The Best Flat Iron?

When asking celebrity hair stylist Chaz Dean if there were any flat irons he'd recommend using on her hair, he simply responded "No" (1:50 mark). He explained that it's the high heat that's so damaging and if the flat iron would burn our skin it'd also burn our hair.

Of course there are safer ways to use heat on our hair but I feel like most people are looking for a magic wand response. A magical flat iron they can use consistently without experiencing any damage... a conditioning treatment that makes their locks brand new again... a secret serum that grows hair out faster... our society is obsessed with quick fixes... but I think we get better results when we make the investment in learning how to care for our hair properly and yield the long term results we'd like.

*sidebar: Jeff Lewis (my favorite ocd interior designer/real estate guru) redesigned Chaz's California salon. It's really nice.

Summer Weave: Time for a cut

This past Friday I headed to my amazing stylist Kim Allison @ the Apricot Lounge Salon to get my hair layered. I liked my weave before but after she worked her magic I fell in love with it! I have a full face and needed some soft layers to remove a bit of the bulk from the weave (though I only used about 4 ounces of hair) and frame my face.

Might I also add that I'm in love with my closure!!! I didn't understand how important the closure was for a full weave. For anyone that's curious, I have the Extensions-Plus Zig Zag Natural Body closure in style 1, size small.

I was cool before the cut but now I'm absolutely smitten! For all of my fellow summer weave wearers I'm glad to have joined the club!

**and someone asked me if I was still natural and I must clarify that wearing a weave does not mean that my natural hair has changed. It's braided up underneath this amazeballs weave lol... **

Dream Hair

I came across this picture of Keri Hilson on YBF and I fell in love... with her HAIR!!! This is the epitome of my dream hair. I love the different lengths, the color, the way it looks like polished bedroom hair! I think this is the hairstyle that will be on deck for my birthday. I'm obsessed with it! lol...

Do you have a hair obsession?

Wake up, Mr. West...

Lately it looks like Kanye West has boycotted hair cuts. He's been looking, well...."rough" would be putting it nicely. My friend wrote a hilarious open letter to Mr. West's hair. The original can be found here (He also has a funny open letter to Sarah Palin and Facebook)

Dear Kanye West’s Hair:

Would you please tell the person with whom you share DNA to taper you down? No samples will be necessary … yet. But we, his fans, want to help in any way possible. We all understand that he’s been through a lot in the last year or so. The album 808s & Heartbreak aside, nothing has said that better than you, his hair.

For the last six months, I’m pretty sure you’ve been screaming at him for the shears the way a dusty car would be yelping at its owner for a wash. To no avail. The problem is that Kanyeezy thinks he can do no wrong. He earnestly believes he “could stand there in a Speedo, and be looked at like a (bleeping) hero.” Those are his words, not mine. And that’s some serious false hope.

I wish that Icould tell him that you, his hair, look as bad as a baby with diarrhea smells. If he literally wants to be “the (poop) and the urine,” so be it. But I don’t think it’s a sound idea, and I think we, his fans, have the man’s best (public) interests at heart. He’s my favorite rapper. I want him to succeed.

But it’s tough when all I can do is shake my head when I see him on television. Seriously, you were at the Grammy Awards with him. You know what you two looked like on stage with Wayne, Jay, T.I. and M.I.A. (Lord, I don’t have the brain capacity to comprehend why that woman was on that stage looking like a pregnant ladybug ready for her water to break). Can you make sense of the debauchery that is Kanye’s head? Did you even try to stop him or try to talk him into putting on a hat or a comb through you before he hit the stage?

It’s hard to support a man known for being clean cut when he openly decides that wants to be the Black Shaggy from Scooby Doo. It would be different if he was Anthony Hamilton, and if you were a part of that soulful image. That would be acceptable. Kanye is supposed to be the preppy, smart aleck rapper who keeps that fresh taper consistent. But you, Kanye’s hair, are just a danger to the black man who potentially thinks you are a good non-haircut.

I know you have little control, and I don’t know what to tell you to do. I guess I’d suggest that you just keep screaming as loud as possible in the morning so that when Kanye looks at the man in the mirror you startle him so much that he sees glimpses of Michael Jackson about 30 years ago. That should scare him into the barber’s chair. I hope.

Sincerely,

Dame (definitely not Dash)

City Life...

*Originally posted on 7/6/08 on my myspace blog*

I've been adjusting back to the city life in Chicago! I absolutely love being here...and despite the good days, bad days, and cloudy days...things are great! I start my new job tomorrow with a publishing company downtown and am excited! So, like always, I keep my sidekick handy to jot down any blog topic ideas that cross my mind!

1. Thongs - - are sometimes necessary! Walking arond the city I am beyond disappointed to see the vast amount of panty lines. PANTY LINES! People..this is 2008, damn near 2009, and there is NO reason to jet around town with visible panty lines...an ever present reminder that yes, we can ALL see your underwear riding their way up your cheeks...moments away from permanently wedging in your ass!

2. This must stop: Hanging onto "non-quality" hair just to be the girl with the long hair...but you're really the girl with the scraggly, damaged hair! The girl that everyone notices NOT for your luscious locks...but instead your fried, split ends...that girl that makes you cock your head in a 45 degree angle, squint your eyes and ponder WHY in the world doesn't she just cut her hair and look fabulous!

3. While I was at the DMV getting a state ID...my eyes were bombarded with so many fashion choices...gone TERRIBLY wrong! I have to say that the fashion free for all that was displayed at the DMV was none other than a hot ass mess!...sometimes a dress code...or uniforms...are not a bad thing! I'm all about being unique and rocking your own personal style, but your loud shirt, hair style, 10 inch long overly designed nails, etc...are just making everyone's eyes throb...and it doesn't make the waiting time go any better!

4. Neck tattoos...never a good decision! I don't feel it's necessary to expound on this, but unless you're Diddy...you should NOT get a neck tattoo. They aren't professional, cute, or..well, they aren't anything good at all! Just leave the neck tattoo thing alone!