more woman... means more beauty!

Photos By: Alfred Espin

I've always been criticized for having such a broad idea of beauty. But I honestly believe there is beauty in everything in life. When I started putting together my hair portfolio (same time as when i started this blog), I decided that there wasn't gonna be any exceptions to this. I wanted to use everybody I loved.

I went on with my plans and shared it to a few friends who were in the fashion industry. I was horrified by their responses (but I shouldn't have been surprised). They all told me that I MUST be selective with my models. If I wanted to get hired for a gig, I had to find girls who weren't "girls from around the way." My book must have as much "white" models as possible. "You only get one chance, and you must be fierce in this delivery," I was told. It honestly shook me up. I started feeling insecure and fed into it for a minute and almost completely gave in... Until I was awaken by Tanisha.

I see her almost everyday. And everyday I always think to myself how gorgeous and sweet she is. She has such a presence and exudes so much beauty through her smile and laughter. And not to mention, that she dresses for the GODS!!! We were talking one day about finding beautiful and flattering clothes in bigger sizes was such the task. At that moment, something finally clicked in my head. I decided that had to have her in my book!

We are constantly bombarded by images and fed ideas of what beauty is "suppose" to be. We live with false perceptions and kill ourselves to achieve being "beautiful." Life is beautiful, and we all posses it. In response to the person who told me that I needed to be fierce in my delivery; being fierce to me, was never bound by color, size, or height. As my girls and I would say, "it's how you serve it to the masses honey!" And sweety, Tanisha always GIVES it to the girls!

The Wig:

Its a custom wig. We fitted a wig cap on Tanisha. And made the actual wig on her. The reason why I did this, was so that it would sit properly on her head. I started gluing the hair on by the nape of her neck. And you just keep stacking strips of hair right on top of each other. Refer to my second posting on the step-by-step process.