- One second, hold on,
hold on, there we go.
Hey YouTube world, it's me Evelyn.
One of my internet cousins, (laughing)
I promise I'm excited.
One of my internet cousins suggested, requested
that I react to my old YouTube videos.
This suggestion was just terrifying enough
for me to be intrigued.
I've been on YouTube over 10 years.
I started my account in 2007,
uploaded a video I think, in 2008.
Don't know what my first video was.
It has long since been deleted.
I started when I was 18 years old.
A freshman in college, and now I am 29 years old.
The thing of it is, the reason why this video
kinda makes me nervous, the reason I'm stalling it
is because I don't watch my own videos.
I don't know what my face looked like.
I'm the one who edited my face.
The last thing I want to do is
sit up there and watch it again.
Bye.
Anyway, let's get this over with.
I got my little tablay, otherwise known as a tablet.
Let's get started and see what...
See what it is, what ch'all been watchin'
for the past decade.
That one.
- Hey YouTube world, it's me Evelyn.
This is a spur of the moment video.
I just want to come--
- Oh baby, okay, so, natural hair.
That might be how a lot of you came to find me.
Ooh, why did I freeze like that?
Ooh, okay, a large percentage
of my YouTube videos is about hair.
Ha, I must have been, this is 2012, I was 22.
Wow!
- Valley of the shadow of death.
This is like my fourth or fifth time finger de tangling.
I didn't know this was possible.
I thought I had to be a mixed child,
to do this.
I thought I had to be on like some (coughs)
3C, 3B type stuff, or
(laughs) alternatively--
- So, yeah that was just me talking about
my struggles, you know?
And this is me de tangling.
This had 61,000 views.
- Your spray and just spray it down.
I'm gonna spray away from the camera.
- Look at me teaching you! - It's really awkward.
- I have since cut my hair.
I'm glad I just shaved my head because who got time?
2012 Evelyn had time.
Today we don't have time.
That wasn't too bad, that wasn't too bad.
Moving on.
(Funky hip hop music)
- ok - Hey YouTube world,
it's me Evelyn.
I decided to d--
- Ohhh, I'm a baby.
Look at my neck, my neck is so skinny.
That's how you know my age.
You know the thicker the neck, the older you are.
- To do the, what's this called?
The 5 things I'm not here for tag.
- Why am I not making eye contact?
I'm like oh here I am, here I go.
I remember when that shirt used to fit.
- So, I'm about to tell you 5 things I'm not here for,
but first, hoodie time!
(Ding)
- Wha? Is that a thing I used to do?
I know I used to snap and be in new places,
but I did not, I do not recall hoodie time.
Your honor, I cannot recall.
I know that this video is how
a lot of y'all came to my channel.
Like literally last week, 2 weeks ago,
I was talking to somebody and he was like,
yeah your crescendo
Represent 2 tho...
September 2012.
(making verbal noises)
(upbeat music)
(making verbal noises)
(upbeat music)
- Is it gonna drop?
Is it just gonna keep...
- Wonderful.
- YouTube ad said I can't skip.
I'm not hip for that.
- Listen, I make YouTube videos
I still refuse to put ads that you
can't skip on my videos.
To this day, I don't think I've ever.
And if I have, it's been an accident.
That I can tell you.
If there has ever been a non-skippable
ad on any of my videos,
it was an accident.
Continue. Let's get to the rut
of what I was saying though.
- Came here to watch ratchet twerking
videos.
That's what I'm finna to do.
I don't have a smartphone.
I have an unintelligent phone.
I know I'm not part of the whole
Instagram community.
I'm not here for guys thinking
they look pretty.
Like, I'm not...
- What?
First of all, did have a smart phone.
So what phone did I have?
Can't even tell you.
And I wasn't on Instagram.
- For that at all.
Don't show me what you ain't.
I don't care what you're wearing.
I don't care how...
- That's kinda rude.
I do care how a guy.
I do.
- I don't care what beverage you
are consuming that night.
- In the video description box,
or in the pinned comment,
I'm gonna put some male influencer,
YouTuber content creator-type
people that I enjoy,
to rectify whatever the heck I'm
talking bout in this video.
Next!
(gasps)
(laughs)
- Hey YouTube world.
It's me, Evelyn.
An interesting thing happened
to me a couple weeks ago.
- I love this video.
Didn't really watch it
after I put it up.
But I love...
This is one of my favorite videos.
- I was minding my own business,
checking my email,
(typing)
(upbeat music)
- Santa's on your Spurs.
Oh my gosh.
All right P to the Spurs I grew
up with.
Everybody gone now.
It's okay
- Email from Best Lace Wigs.
They wanted to see if I was interested
in doing a wig review.
(pop)
So this is the unit.
The name of the wig is...
(laughs)
- It looks so bad.
- It's Indian Remy Body Wave
W-O-081. (laughs)
- Yes, that girl was ratty.
That hoe was ratty.
- Cap size is medium/large.
- So, I love this video.
A company contacted me,
purely based off the fact
that I'm a black woman.
They did not know a
goddamn thing about me.
You clearly have not watched my
channel because I don't know
how to put this on.
But send it over.
- He doesn't like it.
What does he know?
I'm fresher than you.
Fresher than you.
(laughs)
- Okay so, people still reference
this and the corresponding vlog.
So I had a vlog where I have
the lace showing and I say,
"Don't give me hair. Ask me to be humble".
And to this day,
whether I'm putting on a wig for
an episode of "Say it loud",
or whether I got, you know,
braids, or faux locks,
peoples comment on Instagram or
anywhere is,
"Who gave Evelyn hair?
You know you can't give her hair
and ask her to be humble."
So iconic?
I think so.
Like if I squint...
- The color is customary
But I also don't know what Remy
means.
And this is Remy. (laughs)
It's human hair.
I don't know where it's from.
And it is Remy.
$106. 20 inches.
Do with that information what you will.
Category 2. The hairline
- If I squint, I'm cute.
I look a little sweaty.
Like the hair looks sweaty.
This was...
This is my contribution to the
natural hair community.
Okay.
People was out here serious.
People was out here, you know,
giving you value.
I gave you this.
- Hey YouTube world, it's me, Evelyn.
This video is about my complete
hair color transformation
from purple to red.
So I had purple hair for most of 2015.
I rocked it in various shades,
allowed it to fade sometimes.
Sometimes I refreshed the purple
hair color.
But once I was ready to...
- Purple. Let me tell y'all somethin'
right now, purple is my hair color.
Like I should have been born
with purple hair.
- I have really raked the color through
my hair.
I talkin' thorough, like I'm out here
tryin to recreate a natural - Look at my little noodle
- I even found more spots that I missed
the first time around.
(funky music)
- I used to do hair videos, yo.
Like, ohh I look like some Kool-aid
powder, hot Cheetos dust.
You know what I'm sayin?
I look like what flavor Popsicle?
Red.
- Honestly, it took me a week
to get over the shock of how bright
my hair is.
I look like an anime.
I look like those troll dolls
that Claire always had on
"Living single".
But you know what?
I'm excited to see how this hair
color changes and fades
as my roots grow out.
- Hated it.
If you, you know, spoiler,
in the future from the past,
at every stage I hated this color of hair.
This was the last time I dyed my hair.
October 2015.
This was a moment.
The last time I dyed my hair.
And it was a mistake.
It was a mistake.
I looked like a demon smurf.
- So, hey YouTube world.
It's me, Evelyn.
I cut my hair off.
It's nothing there.
There's length check,
there's nothing there.
And I will show you how I did it.
- I cut my hair.
So I gave myself a tapered cut.
Let's watch.
- Here's Evelyn from the past again
to tell you how to part your hair.
Maybe.
- My hair was blue in this video. Memories.
- I'm serious.
First thing I'm gonna do since I'm going for a...
- Oh these brows.
Lookin like Sammy Collins.
(laughs)
- Ostrich.
I'm going to...
- I didn't want to look like a
ostrich.
I still do.
It's okay.
Cut it.
Cutting the hair.
Oh, jo-Jesus.
I just went for it.
Ohh, I went through my hair journey.
Hold on.
- Just a little more edgy, just a little
bit more edge.
This was my hair before.
I love my hair now.
Do I look grown?
- I do look grown.
I look like somebody's, like,
step-mom.
- ♪ I'm gonna lay down my burdens. ♪
Down by...
Does Google Plus sometimes make you
feel like Miss Uganda and
Kerri Washington SNL skits?
Who is me?
Who is you?
Who are they?
How am I?
Hey YouTube world.
It's me, Evelyn.
- This. This energy.
I'm giving you a lot of energy
right now.
Wow.
First of all, Google Plus?
I look like I got interrupted in
the middle of going
Super Sayan.
My brows...
- I went to like three different
elementary schools...
- I'm out of...
Girl I'm out of focus.
Dry.
In the middle of going
Super Sayan.
And the Super Sayan patch, crispy.
Brows, not to be found.
404 Error.
I am literally for four minutes
and 41 seconds I'm complaining
about a YouTube change.
Like a YouTube format change.
And that's just not the energy I
have anymore.
I just don't have the energy.
29 year old Evelyn has a log-off
energy, has a...
I'm a see you on the internet somewhere
energy.
Ohh, did I say "see you on the
internet" somewhere?
Here. Hold on. Let's see.
- You ain't fittin to go on xjeeves.com
though.
(funky music)
- This is before "see you on the internet
somewhere by"
Wow.
I linked to my twitter which I
currently don't use.
- Hey YouTube world.
It's me, Evelyn.
Here's another embarrassingly simple
hair tutorial.
But first, I'll show you how I
preserve my hair at night to keep
the blowout looking smooth.
I use twisties.
- I was so little.
I don't have, you know,
quote unquote enviable natural hair.
It's not thick, it's not coarse,
it's not big, it's not long.
It's just growing out of my head.
And now, in the natural hair space,
if I was still, if I still cared,
about my hair, I relate the most to
Starpuppy.
When I watch Starpuppy's videos,
I'm like, "that's what I was doing".
I was a youth trying to figure out my hair.
In weird ways, we're both a little,
you know?
(laughs)
Raggety. Raggety.Yeah.
- Another option is using a bandana.
You want to fold it into a triangle.
- I'm literally showing you how to put
your hair in a bun and put a scarf
on your edges.
Like, nothing riveting.
But it was my flair, you feel me?
It was my je ne sais quoi.
It was my comedy commentary that I think
made people tune in.
'cause my hair is not cute.
To be clear. In this video,
you see them ends?
Run it back.
You seem them ends?
(Christmas music)
Copy written. Copy written.
Yeah, one of my earliest videos.
This might be the first video
that's on my channel right now.
Is me lip syncing to Stevie Wonder
for the holidays.
Dare I say, before TikTok.
Okay?
Lip syncing was a thing that I did.
So this is a low quality video.
2009. Okay?
I'm giving you digital camera with eight
megapixels.
I'm giving you Windows movie maker,
you know, on my dad's PC.
I'm giving you...
(Christmas music)
I swear to God, I bet you I didn't
have a tripod.
I bet you the camera is balancing
on the fence, in the backyard.
I bet you.
(Christmas music)
Texas. We didn't have no snow.
Paper. I'm a innovator.
You know what I'm saying?
Creativity comes from resourcefulness.
(Christmas music)
Ohhh. Ohhh. Ohhh.
This hair. Ohh.
Wisps. Wisps in the wind.
This is before I went natural.
This is when my hair was relaxed,
chemically straightened to oblivion.
I had, maybe, seven strands of hair.
(laughs)
Like, and I would tuck them behind
my ear and I would go about my
merry business.
So, yeah, wow.
And I was serious.
It wasn't like a parody.
This is for the love of lip singing.
Lip syncing. Whatever it's called.
Showin all my momma yogurt in the fridge.
(laughs)
The first comment is someone saying,
"humble beginnings, so this is how it started".
It's not how it started.
That's how it started to y'all.
But this is not my first video.
Yeah. Stevie Wonder.
There's another one on my channel
that is me and my brother
lip syncing in sync.
And we may or may not be recreating
it this year cause it's officially
10 years old.
What a time, right?
What a time.
This has been fun.
I am no longer an 18 year old girl.
I am a 29 year old woman and,
oh my God, that just means I
use the internet differently now.
I have used my YouTube to get me jobs,
to get me different gigs,
different opportunities,
it has allowed me to travel,
I get Google ads cents monies
here and there.
Sometimes it pays a water bill,
sometimes it pays rent,
and I'm like oh my God.
We come to you in the spirit of
QuickBooks.
YouTube is a thing that is here
and I'm here until I'm not.
So, that being had said,
(laughs)
shout out Audible for sponsoring
today's video.
The shenanigans continue.
I appreciate working with people who support
my shenanigans, cause that's what
we do on this channel.
Audible has the largest selection of audio books
including Audible Originals, which are exclusive
titles created by storytellers from
a variety of different
backgrounds and genres,
like theater, journalism, and literature.
Get your first audio book plus two
Audible Originals free when you sign up
for an Audible 30 day trail membership.
Visit audible.com/Evelyn or text
Evelyn to 500 500 and it started.
My pick, the audio book I'm getting
into right now, is "Obviously Stories from my timeline"
by Akilah Hughes.
You may know Akilah as Akilah Obviously
here on YouTube, here on the Internets.
And I relate. You know what I'm saying?
Like I said, I'm here til I'm not here.
I'm not announcing hiatus.
It's a website.
This is a website.
Anyway, visit audible.com/Evelyn
or text Evelyn to 500 500
You can pick whatever audio book you want,
you don't have to pick my selection.
It's just a suggestion.
In the comments below,
I haven't checked in in a minute,
let me know how you follow me.
Who among you is a OG?
And who's a new cousin?
Welcome to the family.
I might disappoint you, but
I said we family,
and that's what family does.
Am I right?
Let me know in the comments how you found
me and I will see you on the internet
somewhere.
Bye.