1. What's your name and where are you from?
I’m Bri-Anne Alexis or Bri Classy on social media - I’m from Barbados/Toronto. I currently reside in Toronto. 2. What is your hair type? Aye aye aye, the dreaded question. I’m not really sure. I think I’m 3c/4a. My hair varies from tight s-curls to pen-spring sized spirals.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I’ve always been natural; my mother made it a very strict rule that I could not relax my hair until I was 16 (thank you Mom!) and by the time I was 16, the natural movement was already underway and I was embracing my hair. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? For me the most challenging thing about being natural is understanding what is “normal” for natural hair. For so long, natural hair has been shunned in society and the standard was/is straight hair - so much so, that even when we try to embrace our natural hair we believe it will act similar to straight hair (piling it on your head when you shampoo, thinking you can detangle in 5 mins, using small clips or “surf” spray lol. I’m still learning what works and does not work for my hair, you never stop learning. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I wash once a week. I start by rinsing my hair, sectioning it into 4 then detangling it with conditioner, then I proceed to shampoo, protein treatment and then deep condition. I have a video on my old wash day routine on my channel for a better idea of this. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? It really depends on what I plan on doing with my hair that day. If it’s going in a sleek bun, I use gel and tie it down, if it’s going to be open I just shake and style to my liking. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? Pineapple and satin hair tie! I can’t SLEEP without a satin hair tie! (Maybe because I’m also scared of that spider-sleeping-ear thing I’ve heard…) Anywho, if it’s feeling dry, I like to moisturize at night so that it’s soaked in by morning. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? Yes, I flat iron once a year or so if I build up the arm strength. Other than that, I love to use my blowdryer on it’s COOL setting when I need to speed things up - it’s not heat but it is my blowdryer!
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
NO! Ahaha. I should though! I don’t like braiding my hair because it’s very time consuming and even if I get braids put in by someone else they start to itch like crazy after a week! 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Wide-tooth comb! 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? I think half and half… it’s either in a bun of some sort or open in a perm rod set or twist out. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? YES! I went back to Barbados one year for Christmas and I decided that I could go two weeks without combing my hair. I went in the sea, I wore it out, I wore it in buns, I washed it… When I got back to Toronto, it was dreaded and matted! It took 3 HOURS to comb and it came out in unbelievable clumps… Never did that again. PS: I have a whole video dedicated to what NOT to do to your hair:
13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair?
My biggest tip is patience. You will need patience when detangling, when waiting for it to grow, when trying to learn a new style, when learning to love your texture, when curving people’s negative/ignorant comments, when trying to find a product you like… just overall patience. Other than that… I would say you have to develop new good habits and stick to them (moisturizing, reducing friction and heat etc). 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name's Maiya. I'm from Connecticut. 2. What is your hair type? I have Type 4 hair. 4a, 4b, and 4c. Kinky, curly, coiled. Lol definitely difficult to deal with at times.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I decided to do the big chop on September 12th, 2014. It'll be three years this year. I'm so proud of myself. What made me go natural? I became impatient with trying to find hairstyles and haircuts that fit me. It was a lot to deal with and I honestly thought it was more work than being natural. So I told my mother I wanted to cut all of my hair off. Although she didn’t take me seriously. I continued to push the thought and it happened. My older sister went with me to a barbershop. That day changed my life. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The most challenging thing about going natural is having patience. I'm impatient as impatient gets. Learning that the process doesn't happen overnight and disciplining myself to not cut my hair in any way really taught me about growth. Not only hair growth but self-growth. I never had a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't be able to grow my hair back. Since I was so dedicated to having beautiful curls, doubt never crossed my mind. Not knowing what would be ahead of me, I really didn't care because I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. 5. What is your weekly regimen? Wow um, my weekly hair regimen….hm, that's hard. I sleep on a satin pillow case always. It really helps because sometimes I'm super lazy and I don't feel like putting my hair up. Depending on how I feel, I'll wash my hair every two weeks (with conditioner/deep conditioner). I shampoo my hair every 3-6 months. A majority of times, I wash my hair at the end of every month. Everyone's hair care is different. I, personally, don't have to wash my hair as much (blessings). Lol, but when I do decide to wash my hair, I wash with a homemade avocado hair mask. That includes honey, and as many oils as you like. My favorite oils to use are Tea Tree Oil, Moroccan Oil, Avocado Oil, Almond Oil, Olive Oil, Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Carrot Oil, Aloe Vera Oil, Macadamia Oil, Amla Oil (Sally's Beauty Supply sells most of these oils for about $3-5). Hot Oil Treatments are a life saver. I do them every week. I suggest all of my curly gals and guys to do the same. You'll see amazing results. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? My daily morning regimen depends on what I have to do that day. So if I'm having a chill day at home, I'll leave my hair up in a pineapple do or two buns. Just to keep it out of my face. If I have to be somewhere whether it be an event or a party or I'm going out with friends, I usually leave my hair out. I don't moisturize my hair EVERY day. I moisturize whenever my hair is dry and brittle or hard to manage. That's every 2-4 days. Plus, always having your hands in your hair causes split ends and breakage, so it's good to just let it be whenever you don't have anything important to do. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I don't have a special night time regimen. I just have to make sure my hair is out of my face. Since my forehead is acne prone. And because I use a lot of different oils in my hair, that shows, so I wash my face twice a day to keep away dirt and oil. If I'm bored, I'll experiment with my hair. Like trying different hairstyles I picked up from Natural Hair Youtubers. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I don’t use heat often. Only when I want to do a blowout. That's rare. I haven't used heat in over a year. Which is such an accomplishment for me because before going natural I was addicted to using heat on my hair. I love my curls too much to ruin them. Heat isn't bad at all. Just make sure you don't use it a lot.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
I don't braid my hair at all. Lol, it hurts. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? I've never tried a Denman brush but the wide-toothed comb is cool. I don’t use it often. It does help with detangling. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? My hair is normally loose. Whenever my hair is in a protective style, my choice would be twisted. A good twist out always makes me happy. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Since being natural I've had two hair tragedies and they both involve being "scissor happy". I had to trim my ends (which I always do myself and I'm a master at it now). But I cut too much off and my hair was so uneven. I had to wait 3 months for my hair to grow back to actually take my time cutting it. It was a disaster. I was so unhappy with the end result. My second hair tragedy happened 2 months ago. Once again I cut too much hair off and my hair looked choppy. A major mess. I didn't get discouraged this time around, though. I decided to wait it out. I ended up liking the look, after all, lol. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? MY BIGGEST TIP FOR MAINTAINING HEALTHY HAIR: Do not cut your hair if you do not have to and make sure you take care of your hair. If you decide to go natural or convert from perms, you have to be serious about taking care of your hair. It's a lot of work but so much fun if you don't look at it as a chore. It's an experiment you should enjoy, learn from and teach others about. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
Hello! I'm Cherise from a small city in Pennsylvania. 2. What is your hair type? I believe my hair type most closely matches a 3C curls type with some 4A curls. I've noticed since big chopping my curls have tightened up a bit.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
The very first time I went natural was in high school. I had been relaxing my hair for years and noticed a ton of breakage. This, mixed with stylists who felt I needed a perm every 4-6 weeks, didn't help and I lost a ton of length. So I transitioned. By senior year I was completely natural and had most of my length back. I decided to go into the military after high school and relaxed my hair. I was worried about being able to care of my natural hair while in training. My worries were simply that; I actually wore braids and took care of my hair no differently than when my hair was natural. Fast forward a few years and I was natural again but wanted a change. So I got a short, relaxed, cut. The maintenance on this cut proved to be too much so I again transitioned for the final time. My hair was finally healthy, long, and very curly. Of course I had to ruin it! Spring of 2015 I decided to get an ombré. I went to a professional and thought my curls would be fine. Unfortunately, the lightened ends straightened out my curls and it was a mess! I tried everything to get my curls back, to no avail. July 2, 2015 I decided to big chop and rocked a tapered cut until it grew back out. Now I'm about halfway to my original length! 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? Definitely finding the right products. First, there weren't very many natural hair products in the market. This made it hard, and costly, to try products and find what works. I also found styling difficult. In high school I rocked Afro puffs because it was the simplest thing I could do. I also dealt with being "different" since natural wasn't a big thing in 2003-2007. Most of my peers wore relaxers and weaves. I did occasionally straighten my hair and loved the results. Without the relaxer my hair had more bounce and my wrap was much thicker. 5. What is your weekly regimen? Currently, on Sundays, I deep condition with Berry Curly Naturals Berry Mint Deep Conditioner. I leave this on for about thirty minutes to an hour with a self heating cap. Then I wash with As I Am Naturally Coconut CoWash. Lately I've been loving separated chunky curls. I use the LOC method with the Berry Curly Naturals Line. First I use the Strawberry Pineapple Leave In on a medium sized section of hair. Then I use the Wild Berry Growth Oil and the Berry Bliss Butter. I finger curl the section and move on. I'll let it air dry for the rest of the day then sleep with a bonnet at night. In the morning I add a little bit of the Wild Berry Growth Oil to separate the curls. I find this combination gives me a ton of moisture and hold. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? I shower in the morning to allow the steam to loosen my curls/style. Then I add a little oil to fluff with my hands. If needed I'll also use a pick to fluff it out. The bigger, the better! 7. What is your daily night time regimen? At night, I just sleep in a bonnet and on a silk pillow. For now, I don't need to retwist/braid. When my hair was much longer, if my hair was too frizzy I would wet it down and rebraid/twist it. Pretty simple! 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? Since big chopping I've straightened my hair twice in the last year. I did this because I needed a trim and mini chop to even out my grow out from the tapered cut. When the weather cools down I'll probably straighten again for another trim and length check. I typically don't straighten in the summer because if the heat.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
In the last year I've worn crochet braids and braid outs. I've done a number of braids outs and one set of crochet braids. I wore this set for about 3 months. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Tough one! I have to go with old faithful, the Denman brush. I use it for everything! 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? With my current length, it's been loose. Once I get to the right length, I'll be bunning! That's honestly what I miss most about long hair. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? YES. This is what led to my big chop. Stay away from bleach my loves! At least for me, it's a huge no no. If I want the ombré style I'll just buy a wig or get a sew in. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Honestly, what's worked for me, has been consistency. When my hair was long, I protected my ends. I wore buns often to do this and kept them moisturized. In growing out my hair this time around, I've noticed the more consistent I am with my regimen, the quicker it's grown back. My curls are much healthier and tighter. I also believe this is due to me big chopping instead of transitioning. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
I’m Tiss, from rainy old England. WooooOooOoo 2. What is your hair type? The hair typing system never seems to fit me perfectly, but I’d say I’m a mix of 3c and 4a. It’s all a bit random!
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural towards the end of 2014, after getting fed up with my horribly damaged hair. School bullies made my relationship with my hair complicated, but with age and exposure to Instagram came more confidence in my natural texture! 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The most challenging thing was definitely balancing my hair’s needs with my disability. I have trouble with using my hands sometimes, and I get fatigued easily. But I’ve managed to devise a system that works for my hair and my body. 5. What is your weekly regimen? Wash day is every Sunday, and it looks a little like this (if all goes smoothly!):
6. What is your daily morning regimen? In the morning I spritz my hair with a water and oil mix, and smooth down the front if I’m wearing it up. If my hair is out, I spritz and then shake it around until it loosens up! 7. What is your daily night time regimen? At night, I spritz my hair again. If it’s out, I put it into a loose pineapple. Then I tie a silk scarf over it to keep my hair protected and moisturised. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I never straighten or blow out my hair, mainly because I never want to! I used to diffuse it after washing, but now I just sit in front of a fan and read or something—it’s like super-speed air drying and it’s my favourite trick.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
Yes! Braids are one of my favourite protective styles, but you have to be careful—if they’re too tight your edges will disintegrate. I wear them once or twice a year. Mainly in winter, because it gets collllllddddd here! Freezing weather will dry out my hair real fast, so protection is necessary. And then, of course, I often rock them in the summer because.. well, it’s a look. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Honestly, fingers over everything. But if I had to choose, wide-tooth comb! 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? Usually loose—my puffs aren't really protective. I do wear a lot of wigs in the winter, though. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Ooooohhh my god, yes. In my mid-teens, just before my first ever festival, I decided to get my roots relaxed so I could look fresh. So OF COURSE I get the most horrifying burn right at the front of my head. Thankfully it was on one side, so I just flipped my hair over it. It traumatises me to this day. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? My biggest tip for hair health: water water water. I spritz my hair twice daily because it drinks the moisture up like dry earth. To stay strong and healthy, your hair needs to be hydrated. Figure out a method that works for you and use it to keep your hair watered regularly! Steam is a great way to do so too, if you don’t like getting your hair wet. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
My Name is Kaya Tomash, (known on the internet as Comfy Girl With Curls). I am born in raised in Vancouver, Canada! 2. What is your hair type? Overall 4b, with a very small section at the back of my head being 4a.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I officially went natural just about 2 years ago. I had been transitioning for about a year already out of sheer laziness, and due to there being no real salon options near me. I had a week off of work, and dove into researching natural hair and how to take care of it. That week was the first time I ever consciously styled my hair and wore it “out”! (It was a twist-out!) 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? Committing to a regimen and staying disciplined. I swing between being a very conscious natural, to being a very lazy natural. Whenever I get lazy, I see the breakage and swing back into taking perfect care of my hair again. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I give my hair one big wash a week. Usually this is a full-on wash day, including a pre-poo with conditioner and olive oil, a quick shampoo, a conditioner, followed by a very long Deep Conditioning session, followed by the LOC method to wrap it up. Lately however, I’ve learned to shorten my system by Co-Washing, and I’m really enjoying the cut down on time. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? It all depends on how well I took care of my hair the night before. But usually I’ll give my hair a sprits of water, and lightly cover it with Argan Oil as a bit of a refresher. Then if I’m rushing to work, I tend to twist it up into a bun, or another easy updo. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? When I am completely on my game, I am doing a quick version of the LOC method every night and putting my hair into twists. I’ll spritz some water, put in a light cream, and follow it with a light oil. Then I have to make sure I’ve got my satin cap on before crawling into bed! 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? Very very rarely. The only time I’d say I really use heat is during my deep conditioning process. I’ve got one of those table-top dryers you can sit under and I find it really helps me get the maximum amount of moisture into my hair.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
I braid my hair just as is. In other words, I don’t add extensions or anything in as long term protective style. This is something that is on my bucket list though. I braid my hair quite often though, probably about once a month, and leave it in for about a week. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Wide tooth comb all the way! Although I can’t really say that much as I have yet to try a Denman brush… 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? My hair is very kinky, and especially as I’ve dyed it, I feel my curl pattern isn’t as prominent. So I hate to say I usually keep my hair in a protective-do day to day. When I have the time to prep, that’s when I’ll do a twist out or braid out and let it be free. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Luckily no tragedy to speak of. I’ve dealt with breakage and some damage, but nothing I couldn’t fix with a good protein treatment or a trim. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Biggest tip I can offer is seal in the moisture, consistently! Whenever I make sure my hair is well moisturized, and I am locking it in with an oil, my hair flourishes. It retains length, it’s soft, it’s shiny! Consistency really is key. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
Hey, everyone! My name is Sherelle and I live in NYC. 2. What is your hair type? I'm mainly a 3C curly gal with a front middle portion of my edges that have a mind and curl of their own.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I decided to go back to natural in 2011 after being inspired on Tumblr by HeyFranHey. And also out of the sheer laziness of no longer wanting to spend my Sunday evenings frying my hair with a flat iron. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? Finding products, establishing a routine, and figuring out which styles worked well with my lifestyle took quite a bit of time. I only figured out my hair could last in a wash n go for more than a day a year and a half ago and I've been natural for nearly five years! 5. What is your weekly regimen? I have more of an every-five-days-regimen right now, haha! Every five days, I cleanse/co-wash my hair, deep condition after every cleanse (ranging from 10 min-3 hours depending on time), apply a leave-in/curl styler, allow my hair to soak in the product and air dry for 30 minutes, diffuse, fluff, then go! 6. What is your daily morning regimen? While pretending to be the lead singer at a sold out concert and vibing to my music, I fluff my fro while my hands are coated in a hair oil. If my hair isn't feelin' it that day, I'll throw it up in my go-to half up-do and bang style. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I tie a simple silk scarf around my hair to create a pineapple. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? About once or twice a year during the cooler months: Once to straighten and once to make a curling rod style.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
I create my own braided/twisted protective style without extensions about once a season. And once a year for the past two years I've gotten either box braids or Senegalese twists. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Denman brush all the way. Or, better yet, fingers. They're free! 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? About 99% of the time, my hair is down in a wash n go style. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? During my last texturizer (and you'll see why it was my last), I got burned so badly that I couldn't undo my doobie wrap the next morning since my scalp had oozed so much that my hair was stuck to it. LAST TEXTURIZER/PERM EVER. After that I stopped going to salons to get my hair straightened altogether and went down the route of self-care and I haven't looked back since. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Consistency, moisture, deep conditioning, satin pillow cases, and trimming fairy knots/split ends. I know that's several tips but they're all super important! 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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1. What's your name and where are you from?
Lisa Jean-Francois. Boston, MA (Haitian-American) 2. What is your hair type? 4A
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I wanted to see if I had a curl pattern. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? When I went natural (back in 98), I transitioned with heat styling my new growth. By the the time I was fully natural I didn't know what to do with my hair, and really resented it. I didn't come to fully embrace and love my hair until I cut short last winter. Now, I'm loving my fierce funky curls. 5. What is your weekly regimen? Twist outs. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? Pick out and fluff 7. What is your daily night time regimen? Satin Scarf 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? Yup. When I want extra volume I'll lightly blow dry my hair and twist it.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
I braid whenever I do a protective style, like crochet braids. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Denman Brush 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? Loose, with occasional protective styles. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Nope. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Just love it. From root to tip. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
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