"No, you look too ethnic"

When I first thought of transitioning I wanted to simply do braids for a few months.
My dad told me naw, that'd look too "ethnic".

In my job "ethnic" is NOT good!

My mentor, when I first started, told me how she had to change her hair to fit in. For some reason curls seemed to be the best bet.

When I got into real estate I was still in high school, and hadn’t found "myself".  So when we had the conversation about hair my hair was like this:

(I'm a Rihanna head, so I copied her a few times.)

Along with my wardrobe, I didn’t scream professional at all!!

So up until now, my hair has been in a most short cut in various styles.

I had not done micro braids in a LONG time and now that I have them I see myself looking younger and less professional.


The other day I put on simple brass colored hoop earrings and my younger sister told me "No, you look too ethnic". Which translates to hood rat, to be honest.

So now I'm finding it harder to DRESS MY HAIR up.

(I know this is something I will have to do with my natural hair; I just didn’t expect it with braids).

Lately, I’ve been wearing more blazers and overcoats/ for some reason I think this helps my look out, lol.

Here are a few shots.

(I just love how this pic got messed up around me).

I struggled for a long time with not being able to dress the way I want, and looking too old. I felt like I was losing all my good styling years (lol). Having my hair permed gave me the ability to still dress cute without looking too young.

*Anyhow I wore this outfit with braids I think it’d appear that I was a younger girl wearing my mom’s clothes.

This just happens to be the name of the game that I chose to play.

I’m currently straddling the line of “ethnic”, and work appropriate.

No matter what people say, your appearance is a huge deal. I know this first hand.


I don’t think there is ANYTHING wrong with looking ethnic, but do I think other people do?? HECK YES!

Here’s my personal reference, Toni from Girlfriends ;)

-Toni Montana