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

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

Hello Queens! My name is Ekene, and I’m from Nigeria!

2. What is your hair type?

Super kinky 4C.

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

I big chopped in May 2012. I knew being natural would be healthier for my hair, and I also felt it would be more “me”. Thanks to the lovely women on Curly Nikki and Black Girl Long Hair & many more hair bloggers, I had become aware that it was an option for me to wear my hair in its natural state. AND I’ve always preferred wearing my own hair to extensions. Natural hair presented waaaay more versatility and options than relaxed hair.

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

The most challenging thing was truly my own mind. I was so afraid, I thought it wouldn’t work out for me.

5. What is your weekly regimen?

I moisturise 2-3 times a week, and when my hair is out, I co-wash 2 times, and I deep condition at least once a week!

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

Mmm I don’t have much of a daily regimen. I’ve found that I prefer to moisturise my hair at night. By morning, it’s just easier for me to work with soft well moisturised hair that isn’t wet or damp.

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

When I have a style in, I just wear my satin bonnet to sleep- and before that I spritz to moisturise if necessary.

But when my hair is loose, I chunky twist before bed so my fro is somewhat stretched in the morning.

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

Hm. I like to steam my hair, that’s indirect heat. But since I went natural, save for a few blow-outs before braiding, I haven’t used any heat on my hair. Maybe when it’s long enough, I’ll try.

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

Yes I love to braid my hair. About 4 times a year.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

If I must choose, wide tooth comb. But if I don’t have to, I’d choose my fingers. :)

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

Last year I wore my hair mostly loose in a fro, which in retrospect wasn’t the wisest thing to do because I combed it like every single day, sometimes twice a day or even 3 times! Since the beginning of this year though, I’ve been protective styling - alternating styles with or without extensions.

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

Hmmm. After my big chop, I felt pretty brave. I had 8 months of growth from transitioning and I wanted to try going even lower. So I went to the barber with wet hair. I wasn’t considering shrinkage and I doubt he knew anything about that. So there was no blow-out. He took his clipper to my wet, shrunken, patted down hair and the end result wasn’t pretty. My hair was patchy in different places. One side was obviously longer than the rest, and in some places, I could see my scalp! :O

It was so bad that I went to a salon to get a weave and they didn’t believe a barber could have done that! They asked if I was playing with scissors. So embarrassing, lol that bad!

So to fix it, I wore protective styles back to back for 4 months, and then I did a re-chop, bringing everything down to the shortest length. Sigh, talk about my 8 months of transitioning struggle all wasted!!

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

My hair isn’t long (yet!) but it’s pretty healthy. My biggest tip would be deep condition, deep condition, deep condition! But note that you have to DC according to your hair’s needs. Don’t overdo it, don’t use protein when you don’t have to.

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

I talk hair on my blog, The Kink and I (thekinkandi.wordpress.com). I’m also on facebook (facebook.com/thekinkandi) & instagram (instagram.com/thekinkandi). On twitter, I quibble about other things. @kene_co (twitter/com/kene_Co).

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