If You Don't Use Hashtags Read This

I think I've been using hashtags for at least three years. I used to think
hashtags were dumb and made no sense, but I was wrong.

I did a mini experiment and this is how it went...At 12:30 pm I put a
photo on Instagram with no hashtags, and by 3:45pm I only had five
likes. I added hashtags to the same post at 4:00pm and two hours later
I had 18 likes and three followers.

For anyone who doesn't understand hashtags, I'll break it down for you.
Let's pretend that you post a photo of vanilla ice cream with a plastic
red spoon in a wooden bowl covered in colorful sprinkles, and it's in
the summer. Here are some hashtag ideas:

#vanilla #icecream #colorful #red #sweet #cold #sprinkles #spoon
#dessert #wooden #bowl #creamy #summer #food #plastic #utensil

If you still don't want to use hashtags it's your choice, but they can
greatly improve your chances of a post being seen online.

Racism

I recently encountered two episodes of racism. They were subtle, but still
disturbing.

The first incident occurred while I was in a fitting room. There was a man
with his wife and young son and I noticed the man kept looking at me oddly.
I thought maybe we knew each other or something, but that wasn't the case.
A few minutes later they all went in a fitting room together, and I kept hear-
ing their son say "White power! White power! White power!" over and over
again. Not one of his parents told him to be quiet or stop. Their little boy
looked about four years old, and it's sad that he has been taught to hate. I
hope one day he will grow up and realize that hating someone because of
their color is wrong.

The second incident happened when my sister, mother, and I went into a
small store to shop, and we were totally ignored by the two women who
worked there. Not too long after we walked in, two Caucasian ladies en-
tered the store, and one of the associates said,"Hi, if you need anything
just let me know." About five minutes later, two more non-colored women
came in and the associate said 'hi' to them too. My mom, sister, and I con-
tinued to walk around the store for about ten more minutes. At one point,
we were about a foot away from the workers, and we still didn't get a 'hi',
or even eye contact. Although we were going to buy some stuff we decid-
ed not to, because those racist women didn't deserve our business.


Racial Hate

If you're a racist you're hurting yourself.
You're taking a toll on your very own health.
Your hate will eat you up inside.
It will make you weak.
It will make you want to die.
Hate should be eliminated.
One day you'll realize...
Hate is overrated.

8 Actions That Can Make You Unlikable

It's hard to believe, but some people have no idea how they appear to
others. For this reason, I've created a list for those people who don't
realize or don't understand how they may be making themselves unlikable.


8 Actions That Can Make You Unlikable

1. Being rude to people in service industries: waiters, retail associates,
cashiers, flight attendants, etc.

2. Always asking people to loan you money

3. Constantly bragging about what you have

4. Not being trustworthy

5. Creating drama all the time

6. Not saying 'please' and 'thank you'

7. Frequently being late

8. Putting people down

5 Examples of Useless Instagram Followers

I've been on social media for awhile, and Instagram has some of the least
loyal followers. People will follow you there a lot quicker than other forms
of social media, but they will also unfollow you almost as fast. I'm still try-
ing to figure out this Instagram game. When people follow me I expect some
of them to disappear, but the numbers are so dramatic on Instagram. I like
the beauty and the visual component of Instagram, but let's be honest...
A lot of people on Instagram are just fake. About a year ago, I wrote about
the four types of social media followers: Genuine, Snobby, Greedy, and
Casual...but on Instagram, some of these followers take following to a
whole new level.

5 Examples of Useless Instagram Followers

1. Fake Fan Followers: People who like a lot of your photos hoping
    you'll follow them, but when you don't, they follow you and after you
    follow them they unfollow you.

2. Promotional Followers: People who follow you so they can expose
    you to their product, and after you follow them they unfollow you.

3. DM Followers: People who follow you only so they can direct
    message you to try to get you to buy something from them, and then
    they unfollow you.

4. Stalk Followers: People who unfollowed you, but when you post a new
    photo they like it or comment, even though they don't follow your account
    anymore.

5. The Follow/Unfollow Followers: People who follow you, they unfollow
    you, and then they follow you again.

Uncombable Hair Syndrome

A couple weeks ago, I read an article about a white girl who has uncombable
hair syndrome. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. At adolescence a lot of
children outgrow their uncombable hair syndrome, but I can tell you as a
black person it never leaves.

I still can't believe that this kind of hair in non-blacks is considered a
syndrome. My hair has been uncombable since I can remember. When I
was a young child, I had my hair pressed, so it would be straight, and that
made it easy to comb. The only drawback (aside from having a hot comb
being pulled through my hair) was as soon as my hair got wet it was uncomb-
able again. When I was 11, I got a Jerry Curl. The Jerry Curl required hours
of my time. At first I had to have my hair shampooed. Then it was chemically
straightened, rinsed, rolled on perm rods, drenched in processing lotion, rinsed
again with the rollers in, and rinsed without the rollers. And then I had to spray
curl activator on my hair every day. After awhile, my hair was so over proc-
essed from the Jerry Curl that it looked lifeless. A couple years later I got a
relaxer, and it straightens the new growth only, but when it was put over my
Jerry Curl most of my hair fell out. After my hair grew back, I continued to get
relaxers, but I don't like those either. Sodium Hydroxide, the main ingredient
in most relaxers, is also the main ingredient in drain cleaner. That doesn't
sound safe does it? I've been getting relaxers for years, but I don't want to get
those anymore.

I was never taught to love the hair I was born with, but now I'm going to find
out what it's like to love my hair without pressing it or using chemicals to
straighten it.