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

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

My name is Gifty. I was born in Germany, where I live at the moment, but I’m originally from Accra, Ghana.

2. What is your hair type?

My hair type is 4C.

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

I lived in Ghana throughout my teenage years and wore my hair natural during my school days. I started using a relaxer when I was about 20 years old and finally stopped it in January 2014. Two months later, (March 2014) I had my “Big Chop”.
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I took this decision because, my hair didn’t look healthy, my edges were always short, and I couldn’t stop but wonder, why on earth I kept spending so much time and money, on fake hair instead of my real hair all these years. Secondly, I was motivated by my younger sister, who went natural a year before I did. And thirdly, which is my main reason, well, after hitting the age 30, I have learned to appreciate myself. Going natural, was part of the process. I got so sick and tired of chasing a kind of “beauty” just to feel accepted or to meet a certain “standard”. Now I know, I don’t have to proof anything to anybody.

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

• The transformation of my perception of beauty, was very challenging.
• Stopping the hunt for products that promised to achieve a certain curl pattern or make my hair feel a certain way, was a challenge as well.
• Eventually, embracing my hair for what it is, especially the shrinkage lol.

5. What is your weekly regimen? 

I wash my hair once a week. I put it into a protective style, three strand braids, twists, two big cornrows, African threading or simply an afro.

6. What is your daily morning regimen? 

I’m really concerned about my edges, so I spray them every morning with water and apply my sheabutter mix to seal the moisture. 

7. What is your daily night time regimen? 

If my hair is in a protective style, I spray it with water, then I apply my sheabutter mix to my edges and a small amount through my hair. If my hair was in an afro during the day, I do the same procedure, and put them into braids, before I go to bed. I use a satin pillow, so I don’t wear a scarf.

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

No, I don’t use heat on my hair.

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

No, but I’m planning to integrate that into my regimen.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush? 

Definitely a wide-tooth comb.

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

I would say 50/50, because I like wearing scarfs and hats when my hair is loose.

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

Oh yes! LOL

About three months prior to my wedding, I woke up one morning and realised my edges were gone(LOL). I was in shock!

And although this seemed to be a gradual process, it didn’t really occur to me that I was losing my hair. No one ever told me this is normal after child birth.

I’ve heard about post partum shedding, but I was so naive to think that, that was not something that runs in my family (I really have to laugh about my ignorance) since this is a natural process based on our hormones, to which many women can relate.

Ever since I went natural, my dream has always been to get married, wearing my natural hair in a nice updo.

So here I was, with my broken dream whiles time was running. When I finally got over my shock. I wanted to at least, do something that will promote hair growth and retention of my edges. So that’s where I decided to have a hair routine, and be serious about it. Plus this time, I made a sheabutter mix with natural ingredients like oils that were unrefined. I applied it day and night, to my edges religiously, but also, when doing my protective styles. Making sure they were not tight.

​To my surprise, my edges grew back gradually. And at my wedding, I was able to wear my hair in an updo, without anyone realising that, I had struggled with my edges months before.

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

I don’t comb my hair when it is wet, neither do I comb it when it is dry, I only comb my hair when it’s dump or well moisturized.  Because that’s when it’s in its strongest state.

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

• Instagram: @simply_gifty
• Facebook: facebook.com/SimplyGifty
• YouTube: youtube.com/SimplyGifty
• Googleplus: plus.google.com/+SimplyGifty

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