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

24/7/2015

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

Hey guys!! My name is Lavoryia (aka “BeautifulBrownTresses”) and I live in the very rural Zephyrhills Florida right outside of Tampa FL. I am a true born and raised Floridian who’s originally from Fort Lauderdale FL.

2. What is your hair type?

I have two different textures in this rather large head of kinky curly coils. My hair has the loosest curl pattern in the back of my head which I will call a 4B. It continues to get kinkier toward the middle and on the sides which makes up most of my hair and that is a 4c.

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

I went natural by accident. Once my husband and I got pregnant with our daughter, I was told by an older woman in my family not to get a relaxer while expecting. Being the very “superstitious” person I am I listened to her advice and decided to refrain from relaxing my hair while pregnant.

I wore lots of kinky twists to disguise the two different textured hair I had at the time. Once I removed the twist for good I was honestly surprised at the amount of “new growth” I had and thought it would be a shame not to give myself a chance to enjoy this beautiful new found natural head of hair. In November of 2012, I big chopped just four months after I gave birth to my baby girl and I can honestly say it has been the very best decision I’ve made my entire life concerning my hair.

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

When I did big chop I had known very few natural-haired women and I had not yet discovered the YouTube natural hair community. I was almost bald and had no clue as to what to do with this head of hair I’ve had my whole life but never cared for in its unaltered pure form. I had tons of support once I cut my hair so I had no difficulties from overly opinionated people but I did have a problem with learning how to wash and sleep on my hair.

I tried combing my hair while in the shower and it would come out by the handfuls. I typically did my hair at night before bed and I didn’t know how to sleep at night with dripping wet hair. I have to be honest, I did have some hesitations after cutting my hair and seeing its course, thick, and shrunken type 4c hair but I have since learned to love it all!

5. What is your weekly regimen?

On a weekly basis I deep condition my hair for hours with almost always a DIY conditioner. I use my banana masque deep conditioner when my hair is very tangled and dry. I use the egg/mayo deep conditioner when I notice my hair looks extra frizzy and when my curls are basically non-existent.

I have tutorials for both conditioners on my YouTube channel. I finish off with the LOC method after washing it out. I also stretch my hair with either braids or two jumbo flat twist. I finger detangle my hair once weekly and add products as needed for moisture. I do not wash my hair weekly anymore though I did when I had a TWA

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

On a daily basis in the morning I dampen my hair with water/aloe vera juice mix or just plain water. Then add a light oil or a light conditioner depending on the needs of my hair that morning and how I slept with it the night before.

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

On a daily basis, at night I ALWAYS use some type of protection for my hair. I will either tie my hair down with a satin scarf or pineapple my hair with a satin scarf PLUS sleep on a satin pillow case at night. The reason I do both is because sometimes the scarf moves or slips off while I’m asleep and I want to be sure my hair will still be protected either way.

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

I have not used much heat on my hair as a natural. In total I have used heat on my hair three times in the last three and a half years of me being natural.

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

I actually cannot braid my own hair to the scalp but I can flat twist as well as plait my hair and I plait my hair all the time. I plait my hair to stretch the curls to make it more manageable and to avoid unnecessary tangles. I have worn weave protective styles like Senegalese twist and crochet braids and loved them each time. I mostly do protective styles with weave about two to three times a year.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

Both. I rarely use styling tools in my thick, kinky, type 4 hair but if I must I begin with a wide tooth comb and work my way down to a modified Denman brush.

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

I work from home so my hair is typically in some sort of protective style like twist or plaits and by the time the weekend comes I just unravel or unbraid them for a quick cute style for the weekend.

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

Yes I have had a hair tragedy!

When I left home to go to college and started doing my own hair and perming it myself it broke off and became damaged very quickly. I bounced around from stylist to stylist until I found someone who put “health of hair” over “style of hair”. She explained that the tap water I was washing my hair with was purified very differently from where I moved from and that hard water had lots to do with it. She told me the best way to get it back healthy was to just cut it very short and start all over. I had gone from MBL or longer straight hair to barely touching my shoulders. My tragedy was actually a blessing.I thought the cut was cute and my hair grew back my healthier and quite beautifully.

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

My biggest tip for maintaining healthy & long hair is to first love your hair for what it is. Going natural with expectations of your hair looking like someone else’s is a set up for failure.

Once you can accept the beautiful hair growing out of your scalp no matter the texture then you are ready to achieve whatever goals you have for your hair. Keeping your hair moisturized using the LOC method (liquid,oil, cream), protected from potentially dangerous chemicals and/ contrivances, paired with low manipulation will prepare you have an awesome experience in your personal natural hair journey.

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