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

20/2/2015

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

My name is Dana Harrell and I’m from Richmond, Vancouver, USA.

2. What is your hair type?

I’d say my hair type is a mix between 3C and 4B from looking at the charts but I’m not sure because I don’t hair type. I feel like that takes away from the fun of natural hair.

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

I got my last relaxer in 2011 and started transitioning but I got tired of the process and did the chop June 2, 2012. I stopped getting relaxers because I used to get those nasty scabs in my head and they would hurt. My beautician is natural (she has locs) and she was a huge influence in my decision.

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

The most challenging thing for me going natural was acceptance. I was afraid of how my friends and family would view me, especially my parents. I was very happy and relieved when both my friends and parents loved my decision and at the end of the day, their opinions were all that mattered to me and I became a stronger person from it. Now I don’t who likes or dislikes my hair because I love it.

5. What is your weekly regimen?

Since I work at a daycare with children, I find it easier to have my hair contained during the week. Every Sunday I wash my hair (or if I’m lazy, I’ll just spray with a mixture of leave in conditioner and water lol).

I only shampoo my hair before and after I do a protective style like a sew in or braids or after I straighten my hair but I use the U R Curly Soya Shampoo and I use the U R Curly Soya Conditioner every time I wash my hair. I twist my hair using coconut oil and Shea Moisture’s Curling Soufflé. I hate the way it feels on my fingers, but my curls are SUPER defined using that product.

I love trying new things so I will experiment with different stylers, shampoos, and conditioners, but that’s usually what I use to obtain my perfect twist-out and I always do this process. I don’t part at all when I twist lol so when I finish, I’d say I have about 25-30 twists in my hair because I do them kinda small. So I go to work Mon-Fri with my twists in and Friday night I usually go out with my friends so that’s when I untwist! Then repeat on Sunday lol

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

Simple. Wake up, Lightly spray a mixture of water and leave in conditioner on my twists, rub a bit of oil on them, then I’m out. lol

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

Also simple lol. I also spray my leave-in mixture on my hair and massage my hair with oil. The only difference is I sleep with a satin bonnet. If it’s a weekend where my hair is out, I TRY to remember to twist my hair before bed in big chunky twists. If I don’t (because I’m not perfect and sometimes I’m too tired lol) I’ll just throw my bonnet on, and just bun it up in the morning if it’s un-save..able lol . I don’t know if my hair is too short to do the pineapple method or if I’m just not grasping the concept, but that just doesn’t work for me.

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

I try to limit heat. I haven’t flat ironed my hair since December of last year, and I went to a professional. I do blow dry my hair before getting it braided or a sew-in but I don’t blow dry it completely dry. It’ll be maybe 80% dry.

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

Yes! I have a friend who is amazing at doing hair. (Shout-out to Tia!) This year I’ve only had my hair braided once and that was over the summer. I had Marley Twists and I kept them in for about 2 months. I’ll maybe get my hair braided twice per year. It just depends on how I feel.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

I usually finger detangle but I’m just fine with a wide tooth comb. I have a Denman but I feel like nothing detangles better than my comb, if I need it.

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

Now that I work, It’s normally protected in two strand twists.

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

I sure have! It was the first time I tried Bantu-knots. My hair came out looking like a limp noodle lol. I pinned the sides and left a “bang” in the front since that was the only part that looked decent lol

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

Moisture! My hair is very thick and it’s very easy for it to become dry so I have to remember that water and oil has to be apart of my regimen every morning and every night and sometimes during the day. Our hair is like flowers, it needs water to prosper.

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