Tress Talking

Two Sunday evening’s ago, following my bovine escapades and a much needed samba class, a bunch of us ladies braved the bone chilling weather in search of a cosy chinwagging spot.  Lured by the promise of the best hot chocolates around, we headed for the nearby When You Gonna office, aka Scooter Cafe in Waterloo, where we took up residence for a couple hours.  Side note: Their hot chocolate, is of a thing of unadulterated sin! Hot milk (but not too milky) or white, liquid chocolate you want to dive into, or, at the very least smear all over someone and lick off, slowly! Ooooh Mama!

Ooops! Nearly finished my white hot chocolate
before I took a snap

We made ourselves comfy, talking about a mishmash of random, and eventually the conversation turned towards hair.  One of our number was off on holiday the next day, and wasn’t sure what to do with her Brazilian Blowdried, curly afro hair.

 

One of the reasons Karla and I started W.Y.G was so we could discuss hair.  Most of the stories and info we read, via the blogosphere, were largely from an American perspective. In real life, neither of us had had many conversations, with other people, about natural hair and most of our Black friends were relaxed.  Feeling a bit remote from the growing ‘community’ we wanted a forum where we could share experiences and invite chat.    For us, it's not the norm to be anywhere where naturals make up a sizeable number, so this impromptu convo two Sunday’s ago was lovely. 

The others had slowly peeled off leaving Ami & Isabelle (former London's Natural Beauties), Dee and myself to get stuck in.  As a group of Black women from different ethnicities and Nationalities it was great to have a range of perspectives and stories.  We touched on everything from regimes to myths to our individual hair journeys and other people’s reactions to our hair. 

I blathered on about the amazingness of Youtube tutorials and probed Isabelle about the Havana twists she’s been sporting,  I’m itching to try them myself.  How good hair practices seem to have been lost across the generations, so now I rely on the internet and not my Mum or Granma for hair advice.

Ami talked about how ‘The Science of Black Hair’ has become her hair bible, helping her to re-evaluate lifelong practices and learn what makes her hair happy. How, when she had long braid extensions last year she got more male attention, but that her mini fro wasn’t going anywhere soon!

Dee, who’s relaxed hair was recently dyed a gorgeous shade of russet, was the only non natural in the group, she but was still able to share some of our experiences.  Growing up around woman who were all au naturel, she joked she was the black sheep of the family because she’d gone the way of the creamy crack! By the end of our chat she was considering replacing the mineral oils in her low maintenance regime with natural ones.

Each one of us brought something different to the convo.  Able to identify with segments of one story and not so with others, we were all united on loving the versatility of our hair.   The great thing about not just natural hair, but hair in general, is that it’s all different.  We may share a lot of the same experiences, or have fun learning about what others do, but at the end of the day, what works for So-and-so may not work for you. It’s about finding your own way and the time to do what suits you.

Although I loved the spontaneity of our chat, it made me want more discussions like it.  I wonder, maybe we’ll make a thing of this Tress Talk.

Inside the office

Kanika x