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

7/1/2015

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

My name is Joan Akob and I'm Cameroonian, but I've been living in South Africa for the past 7 years.

2. What is your hair type?

I'm proudly #Team4c hair. Woop woop.

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

I returned to natural hair this year on the 2nd of January. I had long relaxed hair but decided to do a big chop because I was suffering from severe scalp damage. My scalp was very sensitive to relaxers and got burnt countless times. My hair started to break and my scalp bled when I did hairstyles. It was really painful and so I made the brave decision to chop it all off and start afresh. Best decision I made.

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

The most challenging thing definitely has to be the detangling of the thick fro. My hair is fully loaded and so I really battled to handle it. The reason I ran to relaxers in the first place is because I couldn't comb it. So before I discovered detangle sprays, wide-tooth combs or even using my fingers, detangling was my biggest challenge.

5. What is your weekly regimen?

I don't really have a weekly regimen. It's more like alternate weeks and its really simple :)

When my hair is out of a protective style, I wash with shampoo and conditioner once in every 2 weeks and co-wash only for the following two weeks. Before washing, I always do a hot oil treatment with castor oil, which I leave in for 45 minutes.

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

Every morning, I spray my hair and scalp with my homemade Aloe vera Juice. This has been working really well to heal my damaged scalp. Our garden is blessed with loads of aloes so i just chopped off two and made a juice. I did my research and found that Aloe vera helps to reduce the redness, itching, scaling and inflammation of the scalp which directly benefits the hair. This is due to it's enzymatic properties. Aloe vera has many more benefits for hair such as, reduction in hair loss, balancing the pH of the scalp, improving hair growth etc. you really should google it.

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

I believe water is my hair's best friend. So every night I spray my hair and scalp with water and also use some hair food/ hair oil if my hair is dry. Then I wrap it all up to lock in the moisture. In the morning my hair looks healthy and happy.

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

I rarely use heat on my hair. The only time heat is used on my hair is at the salon, when hairstylist blows out my hair to make it easier to handle. Apart from that, no heat is used on my hair. I always let it dry naturally after a wash too and I've never flat ironed it.

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

I do braid my hair. So far it's been 4 times this year since the big chop in January. I try to do braids that lasts 3 weeks to a month and alternate with a full month (the next month) of TLC for my natural hair, were I just pamper my hair.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

Wide-tooth comb.

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

In a protective 'do.

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

Ohhhh how can I forget! My biggest dilemma was a couple of months ago when I was doing a hot oil treatment on my hair. The castor oil rolled from my hair in a big drop and into my eye. As if that was not enough, the same happened to my other eye. I thought I was about to go blind. It was like needles poking my eyes! I couldn't even open them. I struggled my way to the bathroom and tried to wash my eyes with water, which just made it worse. I eventually just went to bed and tried to forget the pain hoping my eyes will heal themselves. It worked. After a couple of hours I could open my now really red eyes...I was like #blink #blink "Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy" . Even though things looked a bit misty, I'd never been more grateful for my sight. My eyes are fine now :) and I take extreme caution when doing hot oil treatments.

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

Water Water and more Water. Keep your hair hydrated always. Use it in your regimen daily and it'll keep your hair healthy. And healthy hair = hair that will grow.

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