep your edges tight. It makes no sense to have a super kinky mini afro around your hairline, and then 16 inches of perfectly straight glorious locks flowing out of the middle of your head. And while you're at it, make sure your edges are the same color as your extensions. Black roots have no business with a blond weave.

6) You can't treat a weave like its your real hair because, well, its a weave. Don't get your weave and then think its your hair so you don't have to be as meticulous as you would have been without the extensions. Wrap your hair at night. Comb it. Tie it. Love it. Don't be fooled! Your hair may look like your own, but its still a product that needs to be taken care of and maintained.

7) Fake it 'til you make it. A huge part of the weave-allure is the fact that when done correctly, it will blend in with your own hair. So work it like its growing right out of your own scalp. Fling it, make it bounce a little when you walk, style it up and be fab with it. Rock your weave so hard that no one will ever suspect that came from the store!

Check my gallery to see some celebs demonstrating how NOT to rock your weave HERE!!!

Rihanna's Top Throwback Hairstyles

Rihanna is quite the chameleon when it comes to her ever changing hairstyles.

Many times it seems like she draws inspiration from past celebrity icons and pop culture idols. Here is my compilation of Rihanna's top throwback hairstyles.

They say that history repeats itself, and in the case or Rhianna's hair, this is certainly true. If TMZ's comparison above doesn't convince you, then have a look at my gallery at

HELLO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Americas Next Top Hairstyle

I'm watching America's Next Top Model for the first time since soph. year of college and believe it or not, i'm inspired. I set my cable box to dvr it since the premiere in the event that i ran out off other filler tv, but it never did. And then, boom, i check my list and the latest episode is recorded. Hell yea! And on top of that, it just so happens to be the makeover episode! My favorite! I thought that most of the girls were put at a major disadvantage with their new "improved" tyra-imposed looks, though there were two that stood out and inspired me...

So, voyeurs, i have decided to abandon my trademark 18 inch hair...

and take it down to 12. Twelve inches of hot sexy red hair!!!! It s going to be a combination of these two looks from the show:

This color

With this cut

Check for me next weekend...i should have it done snapped and posted by then...But back to the show...I always hear tyra talk about these world renowned hair stylists whom she hires to do the makeovers. This, to me, never makes any sense. They are almost always (dare i say) white. And furthermore, they are inevitably more adept at working with the kind of hair that grows on other people in their own likeness. While many of the stylists can deliver a mean blow out, they are bumbling fools when it comes to a good weave. Why Tyra?

Exhibit A

Poor girl...

Tyra is the queen of weaves.

Why is she slighting these young girls?

Get it together.

I need hairapy

Its been a long time since i let my hair go.

I know. You're asking who cares? Well, i do. And if you are really asking, then you obviously are not a woman. Furthermore, you are not a black woman. Since i am, let me give you wisdom. I AM MY HAIR. Fxck you India Arie (j/k, i love you India, we just don't see eye to eye sometimes). Unlike the mantra of the aforementioned song, I am in so many ways defined by my hair. It is an indication of my mood, my outlook, my ethnicity, my happenings. I can only speak for myself when i say that if you want to know who i am, what I'm going through or what image i am trying to embody, take a look at my head.

When my life is a chaotic, work-filled mess so are my unruly curls. And my tresses will probably look thin and stringy, because when the going gets tough i literally pull it out.

When I'm feeling sexxay, you are almost guaranteed to find my tresses flipped suggestively to one side...like come hither and nibble on this side of the neck baby ;-)

When I'm mad. Middle part. Dead straight. Serious.

When I'm overwhelmed, or lazy, or tired: Bun....big big bun.

When my life is out of control, and i want to crawl up under something and hide...Wig.

(Notice the substantially messy dorm room behind me. Out of control.)

When I'm feeling giddy or like a kid? You guessed it. Silly little ponytail.

When i find zen in my life. So does my hair. Natural, neat, peaceful.

Unfortunately, i recently put myself in a little predicament that has screwed me up. Majorly.

In a moment of "wanting-to-be-different" weakness, I chopped it all off.

But the plan backfired. Because it turns out that Rihanna was going through the same thing. And a week later,

...She debuted the same shxt. And it just so happens that she's famous. So of course it would seem that i was jocking her. :-x

To be honest, i really jacked the style from V. Beckham:

But thats so not the point.

I saw the onslaught of Rihannapalooza in the beauty salons and decided that I hated my hair.

But since it was too short to even put in a silly little ponytail, I was screwed.

I am my hair, and my hair is screwed. I'm screwed.

And as i loathed my hair, my hair reciprocated by bending and curling itself into unrecognizable shapes which epitomized the very reason why i hated it, palpably.

Now, i am on the hunt for a bomb ass weave. suggestions? anyone?

But wtf does it mean if i, admittedly, am my hair, and my hair, admittedly, is a weave. Ugh. Who the hell ponders this shxt? Me. That's who.
Am i then fake? No; although my hair is.

Will it mean that i am striving to reach anglo-saxon beauty ideals? Nope. I'm black. I don't want to be anything else.

Why the stigma around extensions, when they are nothing but that; extensions of our own tresses. I guess us black girls aren't real unless we have short natural hair.

Whatever. At the end of the day, i am my hair. And as long as it looks good, i am happy. And in the end, isn't happiness all that matters? I hope you fnd pathos in my struggle. And as a result, i hope you help me find a new do....cuz i need some serious hairapy voyeurs.