Rocsi Gets REAL!

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The beautiful Rocsi has been a co-host of BET's hit show 106 & Park for the last 5 years. I'm sure there are millions of girls out there that would give their right arm to trade places with her in a heartbeat. Shes on TV everyday, gets to meet the hottest celebrities, free wardrobe,, hair and makeup, and gets the A-list treatment everywhere she goes. Oh the Life! But as life shows us time and time again, the grass isn't always as green as we think it is on the other side. Who knew that Rocsi had such insecurities about her body image??? Even Terrence J (her co-host) admitted that he never knew of her past eating dis-order before now.

It really pains me to see such a beautiful girl go through such unhealthy measures to lose weight. But I'm the last person that can criticize her. As the visiting Doctors explained they hear stories like Rocsis everyday. And my experiences aren't that far off.

In my very own group of friends it's so commonplace for us to criticize and think negatively about our body images. Now that I think about it I can't remember the last time I heard a female say anything positive about her body.

Being a thick girl it makes me nuts to hear my more slender friends point out their invisible "guts/rolls" etc. It's acutally quite comical to me. But these thoughts really are no laughing matter. It goes to show you how warped a person's perception of their body image can be.

I've never been a skinny girl myself and to this very day I have the habbit of binge dieting. Meaning, I go thru these periods of eating horribly and not working out, then all of a sudden I starve myself and try to lose a million pounds in the shortest amount of time possible, by any means necessary. I remember practically starving myself freshman year in college to avoid that dreaded Freshman 15. That year I hit the lowest weight I remember ever being in my adult life. A close friend and I would work out everyday (which is GREAT) and use Xenadrine pills to surpress our apetite (not so great). Only God knows what we were doing to our insides. Xenedrine with ephedra (the type we were taking) was banned by the FDA shortly after.

I never really took what we were doing that seriously but when I look back we were definitely suffering from eating disorders.

During this video Rocsi mentions how she tried throwing up as one of her weight lose methods but never really stuck to that method ONLY because she physically was unable to make herself do it. As sad as it is I also never successfully was able to make myself throw up and thank God for that (and for fingers the size of an 8 yr. old's) because that's probably the main reasons why I never really took to vomiting as a weight loss option.

This issue is way more common than we might ever know. I guess Rocsi said it best at the end of the video when she explains that, people should really not be so quick to judge a person that is "fat" or "skinny" because we honestly don't know what inner deamons that person can be battling to make them the way they are. And your insensitive opinion just might be the one to push that person off the edge instead of help them get things in perspective.

I must say that I am proud of Rocsi for having the courage to share her story. In today's world, everyone has an opinion and thanks to all the social networking sites we can share our opinions with the world, at the click of a button. Let's try to be kind with this new found freedom of expression! Be kind on the Blogs guys!!


If you have ever struggled with an eating disorder or knows someone that has or if Rocsi's story has touched you in any way please feel free to leave a comment................. Read more!

Tacky Yaki!

I've been weaving my hair for years (against the wishes of many friends and family members who insist on telling me how beautiful I would be without it), and people always joke that it's "horse hair". But who knew that Yaki hair really got its name from the animal that it comes from...the Yak?! WOW!! I definitely am not feeling that and I can understand why the girl in this KGB commercial wasn't too pleased to hear that news either.

BUT hhhmmmm.... really!?! Was it necessary for home girl at the end to act like that? I don't know about this one guys I think this is pushing it a bit. Now I am definitely thick-skinned and can take a joke. But to me this just seems a bit stereotypical and for a national commercial I don’t think it was done in good taste. This is not Hair Show or some made for TV movie by black people for black people. I for one think it's totally different when a group makes fun of itself and when it is being mocked by others; and I'm just not feeling it. And what really bugs me is that this actress had no problem playing the damn fool, while insulting her people... but anything for a check I guess.

Furthermore Black women are not the only ones that rock weave or "extensions" as other races like to call it. I think this commercial should've featured at least one person of another races in the background, just to illustrate that this is an issue of interest not to just black women but everyone that wear hair pieces.

I understand that Yak/Yaki hair is more popular among black women as opposed to actual human hair extension used by other races because it is cheaper for both the manufacturer as well as the buyer. And let's face it this is not the only area in our society where black people have the economic disadvantage and are left to take what they can afford or what's made available to them as opposed to what's better in quality. With all that said I still find this commercial offensive. And come to find out that Yaki hair isn't even made with actual Yak hair anymore due to too many people developing allergic reactions to it. So... what was the point of this commercial again???

Now, I personally wear Virgin Hair that is taken from a living HUMAN being. OK!!! So slow your role KGB. *screwface*

But I can't front… this commercial has seriously put the thought in my head that I might need to kick it au' naturale for a while!! Even if I don’t rock Yaki. Just can't take chances now-a-days boy.

I know this whole issue brings up other factors like why do Black woman want to alter the look of their natural hair in the first place? and why are we trying to look White? why do we perm and color our hair? Blah... blah... blah...

Apart from a legacy of white America putting down black features and many blacks not being accepted into mainstream society if we didn’t assimilate our looks (for example guys with dreds having a harder time landing a job) I think that in this day and age it's all a matter of expression and I see nothing wrong with it. I've come to realize that the darkest black person with the nappiest hair and a Moshood outfit on, hugging trees on Howard University's campus can have the mindframe of the quintessential "Uncle Tom". Meanwhile, a girl that grew up in the suburbs who's complexion is light, bright, damn near white, with a perm and blonde streaks that went to Cornell University is extremely aware and in tune with her African heritage and the history of her people in this country, and confident in her skin. And with the rising trend of White girls getting butt enhancement surgery and lip injections, etc it seems that the self-hatred arguement falls a bit short... or isn't as one-sided as we once thought. Yes feel free to leave your comments of Black self hatred etc. but I don’t think it's necessary to go that deep with this post. But then again that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Sidenote: Someone please explain to me how it is that the Yaki hair packaging says "Human Hair" on it? I think it should say "Real hair" (as opposed to Synthetic). I have never heard of a "Human Yak" a day in my life.


Check out this explanation that I found on Hairfinder.com:
http://www.hairfinder.com/hair4/yak-hair.htm

"Yak Hair and Yaki Hair

Q: What is Yak hair? I have heard several cosmetologist and beauty supply sales agents tell me Yak hair is “human hair” from a human being and not a Yak animal. Others say Yak hair IS from an animal, however, since it is a human living creature, it is considered “human hair”. Please advise me on this matter.

A: This is another development in the hairdressing industry that results in LOTS of confusion due to the way our industry professionals decide to name the products being used. (I’ve ranted for years on the way names of hairstyles can vary widely causing massive confusion for women who want a particular look.)

When it comes to hair extensions as well as wigs and hair pieces, the term(s) Yak Hair (or Yaki Hair) are found all over the place. These two terms refer to hair fibers that are naturally produced, but are very different in their origins.

Yak hair is NOT human hair. It is harvested from the body of the Yak animal – an ox-like mammal native to the Himalayas and Tibet with dark, long and silky hair, a horse-like tail and a full, bushy mane. The hair of the yak is structurally similar to human hair and testing revealed that it responded the same way to the styling methods used to style human hair as human hair responded. In look and texture, this animal hair closely matched “relaxed” African-ethnic hair and Indo-Asian hair types. Because the hair could be grown and harvested from these animals in massive quantities, it has become a staple in inexpensive hair extensions and accessory products.

However, some time after yak hair became widely used in the industry, it was discovered that many people were allergic to the fibers. Since the look of the yak hair products was so popular, researchers immediately went to work looking for another alternative that would be inexpensive, yet give the look women had begun to clamor after.

And thus “YAKI” hair was born. Yaki hair IS human hair that has been harvested in as inexpensive a manner as possible and chemically processed and treated to look and feel the way yak hair does. This allows women to get the look they want without the risk of allergic responses."

Please feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts on this commercial. Do you find it funny? offensive? or simply informative?.......

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Kharisma you can check out the trailer for Chris Rocks new movie currently in the works entitled: "Good Hair". This looks Hilarious! :) what do you guys think?


Read more!

Culture Unplugged Video

This touching video is the winner of the Berlin Short Film Festival.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

WOW!

Think twice next time you say "I'm starving".



Please feel free to leave a comment if this short film touches you in any way........ and how could it not!


UPDATE: Thanks to reader Ty for reminding us of these commericals that used to frequent the airwaves in the 80's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBOazSjvFG8 Read more!