it's gonna work you see something I
think that's a lot better
hi everybody or Salaam Salaam
I am Aida and welcome to my page so I am
super excited to announce a really dope
collaboration that I'm doing with a
brand called 4thavemarket and the
title of this series is called
discovering my hair identity it's quite
long I know but I feel that it really
sums up exactly what I'm trying to do
and I will explain how that partnership
will work with 4thave and how it's
going to benefit you the viewers
ultimately
so this video series is about me
understanding my hair on a very personal
level what I mean by that is I have worn
my hair natural for a very long time but
my hair has shifted and has different
needs that I am not aware of and I
generally know what types of products
that I should be using but there are so
many products out there that I really
don't know exactly which ones are right
for my hair and my hair has changed a
lot the identity of my hair is shifted
so this series is about discovering my
hair identity and I'm going to be doing
that in collaboration with 4thavemarket
so 4th ave market is the largest
black-owned online store for beauty and
hair care products for people of color
what's really incredible about
4th ave market is the history behind
the name so back in the day during Jim
Crow era specifically in Birmingham
Alabama 4th Avenue was the place for
black business to run
so it was known as the black business
district so something around 60% of
black owned businesses operated on 4th
Avenue so a lot of the Commerce was
going back into the black community
which is absolutely incredible
and that's where the inspiration comes
from 4th ave market by investing back
into the community of people of color
and providing for people of color which
is even more incredible so I'm extremely
honored and excited to be teaming up
with a brand that has a specific mission
of investing back into communities of
color I think that's absolutely
incredible and I hope that you guys get
to know this website and get to see it
from through my perspective of my
journey to really see how they're
providing opportunities for these brands
to really provide for us consumers
so now I want to talk a little bit about
the relationship that I've had with my
hair over the years so growing up I had
my hair permed relaxed braided of course
straightened a lot growing up it's it's
not that I was discouraged from wearing
my natural hair but it's that I believed
that if I had if I wore my natural hair
it would have to be either permed or
relaxed so that's easy for me to
maintain so the first two years of high
school I was all about fitting in that
meant straightening my hair on a regular
basis so I straightened my hair just
every two weeks I'd get it straightened
and imagine I'm living in Seattle
Washington at the time overcast and
rain all the time and so I still
insisted on that because I just wanted
to fit as we all do it was junior year I
was 16 years old and we were having
spirit day to commence homecoming week
so I remember our grade was assigned the
era of the 1970s I remember I just was
determined to make a huge impact on what
I would wear for that day to represent
the 1970s I was so excited and I was
like I'm gonna do something so big I'm
really gonna just I'm not gonna do a
little hippie stuff I'm not gonna do
like you know bell-bottoms like I want
to do something very unique the first
person that I hadn't wanted to emulate
myself after was Angela Davis just as a
powerful woman who had this beautiful
circular afro like any time I thought
about an afro I thought about Angela
Davis so I was like you know what I can
make that happen
I can do that with my hair I remember
just washing my hair as normal and I
never had tried this before I don't know
why I was so confident that I could pick
out my hair like this because I'd never
tried it but I was like I got this so I
just came out of shower I started just
picking it out
it just started warming and getting
bigger and just getting more and more
circular I was so shocked at how
powerful and big it was I was like oh so
I remember just walking down the halls
and everybody it was just like oh my god
Aida that's so dope overwhelming
positive response and I just remember
the time thinking this is really dope this is a
really cool feeling it wasn't just the
praise of people but it was the fact
that I was embracing something very
unique about myself and it was being
accepted and even though it was in the
context of you know spirit day and it
was kind of costume esque it was still a
pivotal moment for me because I felt
that people were accepting me in my
natural essence as who I was and with my
natural hair and what came out of that
literally the day after I did not go
back to straightening my hair in the way
that I did prior I wore my hair natural
from that point on I have not put any
chemicals
other than coloring which I'm not that
into it's just occasionally I like to
switch it up yeah but I haven't
relaxed it I haven't done a perm it's
just been wash and go braids twist out
that's it
so over the years I've used different
products but I also noticed that my hair
has shifted in terms of the texture
sometimes in terms of how it responds to
different products so it hasn't been a
consistent journey of you know using XYZ
products throughout the last 12 years of
my life it has been a trial and error of
a lot of products and I think at this
point I'm just kind of you know I've
want to figure out what my hair needs
should I be doing treatments how often
should I be doing treatments what type
of hair am i so all of these questions
have constantly been kind of gnawing at
me and I have seen a lot of women go
through this a lot of black women who
have created videos who have talked
about their hair journey which has been
incredible but I think for me it's like
how do I sift through everything to
figure out what's right for me so that's
why I'm doing this video collaboration
I'm essentially creating a template to
help myself as well as anybody else
who's trying to figure it out how to
figure out the right products for them
and 4th ave being the supplier of those
products because they have so many
products available from every kind of
hair and texture so over the course of
this series I'm going to be doing a lot
of research so that's easy for anybody
else watching to figure out what to do
to discover my hair type to discover the
type of ingredients that I need for my
hair to discover the routine so how
often I should do treatments and also
what type of products would help with
the type of style that I do the products
that I'm currently using I've just been
using products that I think are great I just
don't know so the type of products I've been using
thus far is the Cantu argan oil leave-in
conditioning repair cream so I've been
using it because I see that it is daily
styling you know after I wash my hair
kind of as a wash wash and go kind of
style but it is kind of thick for me
because I don't feel that it gives my
hair that kind of natural balance it
just kind of makes it like like maybe
thick and heavy like the cream really
sits and doesn't really do much it kind
of like mattes it I don't know if that
makes sense I'm gonna be working on my
descriptions better too so bear with me
and then when I need when I know that I
want like a thicker oil because I know
my hair does kind of respond well to
like a thick oil I've been using this
sunny Isle to making black castor oil
with hemp seed oil and that's been kind
of cool but again they're kind of heavy
so those are some of the products that
I've been using so I'm very very excited
to be doing this journey I hope that
it's beneficial for people out there
watching who like me are trying to
figure out the right products for
themselves I'm really excited to be
teaming up with 4th Ave because we have
such an incredible mission and they will
be able to provide the products that I
need so I can really have the best hair
of my life and for all you viewers out
there you can use my code to get 15% off
on your purchase so thank you guys and
subscribe follow and just stay tuned for
more content ok ciao
