HairBoutique Blog

At the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York this week, a panel, which included Essence’s beauty editor Mikki Taylor and legendary makeup artist Sam Fine, discussed findings from a new study by Essence Magazine that African-American women may spend close to $8 billion dollars a year on beauty products and cosmetics but still can’t aren’t satisfied with the offerings.

(Image of Viola Davis - PR Photo - All Rights Reserved).

According to the results of the study, a lack of really effective products in their marketplace, results in African-Americans spending 80 percent more on cosmetics and skin care products because they are not satisfied with the results on their skin.

Other results of the Essence Magazine study indicated that African-American consumers are unhappy with the limited number of black role models utilized in beauty campaigns compared to the dozes of celebs used to sell cosmetics and beauty brands to Caucasians.

Currently Halle Berry and Beyoncé are two of the primary African-American role models utilized for selling hair, cosmetics and related beauty products. (more…)

Google News recently reported an interesting case of a bullet being stopped by a bullet.

A Kansas City woman with a tight weave got shot at by her boyfriend through a car window. Later, the cops find a spent bullet in her hair. Did the hair stop it?

Apparently some weaves are tighter than others. After 20-year-old Briana Bonds told her boyfriend Juan she didn’t love him anymore, he shot up the back of her mid-’90s Pontiac. The rear windshield was shattered, but she was still alive and without major injury, possibly thanks to that weave. (more…)

That’s a very good question but you won’t find Chris Rock giving his opinion.  The comedian was recently interviewed by The Wall Street Journal about his newly released documentary with the title Good Hair.  A lot has been written about Chris and his Sundance film because it had such a personal beginning.

(Image of Chris Rock - DailyCeleb.com - All Rights Reserved).

Chris Rock decided to do the film after his daughter came to him in tears because of her own hair.

When the Wall Street Journal directly asked Chris if he thought First Lady Michelle Obama relaxed her hair he refused to give his opinion other than to say “please, I’m not playing hair police.  I think it (her hair) is beautiful, but I’m not going to speculate.  Michelle Obama is not getting a hair critique from me.  I can just see the press conference now — it would be a disaster.  There’s no way I’m ruining my invite to The White House. (more…)

Sundance is in full swing and some fabulous films are getting lot of attention.  One of them is the film ‘Good Hair’ from Chris Rock directed by Jeff Stilson.

The basis of the 95 minute film?  When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?†the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head!

Director Jeff Stilson’s camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture.

An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people.

You may wonder why Chris went to India but a key element to the African American hair culture is hair weaves and the hair might originate in an Indian temple.

Chris compiled a list of impressive celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughter’s question.

What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community and little Lola’s question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.

I think it’s great Chris has made this film but it’s hard to believe he could even scratch the surface in just 95 minutes.

US Documentary Feature Films
U.S.A.,  2009, 95 mins., color

Director(s):
Jeff Stilson
Screenwriter(s):
Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Lance Crouther, Chuck Sklar
Executive Producer:
Nelson George
Producers:
Chris Rock, Kevin O’Donnell, Jenny Hunter
Cinematographer:
Cliff Charles
Editors:
Paul Marchand, Greg Nash
Music:
Marcus Miller

I always believe in giving credit where credit is due.  For this topic I draw on my time at Velma B’s Beauty Academy where I attended.

I loved my time at Velma B’s so much.  Velma B’s is a cosmetology college but offers a specialty in natural hair care, braiding, locks and other similar hair styling techniques.  My original goal in attending Velma B’s Beauty College was to learn about braiding.

(Image of Whoopi Goldberg wearing Hair Locks - Nickelodeon’s 19th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards Arrivals - 04-01-06 - DailyCeleb.com - All Rights Reserved).

While I was there I picked up some info on locking and traditional natural hairstyles.

Also, one of my all time favorite books is Everything You Need To Know About Hairlocking - Dread, African & Nubian Locks - by Nekhena Evans.  Awesome book and so informative.  Every time I reread this book I get even more inspiration. (more…)