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 have never....dressed up as a Farmyard animal!

I love cows! Who doesn't!?  

So when I was asked to get dressed up as one for this year's St Patrick's day parade in Central London 2 weeks ago, in accordance with the rules of the New List, I gave it a good ol' Mrs Doyle stylee 'Go on!'.

Who, What, When, where?

See, this wasn't just any old cow I was being asked to impersonate, I was going to be a Frisian Cow! Frisian's, by the way, happen to be my second favourite cow, all hail the Highland!  I would be joining a small troupe of fellow heifers as part of Mandinga Arts section, alongside some giant golden peacocks and Pineapple Baianas.  I'm not remotely Irish (that I know of....) so at least this year I had a genuine reason to go out and celebrate St Paddy's day. The parade route took us from Green Park, through to Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and ending up in Whitehall a stones throw from Downing Street.

Pineapple Man & Baianas (Mandinga Arts)

Why?

Choreography is comfortable.  Improv on the other hand, can be scary because there’s nothing to fall back on, it’s just you.  St Paddy’s day performance was all about improv, and as part of a big moving parade, it was going to be a challenge. 

Dreams of a Life

Zawe Aston as Joyce Vincent

Last night I was up till all hours, partaking in some early morning/late night hair styling. Typical!
My hair's freshly washed, sealed with an olive/coconut oil combo and chunky twisted in prep for a night out tomorrow, for anyone who's interested ;).

To keep me company, and sometimes awake through my nocturnal hair styling sessions, I usually listen to the radio or watch a film, yesterday it was the turn of 'Dreams of a Life', a film I've been meaning to catch since last year.

In 2006 the body of a woman was found in her Wood Green flat. Sad yes, but nothing extraordinary there.  But 38 year old Joyce Carol Vincent, whose friends described as vibrant attractive and popular, had lain undiscovered in her living room for up to three years; her TV, heating and lights still on, she was surrounded by Christmas presents.  In that time no one had reported her missing and no one had come looking for her.


Dreams of a Life writer/director Carol Morley, pieces together the story of Joyce, a mysterious and enigmatic woman who people gravitated towards and yet few seemed to know. Interviews with her workmates, friends and former partners are cut with reconstructions of Joyce, played by Zawe Aston.  It gradually brings to life a person who initially starts off as a faceless name, but a lot of questions where left unanswered.


It's hard to imagine someone becoming so invisible, at a time when it's supposedly easier than ever to stay connected to those around you.  The story is made even more striking, because Joyce didn't fit the profile of someone who you thought might have died alone or been forgotten about.  She wasn't elderly or reclusive or didn't not have any family or friends.

By the end you're left with the sad picture of a women who, for whatever reason, became increasing isolated from the people around her. Joyce's family declined to take part in the film, perhaps understandably wanting to remain anonymous. Maybe they would have given more insight into who Joyce was and why her life took the path it did, maybe not.

Dreams of a Life sounds like a really depressing night cap, but it was actually a compelling watch.
You can watch Dreams of a Life on 4 On Demand here.  Sorry any non UK readers, the link won't work for you, but here's the trailer instead.

RIP Joyce.


Kanika x

Phony or not to phony?

 To phony or not to phony?  This is a question that as a part time samba dancer I've asked myself several times.

Dunno what I'm on about. I’ll show you.  What do these beautiful Brazilian passistas have in common?

Lovely, lovely passistas (blackwomenofbrazil.com)

They’re all wearing itsy bitsy shiny bikinis, have the same megawatt smiles, but hang on one cotton picking minute! You there! I say, Miss Blue there’s something different about you! Its....its.....Bingo! It’s the hair. You‘re not sporting the same luscious hair as the others.  

For many passistas ‘Megahair': long, flowing, ultra feminine hair, usually loosely curled, is part of the look and hair flicking, a compulsory part of any self respecting mulata’s choreography. You don’t often see passistas sporting natural afro’s like Clara Paixao, who I featured last month in Carnaval carry on. Those who don’t naturally possess Megahair, fake it, turning to Brazilian blow outs, weaves, wigs, extensions and straighteners, and then, there’s the phony pony. 

Being the centre of the samba world, Brazil dictates samba fashion.  So if the samba gods decree female dancers be decked with flowing manes of hair, then so it shall be, and most female dancers obey this command. But not I. 

When I dance, I never straighten my hair or never wear it out.  I have my natural hair in protective styles like twists, tied back or pinned out of the way (like below mini twists, pinned back), and here’s why.

Me at Coburg Samba Festival 2012, Germany 
(Noriega Photographics)

1.     It’s easy ‘n’ fuss free...ish.

2.   When you samba you sweat! You could be wearing a samba bikini outdoors in 7˚C London (yes I’ve done that before), and after a couple of minutes you're perspiring in places you never knew had sweat glands.  Think about that next time you want to hug up close to a passista 'n' get your picture, mwhaha! Freshly straightened hair wouldn’t stand a chance, sweating out sooner than you can say ‘afro’.  

3.   Samba dancers wear elaborate headdresses that are secured tightly onto our heads.  They might look stunning, but after a while your skull feels like it’s being crushed and your hair’s the only thing providing any cushioning.  Us passista’s have to suffer a little for our art!

London's Natural Beauties - Exhibit E. Isabelle

Say a big, friendly hello to our second London Natural Beauty of the year.  A beautiful mother, dancer, singer, student and lover of life from Belgium, Isabelle!

Name: Isabelle (some call me Izy)
Age: is irrelevant
Natural since: May 2011. Let's get started, shall we...?

December 2011 - ....yeah ok, I blow dry my hair to make it bigger!
March 2012 - There is still remnants of my coloured hair.
December 2012 -  Yay! I can finally make a pony tail! All my coloured hair is gone! Now it's really 'au naturel'!

When You Gonna: Tell us about your hair journey. Why did you decide to go Natural?

Isabelle: To start off with, I want to clarify, I didn't GO Natural, I AM Natural!
Like most African women, before growing our own opinion about ourselves, I was forced to obey clear rules and conform to the norm in order to look acceptable. Without much thinking I embraced it. Never mind the numerous failures and mistakes, never mind using toxic products and risking being bold. Never mind the huge amount of time and money "invested." I started to alter the nature of my hair since oh... oh hang on! I thought I was born with tresses on! Anyway once you reach your teens, the incredible business of trying to rule your hair the way they refuse to, is second nature.
It took my boyfriend telling me endlessly that he adored my hair to take a second look at what Mama gave me. That's how, for the first time of my conscious life I decided to love, accept and care for what I had.  It's one of the best decisions I have ever made!

WYG: Describe your hair?

I: My hair is absolutely amazing. No, seriously!
It is soft and adapts pretty well to whatever I want. I can make it into a large big afro or sophisticated 40's hairstyle, I can make it wavy, curly, straight... I love it!
Only down side, it is so not in a hurry to grow and can break pretty easily. Oh, and it shrinks like crazy!  But a more objective viewer would describe my hair as 4C-4D, Black and roughly 25cm long.

WYG: What is your hair like at the moment:

I: Ah! It's winter time so I want to minimise manipulations. I put my hair in a protective style: loose dread lock that I redo every 4 to 6 weeks.

WYG: What's your routine like?

I: I always try to keep it as simple as possible but not simpler.
I co-wash my hair every month. As you may know already co-washing is washing hair with conditioner. It's less aggressive than regular shampoo and still contains enough cleansing agent.
Every morning I lightly spray my hair with water (I want to try coconut water soon) to hydrate it.
Then I gently seal the moisture at the tip of my hair with natural oils. It can be coconut oil, avocado oil, rosemary oil or Shea butter depending on the state of my hair, my mood and the weather outside.  I style and go.  At night I wrap my hair in a silk scarf....Nooooot! It would be THE thing to do! But I'm working on it...'  

WYG: Favourite products

I: I couldn't go without water, coconut oil and Shea butter!

Shea Butter

WYG: Top tips?

I: Forget the noise of the new miracle products here and what your best friend's doing there.  Just listen to what your hair has to say. It knows best!

WYG: Best thing about being Natural

I: It's almost a spiritual journey, first it takes love, acceptance, care to grow your own hair. It takes love, acceptance and care to be a beautiful woman. Secondly, symbolically speaking, it is reclaiming our true nature. It is refusing to comply with a certain idea of beauty that is not ours. It is finally regaining the respect for our own individuality.

           

   

WYG: Thank you very much Isabelle, some wise words if we ever did hear them!

Who runs the world?!

Women of the World stand up!

This Friday, March 8th is International Women's day.  Whether or not you find that yay or groan inducing, I'll be celebrating by attending a slew of lady orientated shindigs.

This weekend i'll be heading to the WOW - Women of the World festival at the Southbank.  I have my Saturday and Sunday Day passes, woot woot, and I can't wait to sample the delights of Weave vs Natural? The politics of Afro Hair chaired by Hannah Pool, Ruby Wax's 'Out of her Mind', The Guys Guide to Feminism and many others. My hungry mind is positively licking it's lascivious lips!

Kanika x

What are your goals?

It's a straightforward question, right?   But just having a goal is the easy part, reaching it is usually where the difficulty lies.

One of my biggest problems is that my goals are never long term enough. I reach one milestone and then put my feet up before embarking on the next.  Stop - Start or starting and not finishing, the story of my life!

I have a PG Journalism diploma, but several years after achieving this and still paying off my student loan, I'm not a working journo. This wouldn't be an issue if my life had changed direction or if being a journalist was no longer my dream, but it's a resounding no on all those counts. Suffice to say 'wasteful' doesn’t quite cut it when I think of the time and money I have invested into my dream.  It’s taken a while to pick myself up by the scruff of the neck, but 2013 is my year , so in January I bit the bullet and signed up to Women in Journalism (WIJ).

Last night I went to ‘What’s Holding You Back: Executive coaching seminar’ with Fran Moscow, hosted by WIJ.  Fran Moscow’s an accredited Executive Coach and Managing Director of her own Consultancy company.

There were lots of tips about networking, getting what you want without alienating your colleagues and most importantly, overcoming self imposed barriers when it comes to achieving you career goals, just what I need.

School you - Winifred Atwell

Friday evening I was minding my own business watching the One Show on BBC1. It was already an episode that had caught my attention.  Not only did it feature one of my heroes, Lord Robert Winston, talking about coping with the lose of his father, but, the show's special guest was the beautiful Naomi Harris, another lady who I have a definite girl crush on, talking about her part in James Bond, fashion and her up and coming role as Winnie Mandela in The Long Walk to Freedom - the Nelson Mandela biopic.

Naomi (middle) with One Show presenters Chris Evans (left) & Alex Jones (right)

About 2/3's of the way into the program they featured a women I had never heard of, Winifred Atwell (1914-1983).  This Trinidad born British pianist achieved some remarkable things in her life.   When she moved to the UK in 1946, she gained a place at the Royal Academy of Music, becoming the first female pianist to be awarded the Academy's highest grading for musicianship.  She later went on to be the first Black person to have a UK number one in the singles chart, the first British artist to sell a million records and then to have 2 other consecutive million selling hits, another first.   Over her career, Winifred Atwell sold in excess of 20 MILLION records!

Here's Winifred and one of her most popular hits 'Five Finger Boogie'

Winifred also enjoyed International fame.  When she moved to Australia in the 1960's her celebrity prompted the Australian government at the time, to give her special dispensation from their racist immigration laws and allow her to make the country her home. While there Winifred was outspoken about Racism in the country and fought to highlight the injustices towards Aboriginal Australians.

Winifred getting her hair did in her salon

These are just a fraction of Winifred Atwell's achievements.  They're made all the more impressive by the fact that Post-WW2 immigration to Britain, from it's colonies, had resulted in Racial tensions and many ethnic minorities faced considerable prejudice.


I was pretty damn impressed by Winifred already and then the One Show dropped this nugget....Winifred opened what's believed to be the UK's first salon catering to Black women in Brixton, in 1956.  In the package, hairdresser Errol Douglas comments on the significance of this. 


Unfortunately the original building on Railton Rd, where Winifred's Salon once stood, is no longer there.  Ironically it was burnt down in the 1981 Race Riots.

You can watch Friday's One Show HERE on iPlayer as long as it's up.  The segment about Winifred starts from 21.14 mins.


How have I never heard about this remarkable woman! Have you?!



Kanika x