Hiii muchachitas! Happy 2014! Hope your holidays were gorgeous – and that your 2013 was flush with profitable workdays and lusty nights. So yes, I disappeared for, like, nine months. I got very, very ill — there’s no other way to say this. My migraines became so disastrous that I spent more time in the hospital than not. Shout out to the Beth Israel nurses who’d ask for “rockstar eye” tutorials while I was nodding out on methadone (I’d gamely croak, “L’Oreal Voluminous Eyeliner!” Reflex). I had nothing left over to give to Shake Your Beauty, work, The Fly Cut, shaping my brows, or life in general. My Lina, who I never saw, was raised by committee – a team of Williamses and Cabezas – while I laid immobile in hospital beds, stunned by the audacity of this pain that just didn’t give a fuck.
This kid.
But today, I’m a lot better. For a couple reasons (we’ll talk later), but mainly and always this: Lina Lina Bobina needs her mama, so I fight. Like Daenerys fights for her dragons.
And it’s a new year! I’m pepperseeding into 2014 with joy in my heart, Clinique All About Eyes on my bags, and a tightly edited list of resolutions (the overarching thing is to not entertain anything/anyone that doesn’t make me want to bop around Brooklyn singing happy pop, like Mariah’s “Emotions.” Or Drake’s “Fancy”). My first resolution? To feel fully comfortable rocking my natural curls.
Shout out to my girl, celeb makeup artist Brandy Gomez Duplessis for the look! More info on my makeover’s coming on Beautylish.com. In the meantime, email brandy@bgdmakeupartistry.com for bookings.
Yes, I’m finally root-to-tip natural. I like it! I wear it maybe two weeks out of the month. It’s still so new that when I catch myself in the mirror I’m startled, like, “WAIT, WHO IS THIS POINTER SISTER?” Or “WHY IS FREDDY BROOKS WEARING MY CLOTHES?”
Or, the most disorienting, “KIMBELLA?”
It’s not entirely me yet. I haven’t found my sexy in it. My ringlets make me look perky-cute, like I’m twelve (which is why my smokey eyes are on a thousand in that pic). I was discussing this with a friend of mine who declined to be identified – because you all know who she is and you’d be shocked that she talks this way – and she pointed out that “curls actually communicate that you wild out in bed, slutty-style, ‘cause you’re not worried about sweating your shit out.” I have yet to have any type of sex with my new hair, so this is another 2014 resolution.
I was also surprised, at first, that my texture wasn’t uniform. I feel like on IG, natural girls have perfect spirals – is it an illusion? I truly have six different curl patterns up in my head. And the blonde pieces are PIN STRAIGHT at the ends (more on my new golden hair, aka Honey L’Amber, in another post). But as in life, chaos can be fun, right?
So, the products: I avoid putting too much in my hair, because I turn into Rick James quickly. When it’s soaked, I run a quarter-sized amount of Ouidad Define & Shine Gel-Cream throughout – it leaves my curls soft, fluffy, and just frizzy enough. Then, I diffuse upside down. And on the third day, I mist on Crème of Nature Straight from Eden Leave-in Conditioner, which moisturizes and perks things up. I cannot overstate how delicious this smells. Really, it’s why I use it.
Guys, I’m so happy to be back. Can’t wait to love you all up in the New Year. Happy 2014, SYB Babes!
xxoo,
Tia