Rio de Jan-HAIR-o

Brasil is a beautiful country with such a rich mixed heritage that it is impossible not to see this in the people. It's the country where Africa meets Portugal and they combine with the country's indigenous races. Not to mention the German communities in the South of the country where they live side by side with Japanese and Italians...

The women and their hair types are representative of this uberblend.

Since I've been back in Rio, I am taking special note of all the mulheres working natural curls over here.

Here are some ;Natural beauties I've spotted so far who everyday give me the courage to eventually taking my braids out...

What’s on your New List?

How are those New Year's resolutions coming?

We’re less than a week into 2013 so the chances are that most of you will still be keeping up with your New Year's resolutions (for now).  But some of you I’m sure will already be taking wanton liberties with your resolutions, promising yourselves that, ‘Next week I'll definitely get back on the wagon’  *Sigh*

It’s always the same isn’t it?  We start off so well, full of renewed resolve, but come February we’re struggling to stick with even one of our New Year's promises.  Going cold turkey, detoxing your way into a new you, and then feeling rubbish when you fall short, isn’t the best motivator for self improvement.  Here’s a suggestion. Ever thought about not making NY resolutions?

I did this a few years ago and here’s why.

1) I’m no good at them.

2) Working on yourself and your foibles is a gradual process.  If you’ve ever been able to wake up one morning (be it the beginning of a new year or not) and miraculously change something about yourself you disliked, please tell me how you did it.   

3) My main reason for letting go of New Year’s resolutions is down to a pearl of wisdom once imparted to me and my A-level Art class.  Our sage teacher (big up Mrs CM) once told us that, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun girls, but you know something, it goes even fasted the older you get’.

It’s true! When we’re kids days can seem like weeks but the older we get there never seem to be enough hours in the day. It took me until my early twenties to start appreciating Mrs CM’s piece of enlightenment. Four years at Uni had gone by in a flash, so the year I left, I decided to invest less in New Year’s resolutions and concentrate more on my New List. 

Karla's hairstory...in pictures

I've been putting this off for months but it's a new year now, no more procrastination.

Kanika delved deep into her soul to write about her life and experiences with her hair MONTHS ago and I still haven't managed to post mine.

It's not that I don't want to share my story - the reason I decided to stop relaxing my hair which led to my frantic search for UK based Natural Hair blogs, which led to the creation of this blog - I just can't seem to find an appropriate starting point. As you can see, I've written about practically everything else I think about. The way I feel about pressure to be married already, my response to the 'OMG THERE ARE NO BLACK GIRLS ON GIRLS!' furore, yet my reason for joining forces with my friend to write about my coming to terms with my God given hairtype, I guess isn't immediately apparent.

So here it is in pictures for your perusal.


Once upon a time there was a little girl named Karla-Jayne who had 'soft hair'. Her mother would wash it with aloe vera that she would buy from Brixton market so it would grow long and stay soft.