Finding My Hair Inspiration

In an effort to appease my vanity, I've decided the first goal I'll post about will be about...hair!!! My beloved, afro-ed hair...what to do, what to do. Let's assess...

Um, yeah. I technically have been natural my whole life, but I never knew my hair texture because it was always braided up or pressed out when I was a little girl. When I turned 13, I begged, cried and screamed for a perm...only to receive it and beg, cry and scream when all my hair broke off. What was once super long and super luxurious hair was now truncated at my collar bone by the time I was a sophomore in high school. At the wise age of 15 1/2 (yes, a whopping 2 1/2 years later), I informed my mom she could cancel my standing touch-up appointments at J.C. Penney because I was "growing my perm out".

And so my journey began.

5 1/2 years later, I'm still natural and still loving it, but I can't deny that I've sunk into a total rut. What's both wonderful and dangerous about natural hair is that you can literally wake up and go. I'm a college student, so "wake up and go" is essential. Couple that with being in a serious relationship where you feel you don't have to "impress anybody anymore" and you have arrived at my intersection—dry, no style, mediocre hair.

Luckily for me, turning 21 has renewed my passion to find my "inner grown woman", so my former, haphazard 'fro just seems very unacceptable now. Though I now know what I don't want, the key is focusing on what I do want. We return to principle #1 of Think and Grow Rich where Napoleon Hill states that you have to fix in your mind exactly what you desire. I'm cheating a little bit because the following looks aren't exactly what I desire, but the inspire and invoke the presence that I think I'm going for.

Wayna!!! I love soul music and I get mistaken to be Ethiopian a lot, so Wayna is my Ethiopian-born, soul singer alter ego. Though her hair is straight here, Wayna is natural and rocks a curly look on a lot of her older promo pics. Surprisingly though, I like Wayna better with straight hair. It's healthy, long, and dark and I would love to at least to have the option to wear my hair like this whenever I felt like it. My hair is not nearly this long or this healthy, but it could be...


Tracee Ellis Ross!!! This wouldn't be a proper post about natural hair without mentioning Tracee! Her hair inspires black women worldwide and I am certainly no exception. My boyfriend always makes fun of the fantasy friendship I've developed with her in my head...she is so cool. I love her hair and her style.


Teyana Taylor, of Super Sweet 16 fame. I know the "authenticity" of this chicks hair is constantly called into question, but for a 17 year old, I'm sorry, she's fly. Her hair is gorgeous! I love it and I want it asap...

After going over my hair inspirations, I think the key things to note are length, volume, and color. All of these women have big, long, loosely curled, dark hair...and that's what I want. Just how will I attain this fabulous hair? Stay tuned for my next post on second principle of T&GR...planning!