Different work hair over a few weeks

Me at work over the past few weeks. Who says natural hair has limited options?
These are roller sets, twist outs, wash and goes, wash and coils (dingle coils lol) and there is even a braid and curl in there.

Are we gaining ground on the beauty chart?

From my Yahoo home page yesterday. Choice of model to represent the report...WORD

booo at "men earn even more" though... 3 steps forward, two steps back.

I'm here! New job and adjusting my style.

Hey all- I'm here- I'm here. Guess what though?
I got a new job!!  I'm doing web and design work and a LARGE non-profit.  I have been working there for a full week now and I love it :-)

It hassss been an adjustment however. As confident as I like to imagine I am about my outward persona, I know that in meeting the hundreds of people who work here, I'll be making a ton of first impressions in a short amount of time.  So what do I do?  Wear my hair out and big in all it's pretty glory- and thus risk distracting the unsuspecting new co-workers with a cloud of curls on a new girl named "Niambi"? Or do I pull it back and just be the designer from upstairs?

I opted to pull it back for my first two days (I started on a Wednesday) and wear it out on Friday in a full-blown wash and go.  This week I did the same thing- sort of reversing my routine. Usually I wash my hair on the weekends and wear it out on Monday and Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and then slowly put it away.  These past two weeks I have washed my hair on Thursday night and wore it out Friday and through the weekend, putting it away on Monday. 

I did get validation that I'd made the right decision.  When I wore it out last Friday, the first thing that several people said when they saw me was "OMG- Your hair"...  They said it while smiling, and I also heard "cute" and "I could never"... So indeed, it was a little distracting at first.  Though I have strong beliefs about women accepting and loving what they were blessed with, I am also aware that our hair is "different" and that stereotypes can distract people from who we really are.  It's just hair - it's not a helmet of battle, or a crown of queendom, or a kufi of curling smoke, or a hood of rebellion.  Those facts will come to light as soon as we become truly acquainted.  But sometimes... I just don't feel like pushing through those barriers.  No, I will not make my hair like YOURS to alleviate your discomfort or curiosity.  But I can make it a little smaller, and a little less "in your face".  We can wear jeans here, so it's more a business casual environment and I know I will go back to wearing my hair out once people know WHO I am.

And here is a gratuitious shot of my hair how I like to wear it: 

Mood and hair

I once had a white male co-worker ask me if when I had my hair pulled back it meant that I was in a bad mood. Given that I change my hairstyle so often- compared to a typical straight haired peer- I thought it was funny he worried about things like that. I told him that when I wash it I can do one of two things- let it dry big, or let it dry small, and it depended on the time I had. I also mentioned that some weeks as it gets dirtier, it gets smaller. Nothing to do with mood. I didn't go as far as to say that every time I wash it- it's an opportunity for me to wear it completely different. Unlike straight hair that dries roughly the same way whether tied back or loose, I have the option to "set my hair" as it dries, several times a week.

The idea of "mood hair" has not left my conscience, however, and today I am in a really bad mood. I woke up in a bad mood, I went to bed in a bad mood. I fell asleep with no scarf and did not care. I got in the shower in the am with only a ponytail holder in my hair, not caring to think about deciding to wet my hair or not. I then just took the elastic out of my hardly damp hair, slobed a rough fingerfull of shea butter on the ends(out of habit) and left the house. Fro flying, no shape, wearing a one piece, ethnic printed dress. I had the tune "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care" turning slowly in my mind. I got on the bus and decided to pull it back, a little, with the same lonly elastic that was around my wrist from earlier. As I manipulated my hair I began to care a little more and checked the mirrow for the shape of the fro. It was fine. I took a "bang" out and sprayed it with some water/goodstuff mixture I often carry in my purse. When I got to work, the old conversation about the bad mood came back to mind when I saw my boss. "Ha" I thought. "I wonder what they would think today"- particularly if I didn't pull it back at all. Then I felt bad. Was I indeed being insensitive by tormenting the "straighthairs" with undecipherable hair messaging? It was a funny and unrelayable thought. So many of my aesthetic hair ponderings are. Here was me by the end of the day after some further coaxing of wildness. I certainly would not have bothered if I had not been at work.