2007

The Why

I turned 30 a few months ago, and decided that instead of organizing the typical birthday celebration, I would pose for a boudoir photo shoot.  I mean, why not? When I first came up with the idea, the few people I talked to questioned my decision: Why, they asked? Who’s it for? You mean you’re not going to share the images with anyone? Because I can, for me, and no. I’m not sharing them.

Truth is, I’m in the best shape of my life. 6 years ago, I was 20 pounds heavier, 4 sizes bigger, and lazy. Not only was I lazy, I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Let me give you an example. On a given day, I’d drink at least 32 ounces of soda, eat Checker’s french fries, a chicken sandwich, a strawberry shake, full bag of popcorn covered in Parmeasean cheese…I think you get the point. When I took this picture at a lounge in Atlanta, I had no idea how I appeared until I saw it online. No, I wasn’t pregnant.

That was the moment I changed my life, making better decisions about food and exercising.

“Truth is, I’m in the best shape of my life”.

So when my 30th birthday was quickly approaching, I decided that I wanted to celebrate my progress. I reached out to a photographer with whom I’d previously worked and scheduled my boudoir photo shoot with OWN Boudoir Studios (owned by professional photographer Sarah Esther).

Truthfully, I didn’t get nervous until the day of the shoot. I started panicking, wondering if the images would come out well or if I’d made a mistake in scheduling it at all. When my makeup artist Lynette of Beauty Next Door came over to my loft, she helped me feel better. Love her work? Schedule an appointment with her on StyleSeat.

The Shoot

Upon arriving in the midtown studio, I was greeted warmly by Sarah. I immediately felt comfortable, especially when I saw the liquor and light bites she had ready for me. She poured me a drink (stiff, because I didn’t need a chaser) and we chatted while I gained some liquid courage. I changed clothes, and we started the shoot. Throughout the shoot, Sarah helped me feel relaxed. It may sound weird, but I didn’t feel like I was posing in lingerie for the camera. I was so comfortable that I forgot what I was wearing and what I was doing. During the photo shoot, I changed clothes 4 times and posed in various positions.

The After

The images are beautiful.   Classy, yet still sexy. I don’t regret it one bit and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Obviously, I can’t share them all with you. But here are a couple of my favorites.

Have you posed for a boudoir photo shoot before? Would you pose for one?

The post True Confessions: I Posed for a Boudoir Photo Shoot appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

By Tiffany Davis

What Is Locs To Talk About?

Last month, I posted a Save The Date flyer for my upcoming event, Locs To Talk About. It’s going down on Sunday, August 11, 2013 from 2-4 pm in Atlanta, GA at Coze Event Space. Designed to be interactive, Locs To Talk About will feature:

• Hairstyling and demonstrations from International Educator Deshonica Kerrie. 
• Q&A session
• Hair testimonials

What Will It Offer?

If you attend, you’ll get the opportunity to enjoy complimentary food and beverages, giveaways, and gift bags. Yes, every attendee gets a gift bag from my great sponsors.

Ladies, men are invited! Fellas, the ladies will be in the house.

Early bird tickets are on sale now for $10 at locstotalkabout.eventbrite.com. Follow the conversation on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #locstotalkabout.

The post Locs To Talk About! Get Your Tickets Now appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

Very rarely do I attend a natural hair event and do anything besides networking. I’m not throwing shade at anyone, but that’s typically what it’s like for a natural hair blogger.  I’m trying to meet people, take beautiful pictures, get some free natural hair samples and win givewaways. That’s why when I went to the Curly Nikki and Dark and  Lovely event, I was surprised by what happened. I twerked a little something. Yes ya’ll.  In public! At a natural hair event!  I did that.

I took lots of beautiful pictures, but I really and truly got down. I don’t know if it was the good music or the free liquor and delicious appetizers, but I was feeling myself. This was really important since the arrival situation was a mess. Side note: Like several other naturals, I scraped the side window of my car because the entry to valet parking was too narrow and I was trying to avoid hitting any naturalistas!

Were there any giveaways? Not that I could hear. I saw some samples on my way out on top of a table, but I wasn’t interested in snatching any.

But all was forgiven once I start jamming to the music and chatting it up with some fellow curlfriends. Definitely a night to remember!

The post Event Recap: Curly Nikki and Dark And Lovely Curl Power Celebration – Atlanta! appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

Full disclosure. I’m a sucker for a man with locs. Like, don’t pass me by on the street looking fine if you don’t want to get felt up “sucker for locs”. So when I saw this advertisement for Aqua Fahrenheit cologne by Christian Dior with that honey with the light eyes and locs, I was like, whoa! #thatjusthappened

In all seriousness, I thought this ad was a Photoshopped masterpiece.  Kind of, but not quite, like that Gucci Mane news story that was making its way around the web. Could this be real?

Back to the matter at hand. Let me tell you why this Aqua Fahrenheit ad blew my mind.

#1: They used a black man as the main model.

#2: This black man had visible tattoos.

#3:  The black man was pictured with a black woman.

#4: The black man wasn’t bald. He had hair!

#5: The black man wasn’t rocking a close shave but locs! Long locs at that!

#6 (a selfish reason): He was fine.

#7: (Let me repeat that) He was fine.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Often, when black men appear in advertising they fit a very particular image – clean cut or bald, shaven, nondescript, and as non-threatening as possible. Past research suggests that black men are typically associated with certain product categories, like hair products, clothes, shoes, cigarettes, cars. As Bailey argued, depicting the black man in limited contexts (i.e. not in a home or family context) can “feed[] the negative stereotype of the idle African American man, who is “just chillin” (Bailey 2006)

What’s your reaction to this Aqua Fahrenheit advertisement?

By the way, you can purchase Aqua Fahrenheit at Sephora.

References

The post Why This Aqua Fahrenheit Ad Blew My Mind appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

Make that appalled. My first instinct was to ask, who did it and why? Will the creator of this flyer please stand up?

That’s because this flyer is problematic to me on multiple levels.

Let me run down the list of “no, they didn’t(s)”

Problem #1: “excessively curly textured hair” What the hell does that mean?

Problem #2: “get a free paddle brush” WTF am I going to do with a paddle brush? This is reminiscent of the Type F debacle in which videos showcased a woman with an afro using a paddle brush on natural hair. Class, can you spell B-R-E-A-K-A-G-E?

Now, in my humble opinion, this flyer suggests that these brands do not understand their target market. Sure, some naturals press their hair and could use a paddle brush. But do you know any naturals that would call their hair excessively curly textured hair? ‘Cause I sure don’t. Yeah, I’ve heard some people say that their hair is really kinky, hard to manage, nappy, whatever. But if Mizani UK/Toni and Guy are trying to create a new buzzword for the natural hair community in “excessively curly textured hair”, you have failed with a capital “F”.

I have to also confess that I have never heard of Toni and Guy. I checked out the website, and apparently, there are 3 salon locations in the US. Even if a Toni and Guy salon opened in Atlanta, best believe I won’t be letting them touch my locs. No offense, but plastered all over the website is nothing but images of “European” or “Caucasian” women. There was nothing on there to even suggest that they know how to take care of Afro hair. Don’t believe me? Check out their Style Finder gallery.

I checked the Mizani UK Facebook page, and wasn’t surprised to see other people questioning the ad. Here’s what Mizani UK had to say in response:

If you got a consultation at the Toni and Guy salon, I’d love to hear about it.  Share your thoughts below.

What’s your take on this Mizani/Toni and Guy flyer? Fail or win?

The post Who Did It and Why? Mizani UK Flyer Misses The Mark appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

So when my blogger curlfriend Trudy of 4C Hair Chick hit me up about a 30 day challenge for the month of May, I was all for it! Here are the deets.

I’ve got a team of 3 other natural hair bloggers with me on this May Fitness Challenge.

@4cHairChick

@TheSistahChick

@TheCocoNatural

I hope you’ll join me in this FitChick Challenge to improve your mind and body! If you want to join, sign up on Facebook here. I’m taking a stand for better health and well-being. Will you do the same?

Follow our May FitChick Challenge on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! Hashtag #FitChick

The post True Confessions: I Need To Get My Life Together appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

By Tiffany Davis

Day 1 of the Taliah Waajid World Natural Hair, Health, and Beauty Show in Atlanta, GA was crazy! Overstimulation, need some air, water, and a snack crazy. If you attended, you probably know what I’m talking about.

Arrival
My mom and I attended the Taliah Waajid World Natural Hair, Health, and Beauty Show together on Saturday. It was her first time attending the show, and she was a trooper! When we arrived at 10 am, the line to get into the parking lot outside the Georgia International Convention Center was long. But between you and me, I’ve seen it longer for the show. Once we parked the car, we stopped by the will call line to pick up the tickets we paid for in advance. Great! Only 2 people were at the table. Um, not really. The line to pick up will call tickets was probably 125 people deep! Yes, 125 people were in front of us at 10:10 a.m. waiting to pick up tickets! I definitely thought that by buying in advance I could avoid the ticket debacle of last year. Not so much. #fail

After waiting for about 35 minutes to pick up our tickets, we finally made it into the show.

The show
Once we got into the show, the 11 am crowd was relatively thin and calm. I took my mom around to the Oyin Handmade booth and picked up two bottles of Juices N Berries for myself and 1 Greg Juice for my male co-worker. After that, we stopped by the Taliah Waajid booth and I picked up the hair oil for my co-worker ($5!) and the entire Black Earth line ($30)! While my mom rested for awhile at the Taliah Waajid booth, I snapped a few pictures of event attendees. I even had the chance to meet Jasmine Lawrence of EDEN BodyWorks in person after picking up some Peppermint Tea Tree Oil. You may remember, I interviewed her for the blog but we’d never met in person. She was sweet, humble, and very welcoming.

Random news

For a couple of months now, I’ve been corresponding via email and phone with Chimere Norris, editor and co-founder of Naturally Happy Hair Magazine. Read her and co-founder Crystal Knight’s interview with Natural Hair in the Media here. At the hair show this past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet her in person. She was so cool, easy-going, down-to-earth, my kind of people! Since she’s from Houston, I introduced her to some bloggers and entrepreneurs based in Atlanta. We had fun that day and later at the Natural Girls Rock Anniversary Party.

All in all, I’m glad my mom and I were able to experience this event together. I definitely left drained, with less money in my pockets, and more products on my shelf. I saw some great hairstyles and networked with some really cool people.

For more pictures, check out this Facebook gallery.

If you attended, share your thoughts and comments below. What booths did you visit? Who did you meet?

The post Event Recap: Spring 2013 Taliah Waajid World Natural Hair, Health, and Beauty Show appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

Taliah Waajid

It’s that time again! If you’re in the Atlanta area this weekend for the Taliah Waajid World Natural Hair, Health & Beauty Show, I’ve written a post that provides some suggestions on how to prepare. Here’s one tip: prepare a list of booths to visit. You can check it out over at Kinky Curly Coily Me. If you’ll be at the show, let us know!

The post The Taliah Waajid World Natural Hair Show – My Latest Post on Kinky Curly Coily Me! appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

By Tiffany Davis

When a rapper casts a woman with dope natural hair in his video, I stand up and pay attention. Take, for example, the Dead Prez video “The Beauty Within”. It starts with “Dedicated, not to America’s  top model, but to the natural girls right next door”.

Love it.

For weeks now, I’ve been hearing Wale’s latest single “Bad” on the radio. I liked the beat and would find myself shoulder-dancing in my cubicle. Am I the only person that does that? Until yesterday, I’d never bothered to watch the video. (Side note: gone are the days when I used to rush home from school to watch TRL. Does that still come on tv?) When I caught the video on YouTube, I was so excited (probably too excited) to see a woman with a dope fro in his video. Now, the good fairy on my left shoulder wants to simply highlight the appearance of natural hair in this video: Yes, this woman AND her hair are simply beautiful. But the evil fairy on my right shoulder is questioning why the natural chick wasn’t the main feature in this video. By the way, my pretend fairies both have natural hair kind of like Disney’s Iridessa character.

Source: Disney

What do you think? Beggars can’t be choosers? Or are you wondering when natural women will become the main chick in rap videos?

The post Wale “Bad” Video Shows Natural Hair Love appeared first on Natural Hair in the Media.

The 4 black female entrepreneurs behind Techturized are revolutionizing the haircare industry! For more background on the founders and their vision, check out this interview.

As one of Techturized‘s supporters, I was invited to a special launch party. The party kicked off their crowdfunding campaign “Support Madame You”.  I was honored to attend this event held at Hypepotamus in the ground level of the Biltmore. This past Friday night, I arrived at the venue a little “tardy for the party”, but still present. The space, although small, was perfect for the number of attendees. I was pleasantly surprised to find complimentary food, drinks, dessert, and a dj. There was even a donation set-up for easy giving. Here’s Trudy of 4C Natural Hair Chicks making her donation.

The excitement was electric as the 3 founders in attendance gave us a sneak peek of their new online hair community, Madame You.
If you have natural hair, or are thinking of going natural, this is a great place for you to customized hair product and styling recommendations.

Don’t they look fabulous? Candace is rocking a custom print dress from Shifts by Jazzmynn. 

I snapped this picture of the 3 founders. From left to right, Jess, Candace, and Chanel.

Donate at http://igg.me/at/supportMadameYou to bring science and technology to hair care.

Jazzmyn of Shifts by Jazzmyn and my good friend, Tricia

Trudy and Chanel

Me (Tiffany) and Tricia

3 of the founders toasting

I encourage you to give what you can to support this movement by Techturized! Every little bit helps.

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