Social Media And Gender

Internet based life And Gender As the internet based life and the related exercises are quickly creating, the quantity of included ladies clients are more than the quantity of men now. Because of this reality, there are numerous potential changes that could be experienced inside the future media. Promoting and media Companies have been said to utilize the equivalent and outdate types of belief system to comprehend their crowds. In any case, it turns out to be increasingly testing to continue utilizing these outdate designs. Because of the expanding pattern of internet based life utilization by ladies, web-based social networking, for example, papers, motion pictures, magazines, long range informal communication locales, would hugy affect the molding of social patterns.(Thompson 2011) It is important to break down a portion of the statements that are identified with the web based life and the part of sexual orientation when seeing the issue of online networking and how the sex impacts media. It is additionally important to investigate the part of ladies assuming responsibility for the media, the expanding fame of web based life, and the connection between age, sexual orientation, and the online networking. (Thompson 2011) In request to finish breaking down the impacts between internet based life exercises and the part of sexual orientation, it is useful to not just think about the quantity of the online life clients and the length of the time they spent via web-based networking media yet in addition cont rast the cutting edge web-based social networking and the past media. As referenced previously, online networking correspondence designs has been molding the belief system of crowds and furthermore been formed by the sexual orientation of clients. Numerous media specialized strategies have profound association with the part of sex in various societies. (Donald A. MacKenzie 1985) A solid examination study which is finished by Claude S. Fisher demonstrates that the phone has for since quite a while ago had some gendered types of associations, individuals generally held conviction that females talk more when contrasted with men. Hence, the majority of individuals accept the businesses of phone industry would want to pick ladies as their administrators in this industry. Likewise, the exploration concentrate additionally shows that young ladies were firmly identified with the minor and broad telephone utilization for unadulterated social purposes. The exploration further demonstrates that, the use of ladies and effect on PC improvement has really been trivi alized while there some of PCs are intended to be manly. (Fisher 1994) However, this examination study doesn't clarify for the enormous number of ladies who utilize the person to person communication destinations through these manly PCs. In our past survey for these relates research contemplates, we accept the exploration considers which assess the part of sex bunch that ruled the online networking and we likewise investigated the components behind that mastery. There is another examination concentrate when bunch which assesses the variables behind the way that Pinterest has a place with ladies and Google has a place with men. This examination study shows that around 83% of the clients of Pinterest were really ladies, and estimated 66% of Google+ clients are men.(Wagstaff 2012) This exploration study brings up an issue on whether this reality implies the female clients overwhelmed the online life and male clients have less effect on the media. (Feasts 2002) According to the consequences of the this examination study, the explanation for this amazing truth is that google+ has less female benevolent type of substance than Pinterest, and its capacities are more spotlight on scholarly utilizing reason rather than person to person communication. Consider another examination study led in the year 2006. The examination study showed that, there was a noteworthy and furthermore a contemporary type of proof, which demonstrated current feelings of trepidation on online security of the little youngsters, had recorded predecessors, for example, media apparatuses that included telephones. The examination additionally demonstrated that, as a rule, the memorable responses inevitably came about into some type of limitations for the utilization of innovation towards security of young ladies from hurt and the danger that could hurt their guiltlessness. The exploration study, be that as it may, didn't demonstrate the level into which similar media stage was utilized to shield the powerless kid youngster from impacts of dangers, hurt, predators, lawbreakers, and attack over the internet based life or some other mechanical stage. People for the most part utilize the interpersonal interaction benefits in various manners, purposes, and with various frequencies. Huge numbers of exploration examines have demonstrated that, a particular sex bunch will in general utilize the informal communities more than others with various reason. Along these lines, it is fitting to comprehend the objective clients better and put forth the improvement of attempts toward the decent variety gathering of sexual orientation clients with different purposes. As been referenced in the article The Social Media Gender Gap, been contrasted and male clients the greater part of female clients generally settle on all the more buying choices and invest longer energy in the on-line shopping. Ladies appear to be bound to inform their companions regarding their buys. (Hoffman 2008) Due to this reality the female clients is the significant gathering where the publicists could get more advantages from. A greater part of these analysts despite every thing demonstrate that albeit the two clients gathering of sexual orientation utilize online networking as often as possible, ladies still the ones that keep an eye on everything. (Hoffman 2008) A larger part of specialists demonstrate that the web is surely going to glance pink later on. This implies, the whole eventual fate of the web-based social networking and its relative exercises will be about sexual orientation based. In different words, the future online networking will be ladies situated. A portion of these specialists in the web advancement field supported the up and coming web designers to accept ladies as their primary objective if these web engineer want to get more advantages from their up and coming business. It is fascinating to see that diverse sexual orientation individuals consistently act distinctively when they are utilizing on the web administrations to do their exercises in their day by day life, which are a piece of the web based life apparatuses, for example, on-line shopping, blogging, posting and sharing pictures and so forth. As per this reality, the Website could be considered as a critical and basic type of social medium. Henceforth, an effective Website configuration is in reality about how to prevails to be fit into the decent variety social gatherings and dynamic social belief system. In spite of the fact that men were generally seen as the prior principle focus of the mechanical turn of events, ladies have turned into the gathering which remains at the bleeding edge of the online networking related exercises. Another investigation thirteen million individuals and were attempting to discover the genuine manner by which a larger part of them were utilizing the online life. As the outcomes demonstrates that individuals from both sexual orientation were members in the field of online life, it was certain that ladies have the bigger number of individuals than the male sex up until this point. Because of the equivalent, the following flood of creative thoughts that are connected to the online life is probably going to focus on a more noteworthy number of ladies than that of men (Hoffman 2008). This will enlarge the sexual orientation hole of online networking. The exploration concentrate additionally shows that young ladies are bound to be dynamic on the social destinations, for example, My Space, Twitter, Facebook, and Flixster which are critical structures to associate with and collaborate with these internet based life locales, which is more than youngsters. It is exceptionally clear that me n who are above age thirty years of age and men who are hitched for the most part don't possess energy for online networking, and a large portion of those men who are under age thirty show they are not ready to do as such after they achieve that age. Except for the LinkedIn clients who need to companion everybody on the social locales for business and employment chasing reason, these men are never ready to hang out the long range informal communication destinations. Be that as it may, rather than a similar age and wedded ladies, joining the interpersonal organizations in a steady progression. Truth be told, the quickest developing division, is distinguished as the age bunches between thirty five and fifty, particularly the clients on My Space. (Hoffman 2008) The future analysts could assess the new type of sexual orientation contrast that exist, and the reasons of why these types of distinction exist. As indicated by the Rapleaf study, it is certain that youngsters ordinarily invest a greater amount of their energy in PCs and have a lot of available time. Be that as it may, there are numerous rivalries for drawing considerations from them, particularly from the internet games like Legend and first individual activity games. It is clear that, a greater part of these men who like playing such on the web or PC games, typically will in general play other easygoing games like betting. Albeit a large portion of betting games are prohibited by these informal communities, the dominant part men would will in general look for replacement game which permit them to play and wager at same time. This is a factor that makes youngsters keep off the communication with the online networking. As opposed to a similar age gathering, ladies bunch are really a major supporters of the easygoing games, just as the internet based life systems. Another reality is that, a greater part of these young ladies really spend huge occasions when they putting forth attempts towards improving their profiles on the informal community sites㠢㠢‚⠬㠢„â ¢ pages. This investigation brings up that albeit youngsters want to member in these games, they normally will in general deny themselves to invest an excessive amount of energy in the games and feel they have the duty to going out and have public activity in the reality. These nautically self-control originate from their social philosophy which can possibly shape their way of life and practices. It is likewise important that, at whatever point these men get hitched, they connect essentially less incentive to these person to person communication destinations, while ladies despite everything keep utilizing these locales as a piece of their day by day life where they could impart their snapshot of life to other people. It very well may be closed as men really will in general view things in a more value-based way when contrasted with ladies. (Hoffman 2008) That is the reaso

Marketing Essays Customer Product Needs

Advertising Essays Customer Product Needs Client Product Needs Advertising is the way toward distinguishing client needs and afterward acquainting an item agreeing with those requirements. Advertisers present items in the market with the goal that we can expend ordinary. At the point when we purchase an item we pay for promoting each time. Promoting goes about as a significant job in our every day lives. Promoting is essentially fulfilling client needs which increment the personal satisfaction and better way of life. There are two principle parties associated with showcasing purchasers and merchants. Promoting incorporates the exercises of an organization related with purchasing and selling an item or administration. So as to sell the items advertisers attempt to advance their items by various sorts of medium. The most well known sort is bulletins and signs. The web has been the most least demanding and compelling method of elevating items to the clients. Magazines, T.V, Radio and papers are different methods of presenting items. Advertising is tied in with offering, conveying items to buyers, advancement of new items to draw in clients. There are numerous meanings of advertising. One of the incredible administration scholars Peter Drucker said something which goes about as a decent token of the estimation of good showcasing: The point of showcasing is to know and comprehend the client so well; the item or administration fits him and sells itself. †Peter Drucker http://www.powerpr.com/newsletter.html Showcasing Communication: Showcasing correspondence is partitioned into 4 highlights: Promoting: Promoting is transmitting data to the clients by different sorts of media by paying whole measure of cash. It is fundamentally to pull in the clients to purchase the items. All together words publicizing is an exposure to impact the individuals to buy the particular item. Promoting media incorporates T.V, paper, film, radio, banners, boards and web. It advances the items and attempts to persuade the buyers to purchase an item by pressure that it is more attractive for them than others. Publicizing should be possible by the associations, ventures just as by people. Promoting can likewise be utilized consolidating with other advertising correspondences. The measure of promoting in UK can be perceived through banners, bulletins and T.V. It has been evaluated that the beverages business spends over  £200 million on publicizing and that somewhere in the range of 1 and 2 level of national pay is spent on promoting in United Kingdom. http://www.answers.com/theme/advertising?cat=biz-balance Deals advancement: Deals advancements are the phenomenal proposals to convince the clients to purchase merchandise and enterprises. Typically to increment in the deals of an association for the brief time frame and here and there to sold out the old stock. These are the secrets to trap the client for the specific item. There are assortments of deals advancements strategies to that a business can use to make items engaging. A portion of the strategies are as under: Rebate vouchers: Clients been sent the coupons, or they themselves remove from the magazines and papers which empowers them to get the specific item in low cost by indicating the coupon. Rivalries: In some cases when a client buy an item, permits them to enter the attract to win a prize (for example money, vehicles, gadgets, air tickets and so on.) Unconditional presents: Now and again when the item is purchased by the clients they get another item free with it or now and then various prizes in a split second. Dependability cards: These are those cards which permit the clients to acquire focuses on the cards when they purchase items, later on which can be recovered as money or merchandise. (for example Tesco club card, nectar and so forth.) Reliability cards have become the most significant splendid type of deals advancement. http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_promotion_sales.htm Advertising: Open connection doesn’t manage the item and administrations. It basically bargains in making great relations between workers or clients. The essential capacity is to have the trust of open comprehension. Instances of advertising are laborer arrangement, backing of altruistic occasions and so forth. In this kind of promoting correspondence the association focused on the expansion in deals by improving the picture of the organization and item. http://www.learnthat.com/characterize/view.asp?id=52 Direct advertising: Pass on of publicizing message legitimately to the buyer on singular premise through a medium. The primary contrast between direct showcasing and other sort of advancement is that you have close connection with the requirements of the client and prevail with regards to conveying a message. http://www.investorwords.com/1447/direct_marketing.html Incorporated Marketing Communication: The administration of the association is arranged so that all the element of promoting correspondence cooperate rather then permits them to work independently. As referenced above showcasing correspondence incorporates deals advancement, publicizing, direct advertising and advertising. Incorporated advertising correspondence smart thought for making business more benefit. All the promoting correspondence offices cooperate for the improvement and beneficially of an association. They organization utilize just one methodology towards everything. Incorporated Marketing Communication is more than the administration of a companys active message between various media and the unwavering quality of the message all through. It is a ruinous showcasing plan that catches and uses a huge measure of client data in setting and following promoting system. It very well may be likewise characterizes as a comprehensive way to deal with advance purchasing and selling of computerized economy. An administration idea which is principally intended to make all parts of showcasing correspondence, for example, publicizing, deals advancement, advertising, and direct promoting cooperate as a joined power, as opposed to permitting each to work in remoteness. Practically speaking, the objective of Integrated Marketing Communication is to make a solitary appearance or message in all basics of a promoting effort. An effective incorporated promoting correspondence plan ought to be redo what is required by the customer dependent on schedule, spending plan and assets to arrive at the objective or objectives. Independent venture can begin a coordinated advertising correspondence plan on a little spending plan by making a site, email and SEO. An enormous business association can begin a coordinated correspondence plan on a bigger spending plan than a little association. They can utilize things like print, mail request radio, TV in addition to numerous other online promotion battles. The p rimary focus on the end is to sell their item. Television is utilized so as to get the age mindful of the item where as Prints are utilized to instruct the general population and Radio is likewise used to keep the message conveyed on the highest point of the psyche. There are 3 Ps which one needs to recall in incorporated promoting correspondence which are the first is for item. This implies generally speaking everything is accomplished for the clients. What are shopper prerequisites and what they want? The products they are searching for and what are the advantages in requests, and what are the unfulfilled requests. The subsequent P is the cost. One needs to take a gander at the cost which the clients are searching for. What is their view of the expense of the products and what amount are they ready to pay and ready to spend. The third P is for the spot or appropriation. This implies where to sell their merchandise, and which is the most ideal spot to advance you emotionally. David Ogilvy thinks IMC implies giving â€Å"one stop shopping†, setting up your office to convey all the capacities a customer should purchase, and figuring out how to oversee them together. Possibly this is a tail. David further said that IMC might be the way to escaping from the illness of discussing imagination constantly and returning to concentrate on deals. This is at any rate leg. Coordinated Marketing Communication can likewise be called as joining of every limited time instrument. The entirety of the specialized devices work better on the off chance that they cooperate in understanding as opposed to working independently. While various offices, for example, deals, standard mail and promoting can help each other through Data Integration. This requires a promoting data framework which gathers and offers significant information across various divisions. Promoting and interchanges destinations must help the more elevated level corporate targets and corporate missions. http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingglossary/g/imcdef.htm Showcasing interchanges involves five general classes: Individual selling, publicizing, advertising, direct showcasing and deals advancements. Every ha its own arrangement of advantages and disadvantages and can be practiced in an assortment of ways. In any case, the key is to take a gander at the accessible choices in an exhaustive manner and to guarantee consistency all through the chose media. The determination of specialized strategies is dependent upon an assortment of variables. The variables that impact the choice and adequacy of a limited time blend include: †¢ Nature of the market (advertise size, geographic degree, sort of client, and so forth.) †¢ Nature of the item (unpredictability of the item, administration necessities, and so forth.) †¢ Stage in the item life-cycle (prior versus later phases of the existence cycle) †¢ Price (high versus low unit cost) †¢ Funds accessible for advancement This financing point is applicable to all organizations. Planning is a basic capacity of the IMC procedure. The accompanying things sway the spending conclusions: †¢ Percentage-of-deals strategy (a predetermined level of either past or anticipated deals) †¢ Fixed-whole per-unit technique (foreordained dollar sum for every unit sold or created) †¢ Meeting rivalry strategy (coordinate competitor’s limited time costs) †¢ Task-target strategy (sum and kind of special spending expected to accomplish limited time Objectives) Preferences of Integrated Marketing Communication: The key advanta

The Fringe that Stole Christmas

The Fringe that Stole Christmas For the last few months, Ive gone round campus compiling hair stories from anyone willing to share them. Cheers to everyone who collaborated to make this post a reality- hair’s to you! (ha, ha) Chris Peterson 13 As you can tell from my avatar, I had hair when I started this job! It was always fine, but not thin, and very blonde and soft, often compared to a baby duck. Here I am on my first day of school some day in middle school. Most of the time, my mom would take me to Supercuts or whatever. In the summers I’d get a buzzcut to stay cool, and my baseball coach would rub my head and call me “chemo kid” because it looked like I was bald. Everyone laughed at the time…I guess the 90s were different. As I got older my hair got darker and curlier (especially because I never bothered to comb it). But it felt sort of goofy and unruly and fit with my general comportment. Here’s a picture of me from my first year at MIT, at some event being accosted by brutally geeky middle school boys on campus for a UROV competition in June of 2010. At this time, I started going to the barber in the basement of the MIT student center, who would buzz me down to a 2 or 3 and then I’d just let it grow back. A few years later, I briefly left MIT Admissions to go to grad school. I started gaining weight, which was kind of obvious, but what was less clear to me was that my hair was also thinning in the back. I didn’t notice until I went to Puerto Rico to surf on spring break after handing in a copy of my master’s thesis. The first day I was there. I sunburned through my hair so bad I got blisters. That had never happened before and there was no obvious way to fix it. I went for a consult at a hair doctor and they told me there was nothing they could do for me that wasn’t likely to be both expensive and ineffective. So I was just fat and bald and burned and it sucked. It was a time in my life when I felt like there wasn’t a lot I could control, personally and professionally, so I decided to do what I could on both health and hair. On the health front, I started eating better and exercising; on the hair front, I bought a Wahl beard trimmer and started buzzing my own head no-guard, and eventually started shaving it in the summers. It was easier to put on sunscreen, to be sure, but it also felt like me taking a decision instead of letting my hair do it for me. Here’s a photo of me at nerd camp, with one of my nerd campers, 5 years apart, one in 2011 and one in 2016. So nowadays, mostly my relationship with my hair is a relationship with its absence, which is by choice and the product of me trying to do some kind of agency. I used to miss my hair, but not so much anymore, except I never got the chance to dye it, so I had to get tattoos instead. Plus, it’s super easy to clean, because I just run my scrubby over my head and it’s fine. That’s my hair story! Abigail Bancks 22 To quote Cat from Victorious: My hair color has nothing* to do with my psychological problems! *+/- e I had a lot of things beyond my control happen in my first 6 months at MIT and had to figure out some new coping mechanisms to handle them. Turns out, bleaching and dyeing my hair is one. First was PBJ. (hair 1) The day that I moved into EC after Interphase, I had a friend dye the underside of my then-brown hair purple. That, combined with my deep and profound love for peanut butter, led to me being nicknamed after a sandwich for several weeks. Then it faded, I bleached over it, and I waited until the time was right to do something else to it. That time was about three weeks ago. Finals were Almost Upon Us and I decided that my hair needed a new look, so I pulled out my trusty Wella bleach and 30 vol developer. Two rounds of bleach later, my hair was this incredibly light, almost-white color that I could make even the most pastel colors pop on. Awesome, right? Well, almost. Remember the bleached underside? I was very careful during the first application of bleach to not touch the lightened section, but I got ahead of myself the second time and completely forgot. As I showered out the second round of bleach, my hair fell out in sad, tangled, brittle white clumps. Panic ensued as I combed out what appeared to be half of my hair. At this point I was laughing maniacally, because really, what were the odds that everything could be going so terribly at once? Ok, I thought, I still have some hair, so why not tone it? I sought out purple shampoo, but there was none to be found, so I settled on purple dye from a friend that was reputed to be a very light pastel color. Half an hour later, my hair was a very vibrant not-pastel electric purple. (hair 2) I lived like that for another week until I realized that the rapidly fading purple only emphasized how broken and sad my hair (and the entirety of my pre-finals being) was. In another fit of finals-induced anxiety, I had a friend trim the broken ends of my hair and applied an ungodly amount of Splat Midnight Indigo. Im still washing it out two weeks later, but damn, its vibrant. (hair 3) I didnt have the greatest first semester here, but I did learn that lifes way too short and unexpectedly terrible to not try weird, fun, sometimes ill-conceived ideasespecially in college, when no one will judge you for looking like a TARDIS just exploded on your head and ripped out half your hair. Im glad that I figured that out early, when I still have ~3.5 years to try more dumb things, like writing about my hair instead of studying for the final I have tomorrow morning. Michael Snively 11 Cut: #3 up the sides and back and finger length on top. Routine: Wake up, ignore hair, go to bed. Rachel Fong ’12 Rachel made a comprehensive guide to dyeing hair, and went right down to the roots (ha, ha) of the process, breaking it down to how it works, and how to do it to get the exact result you’d like in three steps: bleaching, dyeing and aftercare. Her article goes by the catchy name How to dye your hair like an Engineer. I read through and was so mesmerized by all the chemistry that goes into it that I nearly took the plunge and dyed my hair purple… Michael Yang 05 When I was an undergrad, I wanted to dye my hair dark blue, so we bleached it as much as I could tolerate waiting (which was only until my hair was a brownish-blonde) and then added the dark blue dye. It looked good for about 2 days, after which the blue with the yellow became green, and I had (unintended) green hair for a month. It looked like I had moldy hair. That was the one and only time I dyed it. Ethan Munden 20 I’ve cut my own hair on and off throughout college. I’m not super nit picky about the way it looks so if I spend money to get it cut I just go to technicuts in the students center. But cutting it myself is really nice because I have more control over the way it looks and it’s convenient because I can cut it whenever I have time. It also saves me like $20 a month which is nice. The only bad part is that cutting it by myself can be kinda tough sometimes because 1)I don’t have any formal experience so I really just wing it lol and 2)It’s hard to cut the back of my hair because I need two mirrors or else I use my phone camera and a mirror. There have been times where I just go for it though and check how it looks after and fix up whatever looks weird. But I mean I never see the back of my hair so I don’t think it matters too much. Overall though I do like cutting my own hair because it’s fun and for my basic hair style (short on the sides and long on top) it’s not too challenging And if I mess anything up I can just shave it all off! (Which I have done before lmao) Selam Gano 18 My hair type is 3B (according to the naturally curly hair quiz, which I highly recommend: https://www.naturallycurly.com/quiz). Many people have multiple hair types on their head, so Id say mine has kinda both 3B and 3C curls. My hair is medium-porosity, which is to say, it fairly easily accepts moisture and can keep it in for a couple days before I need to thoroughly condition my hair again. Low porosity hair typically has a tighter cuticle, and tends to be difficult to moisturizesome people find that conditioner only penetrates their hair strands with the aid of heat, such as shower steam, or they might use a heated conditioning cap. My hair strands are also relatively thick, and my hair is quite dark in colormany people, when you look closely, have more visibly brown hair rather than almost-black. I think this comes from the Asian side of my family lol. My routine uses almost exclusively TGIN (Thank God It’s Natural) products (though Im in China right now, and so Ive kinda just been using whatever I can find if I run out of something) Normal day: lightly wet hair throughout with spray bottle or fingers apply TGIN Green Tea Super Moist Leave-In Conditioner do some mild finger-detangling (sometimes) apply hair oil, I usually use argan oil from ogx My hair and my scalp (and my skin in general) is typically dry, so I wash my hair about every 3 days, and I shampoo maybe once a week. I also deep condition my hair Wash day: (if a shampoo day) shampoo using TGIN moisture rich sulfate-free shampoo Condition with TGIN Triple Moisture Replenishing Conditioner Thoroughly finger-detangle deep-condition with TGIN Honey Miracle Hair Mask for 3-5 minutes/rest of shower (it should probably be longer but I am lazy). I rinse out maybe half the conditioner and leave the rest of the product in. T-shirt drywhich is where I wrap my hair in a T-shirt and just let the T-shirt absorb the water for a while. Apply leave-in and hair oil if needed Extras: If you have dandruff or a particularly itchy/dry scalp, I’d look into scalp scalers and scalp oils. A scalp scaler is really just a chemical exfoliator (your scalp is just skin, after all), so I use the same one I use for my faceThe Ordinary 7% glycolic acid toner. Any AHA or BHA  (alpha- or beta-hydroxy acid) should work fine. Aesop makes a fancy rinse-out scalp oil, you could probably use rosehip oil and be fine. Tips: I always finger detangle my hair. I rarely use a comb now. I dont know where in the Culture Norms brushing your hair got linked to hygiene(?) but like, it’s just hair, for curly people especially, as long as all the knots you can feel are out, its fine. I occasionally will go through with a large-toothed comb to just really detangle everything, but I never use brushes or fine-toothed combs anymorefrizz and damage :P The important thing when drying your hair is to NEVER do that thing where you aggressively try and dry all the parts of your head by rubbing the towel all over the place (even if you have straight hair). Recipe for frizz and damage. Just wrap your hair and let the cloth absorb the water, its not the end of the world if its not completely dry (in my case that is greatly preferred actually). I typically use a T-shirt because the fibers aren’t as rough and it won’t catch on your curls, but if I’m lazy/traveling/clothes are scarce for some reason, a towel is fine too. I air-dry my hair after that, but if you want to use a blow-dryer I’d recommend using a diffuser, with low heat. This is already too long so here’s my hair (and face): And finally (shameless plug) here is an introspective blog post I wrote on Medium about hair. Me I have 4C hair- the kinky, coily type with about two hundred different curl patterns. It sometimes makes me want to curl up and dye (ha, ha). After years of suffering from heat damage and hair strands weakened by strained braids, I trimmed my hair, ditched heat treatment totally and decided to take a break from braids. Braiding is also really expensive in the greater Boston area. I wash and deep condition my hair weekly then set it in twists, hold it up with bobby pins and hope for the best. I have been known to experiment with bananas, rice water, avocados and eggs in the name of organic hair treatments. Dealing with my hair is exciting and expensive and it takes tons of patience and tender loving care, but with lots of olive oil readily available in my hall’s kitchen and Cantu hair cream, it’s way easier than I thought it would be. I’m not a fan of wigs and weaves, probably because my mother cant stand having weaves in her hair either, and I’m turning out to be a lot like her in many ways. I also challenge myself to find ways to deal with my natural hair instead of hiding it away because at the end of the day, that’s who I am- the kinky, tangled mane on my head that defies gravity growing upwards instead of downwards is a huge part of my identity, and its beautiful if nurtured well. These are two fantastic hair days I had this semester: Predictably, this post had to come to a rather split end- have a hairy Christmas and a nappy new year!