My vulva is...

My vulva is...http://myvulvais.blogspot.ca/

A couple of months ago I wrote and artducation post talking about the crochet vulva pins that I make and my personal response to how bodies of colour have historically been sexualized and represented. They have been selling out completely, i never would have imagined that they would be received in such a positive way by such a diverse array of people. Since that post I have had many interesting conversations that have opened my eyes to the different social, political and biological meanings that vulvas have. So I have been busy at work putting together a new blog where people who have vulvas, love em or simply want to know more about them can come and share knowledge that speaks positively about our bodies from our own experiences. I so humbly invite you to check out My vulva is... and to think about/share what your vulva means to you and why you would wear your vulva.

Smiles:)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: No pins no problem, the loc pompadour!

One thing that I am not a fan of making are hair pins and hair ornaments. Why? I simply hate using them. It's normal for me to lose bobby pins and hair ties in my hair for weeks, they are painful, and because of my crown they never seem to be big enough. And by the way, have you always noticed that the pack of bobby pins slowly disappears until there are none left...seriously, where do all of them go? I just got tired and annoyed, so I could never think of inflicting my misery on someone else! To save my self the heartache (and some money) I resolved to do away with them a long time ago....but then I had to start looking for different pin-free ways to style my hair. After trying head ties, hair nets, and string of all sorts I had almost given up, but I found that my own locs were the solution! Either using the spine of foam curlers, pipe cleaners or bantu knots/chiney bumps, curling my locs has been amazing in helping me cut the middle person (i.e pins) out of the styling picture. The curls are able to intertwine and hold together really well to make my favourite hairstyle, the Pompadour! This R&S pin-free hairstyle takes about five minutes to do, looks amazing and requires no tools or money. I leave it to loc and circumstance because it looks different every time I do it. I just play around with it until I get the desired look. I started making this hair style about six years ago and ever since it has become my go to style. Peep the pics below to see the pomp over the years in action!

 Get inspired by your frustrations and exercise a little creativity! You'll see how easy it is to turn your problems into solutions you can definitely take to the bank. 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

By The Way: Would you like to know how to curl your locs? Drop me a line and I can write up a step by step how to post!

Uchungu na Tamu: Life Lessons

This has been a very interesting week that has brought about a lot of reflection on the people around me, family, people who say they are my friends, those who are my friends and those who have come into and left my life. Through this reflection I have leaned that life can have a harsh way of providing us with lessons, and you can only learn these lessons through the mistakes you have made along the way...but from mistakes arise new opportunities. If you choose to ignore the omens placed before you or doubt your intuition, ultimately you are the only one who will suffer from regret or loss.

So onto my not so new creation. I made this scarf a while ago and I got really upset because after I washed it, it stretched about three sizes and didn't look all that good anymore. My mom and I went out for dinner one day and when she put in on I realized it looked amazing as a shoulder poncho!  I added a button to the front that works to adjust the size of the poncho at the neck...I also thought it looked really cute! So this once scarf that I though I had mistakenly ruined provided an opportunity for my 'newest' old creation to come to fruition, which left me thinking of the kiswahili proverb:

 Mla cha uchungu na tamu hakosi: he who eats bitter things gets sweet things too

Uchungu na Tamu
Shoulder Poncho with button
$35.00

Life is an interesting experience and sometimes the lessons we learn leave us thinking of what we should have, could have or would have done...the thing is we have to be able to translate these lessons into our existing relationships and en devours. Otherwise we are at risk of living in vain and rendering those relationships (or in this case a scarf) meaningless. 

I guess we can only know sweetness through tasting bitterness. 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna