As I watched an episode of “Grownish” on demand, Chloé x Halle’s characters were in need of making extra income. One of the girls came into the scene with a band-aid on her eyebrow, when asked what happened she mentioned she tried to wax her own eyebrows and made a huge mistake. After I saw this scene I was reminded how I had my eyebrows and skin ripped off my face from my first college roommate. You may be asking yourself how that would even happen, so let me tell you.

Being 17 and in college at the time, I had very little money, even from my mailroom job at the school. My roommate told me she use to do hair and she knew how to wax from a salon she worked at back in her home state. I had/have thick eyebrows, so needing to maintain them was a must and I let her do it. Feeling how extremely hot the wax was, she assured me it’s normal and don’t worry. She rips off the paper with my skin and eyebrow hairs attached to it. She did the same to the other eyebrow as well. After I was allowed to look in the mirror I screamed bloody murder and ran out. The next day I had a new hairdo...bangs. Between raw skin on the top and bottom of both eyebrows (or what was left of them), the bangs were a must. I also had burn marks because my friend, Greg, decided to torture me and apply alcohol to the ripped skin. Therefore, I channeled my inner Tootie and rocked those bangs like my skin wasn’t missing underneath.

Minimum wage should have been increased back then. If I made more than $6 an hour in that mailroom, I would have been able to go to a professional and my eyebrows would still grow in certain areas. I beg of you to never ever let a friend do your hair or eyebrows unless you can see pictures of their work. Granted who would do that nowadays since we live in “social media la la land”, but you’d be surprised what desperation and eyebrows that grow like wildfire will make you do.

I didn’t have the whole haircut, but I cut some thick bangs like her. Only difference is mine covered where my eyebrows were. Thanks Tootie, for the inspiration.

My close friend Shivaughn, is one of the most real, sarcastic, funny and insightful people I know. She moved to LA and recently became a mother to a gorgeous baby girl with her fiancé. Even after motherhood, she’s still fiery and up for challenges, just more protective of her space. We’ve had some hilarious and also scary adventures together and for some reason, those scary adventures revolved around being in a car.

Years ago Shivaughn, my other friend Weeza and I shared a cab ride home from a late night out. At the time we all lived in Brooklyn and luckily a cab picked us up in the rain. As we were driving over a bridge, we asked the driver to make 3 stops for each of us, since we all lived in close proximity. The driver said he would only make two stops, so we had to figure out the 2. I tried to reason with the driver and have him understand that it’s late and pouring rain, so we should each be dropped to our homes. Not caring he said no. That’s when Shivaughn jumped in and argued the driver down to the bone. She told him it was illegal to not drop us off since we were already in the car and I’m sure tons of explicit words were thrown around too. Once again the driver did not care and he argued back and forth with her and threatened to throw us out of the cab on the bridge. He even stopped the cab a couple times on the bridge and literally was going to kick us out. Weeza, not knowing what to say, kept quiet. I spoke to the driver again and asked him to not kick us out, at this point he was putting us all in danger. Finally, we reached destination #1, which was my house. I think told Shivaughn to get out and she could stay with me or catch a cab from my house, we lived closest to each other. Of course, she refused and told the driver to take her home. Weeza, unfortunately, was the one who had to take another cab home from Shivaughn’s stop. It felt like that was a nightmare, poor Weeza.

Although the cab driver was a bastard and that was a crazy night, Shivaughn stuck up for what she felt was wrong. Her method may have been extreme, but she has always remained unapologetically herself. Fast forward to current day and she is much calmer now that reflects her maturity and the different stage she is in her life, but at the core she is "The Shiv". She’s always willing to put herself out there no matter the response, extremely encouraging and supportive, but will "Knuck if you Buck" ( early 2000's Crime Mob song reference) if she feels herself or those around her are being disrespected. I admire her for her strength and tenacity, I’m working on adhering those things within myself. So thank you Shiv, for giving me an example of courage, of how to evolve from past situations and being the yang to my yin.

A throwback photo of us.