When People Take the Conversation Offline #BlackInSeattle

The only thing I love more than running my mouth is the opportunity to run my mouth with new, outgoing people. Yesterday I got the chance to do both when a few of the #BlackInSeattle folks took our twitter conversation offline. We got together at the super cozy Tougo Coffee in the CD (Central District ... look at me sounding like a local lol), and enjoyed lattes and chit chat. It was SO nice to feel like I had an inkling of a social life again. Seriously... just waking up and having some sort of purpose with my day! Praise him...

When opinionated people take the conversation offline

Black Barbershops in Seattle

I never understood how loyal a man was to his barber until my boyfriend and I moved to Seattle. One of the first things on his list of priorities was to find a barbershop to keep him looking clean. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but we managed to find a cool place and I wanted to share with everyone... help make the transition a bit easier and keep those hair lines in tact. Consider this a stepping stone towards finding a barbershop, and not necessarily the end all be all of Seattle barbershops.

Johnny's Barbershop
10101 Greenwood Ave N
Seattle, WA 98133


Details
- Haircuts are $25
- Johnny (the owner) and the Samoan dude (can't recall his name) are his go-to barbers
- Call ahead of time and schedule an appointment
- They don't cut fast, so be sure to set aside about 90 mins for your cut.
- Johnny (the owner) is from New York

"Where are the Black people?" #BlackInSeattle

One of the first questions I asked when heading to the Pacific NW was "where are the black people?" While I wasn't expecting the wonderful black folks of Seattle to fall into my lap, I was determined to get plugged into the black and blogging community to keep my social life (and sanity) in one piece. I reached out to anyone and everyone I knew in real life, or online, to see if they had contacts in Seattle. As of now I've been here 4 months and am still searching for my place.

Yesterday journalist Tonya Mosley began her #BlackInSeattle series on KUOW (the only radio station I listen to in Seattle).  While most people shared similar sentiments that it was challenging connecting with the black community in Seattle (with a black population of 7% it's easy to see why), there were a few that sang its praises. The issue at hand - - Seattle is great for natives, but with large companies like Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon bringing in more and more transplants, it's becoming hard to ignore how seemingly nonexistent the black community is here.

I will probably film a YouTube video about this so I can capture my rant on film lol, but I think my major gripe is that since I work in a traditionally white industry (advertising), it's very hard to be in that environment 9 to 5, and leave work only to be faced with the same reality. Mind you I've worked in advertising in different states across the country. Yes, I get it... I work in a majority white industry. That's another corporate rant... but life in Seattle would be a little sweeter if I could plug into a community of people that could relate. I'm not looking to recreate chocolate city lol, but being new to Seattle I wish there was an established something I could tap into.

On a lighter, more positive note... I was very excited about the twitter discussions and actually found some dope bloggers and other Seattle folks! Here's to hoping it was a push in the more social direction.

If you're black in Seattle, leave comment. Let's hang out! lol...

Operation: Don't Eff Up My New Growth

So... I've decided to "long term transition" my hair back to being 100% healthy and THICK! I've acknowledged the texture changes I experienced due to color, heat, life... who knows what else. Everything, perhaps? But a portion of my hair is comprised of ends that are technically "healthy" (no splits, etc) but thin. I have NO desire to be part of the TWA club, so a long term transition is on the menu. In all honesty, part of me feels a bit silly calling this a long term transition since I've been relaxer free for years now and originally transitioned back in 2009, but alas I want all-over thick hair. I've fallen in love with the thickness of my new growth and for once am my own hair lust.

Where to start? Like most things I just slowly started doing healthier things and then one day decided to actually "title" my new habits. I last colored my hair back in March/April, so all of the growth since then has been color free. I got my Brazilian Blowout last month, but through trial and error know that was never the cause to any permanent hair changes.

For those that are curious, you can check out my previous posts back in 2010 documenting the Brazilian Blowouts I received on freshly big chopped, natural hair... no color, no anything! The growth retention was awesome and I never experienced permanent changes to my texture.

You can also see that fresh off my big chop, and Pre- Brazilian Blowout, the front texture of my curls was always looser than the rest of my hair (picture to the right). It actually looks a little strange... but you know, hair can have a mind of its own!

Anyways, check out the below video to see my official start at documenting my journey. For the style in the video I used various sized  perm rods on flat twists. This was done on stretched hair, not blown out hair. The goal is to phase out the wispy, thinner ends and have thick, solid hair on my entire head.

Where are you on your hair journey?

Big Chop vs Long Term Transitioning?

Brace yourself for this video, because the difference in texture is beyond gnarly. When I first transitioned back in 2009, I lasted about 8 months and then big chopped in early 2010. At the time I was excited to get rid of my relaxed ends, but had NO CLUE how short my hair actually was. I have no desire to have hair that short again, so I've been toying around with the idea of long term transitioning and actually doing a healthy hair challenge.

*sigh*

I'm not one for a hair challenge. The idea just makes me instantly annoyed lol. It's weird, I know. But I've decided that I've tried so many things with my hair... I'm starting to wonder what it'd look like if I made a conscious effort to just simplify my routine and take care of it.

Just to have some balance, I'm not the type that goes OD caring about my hair while the rest of my body goes to shit. I've lost about 15 lbs since last year and since my body/health is progressing nicely, it feels only natural to bring my hair along for the ride.

"Why didn't you listen to your life?" - @Oprah

"Listening to your life as it whispers to you first, so that it does not have to knock you upside the head with a brick or come crashing down you as a brick wall, is one of the greatest principles of life because there are many things that happen in life that are beyond our control. Natural disasters, death, unexplained events. But there are also many, many, many things in life that we can control and become out of control because you're just not paying attention. You are sleepwalking through your life... Life whispers to you all the time. Your life is speaking to you. All around. From the time you wake up in the morning and every single experience that's coming into your personal space, into your physical space. All of those experiences are speaking to you. They're telling you something about your life and about your circumstances. It whispers and if you don't get the whisper, the whisper gets louder. If you don't get the whisper when it gets louder, it gets like a pebble, like a thump upside your head."

Mother Oprah is dropping a few pearls of wisdom. I just love her. She makes my heart swoon.