Its Friday!!!

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan! Has this week been extra long!

I feel like the closer we get to the end of the semester, the longer the days start to become. You know for us pro-crats! (procrastinators!) lol.. Finishing papers, prepping for tests and still tying to balance everyday life!

Speaking of.. This week felt like I was watching ice melt in the winter while the sun was out at the same time lol. Being apart of the NROTC is apart of my active duty obligations while the military allows me to go to college. While it may be a small obligation.. I feel that it takes up much of my time! Waking up at 0400 in the morning to be to school by 0545 is no joke.

What kills me in the morning is the debate I have with myself to do something with my hair.. Especialy on PT days..

Now i’m not going to go looking any ol type of way lol.. But for my natural sistas you know in the mornings we have to put some form of lubricant on our hair or its going to look dry and stiff like a tumbleweed hahaha…

Ok a tumbleweed may be much of an exaggeration.. but when your hair is dry and you are walking through a  crowd that is basically how you look hahaha.

Sometimes I just have to humble myself and do what I need to do because if I don’t I know plenty people will have something to say lmbo! Another reason is because the men have to come to work everyday with a clean shave. If they can wake up every morning and shave their face.. The least I can do is throw some water and moisturizer on there and call it a day.

It is just so hard being a single parent in the military! When I wake up at 0400 the last thing I am thinking of is doing my hair. I mean really!!!!!!!!! that is why I cut it so short.. But it turned out to be more maintenance than my relaxed hair.

When I find myself rushing in the mornings.. and I am almost out of the door.. That is when I remember! You didn’t do anything to your hair.. and then I have to run back in the house with my sleepy 5 year old and do something quickly.

Side note***

You ever feel like you are moving at top speed and then you look at the clock and 10-15 minutes have passed lol.. That is what I mean when I say I have to rush back in the house and hurry up lol.. It always takes more than 5 minutes to get the right look..

—End rant!

I mean I shouldn’t complain… By far I am blessed beyond belief… but I am human.. and I do complain. lol. The military has been good to me besides these long hours and personality restrictions lol.

I think I need those tho.. because for sure I would be out of control.. Especially with my hair and make up.. (-_-)

I do like the regulations in regards to make up tho.. Its bad enough girls be coming to work with mushroom shaped wigs on their heads.. But if they added make up.. They would just look like clowns.

Hope yall enjoyed my blog..

—Another side note lol—

I always have these random thoughts in my brain… But have you all noticed Raven Simone lately? Since she came out about being a lesbian, her whole image and persona changed. I came across this picture the other day.. Her eyebrows and hair were out of control.. What do yall think? I feel like because they are celebrities they will try and do just about anything for attention whether it is positive or negative!

How far are you willing to go with your personal appearance. Some changes you make take a while to recover from.. Especially if it is dealing with your hair! lol

Have a blessed week!

Hey All..

Short post!

As the holidays approach us.. I am trying to figure out what to do with my hair (or the lack there of lol). I always get the same thing every time.. Braids!

I think it is the more feasible and smart way to go being that I work out so much.. But it just takes so long to get. Im going to Mexico for the new year and I must be fabulous! lol.

SO I may end up braving the long hours that it takes to get my hair braided.

They say beauty takes time.. Although. Beyonce said she woke up like that. Oh well who knows lol! I’m just a regular person trying to look good and maintain my military persona lol!

Have a blessed day yall!

Hey All,

I hope you have been having a great hair week so far!

I’m not lol. I have been experiencing this extreme dryness but I know why and it is because I have not been properly taking care of my hair because I have been so busy. Not to mention this constantly changing weather we are having. One day it is ice cold and then another day it is warm. So I have yet to find the proper balance with my hair care routine, military and parenting. The military seems to always be first and then everything else falls in line.. Leaving me to look like a ragga-muffin by the end of the week. #notcool!

So… For those of you that don’t know I go to the gym a lot. Whether it is on base or at one life fitness (i love that place!)

Random drift off to rant land lol…

One Life Fitness has a lot of civilian personnel that go there. OMG!!! You would be surprised by the type of things you see in there. In particular the hair styles of choice! I cannot make this stuff up.. I seen this man with the front of his hair slicked down. It looked about 98% like the picture below except the front was more slicked down. I was like um.. excuse me… What in the world is going on with your hair??? In my mind of course.. Because it would have been absolutely rude to say that to his face haha…

>>>>>>>>>>>end rant!

Back to the topic at hand. So I go to the gym a lot and I see the same girl every time. She is active duty military of course. Every time she is changing into her work clothes.. She ties her hair back(dreads!) and puts this old dusty wig on top.. Adding about 5 years to how ever old she really is. Look at the photo below! I kid you not.. This is 100% how it looks when she puts this wig on except it is black.

Okay are you ready for it!

Because you already know I have an issue with it lol…

Here is my problem with it.. as I have stated in many of my blogs.. Rules and regulations are set in place for a reason and are meant to be followed! In this particular case.. The Navy has authorized the wear of dread locks.. But everyday I see her in the gym, she is putting on her wig as shown in the picture above.. Making two things look obvious. 1 that she has no idea of what to do to her hair or 2 that she is hiding something under that wig!

So why is she wearing this wig to cover her dreads? You ask. Well because they are blonde! For some reason people like to test the boundaries of everything!

You would have to see it in person to get the same effect that I got. I mean it looks like a large hump on top of her head. It just looks unnatural!

My thing is.. How far will you go to hide something that you are not even suppose to have! Is it worth sacrificing your everyday appearance to maintain a style that you are authorized to have but you insist on pushing the limit!

When women do these types of things, it draws unwanted attention to the rest of us. We now all fall into that category of females always trying to push the limits and get away with it.

Its just sickening that people would go to great lengths for what they want when they know it is not right.

My question to you is… How far is too far? What would you do to cover up any secrets that you may have?

Now I am not going to lie.. When I was younger (in the military) I tried different things with my hair that at the time I didnt know was unauthorized. I had purple hair and upon arrival to my first duty station I was told to “remove the crap” (just like that hahaha). At the time I didnt think anything was wrong with it because I was use to getting crazy styles in school and no one ever saying anything. It was at that point (because I spent lots of money on that hair) that I realized that my hair was no longer my hair, my body was no longer my body and I only owned about 45% of my brain lol. Uncle Sam had claimed who I was and told me who I was gonna be!

Hope you enjoyed my post!

Hey y’all,

So I think that it is only right for me to tie in this week’s events in my blog. November 4 was the midterm election. All that was on TV and internet sites was get out and vote. 

Specifically it seemed to be targeting the African American community. Then you get those speeches.. “our great, great ancestors fought for our right to vote and yall not gone vote”.

Yea they did fight so that I may have the right to vote.. But let me just say this. I don’t follow politics nor did I vote. A lot of the American population don’t vote in the midterm election. I feel like my family wanted me to vote democrat so that they could keep all democrats in the office. In my personal opinion, I don’t really see the effect of policy change because Uncle Sam controls most of the aspects of  my life. How much I can weigh, what I can wear, even where I can go at times. I mean they have a whole list dedicated to places that are off limits for us to visit in the city. It’s like when you sign up to be a part of an organization you sign over the rights to have your old self thrown out of the window and reprogrammed to fit Uncle Sam’s standards.

…………

So I came across this video on face book and it was an interesting way to inspire women of the African American community to get out and vote.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153297558197786 

The gist of the video is that a senator would dictate how the women were to get their hair to fit inside a box that is socially accepted to all races. 

For example, this whole natural hair movement..

Side note..

I jumped on the natural hair bandwagon because I didn’t realize how much time it would save me in the morning to wake up and do my hair. When my hair was relaxed it was difficult to manage and keep healthy because when we would work out I would have to dry my hair after each session to make my hair look presentable in which caused my hair to get heat damaged. But now I just throw some water on there and keep it moving. 

——–End rant lol

But back to the natural hair movement thing.. People were so used to seeing African American women with pressed or really straight hair that just flowed, not afros. When the secret was discovered that wearing your hair in its natural state is better for your hair.. Women started doing what we call “the big chop” (something like my hair.. Or shorter). 

Now I am not going to lie, the first time I saw someone in the military community do it, I was like ‘whoa what happened to your hair?’ lol because we all have different textures of hair and some can be less flattering in uniform.

But after a while, the natural hair movement started to take off and became more socially accepted and people are not uptight when they see a big afro walk by. lol

In regards to the video.. You see how irate the women get when the senator suggest they get their hair straightened by a relaxer.. Because it would look better in society.

Being in the military that video really hit home for me because I felt like no matter if I went out and voted, the way I live and operate will still be dictated by Uncle Sam until the day I hang up my uniform. So for me it’s like even if I go out and try to help choose who I want to keep in the senate, in my heart I feel what are they going to do for me to help me feel more like an individual within a team. I mean for Pete sake.. It always seem as if they are trying to cut our benefits anyway.

Ok 2nd tangent..

Remember in my previous blogs, when I said it’s all in the eye of beholder if something complements your or is considered out of regulations. By putting my words on paper and having my own epiphany, I find myself being one of those people saying hey something doesn’t look right on you because, I am use to seeing them another way.. i.e. managed hair. 

But through my trials with dabbling into the natural hair world, I now realize that the curl patterns we are praying to have takes time to get in your newly cut hair.. lol

——-ends tangent hahaha

Well.. I hope you were afforded the opportunity to get out and vote if you wanted to.. 

Go America! The land of the free!!!!!!

Hola!

So I am sure you all have seen the photos of Mrs. Carter a.k.a “Beyoncé” new dew! Just in case you missed it view below!

You can see the full story at the link below if you want to know what the streets are saying about Beyoncé’s new dew. I can tell you what I think the reviews are about 50/50. It looks a little different but it’s something that I can adjust to but hey, I am not with her everyday so it doesn’t really bother me much lol. It’s funny that some of the pictures have her looking like she just woke up and didn’t comb her bang.

http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2014/10/15/beyonce-bangs-beyonce-cuts-bad-bangs/

When I look at her bangs, I feel that the guys in the military would love for us to cut our bangs that short.

Issue in the military with bangs.. (Or any other regulation lol)

As with any rule, some people are going to try to find a way to go around or test the limits. Bangs for example. They tell us that if we are to wear bangs that the hair is not to hang in our eyes or block our view. It should look natural and not appear to interfere with your overall appearance.

Check out the picture below….

Hahaha,,, I must say myself. Now the pink hair is a bit of an exaggeration. Lol but those pins are 100% accurate. Our regulations states that if we are to wear pins they must be “inconspicuous”. Although the services each have their own set of rules and guideline, in regards to this it’s almost synonymous on what is expected. The women in the Navy are allowed to wear pins that show.. And that’s what I mean my stretching what we are allowed to do.

If it takes that many damn pins to hold a bang down.. You may want to consider another style i.e. the “Beyoncé bang”.

Nothing irks me more than to see someone that uses a jar full of hair gel and then still uses pins to hold their hair down in the front. Sometimes I ask people, did you consider the troubles that you would have to go through to make your hair acceptable after they do the big chop of the bangs. ESPECIALLY if it doesn’t look like what they expected it to look like.

***Intermission***

Yesterday when I was at the gym.. I saw the most miraculous transformation. A woman in the military had a head full of dreadlocks, which I believe are now authorized for the women in the Navy to wear, and she took a wig and put it over her dreadlocks to make it appear as if she didn’t have them. I was in total shock. It looked bulky, but it fit under her hat. In my mind, I was like noooooooooooo freaking way. But then my human side kicked in (meaning not my military intuition lol) and I had compassion for her because at the end of the day we are women and feel the need to want to express ourselves as individual. It can be hard sometimes to have to conform to institutional rules and lose a part of yourself in the process. But then I went back to being annoyed lol because her wig looked unnatural. Hahaha. She was could not win in my eyes that day.

__________>>>>> ends rant!

When I see girls constantly moving hair from their eyes, I thank Beyoncé. Why? You ask. Because it has given me a solution to offer girls that don’t know how to control their bangs or hair. I would have never thought to cut a bang before the forehead, it just looks wrong. But if they can’t take the initiative to get a proper hair cut or do what it takes to keep within regulations, I feel that cutting it a little shorter would make them think twice about getting a style that they cannot maintain.

My disclaimer!

I am not against women in the military doing things to express themselves to maintain their individual identities.

___________>ends disclaimer!

But and however! Please stop doing the most with the hair. I feel that it only draws unwanted attention to a small portion of the military, women. The rest of us will receive these labels because of a handful of peoples bad choices with hair, work performance, friends and the list goes on and on.

I would rather stir the pot for doing something positive rather than being chastised for doing something that I know is wrong.

Let’s not make headlines like Beyoncé’s Bangs!

Peace yall…