Cosmetology School

My cousins knew cosmetology school was not where you studied the cosmos, and were adamant, they couldn’t teach you to make a good Cosmo there.  My jokes weren’t funny. Even today we still know cosmetology school to be the real promise of training to a good lifestyle, as demonstrated by the barbers and hair dressers in Benzs that we have seen in our ‘hoods forever. The first millionaire from my elementary school was not in IT, he moved to Detroit and opened three 24-hour hair salons to serve the shift workers in the auto plants.  And on any given Friday and Saturday, there is a lot of hair and make-up getting done in kitchens, a sub-economy in and of itself.

 Armed with their new Iphones, my cousins talked about supplementing their at-home salon prowess with the Youtube virtual cosmetology university online.   There are visual workshops and how-to's for all beauty needs. They can also function as tutorials for us guys to pay attention to, if we will.  The brother’s full disclosure Spanxs suit was settled out or court.  Let’s just say he couldn’t complain about a “happy ending”.  Which brings up two provocative questions, brothers.  One: Can you hold the magic in your mind, as reality spreads (pun intended) around you?  And two: When the moment is right, will you be ready?  But that’s another story, and all about what you find attractive at the moment, unless you have taken something and then maybe it’s just about the clock. But it is out there for those of us who want to know, to see.  I heard the ole school opening line of “aren’t you a movie star here, incognito?” is quickly being replaced with “is that you or are you Slimcognito?”

While the body mass thing is recently of hot debate in come circles, we have been about hair forever.  Straight, locks, twists, and cuts, we love our hair.  There are guides for hair here as well, You can learn to work with hot irons, rollers, wraps, how to add hair, twist it, even how to shampoo and condition it in hundreds of video tips for viewing.  Even women without the heritage can learn to cornrow and braid, so they don’t have to wait for the summer vacation to the islands to get the look.

Cornrows

We are so fortunate to have our sistas come in so many hues and shades; we can see beauty in so many shades without ever leaving home, figuratively.  And the application of make-up by our sistas is again there for the taking. Colors and brows, lips and eyes, how to accent, how to apply, and how to bring shimmer and sine to that beautiful skin of all colors is there online for the viewing, once again illustrating just how beautiful black can be.

While we all have are own ideal of beauty: Josephine Baker to Beyonce, one place we can all point to with pride and provincial wisdom is now the White House.  Because the first black first lady is a symbol we can show all our daughters and nieces, and grandchildren and sistas and know we see black beauty, inside and out, poised, polished, and predominant.  Whether organizing spoken word and Esperanza at the White House or making sure her daughters still make their beds, Michelle Obama is our complete point-to example for today.

VeTalle Fusilier is a producer in Washington, DC. It's pronounced VEE-tal FEW-suh-LEER