adinakay

[adinakay]

I put some purple eye shadow on today. :)

[adinakay]

Hair update (finally!)

Okay, so I've been away for a long while. I'm sorry. I'm REALLY bad at keeping up blogs. Some things never change. Lol. Yet my blog has been maintaining intermittent traffic, because my followers and notes continued to go up during my hiatus. I guess people are still interested.

So, to make up for my abscence, here is a really looooooong hair update.

Here goes: My last hair update was june 15th. I was wearing yarn wraps. I kept those in for about 2 months. Pros: *Lightweight, way more than the marley locs. *They held up really well for the long time I wore it. *Helped the moisture retention process greatly. When I took my hair out, it felt nice and soft, not dry and brittle. I retained most of my growth. 

Cons: *Took forever to dry when I washed them. *The roots were bulky as heck, and I hated that. Pics of that style:

(I apologize in advance for some of the pics having watermarks. But a while ago, I had a couple of issues with some people stealing my photos. I was tired of blogs stealing my photos without giving me credit. Also, people who steal photos to act like it's them and create fake social media profiles. I decided against watermarks a short while later because I hated how it looked, but I foolishly did not save the original photos for some of the pics. The watermarked ones are the only copies I have of those particular ones.)

After those came out, I wore my hair out for about two weeks and put in the yarn wraps again. I made two distinct changes with it. 1) I made them a bit larger and 2) I attempted to give them a more natural base at the roots. I did this by making the first couple of inches of the yarn wrap thinner than the rest of it, kind of like the freshly twisted new growth of a loc wearer. Here's what it looked like

Please ignore the fact that I'm not wearing a bra, lol. 

I was more or less satisfied with the results. How long did I keep these in? 5 MONTHS. A whopping 5 months. It never originally intended to keep them in that long, but life got so hectic and busy, that I really could not find a day to just sit and take them down. I finally got the time a couple of days after Christmas. I moisturized my hair once or twice a week while in the yarn wraps, and washed it every month. It held up pretty well. Here are some photos of that particular style.

Above is a pic of the style after 2 months.

This is after five months. Look at all that beautiful new growth, lol. 

After letting my hair rest for a week, I put in crochet yarn twists in my hair. Wasn't too fond of it like I was the first time I did it. Here's the only picture of it I took:

That style only lasted a little over two weeks. And then for a few more weeks, I switched between wearing my hair out and wigs. I don't really have any pictures, sorry.

So what have I done with my hair since? What I do best: Experimenting, of course! More updates to come on that.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this hair update!

[adinakay]

I saw your post on your yarn locks. I have been thinking about doing them in my hair. I'm a white girl, would it be ridiculous of me to do them in my hair? (Not in different colors either- just black hair, black yarn.) I feel really stupid for asking this btw. I need an opinion from someone who has them. Thank you.

I'm sorry if I didn't see this earlier, I've been really busy and haven't really been online much. I can't write back to you personally, so I hope you see this on my blog. I have seen White women with yarn braids, and if done on the smaller side, it actually looks decent. I have yet to see one with yarn wraps/locs, so I  can't say for sure. But if you were to keep them on the smaller side and the colour matches your hair, It should look fine. If you do them large, because of the typical texture of White hair, it will look really obvious and bulky, won't blend well, and possibly come off as tacky. That's the best advice I can give to you. I hope this helps. Good luck. 

[adinakay]

Pointing out racial inequalities does not make me a race baiter

This is a post I made on my Facebook page in response to the accusations made that I posted certain articles for the sole purpose of 'race baiting'. 

This page is all about love and reducing the stigma that surrounds interracial relationships. And I try to keep it as lovey-dovey as possible. But every now and then, I do post controversial topics that I think are relevant to a page that deals with race. And while my primary purpose of doing this is to get a discussion going, whenever it involves an incident where a person of colour is being subjected to injustice by a White person, I get accused (mostly by White people) of 'race baiting' or being racist. And this piece will probably do the same thing, but I don't care.  Let me just start off by saying I am not race baiting, and to say that I am racist is fundamentally inaccurate. What you may think is race baiting is just me simply pointing out social injustices.  Blatant racism, for the most part, is over. Slavery is abolished. Jim Crow laws are abolished. All american citizens over the age of 18 can vote. Segregation, 'separate but equal', and other blatantly racially discriminatory laws of the like have been all but removed from the books. We have made great strides in race relations in the past century and I, for one, am grateful for it.  But changing a law does not automatically change a mind. The abolition of slavery did not make all White people automatically treat Blacks as equals. Blacks getting the right to vote did not automatically stop certain states from trying to find ways to stop them from doing so (eg. grandfather laws, literacy tests, etc). Integration did not automatically mean that White schools welcomed minorities with opened arms (we've all seen the picture of that young woman trying to go to school while White people picketed and screamed obscenities at her). The removal of racism from our laws did not automatically remove racism from our society. They did not stop White people from teaching their children that minorities were inferior and did not deserve to be treated equally. Such feelings and dispositions do not disappear overnight. And this is where covert and institutionalized racism stems from.  These days, society has become much more tolerant and most people do not outright teach their children to discriminate against minorities. But from generation to generation, lingering prejudices do get passed down, and this is true for all races and ethnicities, not just whites. Many non white people hold racially discriminatory prejudices against Whites, I am not denying that. The difference is that the innate prejudices held by Whites have a far greater ability to affect people of colour than the other way around. It's called institutionalized racism. As of this very moment in the USA, Whites are the majority at about 63%. They are in control of almost all the major institutions.  Whites are in control of most financial institutions (banks). Whites are in control of most educational institutions (universities). Whites are in control of most employment opportunities.  Whites are in control of the government institutions (our president may be Black [I know he's biracial, for those of you who will come at my throat for this, I'm just speaking for the sake of the argument and general perception], but congress and the supreme court are still largely White). Whites are in control of the law enforcement institutions (the police force in this country is about 75% White, and in most predominantly Black or Hispanic towns, the police force is about 87.5% White).  This means that Whites have the ability to affect minorities with their innate prejudices on a large scale.  Whites are in a better position to deny you a loan based on race. Whites are in a better position to deny you entrance to a university based on race (affirmative action has offset this. But in schools that employ 'colourblind' admissions, the bias becomes more obvious) Whites are in a better position to deny you jobs based on race (http://nyti.ms/1BHfY3O & http://cnn.it/K7N73w) Whites are in a better position to discriminate in law enforcement based on race (http://stanford.io/1otGRyT, http://ampr.gs/1fe76bi,http://bit.ly/1scUftN). And you know what the crazy thing about this is? Most of them don't even realize they are doing it.  I think it's safe to assume that most White people are not racist and that most of them are for racial equality on a general scale. It's very rare that you will come across a White person who is like, "You know what? I hate people of colour, and I am going to do every single thing in my power to make their lives a living hell!"  Most people have good intentions. However, innate biases conditioned into us from young can pop up at the simple mention of a name, or at the sight of someone who fits the bill of the said bias. And that's how covert and institutionalized racism prevails. We just don't always notice it. It's kind of like breathing. It's there. It's happening. But for the most part, you don't even notice it happening. Until someone points it out. I'm pretty sure that anyone who is reading this sentence has started breathing manually because I have pointed this out. Some of you may even be a bit annoyed, because breathing manually is kind of a bother. Well that's kind of what pointing out innate prejudice is like. The people on the privileged side of this prejudice get annoyed at you for pointing it out. Because being aware of it makes them uncomfortable.  So I understand why bringing up these things have the potential to make white people feel uncomfortable. And for that, I apologize, as it honestly was not my intention. But if it makes you uncomfortable for the few minutes you are just TALKING about it, imagine what it feels like to LIVE it.  Imagine what it is like to get stopped by the police for the vague reason of 'fitting the description' or 'looking out of place' (something that has happened to me on a few occasions, and I live in NYC where stop and frisk was legal until recently. Not dressed oddly, not doing anything suspicious, sometimes even wearing my college i.d hanging very clearly from my neck. Not even identification from one of the the top five colleges in the country could keep the cops from bugging me). Imagine having to give your kids 'the talk', and I'm not talking about sex. Imagine having to tell your child that he needs to look as un-thuggish as possible and keep his hands visible so the police won't shoot him (http://usat.ly/Vpw2Hn, http://bit.ly/1tYTpTq). Imagine that even your children, are judged with a harsher light (http://bit.ly/Xp6Ty5, http://wapo.st/1kecHET). Imagine living in a society where your own natural appearance can be a violation of rules at schools or in the workplace (http://huff.to/1uPGJiJ,http://bit.ly/1nHImKA, http://wapo.st/1ef83Og, http://nyti.ms/1rSGIJO,http://huff.to/1m9F8Va). Imagine having your culture demonized, discriminated against and dismissed as 'ghetto' or 'trashy' (http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/12/perceptions-of-discrimination-a-black-and-white-story/). Imagine having to give your child a 'normal' (read: European) name just to make sure they can get a job later in life, or having to alter your name on resumes just to make sure sure your application doesn't get thrown out (http://bit.ly/1euCp1b). Imagine living in an infrastructure that wasn't created by you, that doesn't favour you and that you exist in through no choice of your own (http://bit.ly/1lSdYSM).  Your 'discomfort' more or less ends when you log off the internet, but minorities have to live with it 24/7. So no, I will not stop posting these 'race baiting' articles just because they make some of you uncomfortable. Because if we don't recognize a problem for what it is, then we cannot work towards fixing it. I don't hate White people and I do not blame present day Whites for the atrocities of their ancestors, nor do I hold a grudge against them for simply being born into a system that favours them. They didn't choose the life that they were born into and neither did I. However, I will not remain complacent towards the status-quo and allow innate prejudices to go unheard of. If not talking about racism really did solve it, racism would have been gone years ago.

P.S- and for the record, I do also point out prejudices held by minorities too. Accountability has to be acknowledged from ALL angles in order for progress to happen.

[adinakay]

Random thoughts....

People who use 'sex is for procreation' as an argument against homosexuality need to stop having sex for pleasure. Missionary only. In the dark. No thrusting, just lay there like a dead fish until something comes out. And only when you want children. Anything more than that is pure hypocrisy.

[adinakay]

Dear Religious people....

You see stories like this?

Please stop it. PLEASE. You don’t like it when atheists make fun of you. But you make it SO. DAMN. EASY. Dissecting this utter horse shit seems almost redundant, but I’ll do it anyway.

-On what planet does a nurse start BEATING a new born child just for laughing? Or at all? Like, the fact that you even started with such a ridiculous premise should have been enough of an indication that this was stupid.

-Newborn babies can’t grip anything.

-How did the child even get a hold of the abortion pills? Abortion pills never actually go into the uterus. They are swallowed, digested, and prompt the body to release a hormone that breaks down the uterine wall that the fertilized zygote is attached to.

-And finally, why is a newborn, toothless child able to speak perfect English? Even baby Jesus couldn’t do that and he was supposedly the messiah! Lol. To be quite honest, a laughing baby that can speak straight out of the womb while holding some abortion pills sounds like a demon child to me. This little story was supposed to be about the power of god and anti abortion. However, one can logically conclude that the mother was right to try and abort him because he’s clearly the antichrist. He defies all logic and needs to be stopped. And if beating a newborn can’t kill him, then we’re doomed. Run for cover, y’all. (The original post from that page has since been deleted. Luckily, I preserved it, lol)

[adinakay]

Opinion piece: An immigrant's take on the immigration issue in the USA

As in immigrant myself, I often get asked how I feel about the immigration crisis. 

Now, I mentioned before that I am an immigrant, one who came here legally, possesses a green card, and is not a naturalized citizen. And as such, I do not feel it is my place to tell Americans how they should feel about immigration. Because I realize that as an immigrant, I do possess a certain bias. I try to be as objective as possible. But I'm only human. And humans tend to take sides with the people they identify with most. I cannot identify wholly with Americans, so I do not pretend to know their feelings. However, I can say with confidence that I know the immigration process far better than the majority of Americans because not only have I gone through it myself, I have helped many others through the process. So my (personal) opinions and conclusions are better rooted in fact than most Americans, who mostly base their opinions and conclusions on Fox News/MSNBC propaganda.  So the two questions I often get asked: 1) Do you really think immigration reform is necessary?  Yes. Our immigration system is broken, and not just in the way you think. I'm not just talking about dealing with illegals; the way we allow legal immigrants to enter this country is broken as well. You have no idea how freaking difficult, long, and drawn out it is to attain just an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) through the legal process, even if you are a skilled worker. There are people who applied for visas before I even came here (ten years ago) who are only just now getting their green card meeting. And do you know why they have to wait in line? Because if you marry an American, you get to skip that line and have your documents processed before all the people waiting in their respective countries. It's a family based privilege meant to keep families together, but it is so vague that it is very easily taken advantage of. And because of the influx of illegal immigrants exploiting this loophole by marrying Americans, the people who do things right get pushed back further and further. Sometimes waiting for up to 7 years for their approval of just an EAD. Also, if you marry and American and obtain a greencard, your unlawful time here is automatically waived. You don't get punished for it in any way. Not even a fine. It's almost like you're getting punished for doing the right thing and rewarded for breaking the law. I'm not excusing the actions of immigrants who go this route or the Americans who aid and abet them. But you have to admit it is tempting to break the law when gaining legal status is both easier and cheaper that way. Not only does the immigration system need to figure out what to do with undocumented immigrants here, they also need to mend their program in such a way that is isn't as easily exploited. If they make it harder to exploit a loophole, I guarantee you it will deter way more people from entering the country illegally. And we need to make it easier for immigrants to do it the right way, especially for skilled workers.  2)Do you support the DREAM act? Yes, and I'll tell you why: I graduated sixth in my class in high school. The girl who graduated second is also an immigrant. She worked her ass off. She was in every extra curricular activity, doing all the community service and making sure her grades were at the top of the class because she wanted to get into a top university to be an engineer.  Do you know what she did up until a year ago? She worked at a warehouse. This girl had all the potential in the world to go above and beyond. But she was limited to a life of stunted potential because she had no legal status, no money to pay for college, and no real route to better herself. Not that there's anything wrong with working at a warehouse, but she wasn't even given a choice in the matter. She didn't even know she was here illegally until she tried to get a driver's license and her parents couldn't produce a SSN. She's been in this country since she was three. She grew up here, her friends and family are here, her life is here. America is all she knows. She is basically an American. It wasn't her choice to come here. And to the people who say that 'she should just go back home' are being unreasonable. You really think it is easy to go back to a foreign land that you know almost nothing about, with no money, no resources, no support, in some cases not even knowing the language? It's not. She's not like me. I'm the only one in my family here. I grew up in Trinidad. I have friends and family there. If I decided to go back home tomorrow, there's a warm bed, my dad's open arms, and a job waiting for me. But her? She's an American. She's an American who has been forced into the shadows because of the actions of her parents. And she should not be punished for it.  Two years ago, when President Obama announced the Deffered Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) measure, my friend was filled with a bit of hope. And when her Employment card arrived in the mail, she cried. It meant so much to her to feel like she was finally a part of a country that she has spent her entire life in. She went out and got a SSN. She enrolled in community college, picking up where she left off almost five years ago. She learned to drive. She got a better job. She finally started to feel like she belonged.  And yet, she is also filled with fear, because DACA can be revoked at any time. It is not a permanent remedy. It is just a bandaid.  She and the countless others like her should not have to walk around with that fear. They should not have to fear being pushed back into the shadows. They should not have to pay for their parents mistakes.  Do ALL undocumented immigrants deserve amnesty? I'm not an american, so I what I think they 'deserve' is irrelevant to most. But I cannot blame Americans for not wanting adult immigrants who knowingly broke the law to get here to become legal. Practically rewarding people for breaking the law does not always look good.  However, I do not think people who were brought here as children were breaking the law. And I do think that they deserve to have their faces seen and their voices heard. Many of them are way more American than I will ever be. 

[adinakay]

Reblogging this one year later, lol. 

♪♫ And I’m proud to be with Targaryen,

where at least I know I’m free.

And I won’t forget the dragon who killed,

That slave owner for me

And I gladly stand up,

next to her and defend her still today.

‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love her,

God bless the Khaleesaaaaaaaaay. ♫♪

[adinakay]

I’m not sure if this note is real, but if it is, it really makes me wonder what exactly they meant by ‘godless activities’. Like, were they buttfucking each other in the driveway while eating shellfish and wearing two different fabrics at the same time? On SATURDAY????? Lol.

[adinakay]

Neighbour dog: Oh look, a squirrel! BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

My dog: oh snap I hear another dog barking lemme start barking too BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK I DON'T KNOW WTF I AM BARKING AT BUT I ALREADY STARTED BARKING AND I'M NOT GONNA STOP UNTIL THE OTHER DOG STOPS BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

Neighbour dog: OH SHIT ANOTHER DOG STARTED BARKING THIS IS NOW A BARK OFF I CAN'T BE THE FIRST TO STOP BARKING I'M NOT GONNA STOP UNTIL THE OTHER DOG STOPS BARKING BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

Third dog: OH SHIT I HEAR OTHER DOGS BARKING THERE MUST BE SOME SERIOUS SHIT GOING DOWN LET ME BARK SO I CAN HELP THEM IN THEIR QUEST BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!

Fourth dog: FUCK ALL YOU OTHER DOGS I AM THE BARKIEST OF ALL BARKERS AND CAN OUTBARK ALL YOU BARKING MOTHERFUCKERS BARK BARK BARK!

[adinakay]

A throwback to my yarn braids....

[adinakay]

About my yarn wraps....

I've had this style in for about a week now. So I'll answer the questions about them I got, along with the question I think some may have (or at least I had when I was researching it. Here goes:

What do you have? They are called yarn wraps, yarn locs, nu locs, genie locs, etc.

How long did it take you to install? 20 hours. Twenty. Motherfucking. Hours.

How many strands did you use? I used four strands for the initial braid and two to wrap. I did not braid it all the way, just until my hair ended.

How long are they? They are mid back length. I originally planned on making them tailbone length, but after I saw how long it took to just wrap one (about 7 minutes), I was like "Eff this!" and I made them shorter. Lol.

How many locs do you have? 128. Yup, that's a lot, I was surprised too. When researching this style, I also looked at people with real locs this size so I could get a general idea of how many would be appropriate to add. The general concensus was 80-100. There were people who had higher numbers, but I figured aiming for less than 100 would be fine. What I didn't take into consideration was the fact that I have very densely packed hair; in other words, my hair is very thick. I have a lot of it, more so than the average person. I didn't realize that would play a role in how many I could have, but it did. I realized the women who reported having over 100 locs had dense hair too. Plus I have a big head so.... Lol.

Why did you choose this size? Because the smaller they are, the more authentic they look. Huge yarn locs can be very obvious, and while I still think they are pretty, it wasn't the look I was going for.

Is it heavy? Nope. That's the biggest reason I chose it over Marley locs. Everyone who has Marley locs complains about the weight. I used two and a half rolls of yarn on my hair, that's about a little over a pound. It's very lightweight.

Are they stiff? They were. But on the advice of a friend, I dipped it in hot water, so they now move and hang more like real locs. The hot water also made it look a bit more like locs.

How long do you plan on keeping them in? All summer. Hopefully until the end of August.

Least favourite thing about this style? The roots. The roots of this style look too polished to be real locs. Real locs are usually a little messy at the roots and not yet locked. The fact that the roots look the same as the rest of the hair, it's a dead giveaway. I've been able to fool some people, but people with dreadlocks or experience with extensions know the truth, lol. Not that I'm deliberately trying to fool anyone. It's just one of those styles that get better with time. So I have to be patient.

Maintainence? I have moisturized and oiled my scalp once. I plan on doing it again tomorrow. I haven't washed it yet, I'm not sure how to approach that. Other than that? They are still fresh so I don't have to worry about it too much.

More to come!

[adinakay]

I am horrible at keeping this blog up! I am a bad person and I apologize.  But the good news is that I come to you with a new hairstyle! Yarn wraps!  

Over a month ago, I told you that I was thinking of locking my hair. I wanted to see how it looked before I took the plunge. I intended to get Marley loc extensions. However, after tons of research and testing it on my hair, it looked.... well, fake. Not bad. Just fake. I wanted to see what locs closer to my own texture would look like, and Marley locs seemed to be a more accurate representation of looser hair textures. My yarn braids already gave me a more matted version that matched my hair, so I figured I would try the yarn wraps. And here is the result:

This was right after I finished them:

And this is what it looked like after I dipped it in hot water:

So far, I like it.  More to come later on this look. 

[adinakay]

Oh look, it's me! :D

[adinakay]

Seriously contemplating....

...Locing my hair.  It's something I've been researching for weeks now, and I really think it would be the thing for me.  They're sorta like braids, except I won't have to be a slave to hair extensions anymore. I've always loved the style, but feared getting it because of how they are perceived in professional settings. But it's becoming more accepted. And I live in an urban area where it's a little bit more progressive and lots of people sport locs here in NYC. I've only had my yarn twists in for two weeks and I'm not ready to take them out just yet. But when I do (sometime in late may/early June), I think I'm gonna get some loc extensions and try em out. See how I like them.

  Hair inspiration:

Ayomide of Fashion Freak African Chic Those are faux locs. Could you tell?  I couldn't either. :D

Whenever I am going to do something drastic, I like to give it a bit of time so I can mull it over and make a well thought out decision, which is why I'm talking about it now. So if in a month, you never hear about this again, it's because I've changed my mind. Lol. 

[adinakay]

Yarn Braids FAQ #3 So, I intended to answer your questions directly on my last post, but I didn't realize I couldn't do that. So I will adress them here, along with the others. Sorry about that.

1: Do yarn braids damage your hair? Like all types of extensions, it will only damage your hair if you don't do it right. You can find tips for maintaining yarn braids so that they won't damage your hair [here].

2. Which do you prefer, the yarn braids or yarn twists? Hmmm. Good question. I've only had thes in for a little less than two weeks. I'm going to say I prefer yarn twists, mostly because they are lighter. You don't need as much hair to create jumbo twists as you do to create jumbo braids (only 8 strands in my twist vs twenty in my braids). That also means that I needed less yarn, so it was also cheaper.

3. Which do you prefer? Regular braiding or crochet braiding? Crochet braiding. The install time is slightly longer, but it allows you to take it down in almost no time. It's also beneficial in the sense that it is less tension on your hair and your styles will last a bit longer because you don't have to worry about your real hair frizzing in the braids after a certain amount of time.

4. Do you have any tutorials? No. I occasionally get asked for tutorials, but I see no need for one. there are tons of great tutorials out there on YouTube. There's no need for me to oversaturate the market with yet another one. If the demand becomes very high, I shall reconsider. But until such time, here are some great tutorials that are already out there. [Yarn twist tutorial] [Yarn braids tutorial] [Crochet twists tutorial] [Crochet yarn twists tutorial]

More to come!

[adinakay]

Better pics of my new yarn twists. They took me 8 hours to do, mostly because I had to re do some twists. Once I get the hang of it, I can easily cut that time in half.  Like I said earlier, I crocheted most of them in because that will make the uninstall super easy. The front row has been directly braided into my hair because it will allow me to refresh the hairstyle by redoing them. This will help me stretch out the life of this style. The twists in front started out as braids and then turned into twists. I have never been able to get the hang of starting as twits. Mostly because I'm too lazy to try. Lol.  They are mid back length. I burned the ends because using rubberbands seemed excessive and tedious.  They are super light. I only had to use 8 strands to get a large twist, as opposed to 20 strands to get a large braid.  I used one 1lb ball of yarn. That's half as much as I use for braids. That's all I can think of for now. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.