Speaker 1: Positively Gam is sponsored by Vasiline. See how they are
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Speaker 1: You still need to know how to do finger waves
Speaker 1: and and and Roller says not to say depending on
Speaker 1: what part you are in the country. I was getting
Speaker 1: Ray say, I don't talk about finger ways because finger
Speaker 1: waves are huge. And Baltimore still how style is still
Speaker 1: to be trying to give me finger ways and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I do not want finger waves. I hate them. We
Speaker 1: can see and she does it very well. What's up, everybody?
Speaker 1: I'm Gammy and this is Positively gam. Every week I
Speaker 1: have raw, in depth conversations with inspirational people pushing for
Speaker 1: change on everything from aging, relationships, politics, wellness, to the
Speaker 1: current issues facing the black community. In this episode, we're
Speaker 1: going to continue my discussion on black hair with Jay
Speaker 1: lash and Stacy Ciseron. So if you miss part one,
Speaker 1: check out the previous episode where we dive into the
Speaker 1: history of black hair. So I want to welcome back
Speaker 1: to part two of our conversation on black hair. We
Speaker 1: have Jay Lasha once again and Stacy Cseron. Welcome back, ladies.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me again. Hey, thank you having us.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about hair care. Let's start with you, Stacy.
Speaker 1: When I think about hair care, I think about spiritual practices.
Speaker 1: I also think about self care as a young man,
Speaker 1: a young woman, and I'm thinking that the audience is
Speaker 1: mostly women, but I never like to leave my guys
Speaker 1: out because they're into it. Two honey, okay, But self
Speaker 1: care on a spiritual level with so important, and self
Speaker 1: care on a physical level is so important. And as
Speaker 1: I'm getting old and trying to preserve the sexy honey,
Speaker 1: it's becoming quite obvious that it takes education and takes knowledge,
Speaker 1: it takes interest. And where does this interest really come from?
Speaker 1: You know, is it being modeled to us? Are we
Speaker 1: learning it in schools? Are we learning it from friends?
Speaker 1: Are we learning it on social media? It really is
Speaker 1: something that we have to step up and do. And
Speaker 1: in our last conversation, we spoke about where did this
Speaker 1: come from? Is this something that we wanted to do
Speaker 1: on our own, or we're just trying to impress people,
Speaker 1: or is this something we want to do for self?
Speaker 1: And it built down to self this Your body is
Speaker 1: your temple, like you said, your hair is your crown.
Speaker 1: And if you can look at self care in that way.
Speaker 1: It should definitely trigger some type of interest in in
Speaker 1: yourpe on your behalf, not you, but us as a
Speaker 1: whole to want to be able to lovate that, to
Speaker 1: connect with ourselves and to really embrace our personal power.
Speaker 1: So hair care for me, it's it's a bigger than
Speaker 1: just aesthetics and it's about connecting with yourself and honoring yourself.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Jay, because I have to say
Speaker 1: that personally, I think that I've taken my hair for granted. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be honest about it. I've never it's hair,
Speaker 1: my hair. You cut it off, it'll grow back. That's
Speaker 1: always been my my my thinking about my hair. I
Speaker 1: never really had an issue with my hair growing. I
Speaker 1: never had that much concern about my hair because it
Speaker 1: pretty much did you know, I wanted it to do.
Speaker 1: I had really long hair growing up until I was
Speaker 1: about I don't know, in my thirties. I did the
Speaker 1: whole permit to keep it managed. I wish that I
Speaker 1: had the amount of product that we have now to
Speaker 1: help manage hair because if I think, if I had
Speaker 1: known better, I would have done differently. But all I
Speaker 1: knew was too you got a lot of hair on
Speaker 1: your head, you need to permit so that you can
Speaker 1: manage it. And once you start that permit, it changes
Speaker 1: the texture of your hair. So then your hair just
Speaker 1: becomes this street. And now I stopped permiting my hair
Speaker 1: years ago because I got tired of permitent I cut
Speaker 1: it off, and so then you don't have to permit.
Speaker 1: But then, like I talked about all the dying, just
Speaker 1: once again, the dying and the chemicals that are in
Speaker 1: dye will change the texture of your hair. And so
Speaker 1: I just don't think that I ever really cared that
Speaker 1: much about my hair. I'm so glad that you brought
Speaker 1: that out, because that's a whole different conversation that we're
Speaker 1: having based on the needs based on different hair types.
Speaker 1: Whereas where we hair has me for moisture, has a neat,
Speaker 1: it's very fragile, although it has a course appearance, it
Speaker 1: needs its own product, it needs its own care, and
Speaker 1: whereas wavy and pearly here has different needs. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that might be something that you that needed little maintenance.
Speaker 1: But my point is even outside of styling or having
Speaker 1: some kind of regiment, it is taking care of yourself
Speaker 1: and your hair is a part of that, because the
Speaker 1: other part of the conversation is that, yeah, you could
Speaker 1: have taken it for granted because you didn't have the
Speaker 1: extra drama of having to have that coiled here. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like my journey is very different than Willows m M. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I will say in this regard, I do feel pretty
Speaker 1: privileged and an interesting to say this because again, like
Speaker 1: having someone from the beginning who understood how to take
Speaker 1: care of my here in its natural state. It I
Speaker 1: didn't realize that until you ask this question. Honestly, how
Speaker 1: that's set me up for a completely different life as
Speaker 1: a black girl and black woman. I didn't even pay
Speaker 1: attention to that, and that is something I took for bread,
Speaker 1: having a woman my mother who could lay me across
Speaker 1: her last bray my hair. Know what products? Do you
Speaker 1: know how to water to make it sliable? No, exactly
Speaker 1: what it is to make it beautiful and healthy and
Speaker 1: and easy. So I've always experienced my hair, not always
Speaker 1: mostly most of my life I experienced my hair is
Speaker 1: something that I could manage and do. I will say
Speaker 1: the period that I relaxed my hair and then went natural,
Speaker 1: relax or does change our texture? And so there were
Speaker 1: several years where even while it was natural, it had
Speaker 1: to grow out from whatever seek into my scalt because
Speaker 1: it was still affecting how it came out, and so
Speaker 1: it made it rougher, but it made it even more brittle.
Speaker 1: So I had to learn a lot about how to eat,
Speaker 1: how to nurture my hair, like I had to nurse
Speaker 1: it back to life over several years to get it
Speaker 1: to a place where it could be healthy. And I
Speaker 1: think the other thing saty. You and I talked a
Speaker 1: little bit about the natural hair boom that happened from
Speaker 1: on there were only small communities that made their own
Speaker 1: homemade products. So we're coming of age. I'm coming of
Speaker 1: age in a time where in the beginning the only
Speaker 1: thing that was available was like relaxers and and chemically
Speaker 1: based products or straightening care. There's a lot available for
Speaker 1: black hair in its natural stage. So we're experimenting trying
Speaker 1: to use those products on our natural hair, and it's
Speaker 1: not working. And so I had frustration points been too,
Speaker 1: because it wasn't like, what's going on, This is not
Speaker 1: my hair is not softened, but and so I just
Speaker 1: thought I had quote unquote bad oh, it's actually really
Speaker 1: soft and it's actually very it's more manageable this way.
Speaker 1: But I had to throw it out, I had to
Speaker 1: eat differently. So it is a physical process for sure.
Speaker 1: It's definitely also a spiritual process because the other thing
Speaker 1: we didn't talk about this, but I'll mention it hairstylence. Oh,
Speaker 1: and making sure that you have a hairstylist, because there's
Speaker 1: a good friend um. Hairstylists, the people who really understand
Speaker 1: your hands. It's really critical. Even when we go back
Speaker 1: to our innsuch for roots. Again, the hairstylists was a
Speaker 1: sacred person in the tribe. They were considered the most
Speaker 1: honest and trusted person, and they're almost like a priest
Speaker 1: in our history. And if you think about today, think
Speaker 1: about how sacred we hold our hairstyles. Hairstyles some of
Speaker 1: us will fly, I will fly, So my hairstyle is there.
Speaker 1: And so having someone who is in relation with you
Speaker 1: in a way that there's an intimate relationship with your hands.
Speaker 1: Everybody's hair is different. There isn't a such thing ago
Speaker 1: her hair is just like No, there might be some similarities,
Speaker 1: but there are differences and we have to understand those. Now,
Speaker 1: this is a good, perfect question for me, and what
Speaker 1: happens to our hair as we age. There's again there's
Speaker 1: no one size fits all answer with that because different
Speaker 1: people are affected by different things. So as we get older,
Speaker 1: our bodies are depleting itself at a more rapid rate
Speaker 1: of vitamins and nutrients, and we're losing different things that
Speaker 1: are sometimes out of our control, whether it is hereditary,
Speaker 1: whether it's hormones, whether it's stress related. And let's let's
Speaker 1: face it, I know I ask me from my household.
Speaker 1: Majority of us in our household are not getting the
Speaker 1: proper nutrients through food. So aging, the effects of aging
Speaker 1: is asked for the person takes care of themselves. So
Speaker 1: you find that sometimes people are getting thinning. As the
Speaker 1: gray hair or the white hair comes in, it becomes
Speaker 1: way more resistant. It doesn't want to take cut, doesn't
Speaker 1: want to take color, doesn't want to take style. So
Speaker 1: the main two things that are happening hereditarily, they are
Speaker 1: suffering from androw genetic alopecia or male pattern or female
Speaker 1: pattern balnus. So you will start to see some thinning
Speaker 1: in the crown or in the front of their hair
Speaker 1: or even their hairlines. Some medications for high blood pressure
Speaker 1: diabetes are causing God. Low iron is also causing God.
Speaker 1: And these are some things that that people are going
Speaker 1: through as their aging. So am I gonna be put
Speaker 1: in the position where I have no choice but to
Speaker 1: stop dying my hair? Okay? Time will tell, So it
Speaker 1: may and it may come. It may come where you
Speaker 1: don't have the hair, don't want to be colored, and
Speaker 1: it will will be for us to make a decision.
Speaker 1: But hopefully if that time comes, you would already be
Speaker 1: ready to see, be ready to submit. Yeah, you're like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I was gonna do it anyway, Okay,
Speaker 1: when we're gonna pray on that, let me tell you?
Speaker 1: Can I just tell you do the gray or white
Speaker 1: hair may be resistant to some lifting colors. You can
Speaker 1: do a lot of fun colors with gray hair, like
Speaker 1: those pastel pinks, blues, purples, like you could be the
Speaker 1: hot mom blue before. I've done the blue before, and
Speaker 1: I actually tried pink, but I looked like I was
Speaker 1: going to the circus. I had to take that out immediately.
Speaker 1: It just did not work, and I probably was the
Speaker 1: wrong color pink, but I just I didn't have the
Speaker 1: patients to even try to tone it down. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: just take it out. But the blue words, I actually
Speaker 1: like the pale blue. And my sister has gone my
Speaker 1: sister has gone lavender. Yes, on some skin tones, it's
Speaker 1: just perfect if you have a cooler skin tone. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the blue looks good. If you have a warmer skin tone,
Speaker 1: sometimes a rusty like a paste orange. Maybe you got
Speaker 1: a summer color, little winter color. Yeah. Now, Stacy talked
Speaker 1: to us about because there's this way of identifying your
Speaker 1: texture of hair for an what is that. It's a
Speaker 1: language that started in the natural hair community. I believe
Speaker 1: I gotta do some fact check in on this, but
Speaker 1: I believe Andre Walker wrote a book over twenty five
Speaker 1: years ago about hair, and he created this number system
Speaker 1: which refers to the different hair type straight, waving, curly, coilely,
Speaker 1: and within that created a number system. The natural hair
Speaker 1: community then took that as part of their language. And
Speaker 1: then how it evolved was that now stylists needed to
Speaker 1: be able to communicate with their clients and they had
Speaker 1: to start to understand this, and so their product companies
Speaker 1: because before like you can now pick up a bottle
Speaker 1: curl cream and it will say for a type for hair,
Speaker 1: or for a certain tire for fear, whereas five to
Speaker 1: ten years ago you weren't able to do that. So
Speaker 1: let me just break it down a little bit. So
Speaker 1: based on this number system, the number system is between
Speaker 1: one to four. And I also want to preface Thisted
Speaker 1: by saying this number system is starting to become a
Speaker 1: little bit outdated and antiquated because of the fact that
Speaker 1: it was a big deal to know this number system.
Speaker 1: If you knew that you were four A, three B,
Speaker 1: four C, that was honey, you cracked the Da Vinci code. Okay,
Speaker 1: but we now know that you mentioned in our last
Speaker 1: conversation you have super fun straight here in the nape
Speaker 1: of your neck, you have a more curlier texture in
Speaker 1: the crown. You may have something different going on around
Speaker 1: your hair, your front hairline, so we know that there's
Speaker 1: different things going on. So you didn't really crack the code,
Speaker 1: but you made the first step. Within this number system,
Speaker 1: it ranges from one to four, one being the straightest
Speaker 1: or being the curliest, coiliest at each and each letter
Speaker 1: refers to the degree of wave, curl, or coil. So
Speaker 1: right now, the tightest on this spectrum, on this hair
Speaker 1: type chart is four C. But like I said, it's
Speaker 1: a little bit outdated and antiquated because there's other patterns
Speaker 1: outside of that. But what I really like about this
Speaker 1: hair type chart is the fact that it makes it
Speaker 1: easy to communicate amongst each other, to find products and
Speaker 1: to communicate with your hair stylists. Outside of that, you'd
Speaker 1: still need to know some other pieces to the puzzle.
Speaker 1: Like Jay, you mentioned that you tried the l OC
Speaker 1: method the lock method and it didn't work, and then
Speaker 1: you had to reverse it into the l c O.
Speaker 1: This is a moisture retention method. The reason why is
Speaker 1: that maybe you have low perosity here. So along with
Speaker 1: hair type straight, wavy, curlier, quily, you gotta know your density,
Speaker 1: your perosity, and your hair texture, amongst other things so
Speaker 1: that you just don't waste time, energy and money trying
Speaker 1: to figure things out. It's no one size fits all,
Speaker 1: so you have to know your canvas that you're working on.
Speaker 1: You can't even rely on your sisters, auntie's cousins and
Speaker 1: best friends. You really have to do your own homework
Speaker 1: and again self discovery right, knowing yourself your hair, what
Speaker 1: works for you. And that sounds like it's just a
Speaker 1: lot of experimentation the product it's it requires experimentation, but
Speaker 1: it it's easier when you know what you're working with. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you're not making decisions based on Willows recommendation or
Speaker 1: your sister or your cousin's recommendation. You're going in the mirror,
Speaker 1: you're wetting your hair, You're seeing what hair type you have.
Speaker 1: Is your hair dense or is it thin? Is your
Speaker 1: hair forest or is it not? And then you're choosing
Speaker 1: products based on the end result you want. So let's
Speaker 1: face it, some people their goal is hang time. They
Speaker 1: want long, healthy hair, but some people want short, edgy
Speaker 1: and color in their hair. Are they going to follow
Speaker 1: the same regiment? So it's always important, just like in life,
Speaker 1: that you have intention and you have goals for your
Speaker 1: own hair and you choose the products accordingly. So in
Speaker 1: my opinion, that really helps to save time, energy, and money.
Speaker 1: But that matters because if you got that's that quickly,
Speaker 1: is the process right, you know how to help you
Speaker 1: figure out going on exactly? So we're talking about hair care,
Speaker 1: and just for me, my hair care routine is pretty simple,
Speaker 1: and I just I don't know, make sure, I feel
Speaker 1: like maybe I'm not doing everything that I ought to
Speaker 1: do to take care of my hair, but my hair
Speaker 1: is pretty healthy. If I have to work, I usually
Speaker 1: will wash my hair the night before because I can
Speaker 1: style it better when it's fresh and clean. And of
Speaker 1: course when you're styling your hair, you end up putting
Speaker 1: product in it. So like I'm working today, I don't
Speaker 1: have to work tomorrow, but then I have to work
Speaker 1: again Friday. I have to work again on Sunday, so
Speaker 1: I'm gonna end up washing my hair on Thursday, and
Speaker 1: then I'll wash my hair again on Saturdays. That's pretty
Speaker 1: typical for me. Yeah, there are some women men that
Speaker 1: got to throw my fellas in there, but there are
Speaker 1: some people that they, like you said, they may take
Speaker 1: for granted their haircare, but there's some things that could
Speaker 1: be going on that they completely ignore because they think
Speaker 1: it's supposed to happen, like finning, changing the pictures, alopecia, breakage,
Speaker 1: and things like that. So those are things that you
Speaker 1: just even though you don't have a high maintenance regimen,
Speaker 1: there's still things that you want to keep your eyes
Speaker 1: open for. And Jay said having a good stylist will
Speaker 1: definitely help to reinforce that, but also reiterating there are
Speaker 1: people who are in that type four or highly textured
Speaker 1: poily hair that can't shampoo every two to three days
Speaker 1: and then don't need to and they don't need to
Speaker 1: and they don't need to. That's the other thing. Now
Speaker 1: I am shampooing, but I am in all of that.
Speaker 1: There's conditioner that happening. I wear a head scarf when
Speaker 1: I go to sleep at night, even though I have
Speaker 1: short hair, I wear a scarf to tie my hair down.
Speaker 1: And I also sleep on a satin pillow, and so
Speaker 1: that's for my hair and for my skin, for my face.
Speaker 1: So that's good definitely, because after when we're talking about
Speaker 1: the skin or the aging skin or the aging hair hair,
Speaker 1: it's all about moisture retention and things you can do
Speaker 1: to keep the elasticity. So things like satin or silk
Speaker 1: pillow cases or satin caps are definitely great when it
Speaker 1: comes to moisture retention and reducing the amount of friction
Speaker 1: from your pillow or your sheets or external heat sources.
Speaker 1: I would say probably more than half of black women
Speaker 1: have experienced one or more of these issues like breakage,
Speaker 1: traction alopecia, frizziness, and dry scout. Particularly traction alopecia, because
Speaker 1: I found that, Like I said, uh, this year was
Speaker 1: the first year that I tried braids, and I absolutely
Speaker 1: loved them. However, I have to say that I was
Speaker 1: in the chair for nine hours, and one time when
Speaker 1: I got it done, it was so tight that I
Speaker 1: had to take tyling on. When I got home, my
Speaker 1: head was hurting, so my scout was hurting so bad,
Speaker 1: and I could not sleep. I had to take tyling on.
Speaker 1: It hurt to lay down. My head was so it
Speaker 1: was so tight on my head. And then when I
Speaker 1: took it out, I felt like I definitely was seeing
Speaker 1: breakage or it seemed like there was some receding at
Speaker 1: my temples. And I don't know whether that's just from
Speaker 1: age or whether that was from the braids. So I
Speaker 1: was a little confused because I thought that braids were
Speaker 1: supposed to be a protective style. Their protective style when
Speaker 1: you have a stylist, because me and Sacy, we're talking
Speaker 1: about their situat that somebody who does hair m and
Speaker 1: a science I just cared for here. They understand like
Speaker 1: how to make sure that what is happening is good
Speaker 1: for you, Like you can have braves that don't hurt
Speaker 1: like they shouldn't hurt, and if they do, you need
Speaker 1: to take those out. But people don't want you because
Speaker 1: a lot of times I've been sitting hours and hours
Speaker 1: You're like, omna word, exactly what for nine hours? So
Speaker 1: I used to do braves and weeks when I was
Speaker 1: doing here, that was my area of specialty. Everything to
Speaker 1: do the protective styles. I love them, but now that
Speaker 1: I don't do it when I give it by some
Speaker 1: other folks to be going to do. What I recommend
Speaker 1: is making sure that you tell your silence to do
Speaker 1: larger parties around the edges. Do not do the same
Speaker 1: size day as they would in the thicker of course
Speaker 1: of your hair, because the weight of the extension hair
Speaker 1: can pool over time and then will pull your roots up.
Speaker 1: That in addition to any tension that the stylen is like.
Speaker 1: So if the style is is pulling too hard on
Speaker 1: your hair, it will pull your root up and you
Speaker 1: still cause you to lose hair and sometimes that can
Speaker 1: be termitive. You want to make sure that whoever you're
Speaker 1: selected to Dula Brave understand like they understand how to
Speaker 1: take care of edges and how to take care of
Speaker 1: the make because those are very like tender spaces on
Speaker 1: our scalp end. Usually our hair is a lot thinner
Speaker 1: and finer anybody's here, even those of us would like
Speaker 1: really course hare our hair is a lot sinner around
Speaker 1: the edges, and so we have to be very careful
Speaker 1: about the weight that we pull, you know, that we
Speaker 1: put on it. And then additional to that, sometimes the
Speaker 1: length of the brains um can cause problems, and so
Speaker 1: we just have to be really thoughtful about the style
Speaker 1: itself for our hair type as well if who is
Speaker 1: doing our style critical Protective styles got its name from
Speaker 1: what it does, which is protecting the hair. A lot
Speaker 1: of people that are looking to maintain healthy here or
Speaker 1: grow their healthy hair wrong. The key to that is
Speaker 1: really moisture, retension, and low manipulation, and what the protective
Speaker 1: styles offer you is a way to take the break
Speaker 1: from manipulating the hair. That counts for combing, brushing, pulling, ponytails,
Speaker 1: anything like that. So essentially, protective styles are supposed to
Speaker 1: protect your hair and give you a break. But like
Speaker 1: with anything else, too much of anything is just not good.
Speaker 1: Too much tension, too much pulling, too much of anything,
Speaker 1: wearing it too long, it's just not going to be
Speaker 1: good for the hair, and especially that your hair is
Speaker 1: more on the softer or finer side. Anything that has
Speaker 1: that extra weight or egg has an extra tension, will
Speaker 1: have the ability to make be pulled and pull your hair.
Speaker 1: So you may not have been seeing things. You might
Speaker 1: have seen it correctly. And it's great that you are
Speaker 1: aware of that because some women men will continue to
Speaker 1: do that for the look and then end up receiving
Speaker 1: their hairline back. And Jay said, sometimes those are effects
Speaker 1: are not reversible. Wow. Yeah, So what is the itching
Speaker 1: all about? What is that is it? Is it just
Speaker 1: because it's a foreign texture you I just don't get it.
Speaker 1: It's like, I'm all the itching and padding. You want
Speaker 1: to speak to that, Jay, I got my I'm rapid
Speaker 1: fire right here quickly. For me, I found like cleaning
Speaker 1: the hair. So sometimes people take care straight out of
Speaker 1: the bag and then start braiding with it. I actually
Speaker 1: see that. It's very common practice, and I think that's
Speaker 1: not good to do, being the condition the hair, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a part of it. Now that cuts
Speaker 1: down on all that itching cut down a lot. There's
Speaker 1: also just the regular maintenance because some of us are
Speaker 1: put braids in or protected salad and we just leave
Speaker 1: it and we don't actually do the good maintenance with
Speaker 1: it until there's also that causing a lot of itching.
Speaker 1: But I know say that you probably don't have way more.
Speaker 1: First of all, some people have allergies to can Klan
Speaker 1: or torkiolan or all these different synthetic brands, whether it's
Speaker 1: the dye, whether it's the hair itself. Some people have
Speaker 1: allergies to the actual fiber of the hair. Secondly, if
Speaker 1: you're somebody who has dry skin, not just on your
Speaker 1: if you have dry face, most likely dry arms, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have a dry scalp and not pulling on the
Speaker 1: dry scalp can lead to itching. And also you can
Speaker 1: have allergies to the products. Some people like to oil
Speaker 1: their scalp. We could talk about that it's it's oil
Speaker 1: and the scalp more traditional or cultural or do we
Speaker 1: actually need it. So there's so many things that lead
Speaker 1: to itching. That product build up on the scalp, the
Speaker 1: dry scalp with the type raids, hair bumps and sometimes allergies. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: so somebody told me because when I first started having
Speaker 1: the itching problem, I was told to have the braighter
Speaker 1: treat the hair with vinegar, or apple side vinegar or something.
Speaker 1: What is that They are different natural ingredients that helped
Speaker 1: to soothe itching, like uh tea tree oil or rosemary
Speaker 1: oil or rose water or different things like that. They
Speaker 1: are calming camemeo like some te rences that really helped
Speaker 1: to calm the itching if it is due to maybe
Speaker 1: an allergic reaction or maybe some type of irritation on
Speaker 1: the scalp. They have these natural ingredients that helped to
Speaker 1: do that. But I always think it's great to find
Speaker 1: out what those triggers are that are causing the itching
Speaker 1: in the first place. I like to definitely do my research,
Speaker 1: but I never like to give a one size fits
Speaker 1: all answer, because if you don't have dry scalp, there's
Speaker 1: really no need to necessarily put boil on your scalp.
Speaker 1: I think that is one of those things that traditional
Speaker 1: or cultural that we sat down on Sundays, and sometimes
Speaker 1: it's more of a habit, tradition or cultural rather than
Speaker 1: a necessity. Again, on superfine hair or soft hair, those
Speaker 1: things are going to weigh it down. It's going to
Speaker 1: cause the braves to slip out, it's going to cause
Speaker 1: a lot of different It might be helping one thing,
Speaker 1: but hurting the other things. But I remember the Jada
Speaker 1: sitting down and oiling willow scalp and then having Willow
Speaker 1: oil her scalp, and it was like a bonding time.
Speaker 1: It was great bonding time for them. So yeah, definitely
Speaker 1: moments of bonding. But now with hair care technology, we're
Speaker 1: realizing that it made not it might just be more
Speaker 1: bonding than scientific is. Our hair still susceptible to damage
Speaker 1: from perms. Over the years, they have perfected the perms.
Speaker 1: You have the perms that don't have LIE anymore. So
Speaker 1: I feel like Number one, I wonder if people are
Speaker 1: perming their hair as much as they used to before.
Speaker 1: I feel like they're not. I'm not sure. I'm not
Speaker 1: a stylist, and I'm wondering if it's still as damaging
Speaker 1: to the hair as it was when they back when
Speaker 1: LIE was being used in the perms. The chemical sodium
Speaker 1: hyde drop side is still in relaxes as far as
Speaker 1: I do, and that's a little dangerous and so if
Speaker 1: it's being used, you still have to be extremely careful
Speaker 1: when you breathe the fuel man. It does cause scar
Speaker 1: tissue to the lungs, especially for people who's breathing in
Speaker 1: all the time. It's science. I remember when I used
Speaker 1: to do with relaxes on people's hair. It would change
Speaker 1: the texture of my hands. Oh wow, yeah it tats
Speaker 1: your skin, and so I they're still dangerous. But for
Speaker 1: people who are using them, especially for the silence who
Speaker 1: are using them, they should be like wearing masks, wearing
Speaker 1: loves chemical too close to the scalt, those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know that it's many people are
Speaker 1: using relaxing. At there was a sharp decline in the
Speaker 1: around out of money spent on chemical relaxes, So I
Speaker 1: know there's a ship. But I'm gonna have a full
Speaker 1: transparent moment right now. Okay, I see why they call
Speaker 1: it premy crap. Okay, because I'm gonna tell you right now,
Speaker 1: I've been natural for seven years. But when I started
Speaker 1: with relaxers, I started with pixie cuts. That was my thing.
Speaker 1: I tied my whole identity to this short Bob's pixie cuts.
Speaker 1: That was my thing. And sometimes I really miss it.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. I really miss laying. I've really
Speaker 1: like child I used to la cho anyway. See I'm
Speaker 1: feeling it now. But but I would say that even
Speaker 1: though there is advancements in technology about no LIE and
Speaker 1: LIE relaxing sodium hydroxide. There's technically LIE, but there's calcium hydroxide.
Speaker 1: There are other things that can that are underneath the
Speaker 1: LIE category, but federal regulations allow them to say no LIE.
Speaker 1: But if you are going to use it, you gotta,
Speaker 1: like Jay said, you gotta proceed with caution. But with
Speaker 1: all that being said, I do miss it at times.
Speaker 1: I just have to share that and just have a
Speaker 1: real moment. I haven't done. I haven't done a relaxed
Speaker 1: her in so many years. But that's the way. That's
Speaker 1: the way we're moving into. My daughters don't have it,
Speaker 1: my mother doesn't have a relaxer. I think I've influenced
Speaker 1: a lot of people to take this walk, take this
Speaker 1: journey of self discovery. Yeah yeah, so I'm telling you, ladies,
Speaker 1: your hair is just absolutely beautiful. God take a walk
Speaker 1: down memory lane. But you're on the right path right now.
Speaker 1: That's all I can say. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: the conversation. Okay, what's one thing you want to get
Speaker 1: off your chest? I think the most important thing is
Speaker 1: that we just really tried to do our part too. Move, push,
Speaker 1: the needle and move the movement forward. And there's so
Speaker 1: many different things and so many things that we can do,
Speaker 1: but we really just have to find our lane, find
Speaker 1: our voice and what we're good at, and really just
Speaker 1: drill a hole in that. And for me, it is beauty, education,
Speaker 1: self care, self love, just tapping into self and embracing
Speaker 1: your personal power, find a way to link up and
Speaker 1: do it together. I love that. I love that. I
Speaker 1: totally agree that we all have a thing that we
Speaker 1: can do. And what I was thinking about final thoughts,
Speaker 1: I thought about it. I've been an activists and an
Speaker 1: educator all of my life. I'm run a nonprofit cob
Speaker 1: Book and we have four killers, affirmation, the colonization, organization,
Speaker 1: and innovation. And when I thought about the conversation that
Speaker 1: we just had, I felt like we touched on all
Speaker 1: those different topics. It is important that we promote self love.
Speaker 1: It is important that we understand like the history and
Speaker 1: history that we come from, so that we do not
Speaker 1: feel that we are lesser than that we are inferior.
Speaker 1: But these other pieces that we talked about in part two,
Speaker 1: the organization and innovation pieces, making sure that we are
Speaker 1: aware of what's out there that we have dune past
Speaker 1: and present and pulling that together in a a strategic way.
Speaker 1: And then this innovation piece us being creative and willing
Speaker 1: to step outside of the box and do something that
Speaker 1: we haven't done before. Really, like, I'm really big about
Speaker 1: us supporting our youth genius. Really really enjoyed willows energy
Speaker 1: and her free thought, and I think we need more
Speaker 1: of that. The willingness to be someone who can say
Speaker 1: I don't have to be in this box. We can't
Speaker 1: be something else that was then, this is now. We
Speaker 1: need that and we need to as big sisters Auntie's grandma's,
Speaker 1: mama's um, father's calls. You need to support that for
Speaker 1: that free thought, because that is how we're going to
Speaker 1: actually get out of this hierarchy of power. Tell us
Speaker 1: where people can find you on social media. I'll side off.
Speaker 1: I say thank you for having me. This has been
Speaker 1: an honor and a lot of fun. If anyone wants
Speaker 1: to continue um talking with me at any point, you
Speaker 1: can find me on my website David sha dot com,
Speaker 1: where I continue with freedom activism of all sorts, perfect
Speaker 1: and Stacy. I would concur thank you so much for
Speaker 1: giving me the opportunity to use my voice and if
Speaker 1: you want to continue the conversation with me, I'm offering
Speaker 1: education to hairstylists and everyday women about how to manage
Speaker 1: and maintain highly textured here you can find me at
Speaker 1: Stacey cinemon dot com. Thank you lady so much. It
Speaker 1: was such a pleasure talking with you. Please continue to
Speaker 1: do the work because you are the representation that we
Speaker 1: need to keep moving forward. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1: This is my takeaway. And at the end of the day, girl,
Speaker 1: is your hair, whether you bought it or grew it,
Speaker 1: do whatever makes you feel umazing. If you're listening on
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, be sure to rate and review. Follow me
Speaker 1: on my Instagram at Gammy Norris to share with me
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the episode. I'm here, I'm talking, and
Speaker 1: I'm listening. As always, stay grateful, y'all. Positively gam is
Speaker 1: produced by Westbrook Audio Executive producers Adrian Banfield Norris, Jada
Speaker 1: Pinkett Smith, Amanda Brown and Fallon jethro Co executive producer
Speaker 1: sim Hoti, editor and mixer Calvin Bailiff. Positivity GAM is
Speaker 1: in partnership with Art nineteen Spective Picket