Wordless Wednesday

Locs of 🩵💙🩵

you better behave…

cutie glasses

it’s the green for me…

doing a root re-tighten, ‘interlocking method’

-p

✌🏾

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRESHAIR BOUTIQUE!

Celebrate!

We made it to 14!

Enjoy these celebration photos and pop by today for some cheer and joy! 😉💙🩵

…you know i like to party like a rock star

great team! great times!

🎶🎵 celebrate good times! come on! 🎶🎵

just living the best life!

…that hair though!

Here’s to 14 more years! 😜

-p

I am not my hair analysis

I like to think about hair a lot. As a hairstylist, this should make sense, but sometimes I think hair might be taking up too much of my brain space. Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of it in music, so I’ve decided to analyze a few that mention or talk about hair, in a short and simplified format just to put a little rock in your shoe. So that maybe next time you turn on your favourite Spotify playlist or absentmindedly turn the radio on in your car, or while you’re walking down the aisles at Safeway and you hear a song you know arbitrarily, you’ll stop and think a little bit more about the words.

I’m writing about the song “I am not my hair” by India.Arie featuring Akon. If you’ve never heard this song, I would suggest you stop reading now, go listen to it, and then come back. 

The song opens with rapper Akon taking us back to a time in his younger life, trying to get girls and trying to land a job, but having problems with both because his hair is deemed unattractive for one and inappropriate for the other. What would you do it this situation? Style your hair so you can land the girl? Cut it all off so you can nail that job interview and impress the big guys in suits? Either way you’re sort of forced to compromise what you really want right? He says so himself at the end of this verse; he didn’t see success, until after he cut it all off anyways.

Then bops in India Arie. She she gives us a timeline of hairstyles in her life from a young age up until adulthood, dealing with harmful hairstyles, harsh chemicals, and dealing with hair loss. All of these are very common scenarios for young black women with tight afro hair. And along with that comes, shame, embarrassment, sometimes bullying, all in an effort to conform to an image that other people want you to be. 

Later on in the song, India asks a very important question: does the state of her hair actually matter? And that question can be extended to us, and even beyond hair. Does our appearance inherently change our value as human beings at all? I think the easy and obvious answer is no. But if we all believed that as a society, songs like this wouldn’t be written, right? 

There are people who look different from us, who behave differently from us, who speak differently from us, and we judge them. I think all of us are born with prejudice towards others not like us, whether we like it or not. 

The answer to this question is given in the song specifically in the chorus as India sings: 

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am not your expectations, no 

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am the soul that lives within

One of my favourite things about this song is that the answer is in you. 

It’s 2024. We all know racism exists, that’s not a secret. If you pay attention to the news, you will know that there are still children in the U.S. that have been suspended from school because they refuse to change their hair to meet the standards of the school dress code. Standards that are inherently racist. You may know that we’ve come very far since this song has been released. There are laws that have been enacted so that people with different hair textures can’t be refused jobs based on their hair. (For more information on this, I highly recommend you Google “the Crown Act”). 

This song is almost 20 years old, and its message is still incredibly accurate to today’s society. But I think this song is really trying to get across the message that it’s about self acceptance first. It’s about the soul that lives within. It’s not about placing the blame on the people that create the expectations, or even making them change their perspective. It’s about you accepting you for who you are, knowing where you’re worth comes from, and that your hair has nothing to do with that.

Chanté 

💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵Happy Valentine’s Day💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵

The Fresh Perspective...

So fresh and So clean!

Hi-hi to everyone that cares about our blog! I am back on! Full disclosure, I’m back in school and for some reason, that helps me focus on writing. My classes finish in April so here’s to hoping the posts continue past that! Ha! I make no promises…

As most of you know, new years bring on new goals, challenges and dreams. That’s the same for the shop as well! Since the pandemic, and the changing of our lives, much has shifted. Our goal to have an eco-friendly boutique was stymied by the pandemic and the new and strained shopping habits of absolutely eveyone. Now that we all seem to be back on track, the boutique is as well! We found some new items for all of you to try as well as some new gift ideas and joy bringing jems!

moisturizer? sunscreen? you use this stuff?

There will be a new skin care line we will be revealing next month for our birthday celebration. We have been on Academy Rd. for 14 years and are honoured to still be a part of this street and it’s surrounding community. Come check us out on the 23rd of February and celebrate 14 years with us!

-p

….aaaand if you wanna bring ME joy, like this, comment or share! 😉

The Fresh Perspective...

What do you do?

ouuuu expensive…

How often do you wash your car?  Are you good at taking care of your material things?  Large items like your exterior of your home, or your yard, or car/boat?  Do you respect the items in your life and what they do for you or BRING to you?

don’t get these dirty!

We have a very old piano (thanks Mel) and all my kids take lessons so I enjoy the music.  The piano is over a 100 years old so it needs a lot of TLC.  We need to do a series of things to make sure it keeps allowing music to resound. 

All of this because I realized it’s been so long since we serviced it and with funds being tight all around, it made me think of all the material things in my life that I need to maintain, like my white car or my old, old piano.

my piano has missing key tops too. still plays

I think I’m going to make a list of those items, cause as I’m writing this, I realize, how many material items do I have that I don’t maintain?  My dining room table needs a whole coat of new paint or at least a refinishing and the oven needs to be cleaned inside and out.

Then there’s the outside of my home. The paint job on the outside is trash. Actually, like it’s falling off… This is going to be a long list.

You have any items you maintain?  Any tips for me?  My car is white and in this time of year, I’m washing it sometimes twice a week.  In the summer the kids do it, but during school (and snow) I’m on my own.  

Subscribe below and make my day!

-peace ✌🏾

The Fresh Perspective...

Just shut up and clean already!

if all my supplies looked like this?

It’s Spring!  We must get ready! Everything will be fresh and new soon so let’s get prepared!  Ugh!  Like we don’t know?! Marketing ploys to get you in the season for more spending and purchasing and ‘buying’ into themes and concepts that make a difference? Really?  My cynicism is on fire this post!

Get your life together, throw out those old things.  Get your closet in shape, get ready to show your flesh! It’s all too much but yet, I can say that I look forward to all the “spring” marketing.  I love a new beginning and an excuse to make a to-do list.  What do you like?  Does this time of year make you want to be better and accomplish more?  Does it make you want to vomit? 

does this ‘spark joy’?

This is the time we take stalk of how much more we need to accomplish before the sun warms all things and we are in full on summer mode. It almost seems like we live for this? We live for the preparation of the seasons ahead. We are always looking for the next thing to motivate us. At least I am… Humans, we are the best, subscribe below!

-peace