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

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

23/9/2015

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

My name is Daye and I'm from North Carolina, USA.

2. What is your hair type?

I'm not really into hair typing because I have a mixture of curls between 3c, 4a and 4b. Yikes, right? :)

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

I wish I had some profound story about why I decided to transition to natural, but I started this journey in 2011 after getting a head injury and putting a relaxer on healing wounds was out of the question.

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

The most challenging part about being natural for me is letting go of damaging habits. I loved my Dominican Blowouts and even after starting the natural hair journey, I still damaged my hair with heat, which resulted in a whole other transition which I started in 2013. It was hard to let go of the heat and learn to love my curls and the shrinkage that comes with it.

5. What is your weekly regimen?

My regimen varies from style to style but my go to are perm rod sets. For that, I rod my hair once/twice a week using foaming lotions and hair milks. I co-wash, rather than shampoo, once a week to eliminate product build up, but retain moisture and about every other week, I do a combination of deep conditioning and home made protein treatments.

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

In the mornings, I shake, fluff with a pick, and with some moisture on my hands, I finger coil the frizzy curls and separate the big ones.

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

At night, I tie a scarf around my edges, with the curls pushed towards the top of my head, and put a bonnet around the curls. For some reasons, pineapples do not work for me, but this works perfectly. I'm able to get about 4-6 days out of my sets. I actually got 8 once.

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

I use indirect heat (steamers, hooded dryers) regularly. There's this misconception in the natural community that heat is bad and that's not the case. My hair has low porosity and the indirect heat lifts my cuticles to help moisture penetrate the shafts versus just sitting on top.

So if you feel like you have dry hair? Try sitting under a hooded dryer or use a steamer when you condition, if you don't have either but a plastic cap/bag around your hair and take a shower... As far as direct heat (curling irons/wands, blow dryers, straighteners), I only use those a few times out of the year. I've managed to figure out roller wraps and can straighten my hair with just the heat of a hooded dryer.

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

I cannot cornrow to save my life and I'm still working on twist outs. I do get my hair braided for protective styles at a salon whenever I need a break from manipulation. So far this year, I've had crochet braids about 3 times and Cherokee braids 3 times.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

Both, plus one! I start off with a wide tooth comb, follow that up with a Denman brush, and hit any knotting with a Tangle Teezer.

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

My hair is normally loose, in a perm rod set. But I do protective styles frequently to give my hair a break from manipulation.

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

The heat damage I mentioned when I started transitioning was definitely tragic and I had to transition out of that by doing a long period of protective styles. I still have a couple of limp pieces and the left side of my hair is generally limp. I may have actually damaged the follicles there, it grows the fastest on that that side but it remains limp, despite no heat.

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

My biggest tip is to learn a moisture regimen that that works for you.

Moisture can promote growth, assist with length retention, and act as a damage protectant but what works for one natural does not work for every one, even if you have similar curl patterns. Everyone's hair goes through a unique journey, so it needs to be cared for that way. I recommend researching the LOC method if you're looking for a place to start. I've altered that and do a LCO version and that works well for me.

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