The BET Music Awards red carpet featured some hits -- and some misses.
The miss, according to the Inanets: Busta Rhyme, because he's swol. Dude had meme after meme comparing his outfit to the Cheesecake Factory bag. I feel bad, because he looks nothing like all those muscles he had some years back.
And, Keke Palmer. Usually, she looks fab and elegant. But no so much this year. Her cutout dress looked ... And she looked uncomfortable, as if someone told her that she should wear a dress that resembled a paper doll dress with major upper thigh cleavage/cut out.
The winners:
Eva Marcille is killin' em in this white gown and simple, understated hair swept to the back.
So, got a chance to see how the "other" half on the West Coast live during a business trip to Los Angeles.
The low humidity was nice. Now I see why so many LA women say they can work the hell out of flat iron. Perfect weather and low humidity = natural hair heaven, LOL!
First time on the west coast. So busy that I barely got out of the car. But I did go by Universal Studios and got a chance to drive through Hollywood and Beverly Hills for a quick minute. Loved it, and now I am even more grateful for my "modest" surroundings in ATL.
Saw a bit of the high-end shopping along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Can you say MONEY? Saw so many high-end interior design shops that my head was spinning, and designers I've never heard of with impressive luxe boutique storefronts. I do wish that I'd had time to do some vintage and resale shopping, but next time.
Oh, and Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche dealerships scattered within walking distance. BAM!
Didn't spot one celeb, but I did drive by Warner Brothers Studios, saw the Forest Lawn Cemetery where the late Michael Jackson rests, and I saw Hollywood iconic spots like Improv, Comedy Store and the Dolby Theatre where many red carpet movie premieres are held. Also saw a cast of zany characters-- folks in costume, dressed like Batman, fairies, and Marilyn Monroe, on the streets of Hollwood, like they were wearing T-shirts and jeans.
Even got to see the Hollywood walk of fame -- what I could see from the car, at least. Never seen so many movie billboards. But I guess I am in Hollywood, right?
Trip to Cali booked, and planning to go to Florida twice this summer. What are your summer plans and how will you wear your natural hair while traveling or on vacation?
Here are some quick travel tips for summer hair:
1. Plan ahead. If you know you will be hitting the beach and doing plenty of outside activities, plan ahead on how you will wear your natural hair. Be realistic, based upon your activities. Braids? Updos? Keep your styling options in mind, and bring plenty of hair accessories, scarves and even wigs if all else fails.
2. Go with the flow. Depending upon your activities -- and the weather -- straight hair may not always be realistic. Model your hairstyles based upon your activities. Hanging at the beach all day? Windsurfing? Swimming. Your hair won't be perfectly in place, and you shouldn't expect it to. Plus, you might be in a place with different weather, humidity and water than back home, so plan accordingly. Now's not necessarily the time to try new stuff, but you never know. New places to buy (a few) new products and why NOT try something a bit different now, when you're not at work, etc.
3. Limit your products. Now is not the time to bring your 50-11 products. No time for PJism. Pare down your products to only the essentials; now is not the time for experimentation and heavy product regimens. Only bring the must haves - conditioner and styler. And don't forget to bring small, trial sized bottles that will pass flight regulations.
Maybe the online petition worked? Blue Ivy Carter unveiled an upswept ponytail in online pictures with her
celebrity parents. Folks high fiving each other that the online
petition to get Beyonce to comb Blue's hair, worked.
Not so sure if they get the credit.
Usually I'm not one to tell folks what they should care and not care about. But I'll say that I'm in my feelings about folks signing an online petition for this -- of a child who is not THEIRS and whom they personally don't have to care for HER hair, and whose condition of HER hair has no effect on them. And yet legitimate petitions that actually DO effect us -- improving education, ending racism and bigotry, setting free the criminally railroaded -- go unsigned.
Folks need to get some "bizness" .. and mind their own!
As filed in the category of, "Are you kidding me?" a Change.org petition, "Comb Her Hair," has surfaced asking Beyonce to change her hair grooming habits as it relates to the pop princesses' two-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.
Wait, what?
Facebook thugging?
Seems that Jasmine Toliver of New York posted this online:
“The parents of Blue Ivy. Sean Carter a.k.a Jay Z and Beyoncé have
failed at numerous attempts of doing Blue Ivy's hair,” the petition,
reportedly created by a New York woman named Jasmine Toliver, reads.
“This matter has escalated to the child developing matted dreads and
lint balls. Please let's get the word out to properly care for Blue Ivy
hair.”
Toliver took to Facebook to defend herself, saying she posted it as a joke, but the online petition has garnered nearly 2,000 signatures. There are petitions for many numbers of things -- to free innocent prisoners, to stop human trafficking, to end racism.
Blue Ivy is the online target of "jokes" about her natural hair
But this?
She's 2. And she's got 2-year old hair! Again, she's 2!
“My joke took off anything I guess with ‘sign a petition’ is funny,” Toliver wrote.
“If I would've said ‘sign a petition to save Lebron James hairline’
that would've took off (too)! It's a clever joke! Nobody came up with
before.”
“My hair (looks) like blue ivy right now except its moisturized and detangled,” she continued.
“Yes I'm natural! Have a seat to most people. I can care less about
Beyoncé or (Jay Z) but I do care for the kids hair. People make nothing
out of something. I love being black! I'm proud my bloodline runs from
Africa. I'm proud of my own tightly coiled kinks. I'm proud of my big
lips and brown skin. People just need to (breathe) and chill out.”
GTRES/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES
It starts early
Since when did the state of a two-year-old child's hair become the subject of an online debate?
Really, folks need to shut the hell up. We are not the folks doing her hair and for all we know, Blue Ivy might cry when it's done.
It's not funny -- not at a child's expense. I don't care if the person is natural. Since when do we start talking about hair "suffering from lack of moisture," as if it's some sort of malady?
Hairstylist and owner of Hair Rules Salon Anthony Dickey told the New York Daily News that it's not funny.
“That’s insane," Anthony Dickey, stylist and owner of Hair Rules salon,
which specializes in textured and curly hair in Hells Kitchen, said.
"That’s insane to think that her hair, as a child - a toddler - is
supposed to fit into a standard of beauty, that’s acceptable for who?
That’s the big question. Who cares? We’re talking about a child here,
and we’re going to now implement a standard of beauty for children?"
"She’s a child with natural hair -- what texture other than natural would you expect a child to be?”
He's right. The whole thing is "insane."
"I think she’s a pretty little girl," Dickey added, about Blue Ivy.
"She doesn’t have naturally straight hair, she has natural curly hair,
and it has the right and free will to go in any direction that it
chooses, and to think it should do anything else - you would be
suggesting a standard of beauty that is supposed to be imposed on a
toddler, and that’s insane.”
The whole thing has started a social media hubub, with folks weighing in on various social media outlets about Blue Ivy's appearance after family photos recently surfaced online earlier this week. Folks damn near testifying about natural hair, texture issues and hair grooming skills and whether Bey should "do "something" with that child's head.
I guess folks expect Blue Ivy to wear a weave, too.
Maybe a quick weave ponytail?
How about braids like her famous momma?
Would that make us happy?
The politics of natural hair and acceptance
The whole thing pulls back an ugly curtain on natural hair, and what is acceptable, even on a young child. It's clear that free flowing natural hair, which Blue Ivy has, is NOT. Black folks are conditioned to believe that, even a child's hair, is presentable only if it's braided, twisted or ponytailed. Anything else is unacceptable. Do SOMETHING with it. It must be DONE -- at all times!
It's why folks will damn near disown you if you let a boy's hair grow in a fro once he reaches one, when Black dogma says it's time for the so-called obligatory haircut. It's why many times Black folks have unrealistic expectations of our hair -- that it should be perfect, not a hair out of place.
And that includes folks who are "natural." Damn if the child swims, is active as hell or has the nerve to play in her hair and doesn't like to get it combed, as many toddlers of any race tend to do.
They don't get the concept of "good enough" hairstyles on a young child, which is usually something that you've managed to pull off in the five minutes they're preoccupied playing with an iPad, between thrusting handfuls of Cheerios in their mouths, or during naptime.
Otherwise, forget it.
Why we shouldn't care about Blue Ivy's hair
Folks been weighing in on this child's hair since the moment Bey popped her out. And her having a fro and free flowing natural hair has only brought out the ugliness, for real.
Let it soak in. Since she was BORN. This child is going to have hair issues listening to all these folks talk about her hair. The real online petition needs to go to parents who are slapping relaxers on two and three-year-olds' heads.
Really, I could give two less than an effs about how the Carters choose to care for THEIR daughter's hair. I'm trying to care for mine. And I'd advise the folks who are all up in their bizness to do the same.
