Queen Christine ~ Queen Of Kinks, Curls & Coils® (Neno Natural)

8/11/2014

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

Christine St. Vil; originally, my family is from Uganda, East Africa. I was born in DC and raised in Maryland.

2. What is your hair type?

I've never really studied the whole hair type thing, so can't honestly say I have a favorite. But I do love my tight kinky coils :).

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

I did my BC in March 2012. I had been transitioning for about 6 months at that point. But when I washed my hair, I realized too late that I had not completely detangled it beforehand. The result was that my hair was completely tangled in lumps where my new growth met the perm. I had no choice but to sit on my bathroom floor and take scissors to my own hair. I may or may not have shed some tears in the process.

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

For me, I felt like I was exposing myself because I could no longer wear bangs or have hair cover any part of my face. I also had absolutely NO clue on what to do with my natural hair, how to style it or keep it moisturized. Thank God for natural hair girlfriends and YouTube!

5. What is your weekly regimen?

My weekly regimen generally consists of a co-wash and twistout. If I don't have any events, then I'll wear flat twists and slap a bonnet and scarf around my head.

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

If my hair is out, then I'll "fluff and go". If it's not, I'll untwist and moisturize.

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

I know I probably should twist my hair every night, but with three kids and a business...it just doesn't happen. So I try to at least spray my hair with a homeade concoction of coconut oil, olive oil and filtered water, before covering it with my bonnet.

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

I rarely use heat. I made the mistake of allowing a so-called professional (and natural) hair dresser to straighten my hair and I ended up with bad heat damage. So now, IF I use heat, I have my blow dryer on a very low setting and even then only until it's just a little damp, so I can elongate my twist-outs.

9. Do you braid your hair? If so, how often do you do so in a year?

I don't braid my own hair. But I do get it done about once a year. I'm currently rocking Senegalese twists because I was on a cruise and have been doing a lot of traveling and taking the kids to the pool and water parks.

So, usually it's once a year but generally not more than twice.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

Definitely my Denman brush...the comb just doesn't do it for me, I'm better off finger detangling because my coils are so tight.

11. Is your hair normally loose or in a protective-do?

When my hair is free from braids, I'm generally either rocking a twist-out or an afro puff. And if I do a protective style, I'll usually throw on a cute head wrap and call it a day.

12. Have you ever had a hair tragedy? What was it? How did you recover from it?

I briefly mentioned both: The first being my accidental big chop (it was a serious tragedy, complete with tears, I'll admit). And the second being the heat damage I received as a result of a blow out.

13. What's your biggest tip for maintaining healthy or long hair?

I'm still researching and studying this as well. However, once I understood that I my hair needed as much water as possible to maintain moisture, that's when I started to see a change in the health and length of my hair.

14. Where can we find you online? (blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc).