Fabulous Fro ❤ Jamyrlyn

Today I used a blow dryer and blew out my friends natural hair. It was her first blow out since she cut off her dreadlocks 5 months ago. We are all big and bad until we are hit with the realization of our own natural hair.

She has been very supportive while I've walked out my hair journey but now it was time for me to hold her hand. She thought that because she had worn dreadlocks for 10 years this would be easy.

She kept saying things like "it looks nappy" "it looks unfinished" "it looks like it needs a comb" and then came the power phrase....."I just need to put my make up on. Then it will look right."  All the while I am laughing and encouraging her. I could not be more empathetic. I said and did all the same things and more. I GET IT, truly I do.

And this is what I have learned...

No more self-hatred.

No more put downs.

Natural hair, while it may not be mainstream or widely accepted, is good enough. In fact, it is just right.  So Stop it! Stop beating yourself up. And if you want to take your natural hair for a glam ride, do it, even if you don't have your make up on.

Jam, you are a fabulous fro!

THANKSGIVING

Enter with the password THANK YOU, psalms 100.MSG.
Gratefulness gets us a lot further than grouchiness.

Have a grateful thanksgiving!

Protective Styles: Roll and Tuck

I have been natural for 5 years now and have just learned the importance of protective styling. I have grown out my afro twice in 5 years because I always seem to do something to mess it up. I recently read a post by curly nikki that said "more hair, more problems" and that certainly has been true for me. But I think protective styling may be the missing link.

I usually have to suffer through protective styles but this one was very well recieved. And most importantly, I felt confident and beautiful wearing this style. It lasted for a week and weathered 4 sweaty workouts and nighttime.  I wrapped a satin strip around the edges at night. Below is the link to the tutorial that I sent to my stylist to watch.

http://youtu.be/MSCBQ_RItFw



This is a cute protective style for little ones. This is my daughter Savanna and she has 3c hair.
Criss Cross Buns

Cheers to beautiful protective hair styles!

Smokey Chic

Smokey Chic by tinascott featuring leather belts

Helmut Lang long sleeve sweater
$275 - lagarconne.com

Miss Selfridge black legging
£18 - missselfridge.com

Charles David black leather knee high boots
$237 - bluefly.com

Linea Pelle leather jewelry
$62 - lpcollection.com

TopShop chain necklace
$85 - topshop.com

Lola Rose sterling silver ring
£75 - liberty.co.uk

Silver earrings
$58 - nordstrom.com

Oasis stud earrings
£6 - oasis-stores.com

Nicole Miller leather belt
$130 - nicolemiller.com

An Anthem for our girls...

Afro Champion

Shortly after I had my daughter Stella my husband and I went on a lunch date. After being cooped up on bedrest for so long I had forgotten that my hair often times is a conversation starter. However I was quickly reminded that my hair and me are a team, it speaks and I answer and this particular day it shouted to our waitress. Because before I knew it, her hands were in my hair poking around: stunned at first and then flattered we immediately struck up a conversation.

Katie is a vivacious slim figured blonde who is fascinated with afro hair. If everyone were as quick to embrace diversity as she was we wouldn’t have half of the racial tension that we do in our world today. She began to tell me that one of her closest friends has kinky hair and how unique it is see to all the different styles she can wear with her hair.

Captivated by my new afro champion, I told her about my blog, asked to take a picture with her and if I could share our encounter on AfroTina.  She was slightly camera shy because at the moment she was doing an experiment. She had recently seen a news report on a group of high school girls that were protesting makeup in an effort to re-connect with their inner-beauty. So inspired by their story, Katie decided to go a week without makeup or hair extensions.  Isn’t that just how life usually works, she is bare faced with limp hair and here I come along asking to take her picture so I could put it up on the internet. We laughed at the irony and then in the spirit of “inner beauty” we both said cheese for the camera.

I admire Katie’s openness and acceptance of beauty that is different from her own and her eagerness jump in and express her approval.  Today I encourage you to love your beauty and appreciate the variety of beauty around us.


Happy New Year✳

Merry Christmas from AfroTina☆

I love that time stops during this holiday.

When we opened our XBOX just a few minutes ago and realized that we only had one controller. My husband and brother in-law immediately said to each other let's call Best Buy and go get another one. I was so happy to hear that the store was closed and had been closed since 5pm. 

This is a time to relish in the company of your family and friends and breathe in the joy and laughter around you.

Merry Christmas from AfroTina

Photos by www.photomelatasha.com