Are u down?? Meet Coily Girl, Esperanza Spalding!


Hear her music by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15M62OtLrBQ

Esperanza Spalding. I have been a fan of her music (and an admirer of her hair !) for years!!!!

Coily Girl of the Week: Gelila Bekele

Early Life:

After moving with her family to the United States as a young child, Gelila spent most of her childhood in San Francisco. She attended Roosevelt Middle School and Thurgood Marshall High School, where she was an honors student and a member of the school's basketball team. She then spent two years studying at Cornell University before transferring to the University of California at Berkeley to be closer to her family. She graduated with a bachelors degree in 2005. Gelila currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Modeling Career:

Bekele has worked with Ford Models, Pantene, Colgate, and has appeared on the cover of 'The African' magazine. She is also featured in many other print ads and has done several runway shows.

Philanthropy:

Gelila is also a humanitarian and social activist. With the success and celebrity afforded to her through her work as a recognizable model, Bekele devotes much of her time to aiding people around the world through her charity involvement with groups that help those living in third world nations attain fundamental natural resources like water. One organization that she is passionate about is simply called: Charity: Water. Some of the other charities Gelila is involved with include Kageno, Keep a Child Alive and Darfur Action Network

My Natural Journey

Me with a Relaxer !!

Transitioning! I honestly don't know how I made it! I didn't have any cute styles while I transitioned. My hair was literally up in a pseudo-puff for a year and a half! LOL

My Big Chop!!! 5/07 My hair had NEVER been this short! I thought I looked like a boy, and I HATED IT! LOL

My hair started to grow!!!! Curls became more defined as the straight ends started to go away, and I learned more about taking care of my hair!

100% natural! (I'm referring to texture! I will always have some kind of color, because I like it!) Loving my kinks, coils, and curls!
******************************************************************

Here's my story...... (and I'm sticking to it!!) LOL

I started growing out my perm in January 2006. I had always loved my natural hair and always knew one day I would return to it. I just had to work up the nerve to do it!! So... I transitioned. Here are is a pic of me with a relaxer.

I always had long, thick hair, but was extremely tender-headed! Not the best combination! I hated having my hair washed and detangled. It was like a tug-of-war! LOL!! What I wanted more than anything was to be able to wear my hair "out" like the white girls! In fact, white girl hair was so coveted, that my older sister and I used to walk around the house with towels hanging off our heads to make white girl hair and PRETEND to be white! (Pathetic, I know!!) LOL. Little girls back then were taught that in order to wear your hair "out", it needed to be permed and straightened! So... like most of the little black girls I knew, I wanted a perm more than anything!!

I got my first relaxer when I was 14. I remember begging my Mom to let me get one!!!I was in 7th grade, and tired of wearing my hair in ponytails, while everyone else my age was wearing their hair out. She finally gave in. My first relaxer was a Dark and Lovely. When the relaxer was washed out, my hair was still wavy. In fact, it didn't change my texture a whole lot.She let me wear my hair out ONCE, and then it was back in the ponytails.

When I got my next perm, I went to the salon. This time, the Revlon perm completely took away my texture. Gone were the waves and curls I had loved for my entire 14 year old life. I was disappointed. All I really wanted to be able to do was wear my hair out. I didn't realize this meant the waves were gone for good. It looked nice though. I got it cut "Farah Fawcett" style; feathered in front, and length to the middle of my back. I had no idea my hair was that long.

Well, it hasn't been THAT LONG since!! Once I started relaxing, I had to keep it going. After countless Revlon, Cream of Nature, Optimum, and Affirm relaxers, my hair was now only shoulder length, give or take an inch. Even though I was at the salon every week getting my hair professionally done, it never seemed to grow past a certain point. I couldn't understand it. I was having my hair trimmed and conditioned regularly, yet it remained the same length.

By the time I got to college, I decided I wanted my natural hair back. I thought about loc'ing my hair, but didn't have the courage to do it. I was told I needed to first grow out the perm, cut it, and THEN begin to loc. (I'm told NOW that you don't have to do this for Sisterlocs, though.) There was no way I was gonna be bald-headed!) LOL

Finally in January of 2006, I started growing my perm out.I transitioned until Valentine's Day 2007, and then I began snipping my hair off, up to 4 inches at a time. I didn't do ONE big chop, but rather a series of BIG CHOPS, until all or most of the relaxed ends were gone.

When I first BC'ed, I went through a myriad of emotions. First, I was happy about it. Once I realized I didn't know HOW to do my hair or WHAT PRODUCTS to use, I began to second guess my decision! But it was too late, the hair was gone, so now I had to figure out how to work with it! My hair was super short, and I thought I looked like a boy! All I really did at first was wear a headband. Straight ends kept popping up for a while, even though I THOUGHT I had bc'ed. I think I finally saw the last straight piece in May 2007.
From then on, it was a learning experience. I remember starting out using Fructis products and Sta Sof Fro. It seemed like my hair was ALWAYS DRY! I started to seek advice from other naturals and realized I was using all the wrong products!! I started learning how to read labels to find products that were natural, and silicone-free.