Howdy All,
Just checking in on y’all. And I wanted to provide a brief update. SO I am still wearing my braids, and my hair is very itchy and dry. I tried the baby lotion around the outside of my edges and I do say that I was surprised with the results. I mean my hair was a little wet and adding the lotion was just a plus to get my hair to do what it needed it to do for the moment. Not to mention how my hair was smelling from sweating the week prior from PT……….
Speaking of PT. This is my number one hair issue. Prior to me starting my natural journey, I use to wear a low cut. It was permed and I loved it. The sad part about it is, i didn’t think of how much I would sweat or what it would look like after I sweated. I feel that working out and trying to maintain my low cut caused more damage than promoting healthy hair.
It got to a point where I wouldn’t even dry or curl my hair through the week. I would just brush it down and keep it moving until I got home. I started to hate my cut because not only when I started to sweat my hair got wet but when I was in those in between weeks (you know when you go to the salon every two weeks lol) my hair would grow in the back and it was difficult to maintain and keep that hair down.
Naturally when I have a style that I cannot maintain, I revert back to braids. They are my safe haven. I never go wrong with them and they never fail me. One debate they are having now in the military is natural hair styles. Earlier this year there was a navy women kicked out of the navy because she wanted to wear dread locks and they were not authorized. Ironically after they kick her out, they authorized the wear of dreadlocks. If you are interested more this this story.. Click on the MORE link below.
Now I can see both parties issues in the matter…For the navy, they put out their regulations a long time ago and for this sailor to take it upon herself to be a martyr for dreadlocks (because her career died over this) only showed that she couldn’t follow the orders or her organization that were set in place before she even decided to join the navy. In every branch of service we all have our own set of rules and regulations and we may not necessarily agree with them, but we have to follow them because that is what we signed up for.
On a positive note, her standing up for what she believed in encouraged change within the navy. It would be her actions that encouraged the navy to authorized the wear of dreadlocks. I hate to see her career have to suffer because she wanted to inspire change but I am a firm believer in do what you are told!
There are many different hair styles that we are authorized to wear and the navy is way more lenient than the Marine Corps when it comes to different rules and regulations regarding the grooming of females. It just upsets me when people are given a list of options and they still choose one that is not on the page. They want to go against the grain and what this does it foster a bad environment within the military organization because when you see one person do it, then everyone tries it!
That brings me to my next point, which I know I am starting to go off on a tangent lol, it annoys me when people try to take rules and regulations to the next level. For example, hair color has to match your skins complexion. To me, blonde hair on black women does not match our skin tone!
I was in a class and I saw this navy woman with DREADS and they were BLONDE! I was like why! At the time they were not authorized, so in my mind I am like not only are these not authorized but you have the nerves to dye them blonde! She could have at least maintained the style. She had so much new growth. She couldn’t even take the time to re-twist them to make them look neat. In my eyes that I three strikes lol!
<<<Leaves soapbox>>> Lol
http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2014/08/23/navy-kicks-out-black-woman-because-they-hate-her-natural-hair/
Have a blessed week.