1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Olivia Johnson and I am from Detroit, MI. 2. What is your hair type? I have 3! I am mostly 4C but I also have 4A (in the front and sides of my hair) and 4B (in the back of my hair) textures.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural in 2012. I wore my hair in a lot of twist outs during the summer to give my hair a break from heat, not realizing that was the beginning of me transitioning lol. After a few months with no heat, I was inspired by a couple of natural hair gurus on Youtube and that is when I decided to really go natural. I was tired of straightening my hair. I hated the process actually, but back then I felt like if my hair was straightened I was more beautiful and would be accepted more. I decided to make my own beauty standard and didn't care what others thought anymore. Here is my hair story
4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural?
The most challenging thing for me was learning how to care for my hair. I never actually did my hair in it's natural state, I only knew how to do my hair straightened so I literally had to learn how to do my hair as an adult and I had to figure out what worked and what didn't work for my hair. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I wash or co-wash my hair weekly or bi-weekly, depending on if I have a lot of product build up or not. I usually pre-poo before washing my hair to make detangling easier. Most of the time I will two-strand twist my hair or wear an updo until my next wash. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? Before leaving the house I make sure I apply moisturizer. Since I have type 4 hair it is essential that I moisturize daily, so I refresh my hair with a moisturizing mist or cream. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? Before bed all I do is put a bonnet on, or I'll just sleep on a satin pillowcase. I only twist my hair the day I wash it, I do not twist my hair every night. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? Yes I blow dry my hair. The very first year I did not use any heat at all, I just let my hair air dry. Now I blow dry my hair twice a month at the most. I have a lot of shrinkage, so if I want to wear a certain style I will blow dry my hair first to stretch it. I love how my twist outs look when my hair is blow dried first because my hair looks really fluffy and it is easier for me to wear updos when my hair is blow dried. Check out my blow-drying routine here
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? I do not braid my hair, I haven't had it braided since going natural actually. I do want to start wearing braid outs though, so I will start braiding my hair soon. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? I use both. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? It is normally loose. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? I haven't had a hair tragedy while natural, but when I used to straighten my hair I broke my hair off and damaged my hair by using way too much heat. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Moisturize, low manipulation and trim when necessary. I do not detangle my hair everyday and I do not detangle when my hair is dry, that can cause a lot of breakage. I also do not wear super tight hair styles that will pull at my edges. Keeping your hair moisturized will keep you from experiencing breakage, especially in harsh summers and winters. Also, a lot of people aren't retaining length because they trim their hair too much. On average, hair grows a half inch a month, if you are trimming every 3 months you are trimming your growth; half an inch a month x 3 months = 1.5 inches every 3 months on average, so if you are trimming too much you probably won't see growth. I always tell people to TRIM WHEN NECESSARY. If you go 3 months and you don't need a trim, then don't trim. If you take good care of your edges and moisturize often, you will find that you won't need to trim your hair as much. Keep and eye on your ends and make sure you are keeping them healthy. Ends are the oldest part of our hair so they are more susceptible to breakage and damage. On the other hand, if you are not trimming your hair when you need to you also won't see growth. Your hair will break off really easily and you will not retain your length, so keep an eye on your hair and trim when you know you should! 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1 Comment
1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Whitney and I’m from the Metro Detroit area. 2. What is your hair type? My hair type is 4a/3c.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I returned to having natural hair when I was around 16 years old. I got my first relaxer when I was 7 years old. I was an athlete in high school (volleyball and swimming). It just made since to go natural since I was either getting my hair wet swimming, sweating my hair out during volleyball or getting my hair braided for convenience due to playing sports. I transitioned for less than a year before cutting my hair to about 4 inches or so. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The most challenging thing was transitioning. Trying to blend in the 2 different textures was a hassle. If I had the head for it (lol) and the confidence back then I would have just big chopped. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I cleanse my hair with a moisturizing shampoo or bentonite clay, deep condition and style my hair weekly. I may do a water only or a co-wash with conditioner in between wash days if my hair is in need of it. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? I mostly just lightly spray my hair with warm water in the morning. I feel like the warm water reactivates the product that’s already on my hair. I don’t like to seal my hair daily because the buildup makes my low porosity hair very dry. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I make sure to either wear my satin bonnet, satin scarf or sleep on a satin pillow case. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I haven’t styled my hair using heat in 3 years. For the first 11/12 years of my now 15 year hair journey I did use heat to straighten my hair. I transitioned from having heat damaged hair about a little over a year and a half ago where I cut off a total of 10-12 inches of hair. So, yeah, I’m a bit scared to use heat to style my hair. I was never able to retain length passed my shoulders due to me mismanaging the use of heat styling amongst other things. My goal as of now is to reach waist length. I may try roller sets under a dryer then. I have used low heat to deep condition my hair under a plastic cap. Which is very beneficial for someone with low porosity hair.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? No, I haven’t braided my hair but I do look forward to doing it in the future. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? I mostly use a Denman brush but I first finger detangle before using it. This helps in reducing breakage for me. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? My hair is normally loose. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Well, like I mentioned previously, I had heat damage. Many natural styles didn’t always look the best on me back then. I recovered by chopping the straight hair off. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? My biggest tip for maintaining healthy hair or long hair is low manipulation. Low manipulation styles and routines are great ways to reduce breakage so we can have that full, healthy head of hair. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Bria Larine from Detroit, MI 2. What is your hair type? 4A/4B
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural June 1st, 2013. The reason I went natural is when I got mt hair dyed blond, I noticed my hair breaking off. I really had no other option but to go natural or I could risk my hair possibly falling out... I've been obsessed with natural hair ever since! 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? Transitioning from heat damage, color damage or any type of damage. Its such a huge separation between your natural curls and the dead ends. I couldn't do a twistout without using perm rods until I was natural from about 6/7 months. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I co wash with an conditioner in the middle of the weeks, either Wednesday or Thursday and style in my usual twistout, or if I'm feeling spontaneous I'll do another type of style. Sunday is my major wash day. I pre-poo with conditioner or oil (depending on what i have), co wash with a cleansing conditioner, deep condition for about an hour and style. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? Mainly untwisting, fluffing. I don't do much in the morning. If I'm having a bad hair day, I style my hair in a puff as my go to style. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I spritz my hair with my water/glycerin/leave-in conditioner mix, use product of my choice and twist my hair for the night. For additional moisture i seal my hair with my Shea butter mix. I usually do larger twist because I'm mainly focusing on keeping my hair moisturized. I like my hair fluffy, so definition isn't a big deal to me. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I've used heat twice since I have been natural, and honestly I don't like the look if straight hair on myself. I feel that it take away my "look".
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? As in a braid/twist out? Almost everyday. If we are talking braids as in a protective style, I've had box braids once about 2 years ago. I might get them again soon, but I've been contemplating. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? I use both. I used my wide tooth comb if my hair is a mess to get out the majority of the kinks, if i just need to lightly detangle i use my Denman brush. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? My hair is loose 90% of the year, if not more. I need my fro, it's apart of me. If I have my hair in a protective style i feel awkward. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Yes! My hair was already struggling because my colored ends were starting to lose it curl and become limp. I then decided to do wand curls and the heat made my curls even more limp. I eventually had to cut myself some bangs because I couldn't take the inconsistent curls. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Moisturize, and seal! Use water to keep your hair moisturize and use a oil to seal that moisture in. Also, deep conditioning weekly really helps. You might not notice a instant change, but over time you'll be happy with the results. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Kathy a.k.a Urban Beauty Within (Youtuber). I'm from Michigan, USA. 2. What is your hair type? My hair type is 3B & 3C (Curly Spirally and Curly Coily).
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural in January of 2013. Becoming natural wasn't something I thought I would ever do. The reason why I became natural is due to heat, bleach & dye damage. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The hard part of being natural was that my peers didn’t fully understand why I chose to go natural. At the end of the day it’s my hair and my life, so forget what others think lol! 5. What is your weekly regimen? I co-wash my hair once every week for 4 weeks. After the fourth co-wash I wash my hair, condition & deep condition. After I wash my hair I always do the LOC method and braid up my hair. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? I usually go to sleep with my hair braided or twisted up. In the morning before work I just undo the braids or curls and wear my hair in a nice curly hairdo. Sometimes I wear a high curly ponytail on some days. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I usually braid or twist my hair in the evening. My hair is moisturized by doing the LOC Method. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I only use heat/straighten my hair 3 to 4 times a year. Sometimes less than that.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?
I braid my hair a whole lot! My hair comes out very well with braid-outs. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? I use both. Wide tooth comb is good for teasing your roots to create a bigger fro. Denman Brush is good to detangle your hair to make sure your curls have no snags. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? My hair is usually loose but I do like flat twist up-dos for my protective hairstyles. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? At one point in my life I used to get my hair professionally done by hairstylists. My husband, who was my boyfriend at that time, encouraged me to try doing my own hair instead of dishing out a lot of money every 2 weeks. I listened and began caring for my own hair. I was still straightening but without using relaxers. I then wanted to dye my hair blonde. My previous hair stylist refused to dye my hair blonde. When my mind is set to do something I do it. I bleached & dyed my own hair to blonde. A part of me still regrets doing that to this day. But the other half of me is happy about making this mistake because this is what led to my natural hair journey. My hair was no longer healthy and felt like hay. I was sick of trying out a lot of money every 2 weeks. I listened and began caring for my own hair. I was still straightening but without using relaxers. I then wanted to dye my hair blonde. My previous hair stylist refused to dye my hair blWhen my mind is set to do something I do it. I bleached & dyed my own hair to blonde. A part of me still regrets doing that to this day. But the other half of me is happy about making this mistake because this is what led to my natural hair journey. My hair was no longer healthy and felt like hay. I was sick of trying to live with my super damaged hair. I had a friend that was natural and asked her if I should go ahead and cut off all my hair. She agreed with me, so 20 minutes later I did the big chop. I was happy about cutting off my damaged hair but insecure about having short hair for the first time. Because of my insecurities I bought some lace wigs and even created my own. But eventually I became comfortable enough to wear my short hair out in public. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Drink plenty of water, Co-wash weekly, use products made for natural hair care. I also suggest doing the LOC Method, that has deffinately saved me! 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1. What's your name and where are you from?
My Name is Gloria Ann from Detroit, Michigan. 2. What is your hair type? My Hair Type is 4b/4c.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural on December 7, 2012. I went natural because my hair was damaged by chemicals. I was so disgusted with chemicals making my hair fall out. I wanted to know what MY hair looked like. I wanted to start a new journey of finding my true self and loving me for me. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The most challenging thing was working in a corporate environment with people that didn't think my hair was acceptable. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I co-wash once a week, follow up with the LOC Method, then my desired style. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? Detangle, moisturize, style. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? The LOC Method, twists, then I protect my hair with a silk scarf. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? No.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? I braid my hair only when I'm doing braid outs on my hair, which is every so often. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Wide-tooth comb. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? Lol, I switch it up a lot..I'd say normally loose. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? No. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? I found that the "LOC Method" is crucial for maintaining healthy hair. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1. What's your name and where are you from?
My name is Ginny and I am from Detroit, Michigan! D-town! 2. What is your hair type? My hair type is 3c and 4a. I have s-waves on top and defined coils on the sides and in the back!
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I never really had a relaxer growing up but I always had a press and curl. I accidentally went natural. My hair was so heat damaged. It was long and stringy. I was sick of my press and curl look as well and was ready for a change. I was complaining about my hair non-stop, hiding at my desk at work and avoiding folks because I just hated it. Your hair is your crowning glory and it really affects your confidence. My hair issues were preventing me from doing very important things in my life. One Sunday night, I went into the bathroom and just cut it all off with some scissors leaving about 1 inch behind of new growth. I was so confused that I did not know what I was going to do with my hair since I had to go to work the next day so I looked online as anyone would. I found Mahogany Curls on Youtube and she mentioned the “The Curly Girl Handbook” by Lorraine Massey which I downloaded that night and I have been natural ever since. I big chopped in April 2012. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? The most challenging part was during the TWA stage. My hair wasn’t long enough to do anything with. However, I got so many compliments when I wore it curly that I just grew to love my hair and became more confident. My biggest issue was moisture though but by using the LCO method or the LOC method (liquid-cream-oil) to moisturize my hair at least 2 times a week, I have solved that problem. 5. What is your weekly regimen? I am on a strict weekly regimen which includes pre-pooing with coconut oil or a leave-in to finger detangle, washing or co-washing with a low suds or no poo cleansing cream, and conditioning or deep conditioning (alternate with and without proteins). When it comes to moisturizing I do the LCO method or the LOC method (liquid-cream-oil) at least 2x a week. I may or may not use a leave-in depending on the ingredients in my moisturizer but most times I do. I must moisturize with this method at least 2x a week. I typically do twist-outs but I have started doing more wash and go’s as well. I also like to protective style my hair with two-strand twists. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? I am typically taking down my maintenance twists and/or pinning it up so I put a little oil (I like NATURALICIOUS Divine Shine Oyl) on my hands first and gently massage my hair. I do this for shine and to soften it. If I have a wash and go then I mist my hair with a little water and then use a quarter sized amount of a light leave-in conditioner and scrunch it into my hair and go. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I do different things at night depending on the style I am trying to maintain. I do massage a little Jamaican Black Castor Oil on my edges and eyebrows at night as I am growing them out due to a setback. If I have a twist out that I am trying to maintain then I will lightly twist my hair into 8 maintenance twists without applying any more product and put on a satin scarf. If I have a bantu knot out or any curls in general then I use a satin bonnet to maintain my curl. If I have an updo then I also just use a satin scarf. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? I don’t use heat at all because there are so many ways to stretch your hair and get curls without doing that, for instance, you can use curl formers, flexi rods, perm rods, cold wave rods, straws, etc. The options are limitless so in order to prevent heat damage regardless of using a heat protectant, I just avoid it. In the last year, I’ve only blow dried my hair once.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? If I do braid my hair then I am doing a braid-out but I typically don’t because it takes too long to do and too long to take them down versus doing a twist-out in quarter of the time. 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? BOTH! I typically use a wide tooth comb only to detangle if my hair is really matted or something and that's when it is soaking wet in the shower. I may use a Denman brush on the ends of certain sections to smooth the ends prior to twisting a difficult section. 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? I typically wear twist-outs because I can do them in 20 minutes and they last all week until I start my regimen over again. I like protective hair styles as well when my twist out starts to look funky then I will pin it up in the back and do a halo twist on each side and leave a few curly good looking strands out. These two styles are my staple styles. 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Yes, unfortunately, I used a cheap gel on my edges and it broke them off despite me still moisturizing twice weekly. I do massage a little Jamaican Black Castor Oil on my edges and eyebrows at night to strengthen them and keep them growing and healthy. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? Moisturize! That is the best thing you can do. Do it twice a week to retain moisture and keep your hair from breaking due to dryness. I’ve retained a lot of hair doing this and my hair is currently past armpit length and I big chopped in April 2012. Check your ends every 3 months and clip any split ends or get a professional curly girl cut. Alternate with products weekly that contain protein and those that don't (i.e. deep conditioners and conditioners) this way you can avoid having too many steps in your wash day process. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply.
1. What's your name and where are you from?
Dawn Gibson-Thigpen. I am originally from Michigan. However, I currently live in South Florida 2. What is your hair type? I think I am more like a 3c/4a.
3. When did you go natural and what made you do it?
I went natural about 4 years ago, due to extreme over processing and weaves. 4. What was the most challenging thing about going natural? Nothing really! I didn't really have to much of a choice. One day I looked in the mirror and I didn't have a bang! I stood there for a moment and said out loud, "Wow! you look like Homey The Clown"! I can laugh now, but at that time I was totally destroyed! #eyeopener! 5. What is your weekly regimen? I usually co-wash every two weeks with a simple conditioner, then I also condition with Tea Tree Tingle (Trader Joe's) leaving it in for 5 to 15 minutes; it really helps to detangle the hair. After that I apply a mixture of Olive Oil/Hair Food Product, Aloe Vera Gel (Trader Joe's), Shea-Butter Miracle Moisture Intense Bouncy Curls Pudding (African Pride) and either twist my hair or section it off into 2/3 big braids depending on the style I will be wearing the next day. 6. What is your daily morning regimen? In the morning, regardless of the hairstyle, I set the night before, I will just run some Olive Oil or a Hair Food Product through my hair, and then fluff, separate, or finger detangle depending on the style. 7. What is your daily night time regimen? I apply a mixture of Olive Oil/Hair Food Product, Aloe Vera Gel (Trader Joe's), Shea-Butter Miracle Moisture Intense Bouncy Curls Pudding (African Pride). Then I stretch my hair by either twisting it or putting it in 2 or 3 big braids depending the style I am wearing the next day. 8. Do you use heat on your hair at all? No so far, but I am not against doing so.
9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year? No 10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? Wide-tooth comb 11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do? I would say 50/50 12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it? Yes! For many years I had really pretty thick hair (permed). However, due to overprocessing and weaves it broke off really badly. I wasn't bold enough to chop off what I had left and wear it natural then, so I wore wigs for 3.5 of the 4 years I have been natural. I recently came out to the world. LOL. 13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair? To ensure you only comb your hair when it is moisturized. When combing take your time and don't rush the process, when you do rush there seems to be breakage. Also, when you find a great product stick with it. 14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).
![]()
Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.
Want to be featured as a Queen of Kinks, Curls & Coil? Here's how to apply. |
Who's The Queen of Kinks?You are! Everyone is the queen of their own kinks, curls & coils. On this blog you can enjoy the natural hair journeys of dozens of curly queens. Categories
All
Archives
December 2017
|