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On this week's episode: Brandy talks new music and 'Zoe Ever After,' Malinda Williams, V. Bozeman and Apryl Jones talk all things hair, our expert panel debates #teamnatural vs. #teamrelaxed and more!
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00:00Today on Essence Live, my girl Brandi stops by and talks becoming Zoey ever after.
00:08Plus, it is all about hair.
00:10Natural, relaxed, sweeds, braids, you name it.
00:13We're gonna talk every hair controversy.
00:15But right now, it's time for the Hot List.
00:17The biggest stories you're buzzing about this week.
00:21Lupita Nyong'o is starting 2016 with a bang by landing her first Essence cover.
00:26The Kenyan Beauty is featured in the January issue of The Mag
00:29and one Essence.com reader said,
00:31As a man, all I can say of Lupita in this photo is wow.
00:37A Baltimore judge has selected a majority black jury to decide the fate of William Porter,
00:41the first police officer to go on trial for the death of Freddie Gray.
00:45During opening arguments, prosecutors say that Porter, who is black,
00:48had multiple opportunities to securely buckle Gray into the police van.
00:54Love & Hip Hop New York starman D.C.'s Harris
00:56has been sentenced to eight years in prison for drug trafficking.
00:59The 36-year-old posted a message to his fans on his Instagram page,
01:02accepting responsibility for his actions.
01:05His wife and co-star Yandy Harris also used Instagram to thank her fans,
01:09saying God and love always prevails.
01:12But what's it really like to live your life and relationship on reality TV?
01:17Well, we'll talk to the woman Omarion calls his soul mate next.
01:21It's Thursday, December 3rd, and Essence Live starts now.
01:26Welcome to Essence Live. I'm your host, Dana Blair.
01:41We have an exciting show lined up for you.
01:44And of course, I want to hear from you.
01:46So hit us up on social media using the hashtag Essence Live to join the conversation.
01:51And guess what?
01:52If you'd like to call in live to ask questions of our celebrity guests, you can.
01:56Just email us at Essence Live at Essence.com for more details.
02:00Okay, so you know my first guest from Love & Hip Hop Hollywood,
02:03where she's often the bright spot in a room full of crazy.
02:07Joining us via Skype, Omarion's girlfriend and aspiring recording artist, April Jones.
02:12How are you, April?
02:13Good. How are you?
02:14I'm fabulous.
02:15Oh, look at the cutie pictures.
02:16I know.
02:17Our special guest today.
02:19Happened at the playroom and then he just wanted to come out.
02:22So now he's a part of the interview.
02:24I love it. He's a star.
02:25Well, welcome to both of you.
02:26First off, congratulations.
02:28We're here. You're expecting baby number two.
02:30Yes.
02:31Yes.
02:32That's a little girl, correct?
02:34It is a girl.
02:35It is a girl.
02:36We thought it was a boy, but it turned out to be a girl.
02:39Now, are you planning another natural home birth?
02:42And will we see that on the show?
02:44No, you won't see it on the show.
02:46But I am planning to do this second birth the same exact way.
02:50That way.
02:51The same way.
02:52Yes, that's right.
02:53That was a cosign right there.
02:55And we love the love between you and Omarion.
02:58And you seem to have a real relationship where you respect each other
03:01and communicate very well.
03:02How do you maintain that under the glare of reality TV,
03:05especially given the reality show curse, if you will?
03:09At the end of the day, you know, me and his relationship,
03:13that's my best friend.
03:14You know, we have a strong bond.
03:17So we just knew that coming onto a reality TV set, nothing was going to really change that.
03:23Like I said, you know, we have a lot of respect for each other.
03:26He's my best friend.
03:27And at the end of the day, like our reality is our foundation and our home.
03:33You know, when we have to go work, that's work.
03:35Right.
03:36Totally understand.
03:37And do you often maybe check in with each other just to make sure, you know,
03:40we're still on the same page and this show curse isn't creeping in?
03:43Yes, yes.
03:44And we've never been worried about the show curse because, like I said,
03:48we walked into the Love & Hip Hop, you know, filming, knowing that, you know,
03:53what we were prepared for, what they were going to kind of put us in, our story.
03:58And they had a lot of respect for me and Omarion.
04:00So we kind of weren't really worried about that.
04:03And the simple fact that me and him are, you know, we're best friends and we talk about everything.
04:08So I think we knew that we were going to be okay walking in and walking out.
04:13And we also saw towards the end of the season, you having a conversation about your musical career
04:21and wanting to get more into that.
04:23What progress, if any, have you made on that?
04:25Will we see some music coming from you fairly soon in the future?
04:28Absolutely.
04:29I'm due in March.
04:32So right now, since I've been pregnant, I've kind of been just in the studio.
04:37I've been working and, you know, just creating and vibing and trying to find that sound.
04:43But definitely when she drops, give it a couple months after that,
04:47because, you know, I want to have my bonding process with her.
04:50You guys will be hearing something.
04:52And between the music, the family, the relationship, the filming, I don't know how you've managed to do it,
04:58but you've avoided getting pulled into the drama of other castmates.
05:01How hard was that?
05:02Because you're often the voice of reason.
05:05You know what?
05:06Like I said, they've had a lot of respect for me on Love & Hip Hop.
05:10They never really wanted to put me in anything first season because I was obviously pregnant.
05:15So I kind of stayed out of all of the drama.
05:19And then second season, they put me with people.
05:21But I'm just normally just the person anyway that everyone kind of gets along with
05:26because I don't like to gossip and I don't like to be in other people's problems.
05:31So I tend to just stay out the way.
05:33It wasn't much that I was going to give being in situations.
05:37And they knew that.
05:38And they respected it.
05:40And we didn't see you or Omarion on the reunion this past week.
05:44So what's your status with the show?
05:47Well, we didn't go to the reunion because obviously Omar was on tour
05:50and, you know, I was with him with our child.
05:53And it was just too much trying to get out to New York to do the reunion.
05:58So unfortunately, we didn't make it.
06:00But we are not going to do next season.
06:03Okay, you're not doing next season.
06:05That's final.
06:06That's the final answer.
06:07Yes.
06:08Got you.
06:09All right.
06:10Well, April, thank you so very much for joining us again.
06:12Congratulations on baby number two.
06:14Thank you for having me.
06:15I'm not sure if he's still there or if he's hanging out with us.
06:18Thank you so much for joining the interview.
06:20Coming up, I have a chance to sit.
06:22Aw.
06:23Bye bye.
06:25Thank you so much for joining us.
06:27Coming up, I sit down with Brandi to talk about her new BET show and her hair journey.
06:31That exclusive is next.
06:32But first, we caught up with the stars of NBC's The Wiz on the yellow brick carpet.
06:37Check it out.
06:42Hey, this is Yolanda Sanguini here on the yellow brick carpet for Essence Live.
06:46Hello.
06:47Hello, love.
06:48Good morning.
06:49How's it going?
06:50Everything cool, bro.
06:52Tell me what you think makes the story so timeless.
06:55I think the world loves coming of age stories, hero stories.
06:59The Wiz is everything.
07:01I mean, it's what molded us.
07:03It helped us to be who we are today.
07:05The message of believe in yourself and know what you have already inside you.
07:10I think it's family.
07:11It's wholesome.
07:12I think everybody can relate to it of looking for courage, looking for love, looking to be smarter.
07:17But it's just fun, you know, and you need that in order for it to be good for us to bring the best out in each other and for the whole thing to work.
07:27What Can I Do is probably my favorite song.
07:30It's just so beautifully composed.
07:32I love it.
07:33Well, Since Mary Got Here is definitely No Bad News.
07:36Really?
07:37Yeah.
07:38No Bad News.
07:39And the Tin Man song.
07:40My favorite song is actually If You Believe and Be a Lion.
07:45And Be a Lion.
07:46Be a Lion.
07:47I love that song just because what it means, it's a changing point in the story for Lion and me as well.
07:53The passion that he brings to the character, the passion that she brings to Dorothy is, it turns it into something more than just something to listen to.
08:00If on courage you must call, then just keep trying and trying and trying.
08:11How many times have you seen the Wiz movie?
08:13Like three.
08:14I cannot count how many times I've seen it.
08:16I was watching that back when we had VCRs, if anybody knows what those are anymore.
08:21I can't even count.
08:23Ninety.
08:24I can't even count.
08:25I mean, just in the last year I've probably seen the Wiz at least three times, three, four times.
08:30I recall being nine years old and turning around and looking back and seeing my whole family sitting together watching this.
08:37This is major.
08:38I can't even put my words together right to even express it.
08:40I'm just so happy to be a part of it.
08:42He's on down.
08:43He's on down.
08:44He's on down.
08:45He's on down.
08:46He's on down.
08:47He's on down.
08:48He's on down.
08:49He's on down.
08:50He's on down.
08:51He's on down.
08:53Our next guest really needs no introduction.
08:59It's Brandi.
09:00Welcome to the show.
09:02I've always wanted to yell at it.
09:03I love it.
09:04Welcome.
09:05It's your first time to the Essence Live Studio.
09:06I know.
09:07It's so nice.
09:09I love it.
09:10It's a good vibe here.
09:11Well, this is home now, so you have to keep coming back.
09:12Oops.
09:13I just threw a ring at her, y'all.
09:14It's all good.
09:15It's all good.
09:16But it's okay.
09:17It adds spice and paprika.
09:18So you're here to talk about your new show on BET, Zoe Ever After.
09:22Dream come true.
09:23It's a romantic comedy, a little different from the game or seeing you in Chicago on Broadway.
09:28Yes.
09:29Tell us a little bit about Zoe.
09:30It's like Moesha all grown up.
09:31Okay.
09:32She is a single mom and she was with a famous boxer for about 20 years.
09:37Okay.
09:38And she wanted to step out of that shadow and discover her dream as a makeup artist turned cosmetics owner.
09:45An entrepreneur.
09:46Yes.
09:47Entrepreneur.
09:48So she's really, you know, I think a lot of women out there can actually relate to this,
09:51kind of starting fresh, taking a career turn or career change.
09:55And so, does she post-divorce, like, does she find new romantic interests?
09:59Like, what can we expect?
10:00Well, she's definitely dating.
10:02Okay.
10:03She's definitely dating.
10:04And sometimes that creeps up on her motherhood, you know.
10:07Sometimes, you know, the ex-husband and my son is at the house when I'm trying to have a date.
10:13Okay.
10:14So it's...
10:15That could be interesting.
10:16Yeah, it's funny.
10:17It's really funny.
10:18So you have those moments where you go, whoa, laugh.
10:21Now what's something Zoe wouldn't do, or excuse me, what's something that Zoe would do that Brandy may not do?
10:26Date.
10:27You wouldn't date?
10:28No, not right now.
10:29You're not dating right now?
10:30No.
10:31You're focused on acting?
10:32I'm focused on just me and just continuing to build my confidence and working on, you know, of course, my career and raising my daughter.
10:39That's my focus right now.
10:41And speaking of your daughter, she's now a teenager.
10:43Yes.
10:44Which can be fun years.
10:45It's fun.
10:46Especially for a young lady.
10:47Yes.
10:48How's that going?
10:49You're passing down to her?
10:50Because, I mean, you grew up in the spotlight.
10:52Mm-hmm.
10:53And now she's in the spotlight.
10:54And that can be kind of difficult as a teen, especially as a young lady.
10:57Yeah, it's definitely a transition just, you know, going into the teen years.
11:02But for her, I think her childhood is just going to be completely different than mine because she's not in the spotlight.
11:08Mm-hmm.
11:09I wanted her to have a normal life and not get into this business even though she has the bugs.
11:14She can sing and do all that.
11:16Oh, really?
11:17But she's not ready for it.
11:19Okay.
11:20Oh, well, you know, that's kind of a win for her, though, to have a mom that knows what's what and knows, like, you know what, maybe now is not the right time.
11:27Yeah, because I can show her the ropes and I know what this business can do to, you know, child stars.
11:32And I just would rather her wait until she has a sense of self and can really think and stand up for herself before she gets into this business.
11:40I love that.
11:41Yeah.
11:42And are you going to be watching The Wiz tonight?
11:43I'm not.
11:44Okay.
11:45Only because I want to watch it with my daughter, so I'm taping it, you know, DVRing it, and we're going to watch it when I get back home.
11:52Broadway, you got bit by the bug.
11:55Bit.
11:56So are we going to see you come back to Broadway?
11:58I would love to.
11:59Like, that's, I loved my experience as Roxy Hart.
12:02It just, it just reawakened me in a different kind of way.
12:05And I just want to continue the right role, though, because, I mean, Roxy will be hard to top.
12:10So I just want to make sure it's the right.
12:12The right fit.
12:13The right moment.
12:14Yeah.
12:15No, definitely.
12:16Definitely.
12:17Now, Kobe just announced his retirement.
12:18I know.
12:19And of course, everybody remembers and loves y'all's prom picture.
12:22Yeah.
12:23Have you had a chance to speak with him since his announcement?
12:25I haven't, but I can say that Kobe is my favorite basketball player, and I'm a bit sad to see him go.
12:31You know, basketball was like one of my favorite sports, and now it's like my favorite player is leaving.
12:37So it's, but everybody has their moment and has their time, but you know, just a little sad to see him go.
12:43It's an end of an era, and he's such a class act.
12:45Yeah.
12:46He's such a talented, so he didn't give you like a scoop or anything on like what's next.
12:50Oh, no.
12:51No, no, no.
12:52No.
12:53But I just, I don't want him to walk completely away from basketball.
12:56Like I would love to see him, you know, contribute his, his gifts to, you know, a team, you know, coaching or talking about basketball, like on a panel, like something.
13:05Like I don't want him to completely like disappear from the face of basketball.
13:09But I can also imagine that when something's been such a part of you for so long, that might be difficult for him to do as well.
13:13So.
13:14Yeah.
13:15Yeah.
13:16I just, I just hope.
13:17I'm being selfish.
13:18It's okay.
13:19It's okay.
13:20Yeah.
13:21And our episode today, we're talking about hair.
13:23Oh, yeah.
13:24And you are a hair icon.
13:25And we have a little fun segment called Brandy Hairvolution.
13:28You see what we did there?
13:30Hairvolution.
13:31Hairvolution.
13:32I love it.
13:33We're kind of shnazzy here.
13:34I love that.
13:35Let's see what y'all got going on.
13:36We're going to show you a couple of images.
13:37We might take a little walk down memory lane here.
13:39Okay.
13:40And you tell us the story behind it.
13:41You ready?
13:42Okay.
13:43So here's the first one.
13:46Yes.
13:47The braids.
13:48The braids.
13:49My favorite.
13:50Your favorite?
13:51I love braids and they're like my favorite.
13:52So, of course, when you came out, that was like your signature look.
13:55Yeah.
13:56Everyone everywhere was trying to do the Brandy braids.
13:58Yeah.
13:59Did you realize, think it would be such a statement piece for you when you first came on the scene?
14:03I didn't know.
14:04I just, I just felt that it was low maintenance and I was having a good time with them.
14:08I know about low maintenance.
14:09Okay.
14:10But then it became like a, you know, a trend.
14:13So, that's cool.
14:14Now, how did you keep your edges and your hair so healthy?
14:17Well, I didn't, it wasn't healthy for a long time.
14:19Really?
14:20I had to, I had to rebuild and reconstruct and really take care of it.
14:23Yeah, really take care of it.
14:24Okay.
14:25All right.
14:26I have a braider that is really healthy with the, with the braids.
14:29I saw your look at the Soul Train Award.
14:30You liked it?
14:31You slayed.
14:33Yeah.
14:35All right.
14:36So, here's our second look.
14:38A little play with hair color.
14:40Okay.
14:41All right.
14:42Let's talk about it.
14:43Thought?
14:44I didn't know who I was at that time.
14:47I was just trying to find it.
14:48I was trying to find new, new things.
14:50But it's so funny.
14:51Like when I tried a new color, my mom was like, listen, Brent, black is your color.
14:56It looks great on you.
14:57Because it brings out your features.
14:58So, I've never been blonde or red again.
15:02Do you think you'll do it maybe?
15:03No.
15:04Okay.
15:05I don't think I will.
15:06No worries.
15:07The third look?
15:08Yes.
15:09These curls.
15:10I love the curls.
15:12I love the curls.
15:13I love the curls.
15:14Let's talk about it.
15:15I love them.
15:16Gosh.
15:17I feel so glamorous when I have my hair curly.
15:19And I still wear my hair curly.
15:21I wore my hair curly yesterday.
15:22Okay.
15:23Yes.
15:24Do you get to wear it as curly as often as you like?
15:26Or does your shooting schedule kind of dictate your look?
15:29Well, no.
15:30Not my schedule.
15:31Just more the feeling.
15:33You know.
15:34So, when you're curly, we know Brandi's feeling sassy.
15:36I'm feeling sassy.
15:37I'm feeling glam.
15:43Hair.
15:44Heat-free hair.
15:45Shout out to you guys.
15:46Okay.
15:47I love the hair.
15:48It's natural.
15:49And I wanted to try it.
15:50And I love the way it turned out.
15:52And it was cut the right way.
15:55It framed my face the right way.
15:56I loved it.
15:57And it was definitely a bold thing to do.
16:00Because it was different.
16:01It was very different.
16:02It was very different.
16:03But you have a face.
16:04So, your features.
16:05You can carry pretty much any freaking look you wanted to carry.
16:08As long as my hair is black.
16:09Okay.
16:10Caveat.
16:11My hair is black.
16:12But thank you so very much for taking the time to stop by and chat with us.
16:14And you have to come back and visit us anytime here at Essence Live.
16:17Your family.
16:19I will.
16:20Thank you so much.
16:21I will.
16:22Yay.
16:23The Best Story Ever After on BET starting January 5th.
16:25That's a great way to start your 2016.
16:27Up next, our hair conversation continues with a star-studded panel in studio.
16:31Stay tuned.
16:32Up next, we'll talk about how things go.
16:33The first day is a die.
16:34We'll be back
16:34Over time towards Earl P.
16:35You know, some fun.
16:36One Twitter account, or something.
16:37You look great at�aisys.com and make a ray pen through the predominantly of any
16:38game.
16:39Thank you so much for sharing this video.
16:40Grab fitness everything together.
16:41� Eh
16:45Give me acture painting, subscribe, and share this video.
16:48Additionally, please watch.
16:49Make sure the best thing.
16:50Where is your Caitly vivid editing channel for May Day 4th.
16:51Find out hockey that day rather knows it's fucking new.
16:53That's pretty powerful.
16:53Anything that's great right about خ is and everything.
16:54Did we see you doing so that?
16:55I deferайте you faster.
16:56If youревere that's probably over here to win every game.
16:58You know we hear about Team Natural and Team Relaxed and you know I always tell everybody
17:06like I play for both teams because I go back and forth like when it suits me I will be
17:10relaxed as I am today and when it doesn't I will go back to natural and you know Dr.
17:18Miracles as you stated earlier has this campaign called undo the hurt you can go to undo the
17:23hurt dot com and have conversations with other women and share your hair stories and I think
17:28one of the important things about or one of the important ways of beginning to bridge
17:34the divide is to start having a conversation about it because we attack what we don't know
17:40or what we don't understand right we make all sorts of assumptions about sisters who are
17:44natural we also make assumptions about sisters who are relaxed you know and a lot of times
17:50those may be wrong assumptions and I think what we first need to do is stop judging and
17:55that's all the way around I mean you know we also we know for many years there have been
18:00things that have been taught to us whether directly or indirectly we have received messages about
18:09ourselves that were dictated to us and not actually how we felt and I think undo the hurt is a way
18:16for us to take back or take control of the message that we send to each other because really we're just
18:23reflections you're natural I'm relaxed but we're I mean but we're still two fly sisters absolutely
18:28you know what I mean so there's there's um there's no reason why I should be pointing a finger at you
18:34and judging you for a choice that you were making right and it's as simple as that it's a choice
18:41welcome back to essence live that interview with was was with Melinda Williams she really got us
18:46thinking about why we as black women judge ourselves and each other so harshly when it comes to our hair
18:51so today we're going to talk all about it the good the bad and the oh so beautiful on black hair
18:57joining me is the woman who is a pioneer of the natural hair movement carol's daughter founder
19:01lisa price who has always been a curly girl hi lisa hi welcome to essence live thank you next is
19:07celebrity hairstylist and salon owner ursula stephen who calls her current look short and sassy
19:13okay welcome back ursula and beside her is award-winning beauty editor the founder of kiki curly
19:19me.com and the mother of dope twist outs that's her look is janelle b stewart how are you hello
19:24everyone welcome first time to essence live yes you have to come back we'll give you a key okay
19:30actress and comedian vonda carlos she joins us again and she is rocking the not so virgin brazilian hair
19:37okay well i'm not the virgin i'll tell you that
19:40okay and finally stylist and owner of atlanta's gaucher salon who says her do is short and spicy
19:49miss gaucher hawkins how are you hi and welcome to essence live thank you all right ladies are you
19:53ready to get started yeah okay now at home panelists i know you have a lot to say on this subject honey
19:59use the hashtag essence live and join the conversation all right so i'm calling this first part of our
20:04conversation i'm natural but i'm not conscious to speak to all the misconceptions we have about
20:10natural hair and the women who rock it so melinda just mentioned that these natural versus relaxed hair
20:16wars you'll recall such as solange saying infamously that she does not proclaim she's the team natural
20:21vice president and how we shouldn't make our hair our main focus and we've all seen some negative
20:26comments on essence.com and our facebook page when we post hair galleries of straight looks so we asked our
20:32twitter family why does hashtag team natural versus team relax continue to be a thing all right and g
20:38style fire said there are some people who have just who have to just argue i've been told i'm not team
20:43natural because i dye my hair and then a second comment at call me calais echoed that same point she says
20:49some people act like it's a betrayal when i went natural one of my mentors told me i was committing
20:53corporate suicide okay so strong words from our essence audience here so ladies what say you why do you
21:00feel that black women are so judgmental about each other's hair at least i'll start with you you know
21:06it comes from a lot of different things but i actually feel like it's getting a lot better um it was
21:12worse five years ago and it's it's the idea that you have to be one or the other and i really feel like
21:19things like instagram and all of us posting our pictures and the different ways that we can look
21:25has really opened up the conversation and made it more acceptable to be natural and to wear weave or to
21:31wear a wig or to blow it straight or to color it and it's okay um it was much more angry five years
21:38ago and it is getting better but i think it's just we have to have more dialogue about it um i you just
21:44introduced me as someone who's a founder in the natural hair care movement i never thought of myself
21:49that way i thought of myself as healthy hair okay if you want to relax it that's great just do it in
21:55a healthy way don't relax it when it's falling out on the floor you know that that that's my thing i
22:01want people to do what makes them feel good and what makes them feel confident whether that's natural
22:05organized relaxed natural weave braid whatever it is go for it what are your thoughts i think we're
22:10excited and like anyone who's trying something new when you're excited you can't stop talking about it
22:15you can't you're your own cheerleader you know the people who they go healthy organic and then
22:20everything in your pantry they're telling you you shouldn't eat that i don't let no people in my house
22:25it's hard not to be that way when you fall in love with your natural hair after so many years of being
22:30told it wasn't necessarily the way to go and then finally you open up that door and you're embracing it
22:35you're just so excited it's hard not to be team natural and you find people like you said miss price
22:41on instagram sharing those pictures and making it more acceptable so when you go online and you
22:46see women that look like you it's easy for you to just fall in love with that and you create this
22:50group of team natural it's a community but i think we're also talking too about the women who are like
22:54i'm team natural you relax your hair down with you you're like pointing their fingers go she you have
22:59a salon in the south and being a southern girl myself i know that the movement here and like the big
23:05city in new york and up north was a little bit different than down south like when i go home people think
23:09i'm sick or i'm on chemo or something like that like my look is not and i'm not even trying to be
23:13like it's not a a common thing but here there's like 40 chicks on the block right now who look
23:18just like me so do you experience this in in your salon down south no not really i think that
23:25different ethnicities as far as you know different backgrounds look at you different based on how your
23:31hair is styled even for myself like when i wear my hair different colors i'm looked at in a certain
23:36manner that i wouldn't be looked if my hair is blonde or if it's black or something like that
23:41so when it's red and all this you know vibrant colors i get a different you know background of
23:47people you know so i guess really it just depends on the style that you are wearing and ursula you
23:53have a salon here in new york do you ever encourage someone say if they're relaxing quite a bit and you're
23:57like you know maybe you need to take a break you should stop doing this but not necessarily because
24:01you're on one particular team or another but you just feel like it might be better for them yeah
24:04absolutely i'm with lisa i feel like you know it's about healthy hair you know what i mean whether
24:09you're relaxing or you're natural so if we're we i'm a professional and all the girls at the salon
24:13are professional so we assess everyone if we feel like it's becoming over processed or it's not working
24:17for you anymore we definitely urge you to not do it anymore but i don't feel like you know it's a team
24:22for me it's not a team natural or a tea relax i'm team look good i'm team look good whatever works for you
24:31because you know every girl who wants to go natural you know they have this myth in their
24:35head that they think they're going to look like tracy ellis ross no honey every natural texture doesn't
24:40look like that and every natural hair doesn't work for every every you know african-american girl
24:44so it really goes behind you know about what works for you and that individual yeah you know what
24:50i mean so and von we haven't heard from you yet but the big question that's coming to us um via facebook
24:55instagram and twitter's natural girls african-american natural women don't necessarily
25:00like when latina or mixed race or non-black women use the word team natural what are your thoughts
25:07well first of all why are y'all asking me about that if being you know mulatto means that you're not
25:15black half black half white one drop rule where i'm from you're black so just like there's many many
25:21different textures of uh hair you know there's 12 shades of blackness there's many shades of
25:26textures of black hair so if i'm not black then i'm taking alicia keys with me i'm taking holly
25:32take every take mariah i'll take everybody everybody
25:36okay we don't have a black president no but do you do you encounter this though because you're in
25:41front of the camera you're a comedian you're an actress do you encounter this a lot of people do
25:44think i'm spanish and there's nothing wrong with being latino at all but i am a black woman i even
25:48made you know i have jokes about that in my set where i talk about people thinking that i'm spanish
25:52all the time and i don't think it's any like coming off of what you guys said it's like whatever make
25:57you feel good that's how you should look do you whether it's natural or you i got all kind of but
26:03this is brazilian girl it hooked me up this weave in my hair is all about everything right now in my
26:10life because i tried to do some stuff to my natural hair and oh everybody pray for me she's like that's
26:17another segment y'all that's a whole nother segment i have blonde highlights in my real hair my hair was
26:22this length this past summer and i got blonde highlights on my real hair and it fell out so now
26:29i have this this virgin brazilian saving me right now and there's nothing wrong with that you know
26:34maybe if i would have did all my experimentation on this and not my real hair right i could still be
26:41team natural no i didn't no i didn't i didn't she said she said hold up she said did you go to
26:47professional now janelle what are your thoughts do you have any thoughts or opinions on when
26:52non-african-american women say i'm team natural just curly girls in general absolutely i feel like
26:56unless you have the same historical context around being natural where there's you're constantly being
27:04judged you're constantly being discriminated against and also the struggle around hair care finding hair
27:09care products what it requires then being team natural is something that i feel like should only
27:16be allowed to be used by me because of that experience it's not the same struggle like i can't just throw my
27:22hair down out of a bun and say oh someone's judging me because of the curls it's an entire relationship
27:30from birth to now that i've had to experience from people who were before me who have still had to
27:36experience it and even today girls are being told that they should not wear their natural hair to
27:41school and i love what you're saying about how you use you're wearing the weave as an option but there's
27:47so many girls that they just cannot wear not not wear weave they just do not love how they look without
27:55it it's like if i don't have a weave on i need to hide don't don't look at me that's psychological and
28:02we're going to get to that actually a little bit later on but what are your thoughts what are your
28:05thoughts on on the curly girl movement because there's a lot of mainstream products now that are
28:09following the leads of those of you who pioneered into a space where you recognize the need that are
28:14now starting to cater to all curly hair types congratulate those girls hey if my hair could curl up
28:20like that i would be wearing it too but honey i'm not that fortunate so hey i let them have that
28:26ladies we're going to continue this conversation oh i'm sorry ursa do you have something i was just saying you
28:30know just to piggyback on what you said you you feel like you know girls that are not african-american
28:34can't use the term team natural they can the technical term for natural just means chemical
28:39free that's all it means yeah but it's just like it's just like a slang like when we put our spin on
28:45it we're not referring to natural as in all hair it's it's our natural hair because we were not natural
28:51for so long not making the choice to be natural so now what it still means chemical free well ladies
28:56we're going to come back to this in just a moment we have uh coming up a little bit later on an
29:00original poem on black beauty by jessica care moore but first singer and empire star v bozeman tells us
29:05a little bit about her hair story so let's check it out this is v bozeman and this is my hair story
29:13in my career i had a season of girl groups and you know i dyed fried cut weaved everything so when that
29:21era was over i was like you know what let me just start over it's way easier trust i'm just a regular
29:29girl from south central la that's just comfortable in her skin i'm still the roundaway girl and i can
29:35still be my full self i'm not neo soul i'm not you know prior to the people it's just it's just a
29:44stereotypical type of you know um point of view i feel like it's the history it's the culture you know
29:51my my family um we grew up the women grew up feeling like you know grow her hair out you know
29:59and it was a big deal when i cut my hair i mean my grandmother didn't talk to me for months because she
30:04felt so betrayed because i had a lot of hair so i just feel like they think it's easier for you to
30:12you know get by um because you know in in their era it was you know it was hard to be black walking in
30:20you know black shoes so i think hair kind of made it more easier but it doesn't it really doesn't
30:28my dating life is oh so much more uh interesting than it was before because i feel like men are more
30:36attracted to me because they feel like i'm i have a sense of confidence that they're not um always
30:45engaging with and i always tend to say you know when i embrace my full self that's when i feel like the
30:50whole world kind of embraced v bozeman you know more so when i cut it off um i just
30:58really saw myself for the first time and i just decided that i liked what i saw i was like oh yeah
31:03i like that girl i'm enough this is cool go ahead look at me and v having the same due welcome back
31:10to essence live i'm your host data blair and joining me here in studio we have lisa price
31:14ursula steven janelle stewart von de carlo and miss gosay hawkins thank you for sticking around ladies
31:18all right so don't forget to chime in on our social media with your thoughts on all things hair
31:22use hashtag essence live or email us your questions to essence live at essence.com now i'm calling part
31:28two of this discussion long hair don't care for obvious reasons for my straight hair girls first
31:32let's talk a little bit about how our hair affects our relationships in the clip with v bozeman she
31:38mentioned that she didn't necessarily feel like it affected her dating life so i'm going to start here
31:41with you ursula and i'm going to take it all the way around have you noticed that your hair
31:47choices whether it was long short curly straight may have affected your dating life i think it doesn't
31:52affect it in a negative way i feel like i just get a different i can't approach all the time honey
31:56just let's just go ahead and put that out but i feel like i definitely get up i definitely get
32:01approached by a different type of man true depending on what hairstyle i decide to wear you know when i take
32:07it down to the kneecaps you know i get a little young you know a little tender a little tender
32:12ronis you know you know when i have it short and sassy i may get approached by you know
32:19a working man you know you know street somewhere well i i've been married like almost 24 years and
32:26my husband loves my curly hair occasionally very rarely like twice a year i blow my hair out straight
32:33very different train ride and walking down the street so oh oh you look so nice today oh good
32:38afternoon and i'm like i have on jeans and flip flops right but my hair is straight so there's a
32:44different response you know i i i've been with my husband for 10 years and he loves my hair natural
32:50but when we first started dating i was relaxed and when i went natural he loved it and all my girlfriends
32:56that are natural they have no problem finding men and boyfriends they're dating they're married but
33:01just like you ladies said it's a different type of guy that's approaching them and and the and the names
33:06the language that they get like oh nubian princess my queen like they get those beautiful names instead
33:12of a short end you're like okay you know it makes you feel like you're earthy or something i don't know
33:18you know men are always trying to come up with techniques to get at but i don't know i don't
33:23i've always wore my hair pretty much the same so i see a difference in when i gain or lose weight
33:29depending on what something else it depends on what's going on down in music depends on what type of
33:34man approaches me but i had my husband before he passed away god rest his soul he said i look
33:39cleaner with my hair straight cleaner cleaner okay because my hair my natural curl is kind of frizzy
33:45curl like wet look and i don't know i guess in his eyes that looks more like a i don't know dirty girl
33:52oh okay he liked my hair straight but i i like my hair curly i don't know what this is this is somewhere
33:57in between i guess it's okay okay what are your thoughts affect my current relationship but you
34:03know just in walking down the street different hairstyles length color it does you know change
34:09the type of people that you know do talk to me and gosh i want to stick with you here because you are
34:13a professional hairstylist a lot of black women are getting this super hot blowouts like a lot of heat
34:18extremely straight um looks what are some healthier alternatives versus that extreme if they want to
34:24achieve a straight look you can still do a straight look without so much heat like i do not do the
34:31dominican roller you know blowouts that's what he was trying to say without saying i'm so sorry
34:38but you know when they go over there they always end up back over at my salon you know to treat their
34:43hair and get it back on track so you know you can still blow dry your hair without all that or you can
34:47roller set it um you can still you know do those healthy options too i'm hoping options
34:51ursley any tips uh quickly for correcting heat damage i definitely feel like to correct heat
34:56damage is to first things first lay off of the heat you know you don't have to be photo shoot fresh
35:01every single day you try to pull back if you would maybe flat ironing once every two weeks try to
35:06pull it back to once a month you know what i mean just try to really pull back and you know
35:10increase your conditioning treatments for sure all right so let's do one last check in with our
35:14essence live fam on facebook when we asked about the team natural versus team melex divisions
35:18we got a flurry of responses laney frazier said i'm team however my hair flows so she agrees with
35:24most of the people here on the plant panel tavina chiffon willis give us all three names she said
35:29i'm annoyed that this has grown into teams she continues i went back to parming for styling
35:33reasons and was told that i was kicked off of a fictitious group i didn't even know i belonged to
35:38and finally la shannon johnson said our hair is beautiful no matter how we choose to wear it
35:42hashtag one team thoughts thoughts that's crazy one team i think your hair is your mood and we're
35:49women we're emotional creatures so at the end of the day whatever we feel like is what our hair is
35:54going to reflect which is probably why i had all that damage over the summer because i was losing my
35:58mind it's okay you know so it's like it shouldn't be a team it should be and you know what i think um
36:04judgment becomes jealousy and whoever is pointing their fingers probably the they were just not team
36:10natural five minutes ago true you just got that perm out the hair it's about this long you growing it
36:15out cut it out don't get brand new yeah so really quickly i want to ask yes or no i'm kind of jumping
36:20back to a comment that someone one of the um essence live viewers made a little bit earlier about
36:24going natural was committing corporate suicide so yes or no would you change your hair for your dream
36:29job absolutely not ursula hmm dream job dream job would i change my hair for my dream job
36:37maybe maybe maybe maybe janelle i'll play the game no if i can't be me it's not for me i'm an actress
36:44so that's an easy yes absolutely all the time i could be i could be who you want me to be what you
36:49mean i see you thinking over there no because i like to you know i like who i am and that's
36:56the thing that i like about being self-employed i get to you know do what i want to do and i don't have
37:00to go in some place because that's who you want me to be you know i enjoy being me and making my own
37:06decisions awesome and quickly i'm going to come right back to you final thoughts one sentence on
37:10this team natural versus team relax any final thoughts no be you whatever it is straight curly
37:16it's how you about how you rock it confidence absolutely i'm gonna stick with that and say be
37:20you but whatever that is experiment with a weave before you all the way you love yourself as you are
37:30naturally our salon team look good whatever it takes and lisa healthy healthy there we go healthy
37:37all right i want to thank all of you so much for joining us i know we could sit here and chat and
37:40chat and chat all day and thank you all out there for using your for sharing your thoughts with us
37:44using the hashtag essence live and please continue to email us at essence live at essence.com we'll be
37:49compiling some of the best comments on our facebook page so to close out the show you might remember
37:53her from showtime at the apollo but she has a new album on sale now entitled black tea the legend of
37:59jesse james with an ode to all that is beautiful about us here's poet jessica care moore performing
38:03black girl juice see you next week same time same place same fabulous hairstyle i'm dana blair bye
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39:27linger on your top lip take it on and trip and dab small circles it on your wrists ankles or ears and
39:33even daring enough to ask i've got some black girl juice if you have an empty glass
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