And my final thoughts on African "hairitage"!

Ok, confession time ladies.

Hands up if you’ve ever had a weave. I know you can’t see me but trust me I’m waving my arms frantically right about now!

The thing about weaves is this: everybody knows it’s not your hair so my question is - why do we still do it to ourselves?! As a friend of mine responded, “I bought it, so when I’m asked if it’s my hair, the answer is hell yes!”

Seriously, I have yet to meet a male who likes them and as much as we do these things for ourselves, let’s face it – most of us like a bit (or a lot, depending on who you are) of male attention!

Weaves remind me of that old nursery rhyme by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. I can’t remember the whole thing but the line I’m talking about is

“when she was good she was very, very good, but when she was bad she was horrid!”

That has to sum up weaves for me – when they’re done well they are stunning, but when they’re done badly........... SMH!

I feel a Fashion Police moment coming on and want to post pics of bad and good weaves but I’ll resist the temptation. Suffice it to say I am eternally grateful to the designers of lace front wigs and micro weaving and would really like to ban synthetic if it were in my power!

I’m not going to go into the ins and outs of what you should do and how but please, for all our sakes follow this chick on Twitter and she’ll sort you out!

What I really find interesting is why we all love weaves so much in the first place -the whole psychology of “good hair”. Go watch the Chris Rock movie if you haven’t already. Nuff said!

I know I should embrace my ethnicity and love who I am.......but sometimes I want to be able to toss my locks and have my hair blow in the wind dammit!

I’ve decided to give up on the weave for now and am back to the tried and tested chemical violation of my hair also known as perming.

I must admit, of all the hair we’ve talked about, I know this style suits me best but dang, it’s hard work! I’m pretty sure my stylist will soon be buying a brand new Range Rover Sport straight from the showroom based on my payments alone. Between the treatments, the colour, the blow drying, the flat ironing, the wrap setting, the tonging and all the rest it’s actually surprising I have any hair left!

But what to do - I love the look!

So what look are you sporting at the moment?

African "hairitage"

So today I’m on a Chris Rock “Good Hair” trip! I’m pretty sure it’s a matter that you all have an opinion about – black girl hair. Why, oh why, is it so hard to handle?! Tell me you haven't had similar experiences! You’re hanging out on a hot day by the pool and it seems like the best idea in the world to just jump in and go for a dip.....

Unfortunately, African hair doesn’t always come in “wash and wear”! I love swimming, but I haven’t spontaneously jumped into a pool in oh.....ten years or more! Mainly because my hair is permed

I was explaining it to one of my friends who doesn’t have the same problem (she has blonde Sunsilk hair!). So I go swimming, my hair gets wet. No biggie, right? Just jump in the shower, wash and let it dry. WRONG!!!

Once it gets wet, then I have to wash it, treat it with intensive conditioning, blow dry it, flat iron or set it on rollers and then style it.........who has the energy?! And by the way, I never get results remotely as good as my stylist does!

So........what’s a girl to do? Well over the course of many years I’ve experimented with it all – blowouts, locks, weaves, braids, perms, natural crop: you name it, I’ve probably tried it!

I loved the ease of my blowout, natural crop and locks. Literally I’d just get up in the morning and go. The only problem with the blowout was that it didn’t translate into elegance very well. Natural hair is pretty basic at best. I must say though that it took colour really well and the short cropped look was great for showcasing bold jewellery. So if you’re a girl who likes simplicity and huge earrings, then a blowout or natural crop would be perfect for you.

The locks were also a great choice – I opted to get mine washed and twisted weekly in the beginning as I wasn’t sure how long I’d like to keep them. Turns out it was a good idea – I only lasted about 3 months. My issue with them was that they’re a lifetime (or at the very least long-term) commitment – and I get bored really quickly! I like to switch up my look so the permanence of locks was kind of scary. If you’re the kind of girl that can commit long-term and wants something low maintenance, though, then this is the option for you!

My girl does great updates on hair and beauty, so follow her on Twitter to keep updated!