Greetings Nappies and Wannabes!
This month I’m going to use my ‘plaitform’ as kink crusader to tout one of my newest project under A Nappy Hair Affair, Inc. For my readers who may not know, A Nappy Hair Affair (ANHA”> is the organization I founded that promotes the positives about people of African descent.
While a principal focus of ANHA is to support the choice to wear natural and African-inspired hairstyles, our purpose goes so much deeper than hair. I use hair and our issues with it as a metaphor and a device to deliver an overall message of self-appreciation and cultural pride.
ANHA best known for the Hair Day gatherings that I began holding at my home in the spring of 1998 where women — now a co-ed group of adults and young people — gather together to engage in grassroots natural hair grooming sessions. The ‘nap nurturing’ gatherings, which are now held by others nationally and internationally, are not only a way for us to get our hair ‘did’ for free. They became the way we symbolically showed appreciation for one of our unique characteristics and set our own standards of beauty.
Last month I introduced the newest component of ANHA called Natural InHairitance. It is a multimedia package offered through my website that will entertain, inform and raise even more awareness about our hair and our heritage.
My new and improved web site will offer weekly pod casts called the Kink Konnection and Natural InHairitance subscribers will receive monthly issues of the Nappy News, my online ‘head rag’ for kinky kindred spirits!
There are other subscriber perks such as automatic ANHA membership including cultural appreciation coaching sessions with yours truly. But what I’m most excited about is that subscribers to Natural InHairitance will not only help support ANHA’s mission of fostering self-appreciatio but will also support our mission of boosting self-esteem.
A generous portion of subscriber proceeds will go to support Locks of Love, the non-profit organization that helps financially-disadvantaged youths who suffer from long-term medical hair loss. I suffer from alopecia, a form of hair loss on my scalp. Although my condition developed during my adult years, I am sensitive to the effect that hair loss can have on the self-esteem of a child. To have an opportunity to contribute to the efforts of Locks of Love to help boost a kid’s self esteem is what most excites me about my new project.
