How wearing a new type of weave qualifies as 'keeping your hair natural'!

[28 October 2014] As Black History Month (UK) wraps up for another year, I am forced to realise that the organisers of the plethora of events encouraging black women proudly to ‘keep and wear their hair natural’ did not want me to talk or exhibit at their events! Yes, some of my emails, online forms, voicemails and messages could have been lost in cyber space, but surely at least one would have got through?

Well, it’s their loss. For organisations claiming to discuss, inform and proffer solutions for maintaining, wearing, styling and managing natural afro hair, excluding the SimiWeave™ is a short-sighted, uninformed, and BIG mistake. I can prove and demonstrate that thanks to the SimiWeave™, my hair is not only 100% natural (which I define incidentally as ‘free of chemicals and other artificial products that permanently alter the natural structure of the hair’); it is also healthy, thick and long. So shouldn’t they be begging me to be the poster child – or at the very least, a spokesman (or..erm…woman) for ‘proudly keeping and wearing your hair natural’?!

No, not yet, because they need to be informed first; and I accept that that is down to me! Right now, they look at me and see my straight SimiWeave™ hair and conclude that because I do not wear my hair ‘natural’, then my hair is not ‘natural’ and that I have nothing to contribute to their event or debate, or the cause. This is because their definition of natural typically adds ‘and bereft of any hair attachments or other coverings’ to mine: therein lies the problem and short-sightedness.

It is true that my natural hair is rarely on display but this has nothing to do with not being proud of it, or wanting to emulate white women, yada, yada, yada. Just like 62% of our customers, I simply do not have hours to spend on styling it every day, only to have it dried out or flattened by the sun, wind, rain, traffic, etc. and then have to spend more time fixing it. I prefer to wear what I call ‘protective hairstyles’, and since 2003 this has been the SimiWeave™. Forget all your preconceptions of the word ‘weave’: the SimiWeave™ actually uses a wig cap that covers and protects @90% of my hair!  It is the patented original and best 'U part wig'!

They will argue that opting for a wig is lazy and that I am not taking care of the hair that God gave me properly. Bring it on – you are just giving me an opportunity to sprout the merits of the SimiWeave™ U part wig! It is temporarily and gently attached using combs/clips, and it is not permanently fixed using damaging thread or glue like traditional weaves! You can remove it easily to let your hair breath, and to wash and care for your hair. And if you corn-row your hair to get it really flat, you could be accelerating its rate of growth too.

Then they will criticise the straightness of my SimiWeave™ U part wig. I do wear curly / frizzy SimiWeave U part wigs often, however, I have to admit that the choices are limited. Afro-centric hair can be mimicked effectively using synthetic (artificial) hair, but unfortunately it tends to be Brillo-pad harsh and uncomfortable. As for human (real) afro-centric hair, tell me where I can find black women willing to cut off their hair to sell, and I’ll be there – I have been searching forever!

Next, they will question why I don’t go for ‘more natural-looking’ protective hairstyles like braids, twists and locks featuring hair extensions instead, and force me to point out that by their own definition, the presence of hair extensions disqualifies these options from being ‘natural’. I’ll also explain that before the SimiWeave™ U part wig, I employed such options prodigiously but they always took up too much time to put in and remove and always drove me to use chemical relaxers. Then the relaxer would break and gradually thin my hair and drive me back to keeping it natural. And so on. I endured the hellish and expensive cycle of two-years natural, then two-years chemically relaxed, then two-years natural, etc., typically experienced by most black women, for over twenty-five years!

Whilst I am delighted that so many black people are interested in and discussing the issue of ‘going natural’ and that opting for natural hair instead of chemical relaxers is gathering momentum, I find that these events and the advice they give generally falls short when it comes to practical, realistic and convenient suggestions for maintaining and styling natural hair. This is why their delegates fall off the natural bandwagon all the time, and why the SimiWeave™ U part wig is a viable and popular choice for so many black women with 100% natural hair! I wonder if I were to contact these event organisers next year without mentioning my brand name, would they let me present my case? They have to realise sooner or later that despite its name, the SimiWeave™ U part wig is a deserving part of the natural hair movement!

www.SimiWeave.com

SimiWeave the original patented U part wig: beware of cheap imitations!

[Feb 2014] I took a HUGE plunge in bringing my invention to market. Thanks to phenomenol support from family and friends, and exhausting amount of hard work and tons of determination, I got there in 2004 and the SimiWeave™ was an instant success. The thanks, praises, compliments, support and encouragement have been pouring in everyday since from people all over the world!

It saddens me that counterfeiters have the resources and distribution clout to copy and sell my invention in a signficantly more substantial way than I have been able to, meaning that you may have come across fakes (U-part wigs) and SimiWeave™ wannabes before discovering the SimiWeave™ itself. But rest assured, the SimiWeave™ will always be the original and it is still the best! So beware of cheap imitations!

All your feedback is very welcome and encouraged, including any complaints or suggestions that will allow me to improve our products and services. I am also keen to use my experience, expertise and position to enable and empower women like me across the world. So please do email me (simi@simiweave.com) anytime. Don't be shy and anonymous: I can't get back to you unless you provide your email address! I look forward to hearing from you.

www.SimiWeave.com

Black women and weaves / wigs

[July 2011] ‘Black women wear weaves and wigs only to emulate white women’. I hear this statement too often and it is a forever-debated subject, particularly amongst black people. In response, other than 'each to their own' I have just five things to say:-

1) Weaves and wigs are just two practical options for managing and wearing afro hair. Not everyone – male or female, of any ethnicity or race - has hours to spend on styling their hair every day, only to have it dried out or flattened by the sun, wind, rain, traffic, etc. and then have to spend more time fixing it. Other practical options include cutting the hair very low or shaving it all off, pinning it up or down, wearing it in a bunch or pony tail, wearing scarves or hats, etc. Even before contact with the white man, black people in the motherland Africa found practical ways of managing and wearing their afro hair, e.g. braiding, twisting, threading, and corn rowing. Running around with loose afros is only Hollywood, baby.

2) Those who make such statements typically also praise black women with natural / virgin / chemical-free afro hair for claiming their roots / ‘embracing their blackness’. Are you aware that black women can wear a weave or wig and have natural hair at the same time? Under my SimiWeave™ U part wig (my patented clip on/clip off weave line) hair style is 100%, natural and chemical-free afro hair. Its corn rowed flat so I don’t haveto manage it every day. So am I a sell out or are you proud of me?

3) Next they usually say that the fact that I feel oblidged to cover up my own afro hair with a SimiWeave™ U part wig is the problem: it is an illustration of a sub-conscious conformity to the white standard of beauty, and nothing to do with practicality. I say that for people pre-occupied with hair, they still have a lot to learn! For instance, texturised, curly or frizzy weaves and wigs that look like natural afro hair exist and are worn by many of the black female weave and wig wearers out there, myself included. So stop generalising: not all black women wear weaves and wigs that look so much at odds with their features that they could be accused of trying to emulate white women!

4) Such generalisations do not factor in fashion. Fashionable 'sistas' out there will let their hair and hair style choice be dictated by fashion, and not some desire to look white or anything else. Ever since Angelina Jolie and J Lo replaced Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor as sex symbols, having big lips and a rounded butt have been acceptable and fashionable. Will you now say that white women are pumping up their lips and butts with collagen, Botox and implants because they want to look black?

5) Last but not least, I don’t deny that a ‘white standard’ of beauty has been imposed on the world for many centuries, and that the popularity of long, bone-straight hair in different colours - amongst women of all ethnicities and races - is a throwback of that. However, it is completely unfair to say that all the black women who wear weaves and wigs do so only to ‘look white’. I know that I wore weaves for many years for practicality. But they took up so much time and money and were inconvenient. So I invented my SimiWeave™ U part wig clip-on/clip-off weave line. And now I will wear my SimiWeave™ U part wigs for many years for practicality, convenience and affordability.

www.SimiWeave.com

The recession's hair extensions?

[Feb 2009] They say, 'a change is as good as a break’. If so, why not have an instant hair makeover instead of a holiday ’? You’ve been really good at tightening your belt and cutting back on all your little luxuries, but now you desperately need cheering up to keep sane! A holiday would do the trick but by the time you add on all of those taxes and hidden costs, even the cheap and cheerful packages are way too pricey. So what better reason to justify a new SimiWeave™ U part wig hair style?

Our multiple award winning SimiWeave™ U part wig allows you to treat yourself with a new look, instantly, AND without breaking the bank. It gives you realistic salon results from the convenience of your own home and at a fraction of the price…..one could even argue that it was designed for the recession!

www.SimiWeave.com

Proof that less, can be, more!

[Sept 2008] When it comes to achieving a realistic hairline with hair extension products and techniques, ‘less’ really is ‘more’. That was certainly Simi Belo's conviction when she invented the SimiWeave™, the patented original and still the best U part wig. She believed that instead of the addition of new features, the ultimate solution could be achieved with the removal of existing features! So she cut and removed a small rectangular piece of hair and wig cap from the front of an old wig, creating a ‘U’-shaped gap in the hairline in the process…...and the revolutionary ‘SimiWeave™’ was born!

Simi patented her unique design and originally launched it in the UK in 2004 under the brand name ‘NewHair®’. It was heralded as ‘a new invention set to take the hairdressing world by storm’ by the UK’s Black Beauty & Hair magazine, and the SimiWeave™ U part wig has been a huge success amongst customers, hair and beauty experts, the media, celebrities and retailers alike. Proving that when it comes to your crowning glory, less IS more!

www.SimiWeave.com

Big kiss to Chris Rock!

[Sept 2009] Just seen Chris Rock’s ‘Good Hair’ film, and it’s funny and a ‘must see’! Kudos to him for daring to publicly explore one of the most contentious issues amongst black men and women! Pity he didn’t dissect in detail the disgraceful and tired old notion that ‘good hair’ and ‘bad hair’ is the same as ‘straight’ and ‘nappy’.

He only touched briefly on THAT issue and instead spent more time on the composition and costs of relaxers and weaves. ‘Baked and Faked Hair’ could actually be a more appropriate title for the film! For the record, good hair is thick and voluminous, rarely breaks and can be found on people of all ethnicities and races. Bad hair is typically thin and sparse, breaks often, and can also be found on people of all ethnicities and races. It has nothing to do with straight and nappy. Thankfully Rock did vindicate black women of exclusively being the only ones on this planet who ‘do something to their hair’! For the sake of practicality and convenience, and to avoid over-exposure to harsh environmental conditions, the majority of us (black people, white people, male, female, etc) ‘do something’ to our hair almost all of the time. Cutting it into a manageable shape or length; pulling it back into a pony tail or bunches; pinning it up; twisting it; braiding it; corn rowing it, and even shaving it all off, all counts as ‘doing something’! The human hair gathered at the Indian temples ends up on white chicks too!

But were my ears playing tricks or did he really conclude that the use of chemical straighteners amongst black women is automatically due to negative self-image issues owing to slavery and colonialism, and desperate attempts to denounce one’s blackness? Again for the record, natural afro hair – particularly the type that is native to black people from sub-Saharan Africa who have not mixed with any other ethnicities or races – can be inelastic and difficult to get a comb through, and so typically needs more work. Relaxers, wigs, weaves, etc. are needed for the creation and management of practical and convenient styles. Just like scissors and razors that shave and low-cut the hair of black men (err, that’s you Rock); or the corn-rowing, threading, braiding, twisting and other techniques that have been used forever in motherland Africa. So stop accusing all black women of trying to ‘look white’ just for using such products!

However, I do feel the brothas pain when I see sistas using wigs, weaves, etc. to create golden straw-like tresses or super shiny liquorice-like manes that do not match their complexion or features. Other than that, I’ve always believed that the real reason the boys get agitated over the issue of our hair is because they can’t always tell what is real and what isn’t! And they don’t like being banned from running their fingers through it! So I was delighted to hear as much from Nia Long and the barbershop clients in the film. Men simply don’t like being fooled or being told what to do or what not to do!

Black women spend an excessive amount of time and money on their hair (four times their Caucasian counterparts) so no wonder Rock wanted to know why we have become so obsessed. It’s a woman’s prerogative to change her mind frequently, right? Add hair to that! Plus when you are always searching for a hair style that looks real, this all adds up to time and money. I’m delighted to point out that my ‘SimiWeave™’ U part wig invention is the exception to that rule: I invented it precisely to address these issues. It is a clip on/off one-piece weave, and has already won many awards for delivering the ultimate in realistic-looking, stunning, quick and convenient, and affordable hair styles. Now to get Rock to interview me for Good Hair 2!

http://www.simiweave.com