A Naturalista in China: African People, Culture and a Full Circle Experience!

During my journey to Asia during the summer, I spent considerable time in China in the city of Guangzhou, primarily,  took trips to Chengdu (where the Panda Bears are) and Macau (a "Las Vegas style" city).   It was an exciting experience with an opportunity to meet many people from all walks of life.  What I have heard often is that on mainland China, people are bewildered by Black people's natural hair and touch it and are very inquisitive about it.  Once again, as was the case per my posts on Bali and Singapore, I did not find this to be accurately explained. What I found was that people were intrigued by my locks and found them to be very beautiful.  My locks are long, so sometimes, I braid them in one long cornrowed braid, where them in a ponytail or just loose.  No matter the style, there was no untoward behavior about my hair, but rather nice, polite comments. In one store, where interesting snacks are sold in Macau, which is not on mainland China but quite close to the city of Guangzhou, I did have an encounter where a Chines woman working in the store said to me that she really liked my hair.  She told me how beautiful she thought it was and she called over some of the other workers.  They were looking at it and me admiringly and one of them asked if it was mine.  I said yes and they had looks of amazement on their faces.  One of them did ask if she could touch it so I held out one of my locks and let her feel it.  She said "so beautiful" and they all had big smiles on their faces.  I said Zai jian to them, which means goodbye and waived as we exited,  and they all waved goodbye back to me.  It felt pleasant.  I didn't feel any negativity at all from the experience. I felt that unlike at home when this hair touching scenario happens, very rarely I might add, the Chinese women were genuinely curious because they generally do not see many Black people in Macau or mainland China, except in one particular area in Guangzhou.

So, what I found very interesting is that in Guangzhou (which is located in Guangdong, Province) there is an African community.  Guangzhou is China's third largest city. The African people live and work in an area that is known as "Little Africa" in Guangzhou and are mainly from West Africa including countries such as Nigeria, Guinea and Mali.  The areas where the African people live and conduct business are Xiaobei Road and SanYuan Li.  I had the opportunity to visit these areas. The pictures below provide a glimpse of what I saw there.

In terms of hair, I saw lots of women with braids and places with advertisements to get braiding accomplished.  There were also advertisements for perms and weaves, with lots of hair for sale.  I saw a couple of people with locks but it did not seem to be common.  We met and chatted with a young man who was from Mali who spoke fluent English and Chinese. It was so interesting to walk through the streets in China, all the while feeling like I was walking through Harlem or a community in Africa. We also ate at a fantastic restaurant with amazingly delicious Rwandan food. I think it is difficult to share my experience there based on pictures alone. This article with video, does a great job doing so.  You may want to take a moment to check it out as I did not have time to take my own video footage.
http://english.cntv.cn/2014/05/13/VIDE1399936205097536.shtml

Mannequins wearing African clothing

Hair for weaves sold in the market.  Not everyone in this community believes Natural Is Cool Enough

Overall, I would say that my experience in China. from a natural hair vantage point and beyond, was extremely pleasant and the time spent in the cities that I visited in China this summer for five weeks was as excellent as my time there last summer (2013) when I visited Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Suzhou and Hong Kong for six weeks.

Below are pictures from the summer of 2014 with captions.

Chinese Young Women Wearing Natural Is Cool Enough T-Shirts in China!  Thank you ladies! Looking Fabulous!

 

A Mutual Braid Admiration Moment ( I braided her hair and she loved it!)

 

Letting My locks down in and out of the water at our place in the City of  Guangzhou

 

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A woman that we chatted with in the park with "sister-locks" in the City of Guangzhou

PANDA TIME IN THE CITY OF CHENGDU!

This is a baby Panda, about 1.5 years old.  Essentially, you visit the Panda reserve, pay a fee and you have a chance to have a private sitting with a Panda.  It was awesome.  He is licking Bamboo with honey on it.  The bamboo is actually too hard for him to eat at his age.  He was playful and cuddly.  It was an experience of a lifetime for me and my husband. You also get to see Panda families as you can see in the picture above.  This was a different kind of "natural" experience but truly memorable, never to be forgotten.

A Naturalista  Strolling With her Braids in the Subway (Metro) Station.  She was not in the African community mentioned above so it was surprising to see her. 

Enjoying a moment with a "Face-Changer" after his performance in Guangzhou

Face changing is a performance technique commonly found in Sichuan Province, which is where the city of Chengdu is located. Chengdu is where I saw the Pandas.  However, while in the city of Guangzhou, we went to a Sichuan style restaurant and there was a face changer there.  They were so excited to have us at the restaurant, that after the performance, the Face Changer took a picture with us. I am wearing his head adornment that he wore during the performance.  He gave us gifts afterward.  It was an awesome experience.  By the way, at the Sichuan restaurant and in Sichuan, the food is extremely spicy.  One of their most famous dishes is hot pot, which I love. Water is boiled at your table and you cook it yourself at the table. Truly delicious!!!

HOT POT...So Delicious!! I actually have a hot pot in my home now and make it often!

 

Enjoying traditional Sichuan food in a popular neighborhood restaurant in Chengdu.

Jade in the City of Macau at the Hotel Lisboa

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Traditional Attire

 A Lovely woman in traditional (ethnic) attire in the city of Chengdu.  The main group of people in China are of the Han people but there are many smaller ethnic groups who have their own unique, cultural styles.  Notice her lovely braids and adornment on her head.


RANDOM FUN

K-TV (Karaoke)!

A Full Circle Moment

Standing in a traditional Chinese doorway with my husband in the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province.

I appreciate the circular doorway, which I am told represents the full moon and hence happiness. Exploring cultures makes me happy, so this picture is very befitting.  It is a pleasure to travel the world and to know and experience the reality that Natural Is Cool Enough and that's N.I.C.E.  I would love to share more with you about China but it is time to move on.  Next, I hope you will look forward to my sharing with you, my natural hair experience in Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand! 

N.I.C.E. Salutes Mike Brown: The Young Man Who Died for Walking While Being Black

As many of my readers know, from time to time, I take a pause to discuss something that because of the seriousness and importance of it, I must stop and reflect on it, for and with my readers.  So this time, it is about something that happened recently, which is the heinous slaughtering of Mike Brown, a young man who was killed for walking while Black.  As Black women, ONE of our primary roles, is to nurture, love, raise and empower our Black men who are brought into this world through our bodies.  As mothers, we see them as little babies and boys and we love them.  We hug and cuddle them and there is such a sense of pride in having one of them.  We love our daughters equally and give them equal love and nurturing and our dreams and hopes for our children, our sons, our daughters, our princes and princesses are big.  Some of us choose roles in life so that we can give and help these beautiful individuals, beyond in our own households, and we do so with the same intensity and love.

So, for me, and of course this is my personal opinion, when I see one of these young Black Princes, gunned down in the street, just because he was walking, it hurts me deeply.  I feel for his mother.  I agonize with her because I too have a Black Prince that I raised...a young Black man that I held in my arms as a baby and watched him grow to be an intelligent, handsome young man that I can  talk to, see, know and love, all the while knowing that as great as he is, some members of society,  see him through a different lens and do not recognize that his value is as significant as those who hold the power in this nation over most of our work lives and at all levels of this society in general.  Some would try to take what I am saying and paint me as a so-called "radical"  and say that we are in a post-racial society because we have a Black President.  I have decided that I am not even going there anymore, in terms of dialogue, because it is a waste of my breath, words and energy.  I raised both of my children with my husband by my side, a wonderful Black man who is a great husband and father.  I believe that every parent deserves the opportunity to do this in a society without worrying that (because of the color of their skin their sons primarily, because generally the slaughter of Black men is taking place, but history and recent events tells us that we must also have similar concerns about our daughters) may be gunned down in the street or placed in a choke hold or some other dreadful end to their lives for no reason. Some will argue and take the position that so-called "Black-on-Black" crime is worse.  My thought is to deal with that issue separately.  It has a different history, different facts and different scenarios and simply serves as a diversion from the reality that Black men are being killed by those who have been designated to protect ALL of us in this society.

I try not to be angry and bitter but rather spend my life speaking truth to power.  This, I know, causes those who think that they have power over me to try and suppress me.  It causes my loved ones to say to me sometimes with a little caution in their voice,  "maybe you shouldn't write that, or say that because...." and I write and say it anyway, appreciating their loving concern. My loved ones also stand up and cheer for me for being a strong and courageous Black woman, when I have the strength to do so, as I so appreciate the love and try to lead by example. It causes some, when I make decisions to stand on my own and not to bow to those who think they have power over me to wonder if they should have empathy or be excited about where I will land next.  But what I know for sure is that our lives have meaning and purpose.  In order to assess what is happening around us, both the good and the bad, we have to have time to take it in and process it and use our skills to lend what we have to share with the world what we know to be true (the good, the bad and the ugly) and how we feel about so many injustices that have taken place.  Social media and blogging has given us the forum to do that. Writing and speaking wherever and whenever we can gives us that space to share our perspectives.

So, now I take the time to express my thoughts about Mike Brown. He was ours.  He was a Black, young man, just emerging from boyhood.  He graduated from high school.  His mother and his father are deeply saddened by his loss.  His memory is being tarnished by the presentation of a video of a young man who had a confrontation in a store.  There is no sound in the video so we do not know what happened in that store.  The word robbery is being imposed on us.  We are being told, as the police officer who killed him was to be named and the focus of an announcement, that this young man, Mike Brown, who was left lying in his own blood in the middle of the street, shot down, not because of the alleged robbery, but because he was walking while black, deserves to die in cold blood.  Some people are actually writing and saying those words via social media and beyond.  We are told that peacefulness is a must in terms of anger and rage and if not tanks, swat teams, rubber bullets and other weaponry and mechanisms, like tear gas will be used on the very people that feel victimized because of the loss of this young man.  The media is giving a play by play like this entire atrocity is some kind of sport or reality show while feeding our need for information about how and why something like this would happen. We are trusting and believing what we are being told but doubtful because much of it does not add up. We have others that keep saying that if you just work hard, never get into any trouble and literally stay in the spaces we have provided for you to thrive with just a proverbial handful of you (percentage wise) being able to move around in the kind of comfort enjoyed by others, maybe you will survive, unharmed and won't end up like Mike Brown.  Our children are being told, if you just continue to learn in our schools of higher learning where tuition is well beyond most people's reach, we will give you loans with interest and make money off of you when you finish, we will then pay you what we think you should earn while lauding over you and we will run these places and we will make sure that your reach is not too high because those spaces are reserved for only those who we deem to be in power. Our children are being told that if  you are not able to make it to "success" in your work life because you could not make it through the inferior, lack of resourced, teaching-to-the test public schools that we made up for you in your neighborhoods, then perhaps you will have a tendency to try to make a living by other means or just walk around surviving in environments that in many cases, are barely survivable and that is idle and dangerous.  We are told not to worry though because those neighborhoods will be "policed" by people who's role is to serve and protect and most of them won't look like you. The risk unfortunately, is that you may die, for walking while Black.

So unfortunately, Mike Brown is the protagonist in this latest situation that has unfolded.  I refuse to let my memory of this young man that I did not know personally but now connect with him and his family deeply from afar, be a lifeless, limp human being left in his own blood on the street after being gunned down.  I will remember him as a Black, young man who was finding his way to his grandmother's house and was gunned down in the street of the nation where he was born and lived for walking while being Black.  But that just before that atrocity, he made it across the stage to receive his diploma with his family watching him proudly, walking while being black.

N.I.C.E. salutes Mike Brown and his family!  May he Rest In Peace...

Photo Taken by Elcardo Anthony:  See in Washington Post Article per link below

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-brown-notched-a-hard-fought-victory-just-days-before-he-was-shot-a-diploma/2014/08/12/574d65e6-2257-11e4-8593-da634b334390_story.html

In Singapore, Natural Is Cool Enough: No Stares or Glares Because Diversity Rules!

    My last entry was about my exciting trip through Asia at which time I was in Bali.  I began my journey, with my husband, t in Singapore City, Singapore, then Bali, followed by five weeks in Guangzhou, China and then I headed to Phuket and Bangkok, China.  All the while, I had my eyes on natural hair, thinking of sharing what I saw and experienced with N.I.C.E. readers.  I want to begin with Singapore, City, Singapore and each post that follows will take us on a different journey.  

What I found is that Singapore City is  a wonderfully diverse place with a very interesting symbol which is the Merlion.  The Merlion is a mixture of a lion and a fish and here it is:

     The Merlion, although an odd creature found in the river in Singapore City and on t-shirts, hats, all kind of souvenirs and beyond, has a wonderful mane and is interesting beyond the imagination.  There was so much that was wonderful to see, do  and eat in Singapore City.  Below are some photos just providing a glimpse of the experience.

    Also, do note that during my time there, I did not feel, even for one moment, that my hair was an oddity.  I was not stared at, there was no "may I touch your hair" or anything like that.  It was a beautiful environment of diversity and kindness and a place I would definitely return to.  So the conclusion is that in Singapore, Natural Is Cool Enough!  That's N.I.C.E.!

SINGAPORE SIGHTS!

The cool hangout spot by the Singapore River called Clarke Quay

Singapore is all about "going green!"

Major shopping spots!

A Muslim Community...

A Shop in an Indian Center of Singapore...

Diversity Abounds!

Dancing in the Mall...

Good Sentiments for the People everywhere...

Partying...nightlife!

Hindu Temple

Singapore Fashions!  Cool!

Rose Petal Creativity!

The Singapore Sling--Yes it was invented there!  Delicious!

A River Runs Through It...The mall that is!

A Hawker Station...Awesome, quick food at incredible prices!

The subway...no worries about "falling on the tracks"...glass doors closed before the train arrives...

A Cool Walkway...

    

A Shoe Vending Machine!

A Very Interesting Hotel next to the Ferris Wheel..

Chicken with Rice....Sooo Good!

Sister Acknowledgement! 

Creative Mannequins!

Hubby Moment!

Cuba in Singapore!

Natural Is Cool Enough in Asia!

     So, I am excitedly trekking across Asia, beginning with Singapore and now Bali, with my husband, before I head off to various parts of China and then Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand.  One of my cultural questions on this marvelous adventure is whether or not Natural Is Cool Enough in this part of the world.  So far, what I have found is love for my natural tresses as I travel.  There are positive comments about my locks, no awkward stares and essentially, people are not phased by my them in one direction or the other.   When there is a comment, it is usually, "very nice hair" or "I like your hair."  There is no touching or weird stares, which is odd because honestly, in the U.S., the touching encounter and stares sometimes happens.   So below are pictures of me and a few other women that I have spotted with their natural do's.  I'm just embracing the wonderful reality that so far, from my travels in Asia, Natural IS Cool Enough and that is fantastic.  I'll provide further updates on this exciting experience as my journey continues!

Also note the new Natural Is Cool Enough t-shirts, in red and yellow, worn by our hosts in Ubud, Bali.  I was so pleased to give them the N.I.C.E. t-shirts as gifts as a token of our appreciation for their wonderful hospitality. Stay tuned to find out how you can have one of these fabulous new t-shirts!

New Yellow and Red N.I.C.E. t-shirts worn by beautiful ladies in Ubud, Bali

Twisting my locks in Ubud, Bali

A naturalista in Ubud, Bali

Appreciating my locks in the natural setting of Ubud, Bali

A Naturalista in Legian, Bali

Natural IS Cool Enough as an Approach to Reduce the Risk of Fibroid and Other Tumors and Chemical Toxicity: Say What?

Recently, I was moved by a piece that a former student of mine wrote about the right to wear your hair other than naturally, without being questioned about it by others.  Of course, this is a free country and I agree with her on that 100%.  But, I can't stop the need to press the issue with a leaning toward natural hair and validating naturalistas because it comes out of love for me to express this.  What am I referring to? I am referring to my own personal belief and what I believe to be  fact and that is the notion that Natural IS Cool Enough.  There is the historical aspect to all of this in that Black people, mainly women, were told by their oppressors, during slavery and beyond that their hair, as it grew out of their scalp was ugly, inferior, wool etc. and that in order to be beautiful it was felt that the hair should be straightened.  Hence, the straightening comb, created by the French, was then utilized.  Then of course, next was the "relaxer."  Within the name itself is the notion that our hair needs to calm down.  I am a very energetic person and the last thing I want to hear from folks is to tell me to relax. So telling me to relax my hair is no different. I don't want it to relax.  Let it be free and unfettered.  Why not?

Nevertheless, what I really want to talk about here are the health effects associated with the notion of changing the chemical texture of our hair. In fact, It's not just our hair but make-up and beyond.  Make-up goes back to our African ancestors.  It goes back as far as the ancient Egyptians, and yes they were Black, as Egypt is located on the continent of Africa, during antiquity (BCE) and then, make-up was all natural.  Different people paint their bodies in different ways but often as a symbol of beauty or ritual. Tattoos also go back thousands of years, in Africa and beyond.  As my mom used to say "there is nothing new under the sun."

The reality is that Black women are disproportionately marketed to, in terms of cosmetics and other chemicals, during our present times. This piece, which explains this notion, is very brief, although quite enlightening about the Toxic Products that are disproportionately marketed to Black women:  http://safecosmetics.org/downloads/SafeCosmetics_BlackWomen_brochure.pdf

So, I have taken the liberty of finding some natural and organic products that may be worthy of consideration to decrease the toxicity factor associated with make-up.  Here are some examples:
http://www.organicbeautytalk.com/best-natural-foundation-makeup-for-black-women-darker-skin/

http://www.100percentpure.com/Weekly-Special-Mints-and-Blues-p/1wsvmab.htm

There are many more options, but the above links provide information that are good places to start. Prices vary and unfortunately, just like when buying healthy and organic food, the price points are higher but the more we participate in the market of what is good for us and non-toxic, the better chance there will be to push the manufacturers and providers of what we need to bring the prices down.

As for hair and the negative effects of relaxers, there are some very interesting studies emerging.  The first is the notion that there is a relationship between the use of relaxers and Uterine fibroids.  This research is worth reading even if it is at the early stages.  As you read the article, it is mentioned that burns and lesions, from the relaxing process, is what may be enabling the toxic chemicals from the relaxers to get into the body.  Before, even getting to the chemicals entering the body, why use anything that even has the remote possibility of causing burns or lesions to one's scalp?  This becomes even more problematic when one considers that children, through the use of kiddie perms, are subjected to potential or actual burning of their scalps.  If a child is permitted to be burned in any other way, that is child abuse!  Why is it not child abuse if a child is subjected to the potential of or actual burning for a perm.  So here is the article about Uterine Fibroids with a link within this piece to the actual study, conducted by the Mayo Clinic: http://www.essence.com/2012/02/24/hair-beat-can-hair-relaxers-cause-uterine-fibroids/

Lastly, there is a piece that I want to share with you that gets very technical but it is about the possible link between relaxers and Uterine Leiomyomata, which are tumors, and hair relaxers may increase the risk of getting them.  Here is the article related to this research: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/759283.  This information is getting rather technical, but nevertheless, it is critically important.

Basically, everyone has the right to choose how to style one's hair and what make-up to choose and hopefully, every other aspect of your body and life choices are your own.  That is the beauty of a free society.  The question is,  borrowing and modifying a quote from Maya Angelou:  "When we know better, will we do better?"  Natural Is Cool Enough says yes because as we love who we are, naturally, we embrace who we really are.

Nourish Your body, Nourish Your hair: A Natural Approach!

There is no doubt that healthy foods can benefit one's natural hair.  When I was growing up, there was always fresh, scrumptious food on the table, for every meal, as my mother cooked delicious meals daily.  There was no fast food served in our home during  my childhood.  My mother had a beautiful garden and I would go to it with her, with bowls in hand, to pick fresh fruits and vegetables.  But, many of the dishes that she made, since she was born and raised in Georgia, were what is classified as "soul food."  The problem there is that although the food was incredibly tasty, the preparation techniques were sometimes not the healthiest.  For example there were fried and heavily seasoned dishes and  recipes that, as I have learned, require modification toward health.  Hence, I undertook that step in my new book! 

My mother's name was Effie and near the end of her life, I sat down with my niece Vivian, who was a very young girl at the time, and we recorded my mother's recipes.  I then took each of those recipes, which I usually prepare on certain special occasions and modified them with healthier ingredients such as hormone and antibiotic free meats and poultry, Himalayan pink salt, organic ingredients and beyond.  I also included a few recipes from my mother-in-law, Justine, as she was first generation American, from a family of individuals from the Cape Verde Islands, which comprise an African nation off of the West Coast of Africa. The book also includes recipes that I found during my World travels and modified them.

In short, caring for our bodies naturally, including what is put into them, nourishes every fiber of our being including our hair, of course, so I hope all of the readers of N.I.C.E. will enjoy my new book entitled:  Effie's Soul Food Recipes and More...With A Healthy Twist!  You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/Effies-Soul-Recipes-Healthy-Twist-ebook/dp/B00K2NLEKK/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1399309969&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=Effie%27s+Soulfood+Recipes

All you need to read it is the free app per the link below which you can download to a Smart Phone or a Computer or a tablet or a Kindle. Then, you can download any book offered by Amazon kindle! Enjoy! http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000493771

Also, for foods that are specific to maintaining beautiful hair, check out this article: http://blackgirllonghair.com/2011/10/10-foods-for-healthy-hair/

The bottom line is that embracing the reality that Natural Is Cool Enough, in terms of our hair, is just the beginning of our understanding that nourishing our body nourishes us inside and out, including our hair!