Welcome Swatch Queens,

Today’s post is a bit different, it deals with fashion but most importantly CULTURE. For as long as I can remember I’ve wrapped my hair to keep my straightened hair straight for the next day. It always consisted of a piece of fabric of some sort to hold my doobie in place as I slept. This type of maintenance was part of my upbringing, from the moment I styled my own hair. It is just as iconic as the salon I went to every week located on Myrtle Ave and Broadway in Brooklyn to get my weekly wash and set. Through relocation I quickly became aware of cultural differences, most European salons I’ve been to didnt offer wash and sets and only offer blow outs for almost three times the cost and forget about explaining how to wrap my hair, it was a foreign language. I was home sick ( I missed Brooklyn ), the diversity, my community, my sense of self. With change comes adaptation so I basically figured it out and rode that wave and gave blow outs a try and highlights, ect.. while I do them occasionally I never forget my African and Hispanic American owned salons that slayed my hair. 

Now older I dont really bother with my hair as I did in my early 20’s, lately I give myself goals I try to meet, as a hair protective style and to keep me from heat damaging my hair I let my hair air dry, which then escalated to less flat ironing it which eventually lead to me rocking my infamous pineapple bun ( what I call it ) for the whole enitre summer. YASSS I DID THAT!!!  It was total liberation for me, It was a job to constantly blow dry, flat iron and wrap my hair. It consumed most of my time to the point I didnt believe my hair wasnt beautiful unless I wore it pin straight. Total misconception on my part. But with age comes wisdom, which is where I am today. This past  January 17, 2017 the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day to be exact I had an epiphany that I a woman who identifies herself as a diverse individual, a woman who is raising bi-racial children isn’t celebrated enough, that the month of February ( Black History Month ) and June ( Hispanic Month ) just isnt enough for me.  So to bring cultural awareness to those that surround me on a daily I rocked head wraps, turbans, scarves, any type of fabric I had on deck it was on my head, including African fabric my cousin got me for my birthday. Thanks Alicia!!! At first I got occational stares, but for the most part I got alot of inquires as to how I twisted the fabric, if I did it myself. I even got compared to Ms. Alicia Keys and Carmen Miranda, while both ladies are legendary and its quite the compliment I am me and no one’s replica. 

As the days quickly went by it was the end of February and I had once again set another successful goal which I completely slayed. I went 42 days with my hair tied up and wrapped in a head wrap. The head wrap, head rag, head tie or turban however you identify it was originated in Sub- Saharan Africa, during slavery white overlords made it mandatory that slave women wear a rag on their heads as a sign of enslavement. We later on interpreted the head wrap as resistance of others defining us, it is our CULTURAL IDENTITY.  No one’s culture should be discriminated against, nor should we be insensitive to things we do not understand culturally. I now understand that beauty literally is from within, that having straight hair doesn’t automatically equals beautiful, that being diverse and accepting your roots brings cultural awareness.  

My head wraps are equivalent to a Queen’s Crown. Proud to be Afro-Latina!!!

Until The Next One

Stay Woke and Fashionable 

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