1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Briana Lynee (pronounced LIN-NAY) and I am from Maryland.

2. What is your hair type?

​​My hair type is 3C.

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I went Natural in 2009 in highschool. I realized my hair was so thin from all the heat and perms so I decided to stop the perms and go natural. However, it wasn’t until 2012 my Freshman Year in college that I became knowledgeable of what works for my hair and how to properly care for it.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

I used to find it difficult in styling my hair in my natural state compared to just using heat and keeping my hair straight. This was a learning experience but I am proud to stay that I got it all under control now.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I use the L.O.C. Method every two days. I moisturize my hair on Sundays and I wont touch it again until Tuesday with a cowash followed by moisturizing. Then from Tuesday I will repeat the same steps on Friday. Sunday I will deep condition my hair and then moisturize it and repeat these steps.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I am used to wearing my hair in a bun. So I use my choice of gel for the day followed by edge control and keep my hair up in a bun.

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

At night I follow the L.O.C. Method and braid or twist my hair so in the morning I will take it out and style it in my bun as my go to style for during the weekdays. On the weekends I wear my hair out.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

​​I will use heat on my hair in June and in December to keep my use of heat spaced out. I am enjoying embracing my naturalness.

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Shar’del Haden and I am from White Plains, MD. At least that’s where I currently live!
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2. What is your hair type?

​I am somewhere in-between a 3C and 4A, depends on the the day!

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I stopped relaxing my hair about 3 years ago, but didn’t really start taking care of my natural hair until a year after that. The reason I stopped getting relaxers was because I started getting sew-ins. I didn’t see the point of relaxing my hair if i was just going to braid it up.

​What made me embrace my natural hair was really research. I started watching natural hair videos on youtube and thought Hey I can do that! So after that I let the naturalness take over!

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

I found figuring out the type of hair I have and what it needed was the hardest for me when going natural. After watching so many videos I had to think about that my hair needed. Seeing so many products made it a little hard to decipher what was good for my hair and what wasn’t. Trial and Error!

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

My weekly regimen is to make sure I co wash twice a week. I deep condition over night one of those days. The other day I use the baggy method overnight. I normally keep the styling easy. A twist out or wash n go. 

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

Most days Im in the house for the majority of the day. I just make sure I moisturize my hair at some point throughout the day.  It’s almost always in a pineapple. So I spray some light leave-in in it and add my choice of oil for the day.

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

At night, if its not a wash night for me, I moisturize and pineapple my hair. Very simple. I use my satin/silk scarf to pineapple it. Then I sleep on my satin/silk pillow case. 

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

​​The only time I apply heat to my hair is when Im diffusing my wash n go. I use low warm heat, and I only do it for about 15-20 minutes. Then I allow it to dry on its own for the rest of the time.

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Chelsea Williams and I’m from Maryland.  

2. What is your hair type?

My hair type is 4C.

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I went natural several times before sticking with it. My most recent big chop was during the summer of 2012.

I decided to go natural because I was tired of spending so much money on weaves. I was also curious as to what my natural curl pattern looked like. Sadly, I had never seen it before. 

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

The most challenging thing about going natural was learning how to retain length and moisture.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I don’t shampoo or co-wash my hair weekly. I do twist-outs in between my shampooing and co-washing. You can find a break down of my current hair care routine on my website.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I take down my “pineapple” and fluff! Sometimes I will mist - and I do mean mist - my hair with a rose water and vegetable glycerin mix. ​

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

I pineapple my hair and cover it with a satin scarf or bonnet. 

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Yes, I use heat on my hair. I use heat on my hair after I shampoo or co-wash.

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

Shawn Clarke, Maryland, USA.

2. What is your hair type?

4a/4b

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I completely bald big chopped on July 17th 2012.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

Family members' opinions.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

Pre-poo with oil mix (castor oil, lavender oil & lemongrass oil), shampoo, deep condition (30min to 1 hr), leave-in conditioner, coconut oil or argan oil then apply styler and two-strand twist 

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

If still in twists, I spritz with water and re-apply coconut oil to freshen the twists and place in an updo .

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

Spritz with water and apply a moisturizing product (ex: Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie) and place hair in pineapple

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Yes, maybe twice a year. 

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

I’m Annisa LiMara and I’m originally from Jackson, Mississippi but currently reside in Baltimore, Maryland.

2. What is your hair type?

 4a/4b

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I went natural almost 10 years ago because my hair was damaged and breaking off due to excessive relaxer and color treatments.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

Trying to continuously control the frizz because the first 7 years I mainly kept my hair flat ironed which caused a lot of heat damage.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I wash and deep condition every week and do a steam or hot oil treatment every other week.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I recently shaved my hair off so I just add a little oil or pomade, brush and go…it takes literally one minute! Some days I do nothing!

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

I go to sleep or if I’m not being lazy, I’ll add some grapeseed oil, brush and put on a headscarf or “du rag”.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Only when using my handheld steamer, before I cut it, I used a diffuser minimally.

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Traeh and I’m from Baltimore, Maryland.

2. What is your hair type?

I believe my hair type is a 4b. 

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I went natural on January 28, 2014. I went natural because I was tired of getting relaxers and wearing wigs and weaves. I just wanted to embrace my natural hair. 

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

The most challenging thing about going natural was finding a good regimen. In the beginning it’s hard trying to figure out what works for your hair and what doesn’t if you aren’t used to wearing your natural hair. 

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

Every week I cleanse my hair with a cleansing conditioner then follow up with a good ol’ deep condition. Once I am done with that, I’ll prep my hair for styling. Usually, I can last a week without having to completely restyle my hair.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

In the mornings, if I’m rocking a wash & go, I’ll spritz my hair with water, fluff, and go! Other than that, I’ll just pick out my fro and be on my way!

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

If my hair is in a twist out and braid out, then at night I will spritz it with a little water, apply some Jamaican Black Castor Oil to my hair, and retwist or rebraid my hair in slightly bigger sections. If my hair is in a wash & go, I will put my hair in 4 ponytails to stretch it. Then I’ll cover my hair with my satin scarf or bonnet (whichever one I can find lol) and call it a night.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Nope, I don’t put any heat on my hair. 

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Cedya Castard I'm originally from Guadalupe, a small Caribbean island. Now I'm currently living in Maryland, USA

2. What is your hair type?

I don't go by hair typing but to help my ladies look for a similar type, I have 4b in the middle/ crown area and 4a on the front and back sides.  

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

Wow my first attempt to go natural was in 2011, I wanted to transition from relaxed to natural. But had a breakdown and relaxed my hair somehow. I know, I was clueless at the time and found some help from YouTube. So I tried it again the end of 2012 and I transitioned for about 1 year and 4 months. I cut my relaxed ends in January 2014  I was scared to let go of those scraggly ends (why? lol, for a little length) so I was fully natural in 2014 and now I'm going on strong in 2015 yaayy. I went natural because my relaxed hair went from full with body to thin and lifeless.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

Really patience and consistency; if u can do both, you're great and keeping hands off the hair. But the biggest challenge was finding my own Regimen.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I cleanse and condition my hair weekly... I cleanse my scalp with diluted shampoo with a applicator bottle focusing on my scalp. Then go in with my favorite conditioners. If I'm feeling dry I deep condition first for 1hr. Am I the only one who deep conditions first before shampoo?Anyway, I then seal all the goodness in with my favorite oil.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I usually don't do much in the morning. I do more during the night so when I wakeup I just put some oil on my hands and take down a twist, braid, or Bantu knot out etc ... 

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

First I think of the look I'm going for, then I style as desired. I use my favorite leave-in, a nice moisturizing product and seal with oil. Yes I do this every night, mmmmm if I not feeling lazy ? (side eye) lol put my silk scarf on call it a night!!! 

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Since I've been fully natural I've use heat only twice.. Don't want dry or head damage hair and oh that was just a blow out . Now when I was transitioning I use heat on my leave-out, I'm a u-part wig and weave girl . Let just say my leave out was DAMAGE. 

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

Hi my name is Kami and I am from Baltimore, Maryland.

2. What is your hair type?

I would like to say a mix between 3b and 3c.

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it? 

I went natural in 2001 because I wanted my hair to be healthy and long like I saw in old pictures of myself.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? 

For me it was perfecting my wash and go's. My hair would get so frizzy and not look good at all.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I usually do a wash n go now that I have it down. I cowash and then style.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I usually just shake my hair and add curls control paste to my middle part and edges then last apply an oil

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

I pineapple my hair for 4 day sometimes 5 day results.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? 

Yes I do. I mostly diffuse my hair when wearing it curly and I also flatiron my hair twice a year.

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Dayna, and I currently reside in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

2. What is your hair type?

I would say that I have type 4C hair.

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?

I transitioned for about a year in 2012. In February 2013 I decided to chop off the remaining relaxed ends. My 2 year natural anniversary will be February 2015! I decided to go natural because I was tired of putting chemicals in my hair and I was tired of my hair being brittle, and overall unhealthy.

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural?

The most challenging part about going natural was finding the products that worked best for my hair. When I first became natural I was a product junkie, like most new naturals. I was trying any and everything that my favorite YouTuber tried and recommended. That just led to frustration because everything that works for her may not work for me. So really finding the best products for my hair has been challenging, but now that I have; it is super easy!

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

My weekly regimen consists of a wash and deep condition. My wash days are Sundays, so I use this time to relax do some chores around the house while I have on my shower cap deep conditioning my hair. After the deep condition I will either flat twist my hair, or protective style it in a goddess twist braid.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

This typically depends on my hair style and what my hair tells me in the morning. If my hair is in flat twists, I would unravel them using coconut oil, then fluff and style. If my hair is just out; I would do the LOC method (Liquid, Oil, Cream). I will spray my hair with my favorite leave in conditioning spray, add in a little coconut oil, and then seal in the moisture with shea butter.

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

My nightly routine is the LOC method mentioned above if my hair needs it, and then adding Jamaican black Castor oil on my edges.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all?

Right now I am participating in a no heat challenge, so I am currently resisting the urge to use any heat. But I am typically not a big heat person. I will probably go another year before I flat iron/ straighten my hair. 

The last time I had my hair straightened was February of 2014. I told myself I will not straighten my hair until it is down my back lol. So I think I have another year to go! But once the challenge is over I will use small amounts of heat, such as a blow dryer just to stretch my hair a little for my twist outs. Currently, if I want my hair to be stretched; I would French braid my hair in about 6 sections and then stretch those sections across my head and bobby pin it. In the morning I will take out the braids, comb it out a little and my hair is stretched. 

1. What's your name and where are you from? 

My name is Chanell; I come from Bowie, Maryland but I currently live in Orlando, FL. I'm a blogger who has an interest in Natural Hair and Healthy Living.

2. What is your hair type?

I'm not into hair typing as a way to classify my strands, but for all intents and purposes, I'm a type 4 girl. [4A/4B]

3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?

My last relaxer was in 2010; I transitioned for two years and cut my final relaxed ends off in July of 2012. I decided to go natural because I started to take my health seriously; I started paying attention to what I put into my body and on my skin. 

Eating healthier, reading ingredients, diet and exercise became important to me after being educated about certain lifestyle choices. One day I thought, here I am making lifestyle changes but still putting chemicals on my scalp ever 6-8 weeks. It seemed contradictory to my new lifestyle choices, so I decided to stop. Also, around this time, I'd begun seeing many women without relaxers, who had big beautiful halos around their heads. I decided to take the plunge!

4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural?

The most challenging thing about going natural for me was being patient with myself as I learned my hair. Learning my hair was a necessary part of the "going natural" process because I planned to be the caretaker of my hair. My strategy was to research and learn through trial and error.  Yes, this may mean a bad hair day or two :-), but take it all in your stride.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

At the beginning of most weeks, I start out with wash day (oil pre-poo, scalp cleanse, deep condition (alternate between regular DC or protein DC) and end the day by setting my hair for the week, or the first half of the week. The morning after wash day, I usually remove either braids, twists, or rollers with a light oil on my fingers. I then style my hair in a 'get up and go' style, such as a high or low puff, low puff with a bang, bun, twist/braid out, cinnabun, tuck and roll styles, etc.  If it's midweek and my hair is feeling dry, I re-moisturize (using the L.O.C method), reset my hair and do the aforementioned all over again.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

Because I wear 'get up and go' styles, my morning regimen is simple: Remove my scarf (if I forget to sleep in one, I always sleep on my satin pillowcase) and go. If it's the first day of wearing my braid/twist out I remove the braids/twists with oil, separate the hair, but not too much so as to preserve the texture, and use my afro pick to fluff my roots. If it's the case that I'm wearing a 'protective style I just get up and go, literally. Those are my best styles.

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

The only regular night regimen I have is to wear a silk or satin scarf at night; if a scarf is unavailable, I have a satin pillowcase. If ever I'm going out of town, I'm sure to pack it.

8. Do you use heat on your hair at all?

Throughout my transition and even when I first went natural, I never used heat. Recently, I've decided to try having my hair blown out. I have this done by a professional, although it's completely easy to do at home, if you have the time and patience; I do not. I tried once on my own, and didn't get through the first section before I broke the dryer comb. 

I have this done once a month or so. The woman only charges me $10 because I arrive with my hair washed and conditioned. Whenever I get a trim (once every 3 months), I have it blown out and trimmed. I love this style! It reminds me of the fierce 70-esque afros. Initially I was overwhelmed at how much hair I had but as I got used to the look I began to love it. To maintain the style, add a bit of shea butter and few fat twists or braids to my hair at night.