somewhere in america gorgeous muslim women wear hijabs

Listen to an interesting discussion re: this video via NPR, here.

'cut your dreadlocks or you're fired'

photo: via NewsOne

via News One: Here we go again, this time in St. Peters, MO, where Tower Loan, two months after hiring Ashley Davis (pictured), implemented a new corporate policy, with new mandates having to do with grooming.  She is to cut her dreadlocks, which she has worn for ten years, by Friday, or lose her job.
Let's go, Post-Racial-America!
Read more here.

qu'ality - "na-tu-ral"

dustin hoffman on beauty & tootsie

#iheartdustinhoffman   (via themarysue)

keri & yara shahidi on beauty

extra! extra! black girls still confusing fashion world!

Well, well, well.  If it ain't just the fashion industry at it again, wrestling, in 2013, with what to do with women of color.  Here's today's lineup:

• Jourdan Dunn says she was booted from the Dior show because of her breasts.

“I’m normally told I’m cancelled because I’m ‘coloured’ so being cancelled because off my boobs is a minor : ) “ (the Grio)

 Maybe it's just me.  Maybe this is just a form of progress I'm slow to feel.

 Then there's Malaika Firth! Malaika Firth!:  It's big news that Prada is using a black model in a print campaign for the first time in 19 years. (theGrio).  Aaaaaaand here she is:

Now, everything is gorgeous, okay? The image, the model, the clothes, everything.  And yes, I know that we (black people) come in myriad skin tones, so I'm in no way questioning her blackness or anything like that when I say that I had to double back to the headline to make sure I had clicked on the right article once I saw the photo.  Prada, please.  Talk to me when we're at least half way to Alek Wek, mm-kay?

But the silver lining?  Over at Versace, Naomi Campbell didn't just own that runway with her famous walk last night, she straight up defied her age, according to The Daily Mail:

Wow, um, my brain is tired from all this, so let's recap:

• Black girl, it's not the color of your skin this time, it's your boobage that isn't right.
• Black girl, yea, you, the one who is lighter in skin tone than a lot of white girls, yea you, you're the one.  And more importantly, that makes us progressive.
• Black girl, you still here? Still looking this good?  Something isn't right here.  Oh, and that's a compliment. You're welcome.

I need a nap.

riley elle's cutest twist out tutorial ever

Saw this on Clutch, and promptly melted...

See? Melted.

you can touch my hair

Well... not MY hair.  Not unless I know you and we're that close.  Or I barely know you and the vibe somehow makes me feel amenable to the idea.  Depends.  On so much.  See, I'm torn on this.  While I don't want to feel like a petting zoo animal, a healthy and ongoing conversation about hair can serve as a bridge towards cross cultural understanding, right?  And isn't understanding what we want in the end?

There are no easy answers in this realm, which is why I'm intrigued by You Can Touch My Hair, an interactive public art exhibit being held by the folks at Un'ruly, in New York City, during which "...strangers from all walks of life will have the welcomed opportunity to touch various textures of black hair." (Un'ruly)

Where+When: Union Square, June 6th 2-4pm and June 8th 2-4pm

With all the buzz and the "hell no" commentary I've noticed on facebook about the exhibit, I'm gonna need to at least take a peak at what happens.  You?

tina turner covers german vogue

Yessss! Seeing this today over at Clutch put a much needed smile on my face.
Kweli I. Wright says it's about time, and points out some interesting tid bits about the history of Vogue magazine covers and models of a certain age  (Tina Turner is 73): 

"Meryl Streep was American Vogue’s oldest cover girl at 62, so this just might make Miss Tina the oldest Vogue cover star of all time." (Clutch)

Ah yes, the old ageism beast ... Although in the case of a force of nature like Tina Turner, I feel like Vogue is fortunate to have her grace its cover, at any age.  Not to suggest an adversarial stance on the story.  Just sayin', it's Tina Turner.  She BEEN transcending age, beauty standards, all'a dat, for decades:

just a band - if i could

zoe saldana as nina simone...mm-mm

I finally saw the pictures of Zoe Saldana made up to play the role of Nina Simone.  I'd stayed away from the story and accompanying images, thinking everyone probably needed to relax a bit, and open their minds; thinking that this, like most other headlines, would calmly fade away once folks found the next thing to get upset about.  But Saldana's recent reaction to the backlash that came after she was announced as Mary J. Blige's replacement in the film, brought the story back through my Reader along with this particularly jarring image:

             photo:Coqueran/FameFlynet Pictures; Michael Putland/Getty Images

 My eyes can't believe that this is the best way to bring a likeness of Nina Simone to the screen.  It's unsettling, because  if you know Nina Simone's story and understand her impact, you know that her appearance, her dark skin, her natural hair, her broad features,  all of how she looked can not be separated from how her story is told.  We can love and respect Zoe Saldana all we want but we can't hide (especially not with these pictures floating around) that her being cast in this role is like a mirror being held up to a society (or a Hollywood) that still isn't ready to really see Nina Simone.

I feel bad (but only a little) for Ms. Saldana as she is the colorism poster girl in the middle of all this brouhaha, and she's being called upon to speak about it.  To be fair, we haven't even seen the film yet and she's pretty much under attack.  But she handles herself, as always, with poise and grace:

(via Clutch)



Far be it for me to try and tell her who she is, or what Nina Simone means to her, but as far as I'm concerned, Uptown Magazine is spot on:

"Casting someone to play Nina Simone who does not look like Nina Simone greatly dilutes her story and undermines her strength.  Had Zoe been born back then, she and Nina would have had very different life experiences because of the way they look.  Nina couldn’t pass.  She didn’t have the societal advantage of light skin or fine hair to ease the road a little bit.  And it was the pride she took in that that made her such a subversive figure.  She didn’t try to make herself palatable to mainstream society.  She didn’t bleach her skin or get a nose job.  She was unapologetically her natural black self, in visage and in politics, and that is where her power lied." (Uptown)

What do you think?  Will you be seeing this film?

stopplayinwitme! they will rob you of your locs in johannesburg.

photo: ellis peters

Okay. New Series: Stopplayinwitme! It's the way I seem to react to things I find shocking in any way. It just flies out of my mouth, as it did when I read this story over at Clutch. Walk with me: The headline "Hair Theft: Cut-and-Run Robberies Target People with Locs in South Africa"  (Hunh?) ... It went on to talk about how people with long locs are being attacked and robbed of their hair on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa, shorn with broken glass and what not; how the demand on the black market has locs selling for $200 to $2,000 rand. ... (What?) By the time I got to:

“I’m even afraid of walking through town with my locs loose especially at night. I make sure I cover my head. It is scary because you never know what they will use to cut your hair — these people are ruthless.” (Clutch)

I was like  Stopplayinwitme! 
Read the whole story here.
Just saying, on any given day, even today in 2013 U.S.A., at any given time, there's a dreadlock-wearing woman wondering if it was the hair, since everything else seemed to have gone so well at the interview (not that she would change anything about the hair; she just wonders).
Thoughts? 

the coiffure project

Ladies and gentlemen, The Coiffure Project by Mr. Glenford Nunez.  

You ready?

 

more here...

third root x dj chicken george - so beautiful