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Natural Celebs: The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira

By Tenisha Mercer
www.HairNista.Blogspot.com

Actress Danai Gurira's chic TWA
Photo Credit: Jennifer Graylock/FilmMagic

On the hit cult show "The Walking Dead," actress Danai Gurira (she plays the character, Mishon) sports a loced wig for her role in the comic book series. But in real life, the actress often wears a signature chic low natural cut.

Natural Hair Pic of the Day

This is one GORGEOUS picture! That blonde, tho! --Source

Natural Hair Pic of the Day

Beautiful picture! Source

Natural Hair Pic of the Day



Fave color -- Source



Natural Hair Pic of the Day

Love this pic! Source

Natural Hair Pic of the Day



Black skin is the absolute best canvas! Source



HairCrush Fridays

Be featured on HaiCrush Fridays! Send a pic of your swag hairstyle to hairnista.blogspot.com. Enjoy the natural hair pics found online, from blkgirlsrock.tumblr.com.

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One-sided fro hawk

DeAngelo looks so much like a grown ASS (emphasis added!) man with this twist out! Yaay for his comeback!

Twist out fiercness in bronze

Twist out diva

Twist out, messy fierceness

                                                                          Massive FRO

Natural Plus-Size Model Philomena Kwao Wins National Modeling Contest in U.K.

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I don't usually get too hyped on model news, and no, this isn't an America's Next Top Model rehash.

But I'm glad that Brit Philomena Kwao, 22, won a UK national search for the new face of the high street fashion chain Evans. Kwao, of Ghanian descent, has also been in clothing ads and in spreads in Cosmo.  She also has a top modeling contract with Models 1, which has represented Naomi Campbell and other top models like Linda Evangelista and Claudia Schiffer.

And, did I mention she's natural? Naturals, represent!

The Bristol University economics grad, international health management grad student and self-described "geek" is stunning, whether sporting  her trademark faded hairstyle or rocking a weave. Though some have dubbed her the UK's first "Black plus-size pin up," I like that Kwao doesn't emphasize beauty over brains.


“I hope to use this as a platform by which I can hopefully empower girls and young women like myself.," said Kwao, quoted in the Daily Mail via Coco and Creme. I also want to be a figurehead for young girls today who sometimes may become disillusioned by ‘the glamorous lifestyle. I want to show them that you can really do it all if you try; that is to pursue your dreams, whatever they maybe and get an education. Your education doesn’t have to suffer! I also want to help spread the message that there is beauty in everything: every shape, colour, size, and height … whatever. We are all beautiful.”

Curvy Models To The Rescue?
Kwao,who is a size 16, is among a wave of "curvier" models who  have recently begun to grace magazine spreads and runways. Though designers have for years of focused on size 0 and 2 models, they have begun to rethink their so-called "heroin chic" look  and we've begun to see models with slightly more realistic bodies.

Though what the modeling industry calls "plus-size" a lot of times really isn't; it's just average.

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What do you think? Do you think that more designers are embracing "curvier" models? Are more natural models next?

Is There Ever Such A Thing as Too Much Hair?

Largest afro according to Guiness, but how can she see?

For some naturals, the focus is all about length -- mid-back, waist length, butt and hip length hair.

But at what point is too much? At what point is too much length or hair a bad thing?

So many hair sites and forums "ooh" and "aah" the longer the natural hair. I sometimes wonder how well-known naturals with long hair icons like Cipriana and Sara manage with their hair. It's got to take hours to wash, detangle and style -- a routine that you have to do all over again in the next few weeks or so, depending upon your washing schedule. And these aren't heat trained naturals with flat ironed or press hair, naturals with twist outs, fros, braid outs and clouds of kinks that are probably prone to SSKs and tangles.

When Is it Too Much?

I think about all of that hair and I get tired just thinking about it. That's why some naturals swear off length like it's the plague. They want length, but manageable length that won't take all day to wash, comb, dry and style. So they forego super long hair for just long hair.

I get it. I've seen a few pictures on natual hair blogs of hair that totally overwhelms all facial features; all you see is hair. That's never been my M-O. For me, hair should compliment, not hide, your facial features. I never want to "hide" behind  my hair.


Yet, for others, length is the ultimate quest.

But if you're complaining about how long your wash day and regimen takes now at shoulder length, can you imagine how much it will take when your hair is waist length? Or, how much more products you'd use?

Would You Make the Sacrifice?

That's why some naturals skip length; it simply takes too much time. That's part of the reason why I cut my hair off in 2006. I'd had enough of hair, and doing my two young daughters' hair. So I cut mine all off. Like shaved off.

Today, my daughters are old enough to maintain their own hair. As of late last year, they've been getting their hair professional styled so I rarely touch it. Six years late, my hair has grown back -- and then some.

But I sometimes miss how easy it was to maintain my hair back then when it was just short curls -- not a lot of product, no fussing over deep conditioners, and not a lot of time spent detangling. True wash-and-go hair.

Short Hair As A Preference

Short hair, for most of us, is a choice -- a choice that I will probably make again some day. Everyone doesn't want, or need, long hair.

I tell myself that I'll keep growing my hair until I'm 40. Then I'll probably cut it all off and get a TWA. Besides, short hair makes most women look younger. At least, I think so. Instead of worrying about split ends, tangles and matting, I'll worry about a different type of maintenance regimen -- as in making sure I get regular cuts and trims to maintain my TWA. 

Maybe I'll keep it that way. At least for a while.

What do you think? Would you forego length? What is your maximum length?

Natural Hair On The Runway

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The fashion industry is known for breaking the rules.

Natural hair is no different, and more models strutting the catwalk are embracing their natural curls, coils and kinks.

Not since Roshumba burst onto the modeling scene in the 80s wearing what's now known as a TWA has natural hair played such a prominent role in fashion spreads. Sure, models like Alex Wex and Noemie Lenoire have embraced their natural curls and bald heads on the runway.

But they were the exception -- not the rule.

Is Form Following Fashion?

That's changing, according to Vogue Italia, who lamented the crazy hair care practices of the past  that fried many a Black models' hair. As a result, supermodels like Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks were left with horribly thinned edges and severe alopecia.

Black models were enough of a rarity; really, did they have to worry about their hair, too?

Vogue Italia writer Marjon Carlos wrote this:

"These haunting experiences are rarely talked about among the fashion world and often concealed in frustrated Facebook statues, or tweets, or woeful interview admissions from present-day Black fashion favorites Chanel Iman and Jourdan Dunn, messages that acknowledge a problem, but rarely hold few responsible."

That's changed, though, as textured hair now regularly makes an appearance on the runway. Designers are leading the way, showing plenty of natural haired models.

“It is uplifting and inspiring then to see the newest group of Black models storming the catwalks in full embrace of their natural hairstyles, from cropped Afros, flat tops, to buzzed scalps–and in turn being embraced by the industry that has typically approached black hair with skepticism and harsh critique.”

Fashion influences the masses, sets trends.  Let's hope the trend continues when it comes to natural
hair.

What do you think about natural hair on the runway?

Wendy Williams Disses Viola Davis' Natural Hair

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Y'all already know: I'm team #Viola.

I'm uber happy that Viola wore her natural hair on the red carpet at the 84th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday. Was super disappointed that she didn't win along with her co-star, Octavia Spencer. But hey, she wore her natural hair out on the friggin' red carpet. That made the the loss just a little bit easier to bear

And you know what? That was enough for me (as if I'm the one all up in her hair, lol).

So, count me as clueless when I heard the collective gasp in the natural hair community about Wendy Williams' comment that Davis' hair wasn't "formal"  for the red carpet. While doing red carpet commentary, Williams said this about Davis:

“You know, a lot of people used to say that natural hair wasn’t formal.”

For reals?

Though she usually rocks short wigs, Davis debuted her natural hair publicly a few weeks ago for a LA Times Magazine cover, then at the Black Women in  Hollywood Awards for Essence Magazine and finally, at the Academy Awards.

Why Wendy Was Out of Line

You could have kept that Wendy, cause most of your audience (read Caucasian folks) really don't understand what you just said. And they give less than a damn. But trust me, boo boo, I hear you loud and clear -- this from a woman who I've never seen wear her natural hair out under all those wigs and who I've heard say that she has "good" and long hair.

Not knocking that in the slightest, but why knock someone else's hair  -- even though it's the cattiest, most perceived slight, that way? You mad because Viola has the courage to wear her natural hair out -- and you don't?

What's The Real Issue?
We all know: Natural hair can be formal as any other style. You can do updos, formal, elegant styles, anything you choose. We all know this based on the styles shown on HairNista.com, CurlyNikki.com and countless others

Wendy really needs to educate herself about natural hair, and I'm sensing hate-tinged comments. Show me your natural hair once, Wendy, not a peek of it on your show, and then your comments will carry a bit more weight with me, K?  

Say you don't like her dress? OK, I'm cool with that. But her hair? From another black woman? That ain't cool, because I don't hear any other commenters talking about Angelina Jolie's straight hair as not being appropriate. 

Because that ish won't ever happen. 

Wendy could have kept that mess of a comment, because clearly millions of YouTubers, natural hair bloggers, natural hair fans and even Madison Avenue brands like Kmart, Allstate, Yahoo, eBay (and the list goes on) think entirely differently about natural hair -- enough to keep natural hair in heavy rotation on TV, the Internet and in magazine spreads.   

Why Davis' Hair On the Red Carpet is More than Just Hair

I'll be glad when we're at a point where wearing natural hair on the red carpet isn't special.  

But for right now? It is. Ditching the wig meant everything -- that she and countless other women of color are unashamed, unapologetic and unafraid to wear our natural hair. Davis' natural hair was the spotlight -- and, with the exception of Williams' comment, in a good way.

Natural hair, in all its textured glory, was on display.

That's huge, because in a society where the message in our community is to get rid of the kinks and curls any way possible -- Davis took a bold stance: natural hair means something.

HairNistas, you know I call it as I see it. And I don't make any apologies for it. I was surprised that it was a black woman -- a wig wearing black woman no less - who tried to check Davis. I was always taught that drama stays within your own household -- you handle your business there before you expose it to all the world to see.

That didn't happen.

Her comments played right into the hands of folks who could give less than a damn about our natural hair. That's some crazy internal black folks' ish -- and now it's easy to see why Viola felt skeptical at first about wearing her natural hair. And that ain't cool.

Hair Ettiquete, No?

Count me as a Davis fan. And I'm a Wendy fan, too. But I'm so disappointed by her comments about natural hair. Negative comments about your hair is one thing. But another woman's natural hair? That's crossing the line. 

Because unless you wearing a ratchet weave, I'm pretty much keeping my mouth shut -- whether you're relaxed or natural.

Really, tho, how can I be surprised by this. This is from the same woman who last month told Brandy that if she mated with a certain celeb, the baby would have "good" hair in front of a national TV audience. 

Really, Wendy? Really?

What do you think of Wendy's comments?

Hours after Whitney Houston's Death, Mourning Fans Take to Social Media

Photo credit: AP

Pop music legend Whitney Houston hadn't been gone a good six hours and some folks had already taken to Twitter and Facebook late Saturday night, expressing their outrage and blaming her ex-husband Bobby Brown for her death. At one point, according to media reports, Twitter was aflutter with more than 30,000 tweets a minute that tweeted about Houston's death.

The six-time Grammy award-winning pop music superstar was found dead in her Beverly Hills hotel room on Saturday afternoon. Authorities are investigating her cause of death and at this point, we can only speculate.

But that didn't stop online trollers from weighing in with their opinions, many of them critical of Brown. Houston married Brown in 1992, but the pair split up and had divorced by 2007.

“I will always love Whitney. I will always loathe Bobby Brown,” someone  wrote on Facebook.

“Bobby Brown you took our diva and turned her into an addict,” another vented.

Loved her to death, but it was no secret that her life on stage and off stage was ... complicated. It is what it is. She had demons -- we all do. Only hers were on the public stage, while we deal with ours privately, behind closed doors.

The Rush to Blame
I'm not one to eulogize anyone, but I also believe in personal responsibility. I know, love and have dealt with enough drug addicts to know that addiction is a complicated disease. Very complicated. Very few drug addicts can say that someone held a gun to their heads and made them hit that crack pipe for the first time, pop pills, sip alcohol or use whatever is the drug of their choice.

Can a person influence you? Of course, for good and bad. It's easy and convenient to point fingers, but we only have ourselves to blame. We are in control of our own actions -- not someone else. Any therapist worth their psychology license will tell you that.

The problem lied with Brown's and Houston's images: Houston's was squeaky clean, a gospel singer raised in the church, turned pop music diva who could do wrong. She came from music royalty: Her mother is gospel star Cissy Houston, Aretha Franklin is her godmother and Dionne Warwick is her aunt.

Meanwhile, as Whitney's music star shone bright, Brown, a member of New Edition, had a starkly different image: He was the bad boy, and many blamed him for corrupting Whitney's pristine image and for her downfall.

We always want to blame someone, something, for bad news. Somehow, I suspect that we didn't really know either of them; we only knew what the music industry wanted us to see. It's no secret that their marriage was tumultuous.

In 1993, Whitney said this during an interview to Rolling Stone -- perhaps an eerie precursor to their troubled marriage:

"When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place," she told Rolling Stone in 1993. "You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that's their image. It's part of them, it's not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody's angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy."

Am I giving Bobby a pass? By no means. It's pretty well documented that there were at least threats of domestic abuse in the Houston/Brown marriage.

The Voice of An Angel
Backed by music mogul Clive Davis, she was the first Black pop music star to cross over, making a splash onto the music scene in 1985 with her self titled "Whitney Houston" album that showcased her effortless, powerful voice with amazing range.

She was the music industry's golden girl in the 80s and much of the 90s, and everything she touched turned to GOLD.

The hits followed, among them, "Saving All My Love for You," "How Will I Know?" ''You Give Good Love" and "The Greatest Love of All." Movies soon followed, among them "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale" and the "Preacher's Wife."

                                  Whitney Houson in "Greatest Love of All." Source: YouTube

A Natural Hair Role Model of the 1980s
Folks idolized her, especially in the Black community. She was who us Black girls in the 1980s looked up to. And I'll never forget her first album, the picture of a beautiful brown girl with short natural hair. We had never seen anything like it. At that time, in the wig, weaved and Jherri Curl world of the 1980s, it meant something.

She was tall, elegant and regal. A real-life queen that could SANG.

"Whitney Houston" self-titled debut album in 1985

Others tried, but very few Black musicians managed to woo both white and Black audiences like Houston. Everyone else would follow in her footsteps. She set the bar impossibly high, influencing generations of singers and musicians.

By the time American Idol became part of our lexicon, Houston had largely faded from the spotlight, but her songs didn't. It is Houston's voice -- and songs -- that American Idol hopefuls still struggle to emulate even today. Even now, very, very few singers can reach those notes that Houston could, almost without breaking a sweat.

Did We See This Coming?
The music industry is a very complicated, schizophrenic thing. It builds musicians up to tear them down. All well knowing that the intoxicating smell of fame, the allure of money and celebrity is enough to make us forget who we really are, what we really stand for.

Did Whitney and Bobby have problems? Of course -- all of that ugliness was captured in tabloids, in the news with domestic abuse charges against Brown and even on their ill-fated reality show, "Being Bobby Brown," in 2005. It featured a rambling, bumbling and sometimes incoherent Houston.

But I can't place the blame for her death squarely on his shoulders. They might have been a marijuna toking, crack pipe blowing couple, but were both co-dependent on each other. They seemingly brought out the worst in each other.

Am I giving Bobby a pass? By no means. It's pretty well documented that domestic violence did exist in their marriage, with charges by Houston that Brown threatened to abuse her. Is this a bash Bobby Brown blog? No.  I'm sure that, in death, a lot of ex-husbands would have their regrets about their late ex-wife and their troubled relationship.

Still, deep down, the "Whitney Houston has died" news story is one that no one wanted to see. But we all knew it could happen, considering her widely publicized drug abuse problems, including that infamous and parodied, "Crack is whack" interview with Diane Sawyer in 2002 and her multiple rehab attempts.

The Music Comeback That Never Came
And so we braced ourselves, hoping that incorrect reports of Houston's death in the early 2000s, after an appearance in which she was suprisingly thin, would never come true.

We waited patiently for her comeback. An appearance on Good Morning America was a disaster. An overseas tour flopped after fans walked out mid-concert complaining that THE voice was no longer,  ravaged by years of drug use. In 2011, she filmed Sparkle and was to film the sequel to Waiting to Exhale. We always love the underdog and a comeback story. And we all looked forward to her possibly performing at the Grammy Awards today.

We just knew that we'd have Whitney back -- the old Whitney.  The one whose rich, soaring voice made your spine tingle, pat your feet, and try your best to sing like her in the shower, even though you knew you couldn't.

We just didn't expect her death on Saturday.

The Death of a Music Superstar
Music legends die tragic deaths. Unfortunately, it just seems like what they do -- and Whitney Houston is no exception. Music, money and drugs are dangerous and seductive. Add the glimmer and glitz of celebrity, and it becomes a train wreck, playing out for all to see.

Only now, add Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TMZ to the list.

Houston was a real person, with real flaws, just like anyone else. What's not debatable is this: Her voice will go down in history as one of the greatest. And 50 years from now, we'll still be talking about her.

Houston was a real person, with flaws. We can be real about the issues Houston faced, yet not mock her in death. Many of those tweet and Facebook status updates probably won't be discussed at Houston's upcoming eulogy. Though we do need to address the issue of addiction.

Your choice: Blame Bobby or don't blame him for her tragic death.

At this point, it doesn't really matter.

Because none of it will bring her back.

Whitney Houston's last performance, "Yes, Jesus Loves Me, with Kelly Price on Friday, Feb. 10. Source: YouTube

Viola Davis Rocks A TWA!

I stared at this picture over the weekend.

It was as if looking a someone I knew, but couldn't place the face.

Yesterday, I finally figured out who "she" was -- legendary actress Viola Davis, rocking a cropped TWA.

Can you say LOVE?

This looks soooo much better than Davis' normal wigs/weaves. I love the look. I think it takes years off her face. And it looks so chic. This is why I didn't recognize Davis. For years, all I've seen her is in wigs/weaves. She wore a God awful wig while on Law & Order some years back.

Who knew that she hid all that beauty hiding under wigs? She is absolutely stunning, and her short, natural coif brings out her beautiful eyes, bone structure and facial features. I hope that Davis rocks her natural on the red carpet -- a shake your finger defiance in the face of all the weaves and wigs that are synonymous with Black Hollywood.

Not knocking the hustle, and trust that I do understand what Black actresses have to go through to make it. Hair is just one other thing added on top of them trying so hard to make a living.

But in a Hollywood in which I can probably count on one hand -- two hands, the most -- the number of celebs who actually rock their hair, not to mention natural, Davis' natural hair is so much more than just hair.
Not my hair, of course, but I just hopes she contines to rock her hair -- at least for a little while.

Just goes to show ... natural hair almost always looks better than fake.