Yeah....you can touch my hair.....

Hello Lovelies!

Today, as the title suggests we are talking about hair. Specifically Black women's hair. Mine.

A few weeks ago this article came across my Yahoo daily news stories and of course I clicked it intrigued.

Basically a woman named Antonia Opiah, the founder of a site called un'ruly created an exhibit in a New York city park where black women held signs up saying ' You can touch my hair.' Here is a video.



I found this all so interesting for many reasons. My hair.....is such a huge part of me. Its one of my most defining features. When my friends describe me to people, something about my hair is inevitably in the description. Also, black women have a long standing love hate relationship with our hair. Society and media show us that long, flowing, straight (ish) hair is the pinnacle of beauty. Just look at any hair care commercial. Most black women DO NOT have hair that looks like that. So we torture ourselves with heat styling, chemical straightening, weaves, ect. One interesting thing to note however, is that White women have been doing the same things to their hair for years, but have only recently become more....open about it shall we say.

My natural hair after 45 minutes with a flat iron...

Many black women will tell you NO, you may not touch my hair. Black men are trained that when in a romantic situation with a black girl you do not, for any reason touch her hair. I never felt this way. My black friends will tell you its because I'm not a 'real' black girl, but that is a post for another day. Black men that I dated would oooh and ahh and touch the curls, or run their fingers through it endlessly when it was straight.

Crazy curls!

Its not just black people that respond to my hair though. People come up behind me at work and fluff it when its curly. One white guy I dated used to pull the curls over and over to watch them bounce back up. In fact, most of the white guys I've dated prefer it wild and curly. I get endless questions, because I'm usually the only black person around, about how long it takes to do my hair....and if I wear it straight after a long stint of curly if its all mine. (The answer is yes, no weaves here.)

Yep that's all mine...down to  my belt.

That's why this exhibit was so interesting to me. People have always touched my hair. Most without asking. Whether it's curly, straight, long, short, braided or loose people always have their hands in it. Most of the time I don't mind. The time a girl in the library randomly ran her fingers through it looking for weave, I'll admit I was a little annoyed.

That time I had a curly faux hawk

I'm curious. What are your thoughts about hair? Are there questions you've ever wanted to ask a black girl? (Please do because I love it!) What are your hair hang ups?

whoot....three times in one week..... Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Beauty Review : Ivory® 2-IN-1 Hair & Body Wash

Hey Lovelies!

Wait....is Whit posting twice in one week?

Hell has frozen.

Anyway today I'm bringing you a review of the Ivory 2-IN-1 Hair and Body Wash I received from Influenster awhile back.

*Disclaimer*  I received this product gratis (free) from Influenster but all opinions are my own!

Ok down to business.

I've been around Ivory products forever. My grandpa taught me to carve soap with the bars, I used to baby detergent when Boomer was an infant. I am a lover of all things Ivory. I was a little skeptical about 2 in 1 Hair and Body wash, but I also have 5 different bottles in my shower at any given time so I'll try anything once.

Scent: Great! I love nice, clean, fresh scents and this fits the bill. My sis was visiting and even she remarked on how great it smelled.

Cleaning: I mean...its soap, I felt clean. It didn't dry out my skin like some body washes do and even with Boomer's eczema it seemed to do well.

Hair: It tells you that you don't need additional conditioner. For me, I still used some because my hair tends to be very dry. (Curly hair problems) If your hair was less dry you would probably be fine.

Time/Space Saver: Great. It was nice just to have body wash and shave gel in the shower for a bit. It was also AWESOME to only have to grab on bottle during bath time and hair washing with Boomer. Believe me, having to use three different products during her hair washing baths in NO fun.

Bottom Line: I'd definitely buy this again, and have even recommended it IRL.

 You can check out more about Ivory's different products HERE and HERE!

Weekend goings on....

Ok so apparently I just post every Monday now?

World's most inconsistent blogger RIGHT HERE!!

Anyway, this weekend was a little cray!

Boomer and I woke up at 6am Saturday to attend the grand opening of the new American Girl store here in Columbus.

The fountain there in the picture is pretty neat too. Every frog has a button behind it that you can press to make it shoot out water. The longer you hold it the more it shoots out. I had to go to the opening for work, and let me tell you Boomer was a trooper. She only complained once or twice about the heat (and it was 90 DEGREES in the MORNING), and she wasn't whiny or anything. We talked to A LOT of girls that morning and she was just awesome. Even my boss complimented her on how well she did. (Which of course made me SUPER proud.).....ok Whit...don't get carried away with all the caps.

Boomer and her bitty baby Lizzie :)

All of the other stores that I would have offered up as a reward were swamped with all the girls too. I mean there must have been a few thousand girls and parents there. No joke. So I asked Boomer if she would be ok with going to the pool as a reward. Duh mom.

I think this may be the furthest she got from the wall.....at first :)

It took two hours, but I did finally convince her that she wouldn't drown if she let go of the wall and paddled to me. Swimming with Boomer is always an experience.

Mom hasn't been feeling the greatest so we took over her duties at my Grandmother's nursing home after swimming. And then this happened.

I love how Boomer's peeking in the corner. Anyway I bought this dress for $3 when I was in Tennessee for college. 10 YEARS AGO. Yes I keep my clothes forever.  When posted this pic on IG and one of my old college suite mates was so excited to see it finally meet its end.

Hater.

Sunday we did nothing. Because I needed a whole day just to recover from Saturday. Did I mention there were no naps Saturday. Yeah, there were no naps. We are nap people in this house.

We did leave briefly to grocery shop, but only because there was literally no food in the house.

Now everyone clap for me. This morning I have: gone for a run, blogged, fixed breakfast, and lunch.

.....who am I?

Things I learned this (and last) weekend....

Confession: I'm such an awful blogger I wrote this first part LAST Monday...and then never posted it. Whoops! Linking up with Sami today!

My daughter is a mini misogynist. While doing yard work at my mother's house on Sunday, she plopped down on the sidewalk and said:

"I quit! Girls don't do this anyway!'

To which I replied:

"I'm fairly certain I'm a girl. I'm also fairly certain I've been working in this yard for about 18 years. I'm asking you to pick up sticks, not mow the lawn."

To which she growled.

Once we were all done, she got happier.

Brown liquor is not my friend. Friday night we went to this cool speakeasy themed bar in German Village (A cute old neighborhood in downtown Columbus). It's called Curio and its a neat little bar with old school style cocktails. Some served in Mason jars. I can't wait to go back...just no more brown liquor. Ever.

I'm no longer uncomfortable in my clothes. They just plain don't fit. And since I definitely cannot afford to buy a whole new wardrobe, its time to get my butt in gear. Literally. This is not ok Whit.

That I need new friends. When I said over drinks Friday that on Sunday I was helping my mom with the yard and that I was going to 'trim her hedges', uncontrollable laughter followed. Really guys? Grow up.

That my mother is my best friend. Even if she is being brutally honest with her 'No' on a bikini. Whitney: 0 Gym: 2

That I am a glutton for punishment. After suffering through cutting back ALL mom's bushes, I somehow found myself sitting on her patio offering to help her repave it......

Once we cut everything back, we found strawberries growing in her yard!

That everyone and their mother wants me to start dating.....

We'll see.

THIS weekend I learned...

That I should probably see a doctor about these migraines. Being laid up in bed for 36 hours is not cool. Or practical with Boomer.

That more and more Boomer is my daughter....which makes getting upset with her, or punishing her.....difficult.

That I really do enjoy my time alone.

That even though JJ and I are no longer married, Boomer still really likes the three of us to hang out.

That sometimes the three of us hanging out can be ok. Which is why we took him to Father's Day lunch.

That I really, really miss my blog. Here's hoping I can do better.

We'll see.