Comments on: Ask Afrobella — Growing Up Afrobella

By: J'Adore Rio

J'Adore Rio — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:19:47 +0000

Kelly, I live in Maryland as well, and that Goody Jojoba Oil-Infused brush is available IN ALL STYLES at most CVS stores! I looovvveee the brush.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:24:30 +0000

What a great post and question! I work for a hair care company called Phyto. Have you guys heard of PhytoSpecific? It’s “specifically” for naturally curly, coarse, textured hair. Safe for kids and they even have a non-chemical, no-lye relaxer. Celeb stylist and textured expert, Diane DaCosta talks about it all the time.
check out the site, http://www.phytospecific.com as well as Sephora.com!
Has anyone tried it?

By: Arlene

Arlene — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:15:40 +0000

I would like to know if I use no more tangles would that take my locks out?

or is there anything I could use to take the locks out?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:41:02 +0000

I’ve been searching for this jojoba oil infused brush by goody and can’t find it anywhere. According to Goody website the only brush available is the oval one and it’s only available from Meijer stores. I live in Maryland and there are no Meiher stores out here. Help!!

By: Miss S

Miss S — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:57:50 +0000

Thank you Bella for this amazing post. I don’t know if you’ll see this because it’s so late in the game, but I wanted to let you know great I feel having this information. I feel the same way L feels; I want my daughter to grow up to love her hair and all of its kinks, curls, coils, etc. However, because we’re continuously bombarded with the “mixed textured curls” I have no idea how to style my daughter’s thick mane. I took all of your suggestions and all of the commenters suggestions and added the websites to my favorites. She and I will have a Mother-Daughter Hair Day. What makes this situation so great is that at 4 years old she’s cognizant of the differences in our hair. Her godmother has very curly hair so when I let her wear it out she says she looks “Just like Auntie!” My hair is relaxed so I’m glad to have a Natural Role Model for my child.

Long post short, thank you. You’re like the mailman, you always deliver!

By: GeorgiaPeche

GeorgiaPeche — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:03:13 +0000

Well, I have a son, but I myself transitioned for a while, and I admit that I am back on the creamy crack, but from my experience with my re-virgin hair, and my sons hair I have learned a lot and I wanted to add my 2 cents, since everyone was given wonderful step by step advice on styling natural hair.

1. Before you do anything with your hair or your daughter’s hair, you will need to learn you hair texture; is it 4b, 3c, etc. google a natural hair website or try googling black hair texture or follow this link http://www.nappturality.com/modules/wfsection/print.php?articleid=35

2. Now to get a semi-curly effect, you can do a twist or braid-out of your daughters hair, but the majority of hair will probably be a little frizzy and kinky because that’s her natural texture, but embrace it I have seen many people with this style, kinks and all, and it is a beautiful crown of hair.

3. Always and only comb hair with wide toothed combs

4. Always comb hair while still wet

5. Go to Sally’s and invest in a denman brush, (if you don’t see it don’t give up, ask the store associate)

Finally, Always read websites like Afrobella.com, nappturality.com, motowngirl.com. There you will learn to have confidence about the beauty of your texture, that is unique to only our people and no other ethinic group. You may even be bold enough to do a BC (As mentioned on nappturality). These websites have given me the confidence I need and when someone says my sons hair is nappy I just ask “What’s wrong with that?” I have creamy crack in my hair now, because I change my hair a lot (we are versatile and creative), but I find that with natural hair you have more texture, more options and if you take care of your hair properly, especially when you use all natural products like olive oil, which just sounds luxurious, your hair will be surprisingly soft and manageable.

By: melaniec.

melaniec. — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:27:54 +0000

afrobella, many thanks for a beatifully designed, informative and well-maintained site!!! i have been natural for ten years (with one much-regretted backslide several years ago). my natural 3c-4b hair is now about shoulder length (after it has dried and shrunken). my regimen is simple and inexpensive learned through trial and error and piecing together info learned from a multitude of blogging afrobellas:
1. using Pantene conditioner for curly hair I pre-poo in the shower using a plastic hair pick to detangle. pantene knocks out the kinks better than any of the countless other conditioners i’ve tried.
2. shampoo with a conditioning shampoo(i use pantene for curly hair just to keep it simple. apply shampoo to scalp only and do not rub hair around; this just causes tangles. rinse really, really well.
3. condition with pantene conditioner from step one. comb through to remove any tangles (although pantene usually does such a good job in step one there really aren’t any) and rinse.
4. squeeze water from hair then blot with a towel (pretend your hair is a fine cashmere sweater you have just handwashed. don’t rough it up!)
5.spray hair with Motown Girls home-made leave-in conditioner(i mix mine using–yep–good old pantene from steps 1 and 3.
6. section hair into 6 parts and using a clear alcohol free gel(i use fantasia sparkle lites or shine gellation)and a wide tooth comb, comb gel through hair like Miss Jessie’s shingle method. use gel sparingly or hair wil be crunchy! pretend you paid 50 dollars for it instead of just 4 dollars).
7. when final section is complete i bend over and give hair a shake borrowed from shake and go method).
curls are defined and air dry in about 1-2 hours, soft to the touch. sisters who have not seen me in a while have asked me if i am wearing a wig or a weave!!!)
i know this is naughty but i don’t secure my hair at night (husband is scarf-phobic!). i haven’t noticed any ill-effects to sleeping with it loose. to style the next day i dampen hair with water from a spray bottle, shake and go. day 3 i dampen with leave-in mixture from step 5 and spray with water from spray bottle, shake and go. on day 4 i repeat day 2 and i usually pull up into a puff on day 5. day 6 is wash day.
this is a simple regimen and easy on the pocket-book that should work for many bellas out there.
sorry for the long-winded comment but i wanted to share this with my fellow natural sisters (and all of you wanting to take the leap). i’m nowhere near tech-savvy enough to start a site of my own. thanks for letting me borrow your coat-tails.

By: dominican_enigma

dominican_enigma — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:49:22 +0000

what a beautiful little girl!

By: bella

bella — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:34:06 +0000

KoKoBee — I’m sorry if I came across as a scold, and I don’t mean to give an AfroMafia vibe (although I might have to borrow that turn of phrase for later). Thank you HaitianRoots and NotUrAvg for speaking up on my behalf. You explained it more eloquently than I could. The truth is, we DO pass these messages on to our kids. When I was little, I had the biggest, craziest bush of hair ever, and I was well aware that it was “unmanageable” and “impossible” and a pain to comb and wash and style. Everyone else in my family had relaxed, straight hair that seemed effortless. It was only a matter of time before I began the same ritual as everyone else, as some of you have also shared. Like HaitianRoots, I’ve had a similar experience at the salon — raised eyebrows of horror as soon as I come through the door. I’ve had to unlearn everything I once knew about my hair, and teach myself that it is beautiful just as it is — some parts curly spirally, others thick and kinky-coily. I agree with UnalteredBeauty, there is a tendency to not fully embrace the reality of having natural hair, and loving it in all its glory. Television shows and advertisements tend to feature women of color with curly spirals as the go-to “natural” look, and that certainly isn’t all of us.

By: UnalteredBeauty

UnalteredBeauty — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:32:20 +0000

First, your niece is a cutie. Secondly, I’m really glad you posted on this issue. Though I’m an NFL (Natural For Life), I’m often skeptical of the natural hair movement among black women. It seems to me that curly/spirally hair is slowly becoming the poster child for black women’s natural hair. No one wants the kinks. I do online searches for afro hair and I’m bombarded with images of biracial/multi-racial women with curly hair. Then there’s Miss Jessie’s curly pudding– a modern day jeri curl in a jar if you ask me. So many subtle suggestions that kinky/nappy hair isn’t beautiful. I could be wrong but I thought the purpose of going natural is to embrace your natural texture whether it be kinky, curly, nappy or coily. I get very suspicious when I see so many women with nappy hair trying to achieve the curly look. It’s like we’re leaving behind one flawed social train of thought (that is, where straight hair is preferred to textured hair) and entering a new one where curly hair is preferred to nappy hair.