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

16/6/2015

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

My name is Zara! I’m Nigerian but I was born and raised in the U.S.A.

2. What is your hair type?

My hair is mostly 4a. I have 4b at the crown of my head and close to my ears. The front of my head is mostly 4a with some strands between a 4a and 3c. I have a few strands that exhibit heat damage! I’ll be getting rid of those as my hair continues to grow.

My hair is very dense but the strands are fine. I think it is low-medium porosity, I know it is protein sensitive, and it prefers to be treated with natural products.

My elasticity is normal and my natural hair color is a deep brown with a reddish sort of gleam (in sunlight).

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

Okay… this is a story!

In about middle school, my mom really dove into caring for my hair and my sister’s hair. My hair flourished and got quite long by the time I was in high school.

When I was about 15, my mom was busy and couldn’t do my relaxer so she let one of our family members do it. Long story short… the relaxer was left in for far too long. No matter how much I cried for it to be washed out… I was replied to with a forceful “NO”. My hair was pretty severely damaged. It was thin and lifeless.

In an effort to revive my hair, I started looking at relaxed hair videos on YouTube. That was when I discovered the concept of natural hair.

As I got distracted by the many videos of beautiful women with hair that was just as beautiful, I asked myself why I even relaxed. It was just something I did… I didn’t have to and I realized that I didn’t care to. This was in November of 2008. I had decided that I would embark on a natural hair journey. No more relaxers for this head!

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

The most challenging thing I faced was learning how to care for my hair. I can be pretty lazy and though my hair has gotten really long, I feel that I could have at least 6 more inches if I had known what I was doing 100% of the time. I have learned a great deal and now I know what my hair requires to grow.

Another challenge is being patient! Sometimes I get frustrated when I am doing my hair and I rush through processes that should be done gently. I love my hair and I want to see it flourish so now I take my time more and I avoid manipulating it as much. When I am combatting my impatience, protective styling helps A LOT! It allows me to (kind of) forget my hair for a bit (aside form moisturizing and general maintenance).

These two challenges are pretty much tied for first place, haha.

5. What is your weekly regimen?

If you guys want to see what I do in detail, check out our YouTube channel.

6. What is your daily morning regimen?

In the morning I adjust whatever style I was wearing the day before. If my hair is feeling dry, I will moisturize it again but I tend to avoid too much maintenance. It makes life easier!

When I do protective style I spray my water and conditioner mix then seal with my Wild Growth Hair Oil. I avoid washing my hair with braids and twists but I wash weekly or every other week when I have a sew-in. I will probably start washing every two to three weeks with my braids (depending on how much cleansing I need and how much moisture my hair is craving).

7. What is your daily night time regimen?

I usually just put on my nightcap and call it a day. I will occasionally re-twist my hair but that is rare!

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

I used to blow dry my hair prior to protective styling but I’ve decided to completely eliminate heat from my regimen! I experienced a bit of heat damage over the course of a few months. Though my hair is now back on track, this stunted my growth a bit so I’m currently about two inches from MBL (Mid-back length).

I will soon demonstrate ways to stretch the hair without heat (on my YouTube channel).

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

I do! My hair is actually in twists, crochet braids, under a wig, or in some other protective style about 7-8 months out of the year (because I’m a student). My coursework is extremely rigorous and allows me little time to enjoy hair grooming. I really enjoy my hair during the summer time because I have a lot more freedom to do what my hair loves when I have that additional time.

10. Wide-tooth comb or Denman brush?

DENMAN! I use a wide tooth very occasionally. I prefer the Denman because its quick and effective but I really need to modify it so it doesn’t pull out unnecessary hair!

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

Typically in a protective hair-do but I often long for it to be free!

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

MY HEAT DAMAGE! It was very mild regarding how it affected my curls but it did thin my hair quite a bit. That was the worst part. It’s thickened back up significantly and eliminating heat from my regimen has proved to be the greatest thing I could do to help my hair.

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

Avoid heat! Also, be sure to moisturize! I’m protein sensitive so I don’t really focus on adding too much protein to my regimen. If you are not protein sensitive, be sure to balance protein and moisture levels.

Also… Listen to your hair! Get to know what your hair likes and doesn’t like! Get to know the rhythms of your mane and do what you can to keep it healthy.

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