So, I’m laying in bed relaxing on my holiday vacation, when one of my friends sends me this blog post from AfricanExport (Vanisha, hey girl). This is in no way shade to her, someone wrote her an anonymous letter about vloggers and bloggers being owned/bank rolled by NaturallyCurly.com.
While I refuse to comment on what I think this person’s intentions are, or what I think of them…I just want to make something clear about ME. Not anyone else mentioned in the letter.
My blog is not, and never was, owned by NaturallyCurly. NaturallyCurly has never given me ANY kind of monetary compensation for the videos I have done for them. I became one of their vloggers as a result of the video that I did for the contest a long time ago, which you ALL knew about (because I asked you to view the video!!!), so they send me products to review for them. That’s it – and I have given negative reviews of products they have sent to me. Several companies send me products to review free of charge, and I mention that to you when I do my videos, and make a note to also review products that I have bought with my own money, because I do not want to only do sponsored reviews.
In fact, I don’t even host my own blog – it’s still a free WordPress blog and I just bought the domain to take off the .wordpress part of the URL to make it easier for people to remember. I’m too damn lazy to be messing with code and all that crap.
Anywho, I just wanted to “officially” address that “claim,” because I don’t like my name in people’s mouths with erroneous information.
**For the record, I don’t think there is anything wrong with selling your blog or getting paid, that tidbit about me was just INCORRECT.**
Have a good holiday, pals.
xoxo
questfortheperfectcurl.com 
If you can earn money from your hard work never apologise for it, you deserve it Girl. Now some people are really mad that black women can take advantage of their natural hair like Valeriesmith 15 said. First by having the possibility to achieve great length and any kind of texture without chemical relaxers. Secondely by making money for themself. Gone , i hope , the days of big companies making profit on black women by selling them a very crap approach to their own natural hair.
Bloggers and vloggers have done a fantastic work , FOR FREE, to help black women to accept their hair and keep it healthy.
And for me this is the reason i hope people will not sell their blogs. We need to take control of our own businesses. I don’t want to judge but what is the point to do all this difficult work, if you are going to sell to someone else. I REALLY DON’T GET IT.
I WANT MY MONEY TO GO TO PEOPLE LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONE WHO MADE THE DIFFERENCE.
I WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A HAPPY NAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2012.
lol! π
Honestly, Who cares if NaturallyCurly owns someone’s blog i mean seriously! It’s not a big deal people! Anyway, I totally agree with luvmyhair1! Do another skin care routine, Elle!
Hah, I barely have a skin routine right now. I’ve been traveling for work so much I’m lucky if I can wash my face with my body wash. Smh.
lol @ “lucky if I can wash my face with my body wash!” π
Honestly, Elle, who cares? Wether or not you are paid (and I never thought you were cause of the disclaimers you do at the beginning of your videos) the information is good. I have learned about alot of things to try for my hair, and products that I may never have heard of if not for you and others who blog on natural hair. The information, especially for those new to natural hair is invaluable. We can’t waste time on people who have negative agendas; heck in the time you spent responding to a hater, I could have gotten a new tip, lol. Enjoy your sites and information so keep doing what you do.
Lol, well, I just wanted to make sure people knew that it wasn’t true. If it was true, welp, I wouldn’t need to say anything.
I’ve always wondered about those ads…… It’s so annoying when your watching a vid and all of a sudden you hear this man talking about a car @_@…….
You should make a new skin care routine Elle π
Please excuse my ignorance HB, but what is vlogging? You also mentioned something about partnership with youtube. Would you kindly explain?
Vlogging – video blogging. A partnership with YouTube just means that you can monetize all of your videos. That’s why my vids have those ads at the bottom or on the side.
Thank you HB.
By video blogging do mean normal blogging with videos as the main post with a little commentary “or a caption” at the bottom? And does it have to be your own video?
The real issue behind all this bitterness, is Black women having choices and people are upset. As many of young ladies have said, no longer, one size fits all. Some people still want to go back to black women using black hair products only. All the ladies who are on youtube and bloggers including yours Ellie, have really helped me greatly. I’m going to be 51 in January 2012 and I have never ever had long hair as a child, or teenager. When ever I would ask for advice, about I was always told, about genes and not being mixed race or biracial. Through me watching youtube videos and blogs, my hair has it’s the longest and thickest.
I am very grateful to you ladies, especially you Ellie and if these ladies get paid. They deserve every penny and Well Done to you and the rest of the ladies for all your hard work. God bless you!
Dear Hb,
Thanks for the above, Unless the blog is a personnel journal, aimed at friends and family, you will need to start thinking about SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization which basically means developing your blog site in such a way that it will be placed at the top of the search results in Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
BTW great blogpost
I cant find the article anywhere not even on naturally curly. Never-mind just found it. Hmmm I don’t understand exactly why people are worried about what someone else is doing with their blog/vlog/whatever. As long as the info is good and sincere who cares. Bloggers gotta eat too. Girllllll you need to be on the payroll too. You stay with the product views and updates you send customers their way too.
I ALWAYS knew you weren’t owed by some company. it’s crazy some people actually do! Your the real deal, Elle. This is random but…. have you tried the Glop and Glam Cake Batter Conditioner from Ulta? AMAZING product! it smells HEAVENLY.
Here’s the link Elle –> http://www.glopandglam.com/store/index.php?p=product&id=8
Thank you! Honestly I don’t think it’s wrong to be owned by a company, but I would definitely let you all know – but I don’t have any plans like that! I haven’t used that condish but I’ve smelled it and it does smell good! But the ingredients weren’t on the bottle, I was mad.
As far as I am concerned if you’re not getting paid you should, because the information I have gotten from your blog/vlog is worth it’s weight in gold and a little bit moreξ . Do you ,you’re the cream of the crop and CREAM ALWAYS RISES TO THE TOP!!!!!!
Just a thought- It does not matter what the author of the letters intentions are but here are some facts that can’t be disputed. 1)What has happened with natural hair from the creation of styles to the creation of products is awesome! In my community alone young and old have the ability to make more choices about how they want to wear their hair. Gone are the days of the one size fits all regime of relaxers every 4-6 weeks. 2) The information found on You Tube and in Blogs can be very informative and does not cost a dime to watch. Blogging and the creation of videos takes time and I for 1 would like to send a special thank you to “Elle” because I can not afford to personally purchase every hair product out there to try. So when I see you try a product then I can get an idea if it is a product worth looking into or not. Everyone’s hair is different and if you have not come to the realization yet that your natural hair will not look like someone else’s natural hair as a result of a magic elixir then shame on you for not being more informed. 3) And lastly the tone in this letter reminds me of MC Hammer- (Yes I did go there) When he was approached by companies to advertise for them ( remember the Taco Bell commercials Ok am I telling my age?) People in his industry hated on him for it and now you can’t turn on anything without seeing this artist or that sponsering a product or company. It’s called advertising- and it is a concept that is relied on heavily here in the states. Bottom line consumers need to do their own research and don’t be a mindless follower. Oops did not mean to go on so as I said before Thanks “Elle”
LOL at MC Hammer. You’re so right. A lot of people don’t understand the business/PR aspect of all of these industries. Hair is an industry. Thanks for your comment. π
It just seems like a “hating” mentality to be upset with someone for getting paid. If it doesn’t lower the quality of the information they provide, what’s the problem?
I thought you were getting compensation, so ever more thank you’s to you for being a great resource for us.
I make money through my YouTube partnership, but not from companies for doing reviews. The only company who has compensated me is Carol’s Daughter and that’s because my videos for them are exclusive to their site and I can’t post it on mine, so I basically get paid to give them the video. And I mean…I wouldn’t just hand over my videos for free, lol.