Month: January 2014

Twirl baby

Published on by maksu20134 Comments

Twirl Baby_Begin

Hey there!

So I was in Nigeria a few weeks ago, all I’d say about my trip is; food, heat and family. I had an amazing time and got a couple of interesting pieces while I was there. First thing I got done was this skirt. When I first started sewing, the very first thing I made was a circle skirt. I had several glitches but I was and still am very proud of it. Nevertheless, circle2.0 was a necessary upgrade. I didn’t sew the skirt myself but I cut the fabric and well I guess that’s half way there eh?Twirl Baby Begin

This skirt was a bit of a struggle though, because there was a sudden zipper scarcity. We opted for an elastic waist but that  just looked bleh. Then my super styling mama suggested that we add a belt and BAM! we got this baby.Twirl baby.Begin

I love how effortless circle skirts are to make and style. They make me feel extra girly and  being the girly-girl that I am that’s a major plus.

Twirl Baby, Begin

Just had to throw this in there 🙂

Think Responsibly

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Think Responsibility

Its the start of yet another semester, with its tests, papers and readings. At the risk of sounding cliche, I will say that I still remember my first year. I came into university with a strategy; read and regurgitate. Unfortunately university required a teeny bit more than that, it required me to understand and apply. This realization was fine of course until I took classes that I thought should require me to not just apply but create and then school and I reached an impasse. Don’t get me wrong I was very impressed with the new way I was learning. Never in my learning career had I been pushed to truly understand the subject matter in the way that I was being pushed and it felt amazing! (Yes I’m a nerd..deal). I guess that feeling made me greedy. Its like this, if all I ever knew was vanilla ice cream, I was fine with that but now that I’ve tried cookies and cream, its kind of made me wonder what the other possibilities are.

What framed this for me was a conversation I had with a few people not too long ago. the general consensus was that essays were a trap. You’re asked to say what you think “and as long as you defend it properly there’s no right or wrong answer”. The  truth however is that there is a right answer which is what was taught in class, then there’s the objection to the right answer which is a bit of a wild card cause your answers still have to line up to what the professor thinks the objection should be. The wrong answer in an essay is any opinion that veers too far off from the professors ideas, and while your thought process may not be wrong, it doesn’t conform so boo-hoo boo boo, you get a C for effort.

I’m not saying that this happens all the time but sometimes it feels like you have to give up expressing what you really think for an A (not that your A is guaranteed  anyhow); but you know what really grinds my gears? Its the classes that are supposed to be “liberal”. The ones that focus on social justice. They are great if you want to learn about the social issues that plague us everyday but the minute you try to talk about solutions, somebody throws you the vaguest possible term “activism”. Then you try to lift the veil on what activism really means because its all well and good to know the problem but where do we go from here? But you find nothing concrete, and when you even try to suggest that we need to think of new ways to implement social justice, they grunt and carry on. Nothing changes, we keep flying the pretentious flag.

You see the problem is that we need to evolve. University should be about much more than regurgitating and reapplying concepts the same way Marx, Kant or Foucault did, not that we should discard their works of course. University should be about creating; new ideas, new theories. Maybe some other person feels completely different but I require more from my classroom. If university intends to work me to the bone, I need more than grades, I need value.

5 ways to tame a ‘fro?

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how to tame an afro

I will start this post by saying an afro will never do all the same things that straight hair does. Why? cause its not the same thing! And that’s perfectly fine. Think of it like finding your shade of make up, you will achieve little by trying to use make up that is a billion shades too light or too dark. In the same way you will achieve little by trying to make your lush ‘fro do things that it can never do.  Secondly, just so nobody is misled, I am by no means a qualified “natural hair blogger” I feel like there is a certain commitment to hair care that you need to have to give other people steady hair care advice. Nevertheless, I have learned a few things in the short while that I have been natural that I thought I should share 🙂

1. Just because it worked for a couple of you-tubers doesn’t mean it will work for you.

This is a hard truth to face but it would have saved me a couple of bad hair days. Something as simple as a twist out could look very different depending on your hair texture. Twist outs have just never really worked for me but bantu knots and flexi rods have. Don’t be afraid to experiment but also don’t be afraid to quit while you’re ahead and find what works.

2. A wash and go is NOT always the less stressful option.

For a girl with super kinky curly hair, you must understand that only satan himself can tempt you to let your hair shrink completely without the necessary detangling process. Oh surrre “this is how your hair looks without anything done to it”, “your God-given mane” blah-di-blah blah! A wash and go for you does not mean wash and head out the door, it means wash, detangle, twist or braid into large manageable sections until your hair is only slightly damp then you can unravel for the wash-and-go shrinkage. Otherwise you will utterly despise yourself on wash day with all the knots you will have.

3. Braids can save your life.

If you’re perfectly honest with yourself, you probably spend a truck load of time on your hair every week. While it could be incredibly relaxing to rake through your mane on a Saturday afternoon, (I know I’m not the only one soothed by that thought) you could be doing some slightly more productive things. Having your hair braided affords you that privilege for however long you decide to keep your braids in. PLUS you can venture new styling options. (yet another excuse to rake through your mane on Saturday :D)

4. A little heat ever so often won’t kill you.

I say this with caution because heat-damage is realer than real. Nothing worse than caring for your hair day and night for years or months and to have all that hard work incinerated in the menacing jaws of a flat iron. (A tad dramatic I know, but its scary though!) However, a little heat once in a blue moon used CORRECTLY can make fabulous hair.

5. When all else fails just wrap it up.

If your hair isn’t long enough yet to go in a bun just wrap your head. Actually there are days when even a bun looks kinda meh. On such days your best bet is to wrap your head and go with the “I’m eclectic” vibe. Just because you have a hot mess on your head doesn’t mean the world has to know it.

That being said, here’s to a fabulous 2014, with more good hair days than bad, more productivity than lolly gagging in bed watching episode after episode of Girlfriends, and being a better person than I was in 2013 😀

A very Happy new year to you all!

Begin-How to Tame a 'Fro