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“I naturally wake up early. I fill up a big glass of water and update myself on the latest from my favorite magazines: InStyle, Harper’s Bazar, Lou Lou, which is a Canadian shopping mag, Lucky and RedBook. After about an hour of that, I workout for 45 minutes on the treadmill. After my workout, Theo, my husband, is usually awake. He asks me what I want for breakfast and proceeds to cook for us both while I have a quick shower. Theo always cooks and he’s awesome at it. And since he cooks, I eat whatever he wants to make. I’m not picky, I’m just thankful I don’t have to. I eat breakfast with my husband every morning. I have always carved out time in the morning to spend with my guy.

At night, I usually sleep in some creation I’ve whipped together, my tropical caftan or any of my Tiny Closet Tees that I’ve made to be longer on me for bed. I try not to wear frumpy things and not because I don’t sleep alone but that’s always been the case even before I was married. I’m vain; I like to wake up feeling pretty. For a stint, I even tried to wear pearls to bed. I say whatever feels comfortable to you and still makes you feel like a natural woman, wear that to bed.

Mornings very much impact the rest of my day. I think a great, fulfilling morning can really influence and motivate me to have a great day. I mean, it’s the beginning of the day – a blank slate laid out before you to go and do and get closer to your dreams! Ever since I moved to Los Angeles, I’ve been a total morning person. For someone like myself who is trying to start a business, every day is a new day and I work hard so I love to spend the first few hours of my day in the best and happiest way. Theo definitely has a lot to do with that. I think my professional needs and my personal needs align in the morning. I need to feel good and happy before I get into the nitty gritty details of what my day entails. He sips his coffee and reads articles. I’m doing my hair 10 feet away and we just talk and enjoy one another’s company.

At bed time, I don’t wear a scarf because it’s uncomfortable. I sweat tremendously if my head is covered so the few times I’ve worn a scarf, I’ve woken with damp, frizzy, horrible hair. Now that’s not always the case but it has happened enough that I chose to give up a night scarf long ago. The main reason for a scarf is to protect and maintain the quality of your hair or to protect or maintain the style. Well, I’ve done wash and go’s everyday for the past four years so there’s nothing to really maintain. I wash my hair every day and condition the heck out of it. If I’m wetting and conditioning my hair every morning, there’s nothing to ‘protect’ really. If my hair absolutely needed to be wrapped, I’d muster up the patience to do it. But it’s fine without it so I don’t. Even though I’m not currently rocking wash and go’s anymore, I still don’t wrap my hair. I’m just not interested in doing it. I’m fine doing my hair every morning so that I can feel cuter and more comfortable in bed.

My husband loves my hair always, regardless of morning or evening. He believes my hair can do no wrong. When it’s huge in the morning, he loves it. Sometimes he lays his head on it like a pillow. I feel sexier with my hair out than tied up in a scarf. I mean the scarf has always symbolized to me housework, labor, cleaning and things like errands. Look at the 50s. Women only wore their hair out when they were going out socially. The rest of the time it was in wraps, rollers, nets. Scarves and head wraps weren’t meant to be sexy. They were meant to keep your hair maintained while did chores. That’s what I grew up seeing so wearing my hair down makes me feel glamorous and sexy. Even if it’s messy.

I assume women who regularly wear their natural hair in a scarf all day while they are lounging at home either don’t like doing their hair all the time and a scarf allows their hair to look nice with minimal fuss when they go out – or I think maybe they don’t like their hair. Perhaps the length is hard to work with or they’re transitioning or they just don’t know what to do with it. If it’s the latter reasons, I say take off the scarf and work with it! You don’t see Victoria’s Secret models strutting down the runway in hair wraps, that’s for sure. And men love hair. They love seeing how it dresses your face, they love it out. I believe women need to love their hair and wear it down sometimes because it’s part of our allure [whether you are single or not]. I suppose I’m very traditional that way. But also, I don’t think it is healthy to wear scarves all day every day. You need to let your scalp breath and aerate, you know? Natural hair is a wondrous, mysterious, sexy, natural thing. I know that. ” – Natalie

See Part 1: Natalie Live, Designer

Find Natalie on her?blog?and?Instagram.

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