C O N T E N T S

Editor ’s Note

Welcome to the pilot issue of Curl Talk. We hope youfind the content entertaining and educational.

Feel free to drop us a line atcurlstalknaturalhairmag@live.co.uk, where your submis-sions, opinions and suggestions are very welcome.

Hair Stories5 naturals tell us why

Beauty ditched the beast!4 naturals show us how attractive each stage ofthe natural journey is.

Where the bloggers at?!We asked you voted...this issue’s guest bloggeris....

Hunii xxx

Natural lightNatural Denise Lewis talks to us about the

positiveimageproject

© Hunii M Gray and Hunii's Genesis, 2011 – forever.Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any material found in Curl Talknatural hair magazine without express and written permission from theowner is strictly prohibited.

Editor ’s Note

Mane men!What men really think.

Name: LisaAge: 27Occupation: Mother, HR Assistant,Ebay SellerCurrent hair style: Braidout in a bunUsual hair style: Twist OutCoilday: July 2010

Why Natural?My hair was relaxed from the age of 7 andmy natural hair b4 then was full of badmemories. i forgot what my natural tex-ture was like so i was curious. i transi-tioned and failed 3 times and then… i hadmy daughter and i realised that i was her number 1 example and female rolemodel- if i couldn’t love my hair… how could i teach her to love hers?Going natural is?a healthy lifestyle change and spiritual, when you transition it is such anemotional journey whereby by the end of it, you kind of think that you’re hotstuff!What was the react ion to your newly natural t resses?erm…. are you sure? Why would you wanna do that? and my mothers greatone ‘your going to look like a fetish witch!’ Lol ear l iest hair memoryrunning away from my mum for like a month- (we both hated doing my hair)and then when my mum finally got me down she discovered a bid massivedreadlock. she was like “no way am i combing that” and cut it.Hair feelngs today i love my hair now, sometimes i am in awe of is and feel really grateful thatGod made me like this.advice for those thinking of going natur a lresearch research researCH!!!!! You Tube is your curl friend! Homemade recipeMix ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup honey and 2 tbs castor oil for a treatment beforeyou wash or co wash ur curl.

H a i r s T o r i e s

Nature's Parlour brings you salon quality or-ganic products for mixed race/natural afrohair and the purest oils and butter blends forhair and skin care.

The products in Nature’s Parlour have beencarefully sourced ensuring that only the best in-gredients are used to produce premium prod-ucts for you and your family. All ingredientsare listed so that you can make an informed de-cision before purchasing.

Name: Rae onedayinherlife.tumblr.com Age: 32Occupation: SudentSupport ManagerCurrent hair style:Blonde TWAUsual hair style: Erm...Ikinda just grew out myHigh-Top!Coilday: February 2011

Why Natural?i was broke. simple as.i’d taken my hair out ofmicro braids and when iworked it out, it wouldhave cost me a bag ofmoney to buy hair andthen pay someone to doit for me...not to mentionhaving to sit there for 12hours getting it done! i’m glad those days are over - i paid £8 for a shape up the last time i went tomy local salon, and i was in and out in 45 mins!When did your journey begin? i was Natural until the age of 5, when my Mom sent me to the Hairdresser’sfor a Jheri Curl, i rocked that until i was about 17. in between i had singles orcanerow extensions. Through all this i was styling my hair with and regularly using store-brought,mineral oil and paraben laden products, and it wasn’t until February 2011 that ibagged them all up, gave them away, threw them away and started over withmy crop and all natural products.Going natural is?Wearing my hair Natural has made things simpler; with it being short stylingtakes seconds. i don’t define my colour as a statement...i see it as me beingme. Using Natural products is definitely healthy, and i can see the benefits notonly in the condition and growth of my hair, but in my pockets too.What was the react ion to your newly natural t resses? i haven’t had any negative comments at all. My Family weren’t that surprisedto be honest. i’m always doing something different with my hair anyway,

My Grandma cussed me; “Yuh cut off de good head ah hair God gi’ Yuh?!” Mycurrent students didn’t know me prior to going Natural, and a few have chris-tened me ‘Tyrone’ from anuvahood!ar l iest hair memoryWashing my Dolly’s hair and being vex when i couldn’t get it to revert to longand silky again!Does hair texture, length, impact black love and acceptance?i guess its personal preference. My ex (The Canadian runaway) liked what-ever i did with my hair. He impressed me when he offered to twist my hair forme once too! i recall my cousin telling me that her soon to be husband hadnever seen her natural hair. My hair is mine and i shall wear and do with it asi damn well please. if a potential partner doesn’t like it then He can kindly jogon!advice for those thinking of going natur a lDo it. it’s not the easiest or the simplest thing to do at first, but once you getthere, you’ll wonder why it took you so long. We all have days where we lookin the mirror, the hair won’t do what we want it to and we feel busted...fixingthe Brows, slicking on some Mascara and rocking a Headscarf has neverfailed me yet!Homemade recipe100ml bottle half filled with De-ionized Water, a squidge of Vegetable Glycer-ine, half a teaspoon of Castor oil and a few drops of Peppermint oil, toppedup with rose Water makes a nice spritz.100ml bottle filled (almost to the top) with aloe Vera Juice, a teaspoon of Cas-tor oil and two teaspoons of MsM Powder shaken well and used every nightreally helped thicken and define my curls.Your hair in the photo…What products did you use? Would you recommend them?Generally i just spritz using the recipe i shared earlier, and seal with shea But-ter.

Grade A pure unrefinedshea butter

prices start at £2.80Stockist www.akua-

wood.co.uk

Name: ZoeAge: 30 Occupation: Detal nurseCurrent hair style:FrohawkUsual hair syle: braid out, frohawk,twistsCoilday: January 2011

Why natural?i was unhappy with the health of my re-laxed hair and watched many YouTubejourneys for a few months whilst my hairwas in a weave. i was going to transi-tion for a few months before i took theplunge.Going natural is?For me it was the beginning of rebuilding my life and changing my attitude tohow i took care of myself. What was the reaction?i am always changing my hair. i tried to go natural in the past but i wasn'tequipped with the knowledge on how to take care of my natural hair and soongot tired and relaxed. People i know liked it because my confidence seemedto increase. i also started wearing more adventurous make-up, jewellery andclothes.earliest hair memory…i always remember my mum’s first 'hot comb' attempt and the smell of burningtowels and melting hair.....

What advice would you give our readers? Do some research; facebook, YouTubeand blogs still help me greatly on mycontinuing journey. Don’t ever do it forsomeone else, know that it's somethingyou want to do for you, and enjoy it! Homemade recipe…one egg, some olive oil and honey for amoisturising, strengthening conditioner.Nice and simple. i’ve tried the bananaand avocado thing and though theysound good, you're washing bits out ofyour hair for days!

Your hair in the photo, what products did you use? Would you recommend them? a spritz by i Love afro or MMM Hair, r&B conditioning cream by Lush and myhomemade sheabutter, olive oil mix.i deffo recommend the products i use as they are (mainly) natural and fromUK based producers. Why do you/what do you think women discard heir true physical selves in favour ofsomeone elses?i think confidence and self love is key. if you accept yourself whole heartedlythen no opinion or fashion fad will persuade you to change who you are.how-ever the media can and does play a big role in this from a young age.

Name: EkuaAge: 28Occupation: Payroll ManagerCurrent hair style:Transitioning

Why Natural?i had been considering it for a while. Years in fact.i had also wanted to try a short style because ihad never experimented with my hair. after chat-ting to Melissa and Lisa a while back, i consideredit further. i then thought i might as well try thisshort hair style then progress onto natural hair.The lady cutting my hair at that point kept asking if i was sure i wanted to cutmy hair and if i didn’t want to think it over.Going natural is?it’s Healthy lifestyle change - i hope! embracing the curls that i have. i amalso hoping to achieve more length than what i had with relaxed hair.What was the react ion to your newly natural t resses?Those around me ask if i was sure – “You have such beautiful hair, such lovelyhair, why do you want to cut it?” some of my cousins even threatened never tospeak to me if i cut my hair.ear l iest hair memoryLoL – That bristly, electric sound of the afro comb running through your hair.

and my mum having to buy a new comb at least twice a month because mythick bush kept breaking the teeth of the comb.advice for others consider ing going natural?Coconut oi l is good for the roots. Wash your hair of ten, steam and tr im.

Model: LolaHairstyle: Fun flirty Ceasar

Model: RumbyHairstyle: Elegant Updo

Model: Emuobo Nuvie Hairstyle: Protective Styling

Model: Sonia of TreasuredTressesHairstyle: Two strand twists

This issues guest blogger is none other than wellknown UK blogger Pelumi rae, creator of Care-ForYourHair. Pelumi is a young lady who aims toimpact the lives of other women by making themrealise how beautiful their tresses are. one wayshe does this is through encouraging other ladieswho are natural or thinking to go natural to em-brace their natural hair, to make them confident in‘rockin’ their hair and to remind them that thosecurls, koils and kinks are beautiful no matter whatothers may think. she also offers hair care tips,

advice, product reviews and giveaways.

WHere Ma BLoGGers aT?

Growth in 2012…Let’s get REAL about it!

Hey Ladies!!!

in the year 2012 i guarantee many of you will want to ensure you look afteryour hair, keep it healthy, retain length and also allow it to grow to its maxi-mum potential. How exactly can we achieve these things?! The only way forchange & progression to be made is for you to be…

…Honest with yourself and evaluate how you’ve treated your hair this year.•…real with your expectations for your hair next year•it may sound harsh, but you cannot be mad if you haven’t put any work into•looking after your hair and it hasn’t grown much…

Things to evaluate:

Most importantly your diet & food intake… health on the inside = health on the•outsideYour use of heat•Trimming – have you trimmed too often or not often enough this year? •Listening to your hair needs •Deep conditioning & protein treatments – have you done them enough? or not•often enough?The products you’re using & your understanding of how they work, what they•

have in them and whether it’s actually working for you Whether YoU research YoUrseLF on things that concern your hair •Whether you know/don’t know what products work on your hair •Whether you put enough time in looking after your hair •The tools you use on your hair – e.g. the state of your bobby pins, have they•split, if so throw them away Products you no longer need •The forms of protective styling you do – are you pulling on your hair too•much? Do you leave your hair out enough for you to care for it?Dispel any myths! e.g. Black hair doesn’t grow •The love yes, love you give your hair – are you positive about it? •Have you sought sound advice? •Whether length or health is more important to you •Have you kept a record of your growth i.e. through pictures or measurements?•That way you can monitor your growth and changes that may occur in yourhairafter you’ve gone over these things, and realise the pro’s & con’s of howyou’ve treated your hair, you can then start setting goals & challenges for thenew year……For instance, this year i have blow dried my hair more than iwanted to e.g. once or twice a month…so next year i challenge myself to limitmy use of heat to every 2-3 months. i want to see everyone’s hair doing wellthroughout the new year, but in order for that to happen we need to be honestwith ourselves about the things we do & don’t do for our hair so we canchange them and move forward!

Contact: cfyh@hotmail.co.uk@CareForYourHairFacebook: Care for Your Hair

in 2011, Paige ellean of Care 4 Curls blog site launched a natural hair carerange aimed at women of colour. she is a firm believer that black hair should be

treated like fine silk and that all it requires toflourish is some “Tender Loving Care”.

over the Christmas period i was luckyenough to be given the range to try out.Below are my findings.Twas a cold and dreary winter’s morningwhen at my door i heard a rat-ta-tat-tat ¬_¬ itwas the post man delivering my now slightlysquished package from TLC Naturalsyaaaay!

Like any self respecting recipricant of apackage, i ran to my room, jumped into bed and ripped the package apart to begreeted with the most beautiful scent of, i kid you not, apples and spices…i’m thinkingstar anise... anyway, inside the package were four items, a Grapefruit Hibiscus Hydrat-ing spritz, a Hibiscus rose Leave-in Conditioner, a shea Baobab Nourishing Hair oiland a Choco shea Decadent Hair Butter.Before using the products i washed my hair with my usual shampoo and conditioner. Then i applied in this order the TLC Naturals range: -

1- The rose leave in had a delightfully pink colour and smelt like a fresh rose. Thescent was delicate and the texture slightly oily but easily absorbed. i raked this throughmy jus washed hair with my fingers. 2- i found the Grapefruit Hibiscus spritz to be very hydrating and i spritzed it into myhair after the leave in to replace any moisture that i squeezed out during the applicationof step one. i found the smell a bit acrid (i got a sense of apple cider vinegar) but thisquickly faded.3- My favourite product in the line is the shea oil…iused that stuff on everything! Hair ends, hair line,eyebrows you name it, it got it…even the elbowslol. My mum who is relaxed also enjoyed thisone…it left her hair soft and shiny with a wonder-fully light scent. 4- My least favourite was the hair butter…simplybecause it was more of a hair putty than what iwould term butter. i found it hard to manipulate…even after trying (and failing) to melt it on the radia-tor. i feel the name is a tad misleading…i hoped itwould be more of a whipped concoction or easilymelted in the palm of the hand. so saying it didadd a nice sheen to my hair and worked well as anedge slicker, when coupled with a little shea oil.

eDiTor reVieWs

1. What is positiveimageproject?positiveimageproject is the brainchild of Denise Lewis and Flo awolaja, two forward-thinking, fun and entrepreneurial women who have a wealth of experience in the cre-ative, educational, local government and public sector arenas. We are passionate,committed and excited about our projects.as a social enterprise and Community interest Company [CiC], positiveimageproject isa child centred cre-ative consultancy, fo-cussing on thepromotion of Blackculture, through edu-cation, Publishingand social aware-ness.

2. What inspiredyou to start posi-tiveimageproject?Being individualswho are both childcentred, as we are mothers and very family orientated, as well as (DB) being a quali-fied social worker, working with children and family services. observations from my job as a social worker, [Denise Lewis] allowed me to have firsthand experience of children who are placed in care. The feeling of loss and rejectionare issues that many of the children found challenging. i began to note that there are more and more cross cultural placements in relation toafrican Caribbean/Mixed Heritage children being placed with white carers. This is be-cause social services were finding it difficult to recruit Black foster carers. During my social work experience, i have had White foster carers asking me, “was it okto use cooking oil on a Black child’s skin?. after frequent similar questions such as this,we decided the book would be an excellent resource for all professionals, foster carersand adopters of african Caribbean/Mixed heritage children, especially in relation tocross cultural placements.

NaTUraL LiGHTPhenomenal women Denise Lewis and Flo Awolaja have generously taken time out oftheir busy schedules to talk to us about their business positiveimageproject...thank youladies it was a pleasure interviewing you both.

Packaging: - 5scent: - 4.5 Texture: - 4.5Visuals: - 5Customer service: - above and beyondWould i purchase: - Definitely the shea oil

3. What is the most difficult aspect of running positiveimageproject?The most difficult aspect of running positiveimageproject is working to raise funds for allour projects and finding the time to make them happen.positiveimageproject is an organisation set up to promote the welfare of africanCaribbean/Mixed Heritage children who are fostered and adopted in relation to hair andskin care. We have many ideas and because they were all to do with culture, heritage, and chil-dren, we thought why not set up a company where we can focus on all these aspectsof Black culture. We also considered becoming events organisers, there are manyideas we want to try, so we thought why not? The name positiveimageproject seemedto sum us up completely. We are very motivated to get things done,

5. Tell us about the products you sell?a) BLaCK CHiLDreN iN Care: HeaLTH, Hair & sKiNWe have designed a 70-page book entitled ‘Black Children in Care: Health, Hair andskin Care’ which looks at a broad range of issues including:● The washing, grooming and care of african Caribbean hair.● How to plait, cornrow and style african Caribbean hair.● skincare. For example the use of moisturising creams and natural remediesfor eczema and sickle cell anaemia/disease in african Caribbean children.● Promoting self-esteem.

The booklet is aimed at fos-ter carers, carers, adoptersand guardians responsiblefor the parenting of africanCaribbean/Mixed heritagechildren.that continue to per-sist with the care of africanCaribbean/mixed heritagechildren in cross-

b) PosiTiVe iMaGePro-JeCT T-sHirTs: Cultural T-shirts with a twist.

We have designed a seriesof fantastic T shirts, featur-ing positive images of ourheroes and sheroes, for men and Women. positiveimageproject T shirts, designed to Celebrate, inspire and educate.

c) ProVerB CarDs: “THiNGs MaMa UseD To saY”We also sell the popular proverb cards, on behalf of “one Hand can’t clap” owned byLorlett Hudson. a 52 colourful, and inspiring set of cards based on traditional proverbsfrom the Caribbean.

d) aFriCaN JoUrNaLFor those who love writing, positiveimageproject sells a range of a fantastic africanjournals and Diaries. These special bound journals are a great way to store thoughtsand memories.

6. Where do you see yourself in the future?We see ourselves running all our projects full time, we are excited and passionateabout our work and look forward to the ‘Black Children in Care’ book being printed andpublished worldwide. Never ones to let the grass grow under our feet positiveimageproject are continuallythinking up new ideas and projects for the future, which we know will be successful. We are working towards our t shirts being sold in the Us and around europe, each one bearing our trade mark poems and positive statement, supporting Black culture.

7. Anything else to say to the ladies and discerning men reading this?as Black people we are blessed with an abundance of talent and great skill, to do fan-tastic things, each of us must listen to our inner voice and act. We at positiveimagepro-ject say; Follow your dreams, don’t let anyone say you cannot do it, have anentrepreneurial spirit, Creativity is the key.

Do hair styling and texture define your re-lationship choices?

Yh it does matter. Natural hair is always preferred.i understand girls sometimes wear weave, but all the time, isa problem and. . .when you realise there is a few of girls whodon't wear weave, etc, it makes you even more picky.Thiswas before media, Dreadlocks are beautiful.lool

i.Bliss

at first one might be attracted to the way a female/malewears his/her hair but at the end of the day it's the person it-self that really matters

M.Harris

errm i prefer natural but if she has straight hair it will suffice.Whenever i see a straight haired girl i always imagine hernatural and think of how pretty she’d look. To be honest if iwere to go out with a straight haired girl i’d convert her soonlol. i prefer natural haired girls because i feel it looks nicerand i like being able to tell a black girl from any other race if iwere to seem them from behind, that’s really difficult nowa-days. Curly, Coily, wavey, afro puffs, braids, sHaVeD (very steamyon the right girl) anything natural basically.i didn’t care much before (a couple years ago) until i actuallysaw a natural girl n i was like WoW it was visually refreshing,new, like cold orange juice in summer!! also my girlfriend isnatural (yay lol) so it was prior to the media jumping on thetrends.

N.Chima

MaNe MeN...

The desires created by the media....alot of women who wearfake hair are suffering from a disease called, i hate myself,lol...i'm kidding, well maybe i'm not but there is alot of truth inwhat i just said unfortunately. But people will never admit itsadly, or they wont even notice it as the media has clouded ourown judgement on who we truly are. Get rid of the fakeness &

be real, keep it 100 all the time. The Black Goddess can only rise when shewakes up from this illusion of western thought etc.....This is a very deep topic, ican break it down scientifically & spiritually one day. Love ya my si-star Bal-ance & Wholeness N.Perrin

Yes natural hair is better than fake however if the ladieshair can not grow then she should do what she must todevelop the look that she desires

B.Poso

Yes it does matter. Preferable ur own real hair. Don't mind itstexture really. The reason is simple "u kno wat ur getting". somecan overdo wit da fake hair (braids, weave, wigs)and mite actu-ally b bald. also those thing tend to have a smell and as a tallperson its usually rite under my nose. Can't say i prefer afro cus i find curly and straight sexy too. Fa-cial hair definitely a No No

K.Francis

Yes i prefer natural hair i think that black beauty is different andseperate to the standards of beauty set by european culture and togo against it is as much a spirtual thing as it is physical. But i thinkthat its the weave verses everything else, its like a pandemic ofepic proportions. i will concede that its easier to manage etc etc buti can't help but think its in our post slavery mentality to be a stepcloser to the white man if we can look like him then maybe we canget a bly, some say slavery mentality that sends echos down gen-eration to generation. i aint immune (right here on this soap box) idabble in the creamy crack from time to time. Lol . But to mess withblack hair is to mess with out identity.

G.Phillips

sPoTTeD oN CaMPUs

DMU Naturals burn-ing the midnight oilin the campus li-brary.

Model:HeatherHairstyle: cute and funkyteenie weenie