New York Yankees everyday catcher Russell Martin has proven to be an asset for the team since joining in 2011.  Even without a consistent power batting average Martin delivers when it counts, especially on the defensive end.  Born to a Black Canadian father and French Canadian mother, Martin was born in Quebec and lived there for years until moving with his family to Paris.

Before settling with the Yankees, Martin spent years in the minor leagues for the LA Dodgers until being called up in 2006.  The accolades followed, with Martin earning a Silver Slugger and Golden Glove for his 2007 season. Not to mention, he is the first ever Canadian born catcher to start the All-Star Game. Not to bad, eh?  Oh and let’s not forget Martin’s grand slam that helped the Yanks make an MLB record on August 25, 2011. Ahhh, memories.

But baseball isn’t all that Martin has up his sleeves.  He’s also a big fan of mixed martial arts and apparently adopts some of the training techniques to keep in shape for the chase for 28 (fingers crossed).  He’s also an avid supporter of the One Drop Foundation which aims to help every person in the world have access to clean water.  Why wouldn’t you want this guy on your team?!

Today, he sports a pretty cropped do’ due to the stringent Yankees code of grooming, but I’m still a fan of both his hair (he’s also libel to sport a goatee every now and then) and style of play.  To keep up with one of my favorite Yankees, check him out on Twitter @Russellmartin55.  Just keep in mind you’ll get the occasional French tweet.   I just wonder, what would he look like with a fro?

P.S. I always wondered what I looked like shaking about and its pretty awkward to watch someone do it LOL

“I’m very blessed to have two passions. One of them is fitness and one of them is Dreadsock.”

Talking with other naturals out there, I always find it interesting (and surprising) how hair can lead us to connect to one another on much deeper levels. This past week I was fortunate enough to carve out some time to chat with Julian Burke, founder of Dreadsock, to discuss the development of his company and his journey to growing and accepting his hair. He shared with me the process of founding his own company and how locking his hair helped me reconnect with his roots and to a deeper connection to his heritage and spirituality. We had a chance to touch on the whole “good hair” vs. “bad hair” debate and really connected on growing up in racially mixed households and largely White school environments.

MANE MAN: Hi Julian, I’m glad we were able to sit down and talk! When I initially heard about Dreadsock I was very curious about what made you get started. It’s not common for a guy to be spearheading a hair related product, so I was very curious about what got you there.

Julian Burke: Well, it was never about anything more than my dreads. I always wanted to grow locs for years and I never did. I put it off. When you decide to lock you hair up, that’s it. You either have to shave it. Or that’s it. I kept putting it off, it just wasn’t the right time and there was this lady who actually helped me get started, I told her that I don’t ever want to lose a job because of my locks. I wanted to make sure that I kept them clean and I knew from the locks I had seen, there were some people who had bed lint in their locks or it was matted and I didn’t want that. I really wanted to keep them clean and I never wanted to have to change careers or professions because of my hair. So when she started them, she was from Jamaica via England, staying in my home town in West Virginia, and she said, “I can help you get them started.” So she got me started and Dreadsock was never meant to be anything other than something I could wear at night to cover up my locks without getting bed lint or any other debris in my hair. It was a simple concept and I always try to keep it simple. After a few years, people figured out ways to use it for more than just sleeping and I think that’s great.

MM: Yeah, I was thinking about your work as a personal trainer and just wondering if Dreadsock has been something that you’ve incorporated in your workouts and that sort of thing?

JB: Well, it has gone from just a covering to now where we have bandanas, headbands and stuff like that. People have also begun to wear it as a fashion statement, or a more fashionable product as opposed to just a sleep cover. The sock in and of itself isn’t the most beautiful thing to wear out, but that’s OK because it was designed to wear to sleep so it doesn’t have to look great. But the design of it and the material are amazing. I worked for years to find just the right material so that it wasn’t sliding off at night. There were versions that I tried that would slide off at night or leave that terrible ring on your forehead and I wanted it to be easy. I didn’t want to have to wrap it or tie it, so it really took years for me to really come up with or research the perfect product. Like I’ve always said, the simpler the concept, the more effective it is. Now, I’ve got so many ideas and now we’re going to make it a line of apparel. Whether that be knitted hats or Winter caps or baseball hats, I’ve got a lot of sketches and I lot of ideas of prototypes that we can get to the market.

MM: Very nice! And before you said, you first started locking in the late 90s, right? What was that like for you? Because I assume you always had short hair (before), is that right?

JB: Well I always had it short…my background is very diverse. My Dad is African American and my mother is Native American. She’s probably 95% Native American and a little European and has African American in her background as well. The thing was, I always had “nappy hair”, like I had kinky, coarse nappy hair and in high school I had a high top fade, then I had a real close shave cut and I wore a little tiny afro here and there, but I always knew that I wanted to lock my hair up. It wasn’t until like late high school or college when I started to listening to Bob Marley and I loved his words and his teachings and his spirituality and it kind of hit me. It put me more in contact with my ethnic, African American roots. You know, the hairstyle really goes way back. It’s different from what we know of locks, you know the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica…it’s more than that. Shamans of old cultures, (even) way back in biblical times and the wise men of tribes… they all locked their hair. It was more about getting in touch with a sense of spirituality and it just felt right. It just felt right for me. But, I had every style until I started to lock up. You know, I’m from a small state and the population isn’t very diverse and I’m from a very rural area. And locks, back in the day like the early 90s, you just didn’t see them. It took until like the NFL and entertainers and people like Bob Marley…the insurgance of NFL players wearing their hair or locks out of their helmet…I mean that was huge! Ricky Williams was the first one way back in the day. You know, I actually remember my parents saying, “You’re not growing locks in our house.”

MM: Wow…

JB: Yeah, and you’re also talking about an African American family, or a very diverse family, saying that I can’t wear a hairstyle because of the connotation…that negative connotation. So that became a fear of it. Once you start going through those transition phases where it doesn’t look right or if they (locks) don’t fall back or even if they don’t lock up at first it’s hard, but now it’s become more of a science. Now, salons and shops all over are locking hair…

MM: Right. But how did you stay with it given that you had that feedback around you? Even though you had that desire and inspiration, I think it can be hard for anyone to maintain when you get feedback like that.

JB: Absolutely, and that’s why it took me so long. Years before I actually took the steps or started the journey, I kept putting it off and putting it off. Like it wasn’t the right time…you know, I don’t know exactly what it was exactly Jor-El but something just hit me one time. It was a year in college when I was like, you know what? Now is the time to do it. I took some time off after my freshman year of college and came back and did some work around my home town and transferred back into a small school and I was like, you know what, I’m gonna jump into school full-time and I’m gonna get a job. I worked in a kitchen in a local bar and then I was in the kitchen making bar food. I put my hair under a hat and just let it grow. Later, I came home one weekend and that’s when I bumped into the lady who got me started. She was like, “You need my help!” [Both laugh] I was like, “Yes, I do need your help!” So I remember, for a long time, I would go home every weekend to get my hair corn rowed. Have you ever had your hair corn rowed?

MM: No, never have. [laughs]

JB: Well I know for me, and a lot of people, when you cornrow it (your hair) it makes it grow that much faster.

MM: That’s what I’ve heard!

JB: Yeah. I mean, the pressure on the root just makes your hair grow. And I mean, my hair started growing faster than it ever had. Then I got to this nice, full afro so I was like alright let’s do it! So she started them. She sectioned them off. She put them in double twists, twisted them together and then put rubber bands at the ends and the root and after a month of washing my hair…you see what happens is a lot of people use beeswax and all kinds of stuff to actually make their hair lock…[Right] she told me, “Just wash your hair…wash it, but don’t condition it.”

MM: Really?!

JB: Yeah, see what happens is, the shampoo is really hard on the hair and makes it really dry, so it will just knot up anyway. So if you put conditioner in it, it’s just going to soften it. [Right] So, I remember it took me like a month and I would cover them in hats and my hair just locked. Then from that point, I realized I needed something to cover them with and my Mom made my first one…yeah, she’s really good on a sewing machine.

MM: Aww, nice!

JB: We went to Joanne’s Fabrics, the local fabric shop and we made it. I designed it and she made it for me. And that was about 1998, I think, when she made the first one for me.

MM: Wow, that’s pretty cool!

JB: It is cool. Then I’d say, I need another one, I need another one and she would say, “You need to go ahead and just have a bunch of them made.” This is what’s interesting…Dreadsock started with me sitting down with a guy in the fitness profession and he wanted me to do some fitness videos and we needed a quick way to get some capital to get started. I was like, “Well I’ve got this idea, this concept that I think could probably get to market.” So I told him about it. And this is a White guy, he had no idea. He was just this typical 50-year-old White man who wanted to help me. So I helped him with his fitness goals and he helped me with the business. So when I told him (about Dreadsock), he was like, “That is an amazing idea!” And we ran with it. We got an S-corporation form and he helped me put a video together on the first website and from there it just grew. More and more people started growing locks and right around that time, in the early 2000s, NFL players were wearing dreads on the field. More entertainers were wearing them and more in the 2000s it started to become more a mainstream hairstyle and now it is. You see people all over wearing them.

MM: Yeah, for sure.

JB: I know a dentist who has locks. If you take care of them and keep them neat, and I don’t know if you have had the chance to look at the website or not, but the main thing was (we were) also trying to dispel the myth that the hairstyle is dirty and matted and that people don’t wash it. That kind of stuff. Then, it just took off from there. We started making money and I did it all by myself after this one guy did some work and I took it from there. You know, like the trademark stuff and getting the protection on the name and setting up our merchant account and selling in our online store. I was pretty much just paying for it with my personal training money. Then I met this one guy, and we got to the point where we needed more capital to take it to the next level, and this guy said, “I can get you some money.” So we got an investor and she has helped me now take it to the level where it is now. We’re going international, we’re selling thousands of units a month and it’s great.

MM: That’s really great. I think Dreadsock has really been successful in branding dreads as a very modern, and a stylish way to express yourself. I definitely think that is something you have accomplished and the website is great for that reason. One of the other things I was curious about, and I talk about this from time to time on MANE MAN, is how when I started growing out my hair a couple of years ago I was going through some changes. I was in a grad program for counseling and learning a lot about myself so I was going through that and being challenged and I made the decision to let my hair grow and I found that it really fit me. So it was something that I didn’t initially think I was going to have a deep connection to, but once it (my hair) started to grow, it felt like something special was happening.

JB: Isn’t that amazing?

MM: Yeah, and it sounds like you had a similar experience.

JB: Oh absolutely. Exactly. Once you get to the point where it’s growing out and you get past the awkward stage of any kind of hair style when you’re growing your hair out…there’s this energy to it. There’s like this energy that it brings along with you. Like, it’s amazing what it did for me spiritually. It put me on a path…you know, I know who I am and what I’m about and what I stand for. I don’t necessarily say that my hair defines me, but it’s more of who I am now. It’s part of my brand. It’s part of my personal brand. Yeah, so you’re absolutely right. It’s amazing how growing your hair out, especially being African American. You know my thing, especially with African American women, is the whole idea of pushing natural hair. You know, this product is good for women who want to get away from relaxers and all the chemicals whether that be to wear locks or just a natural hairstyle it’s good for that as well. That’s what we push a lot, because it’s very freeing. I mean, once you don’t conform to what the standard of what beautiful hair is, which is like straight and flowing or whatever, basically not African American, it’s freeing. And my background is very diverse, but now I take a lot of pride in the natural texture of my hair. It just seemed that locks were the perfect thing for me so that was the way to go.

MM: So I know we’ve talked a little bit about heritage and I’ll talk briefly about mine. I actually come from a biracial background as well. My mother is Black and my father is Puerto Rican, so I know that for me there were challenges growing up. I had a lot of comments about my hair which I don’t know if that was because of my background or what, but people would say that they thought I had “good hair” which I personally found annoying because I didn’t understand what made my hair “different” than my peers, for example. So I always found that to be pretty uncomfortable.  Were there comments  about your hair texture in and outside of your family as you were growing up?

JB: Oh God yes. My younger brother would be considered to have “good hair”. People see my mother with straight hair…like if you look at her, she’d probably pass for a White woman. I mean she has olive-colored skin and people think she’s Puerto Rican too. She tells me that a lot of people just start speaking Spanish to her when she comes down here and people think she’s “something”. But she has straight hair. Her Dad was straight Cherokee Indian who had this thick, black, straight hair but my hair is kinky and coarse so I never had what people describe as “good hair”. I mean, that was the thing. It was thick and kinky and it wasn’t until I got older that I really came to appreciate the texture of my hair. I went to school with a bunch of White kids and my two closest friends were African American. They always kept their hair really short and I just grew mine so yeah it was definitely an issue. My whole family is very diverse so we run the gamut of skin complexions to hair textures and everything in between. But yeah I had “bad hair”.

MM: Yeah and I think the more and more I talk to people in this realm of natural hair, everyone has a story about having “good hair” versus “bad hair” or whatever hair. It seems like everyone has been touched by that and I find that so interesting.

JB: Absolutely and I say that’s one of the best things about going to this (Natural Hair) show in Atlanta.  We get to talk to people and we get to hear their stories not just about their hair, but also how the product has helped them maintain it so we love that.

Be sure to check out Julian and Dreadsock at the Atlanta Natural Hair Show coming up later this month.  For more information on Dreadsock visit their website (http://dreadsockonline.com/) and follow them on Twitter at @Dreadsock.

To begin, can you tell us a little about yourself?

I was born in Scotland, speak some French, and I collect Supra’s (the sneakers).

You’ve got great hair!  How would you describe it in ten words or less?

Vibrant,  strong, & inspiring.

So how do you maintain your style? What are some of your “go-to” products?

Well as I am the spokesmodel for Miss Jessie’s original (sold at Target & Ricky’s ), So I must say thanks to the lovely ladies Miko & TiTi I always have stuff available and Quick Curls has always been my go to product. If I could give anyone any advice I would say deep conditioning  is the key, which is where Miss Jessie’s Super Sweetback or Rapid Recovery come in great.

I also read that you’re a spokesmodel for smart USA…CONGRATULATIONS! How did that come about?

I see that as gods favor, hard work, and believing in yourself as everyone should do. If you don’t believe in you, no one will.  I attended a casting and was shown favor and my personality was a fit for the 6 national US market models.

Ethan Zohn

Today’s MANE MAN is a former reality tv star and a living inspiration.  Ethan Zohn first came across my radar many years ago when he appeared in a little show called Survivor.  These days Zohn is model survivor fighting his battle publicly with cancer, all the while sporting those trademark locks of his.  This dude has seriously awesome curly hair….like seriously awesome.  And did you know that man is an author, commentator, and invented things too?! I want to be like him when I grow up.

Not only known for his trademark mane, Zohn is not your typical reality tv star, he is also a philanthropist as evidenced by his organization Grassroots Soccer which he founded after winning Survivor.  Grassroots is a non-profit HIV/AIDS prevention oriented organization focused on the prevention of the virus in Africa.  Using his background as a professional soccer player, Grassroots spreads awareness by using soccer as a medium.  Fitness + awareness is always a good look in my book.

Zohn and Morasca, NYC Marathon

Zohn recently completed the NYC Marathon this past weekend and according to reports, will resume cancer treatment in the next few days.  I have never met Zohn, but his generous spirit is evident through his efforts with Grassroots and his participation in the PETA campaign with longtime girlfriend and partner (and fellow Survivor contestant) Jenna Morasca.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Morasca before and I wish them both the best as Ethan continues to forge on with his treatment.  You both have great enduring spirits and only deserve the best!  Please send Ethan well wishes on Twitter @EthanZohn and remember to celebrate Movember and the health of all the men in your life.  Feel free to check out a recent interview with Ethan at US Weekly here.

A style inspiration.

Lenny has to be, by far, one of my all time favorites.  He’s got loads of talent, great style and he is definitely one of my personal icons.  Lenny first hit the scene late 80s/early 90s named Romeo Blue.  According to his Wiki page, Kravitz  initially had a difficult time breaking into the industry due to his music not sounding “White or Black enough”.  That’s ironic given that Kravitz is himself biracial with a Black mother and White father.  In my opinion, this has been a defining characteristic of Kravitz’ music as he blends several genres and nods to both White and Black artists from his past (Led Zeppelin,  Hendrix and Al Green and The Who).

As far as his hair goes, Lenny is basically the male Madonna in terms of transformation.  Random fact: he actually co-wrote one of Madonna’s greatest hits, “Justify My Love”.  He’s just as well-known for his hair as his style and talent and that definitely qualifies him as a mane man. Just Google him and you’ll see what I mean.

Lenny with locs.

He’s rocked locs, mini fros, big bad-ass afros, short  cuts and even straightened hair. It was his short afro style that kept me inspired as I decided to grow out my hair for the first time.  I even saved a pic of him on my phone that I showed to the barber for inspiration. I left the barber shop really thinking I looked like him (I’m lame, I know).

Twins…right!?

His latest promo photos show him with a pretty cropped ‘do but in my mind Lenny=fro.  Check out his latest video for the song “Stand” below.  Oh and if you follow him on Twitter (@LennyKravitz), you’re  guaranteed to see some awesome photos from his travels. Check out his official website here.

I’m grateful for Isaiah Mustafa.  During a recent interview with E! entertainment reporter Giuliana Rancic, Isaiah Mustafa caused a bit of controversy when he stated that his ideal woman must have “good hair”.  Whoops! According to the Huffington Post article, Rancic went on to ask Mustafa if the hair had to be real to which his response was a bit more self referential:

Mustafa stated, “Yes, it does have to be real hair. I want my kids to have nice hair so she better have good hair. Cause, I don’t know if you’ve checked my hair out lately. Aside from today it’s normally nice. Today it’s slightly nappy.” (Source)

Following the interview, Mustafa went on to apologize for his comments via his Twitter page (@isaiahmustafa), stating, “I want 2 apologize wholeheartedly 2 anyone out there who was offended or hurt by the irresponsible comments I made on E! News. #ignorant”

Now, I understand that Mustafa was on the defensive but I hate…hate, hate, hate apologies that celebrities issue where the basic message is “I apologize if anyone was hurt by my comments.”  You know people were offended, don’t be silly.  That having been said, I actually think this is a really good addition to the whole good hair/nappy hair conversation.

I’m grateful that Mustafa was a bit loose-lipped during his interview with Rancic because in this moment you really get to hear about Mustafa’s own insecurities about his hair (whether in jest or not) which is something that you don’t really hear men talk about in a public forum.  He inadvertently let the world know that just as women of all races experience insecurity about their image, so do men.

While many people were offended by his comments (I was too) it doesn’t mean that Mustafa needs to be crucified as some self hating Black man who is still enslaved by White, eurocentric standards Why? Because he’s just like the rest of us. This slip of the tongue has made it obvious to me that Mustafa needs the support that every natural woman or curly-haired guy needs.  If you’re a woman who has decided to grow your natural hair, do you remember a time or a moment when you thought and felt the same way Mustafa did?  Chances are you did at some point.

Following his comments, Mustafa participated in an interview at Planet Abiola to further discuss his comments and his recent appearance on the new Charlie’s Angel’s reboot. He addresses the hair comments in the first few minutes.

His comments about nappy hair are mainly addressed in the first few minutes of the interview and it’s clear that Mustafa feels bad about his comments and I get the sense that Mustafa is a good guy who’s a bit misguided.  He says that he has recently been trying to grow out his hair to give himself a different look.  He says right before the interview with Rancic he was fussing with his hair backstage and getting pretty frustrated about his current “in-between” stage. Sound familiar?

When asked for his reaction to the backlash, Mustafa states, “I was being self-deprecating and I was speaking of myself…”

At about the five-minute mark he attempts to explain himself and gets a little incoherent . In an attempt to save face he focuses strongly on his opinions about his own hair, but Abiola challenges him a bit to consider how his perspective may  be impacting Black boys and young men who may look up to him.  Mustafa apologizes and reiterates that he is only speaking of himself. During the interview he also states, “It’s not what I meant”.  And there’s why I feel Mustafa is misguided.

Sometimes its important to take things for what they are. Yes he was only referring to “his hair” but what he does not seem to acknowledge (at least publicly) is that his thoughts on his hair are likely reflective of his feelings about others in his community. I think it’s a bit naive for him to think that he can feel his hair is nappy, and somehow bad or difficult to work with, and not think the same way about others with naturally kinky or tightly curled hair.  Am I wrong?

On my worst days I have felt similar to Mustafa.  Guys get frustrated with their hair too and this frustration probably grows exponentially with every inch of hair.  So did we catch Mustafa on one of those bad hair days? It seems that way.  Do I think Mustafa is some sort of Uncle Tom who won’t date Black women or secretly hates who he is?  Nope.  For all the people who are reacting strongly to Mustafa and his comments I would challenge you to think about his comments more critically and how his comments may be connected to your own personal hairstory and people’s reactions to your hair.  I must admit that my gut reaction was to think “HOW STUPID OF HIM!” but the truth is that we all have internalized the whole “bad hair” thing to some degree no matter if you’re a newbie or have been wearing your natural hair for 20+ years. Then again, that’s just my opinion.  What do you think?

Currently, Dr. West is working on a project called The Poverty Tour along with commentator/media personality Tavis Smiley.  The tour strives to raise awareness and improve opportunities for those living in poverty in the U.S.  Dr. West is a champion for equal rights and opportunities for all and is not afraid to speak his mind which in my book, makes him a modern-day hero.  Check out The Poverty Tour and his official website for more information.