Featured Natural: Marlana Rawls

This girl was the one that inspired me to cut my own hair and embrace my natural beauty.
Photo by: Ambar Mejia

“If I could walk around with no hair, I could pretty much do anything,” Marlana said on getting her big   chop.   Photo by: Ambar Mejia

Marlana’s self made two-strand yarn twists!
Photo by: Ambar Mejia

Marlana Rawls is a 21-year-old student at the University of Florida. She majors in Family, Youth and Community Sciences with a specialization in education.

What was the beginning of your hair care journey like?

“I didn’t really transition. I transitioned for two months — max, and then I was ready to cut it. I was just anxious and wanted to get it over with.

Were you scared?

” Not really because my cousin did it, and I liked how her hair looked, so I imagined my hair would come out like hers. I’d say cutting it and seeing how my texture came out compared to hers was, I’d say, the hardest thing to face because her hair was very springy and curly and mine was just a puff. It was a 1/2-inch puff.”

Her mom said she needed make up as soon as she saw her, Marlana said.

How has being natural changed the way you view yourself?

“I would definitely say it made me appreciate my hair more. Also felt like it made me more confident in myself. I feel like hair is a huge image issue for a lot of people, so when I cut my hair, I felt more confident.

If I could walk around with no hair, I could pretty much do anything.

I think it really did change the way I view my hair because I feel like my hair is 10x healthier than it was when it was relaxed.

While she doesn’t have anything against those who choose to perm their hair, Marlana never intends to relax her hair again. When her mom gave her little sister her first perm, Marlana told her mom how she would ruin  her little sister’s hair texture, she said.

Marlana is also anit-heat.

What’s your hair-care regiment like?

“I twist my hair a lot, or I try to put in a protective style once a year. But every two weeks I try to twist my hair. Every four weeks I wash with shampoo. Biweekly I cowash my hair with V05 conditioner, that’s my staple conditioner.”

Some of her favorite products include:

Shea moisture line

Design Essentials

Mixed Chicks shampoo

Oraganix

“I love coconut oil to death”

Shea butter

V05 conditioner

How do you handle a bad hair day?

“I have a beanie that I’ll throw on top of my hair. My beanie is my savior.” Marlana also likes to rock a puff when she’s having a bad hair day.

Tell me about the yarn-twists, I can’t even tell.

“I experiment with my hair a lot. It took me three days. I started Friday night at 9 or 10 p.m. and finished around 4 a.m. I took a lot of breaks in between.”

Marlana twisted her hair each night that weekend and ended up with gorgeous twists!

She was inspired by her older sister who got yarn twists in her hair in Orlando, Fla. for $70. She was going to make the trip to Orlando to get it done on her self, but she has so much experience twisting her own hair and with the cost of yarn being about $5, she decided to twist her own hair and save herself the $65.

How do you spend your free time?

(Her initial reaction was laughter at the thought of free time.)

“I sleep.”

Marlana spends a lot of time studying and babysitting. She also works at Baby Gator on the UF campus, a child development center for children ages 6-weeks to 5-years old.

Any life plans or goals?

“I plan on joining the navy. If I like it, I’ll do full 20 and then open a daycare.”

If she doesn’t pursue the 20-year commitment, Marlana plans to immediately go after her dream of having her own daycare, she said.

She also hopes to grow her fabulous hair to at least armpit length.

Any words of wisdom you want to share with the community?

“Embrace yourself. I’ve known a lot of people that came to me saying ‘I want to cut my hair, but I’m scared’. Just do it and never second guess yourself.”

What to do about haircuts and salons

This post is half about haircuts and half about a mecca for natural hair in Gainesville, Fla.

Ya’ll already know my horrifying story with the lady who did my big chop. She clearly did not understand that natural hair and relaxed hair should not coexist. (That’s personally what drove me to keep relaxing in the first place.)

I had a second, almost more horrible experience in Miami near my birthday. I was in desperate need of a trim. (If my ends have given out, and I don’t cut them off, my hair looks like a mess that curls at the top and then becomes a cotton ball at the end.)

I let my sister choose the salon, because I figured most people in my neighborhood would not know what to do with my hair anyhow, didn’t have enough time to do research, and she really liked what they did with her hair (although we don’t have a similar hair type at all).

I arrived and the lady over shampooed my hair until I insisted she stop and then under conditioned my hair. When I sat in the stylist’s chair, he just stared at my hair in confusion. Then he fiddled with a number of combs until he finally decided on one.

He hovered his hands over my hair, I’m guessing, to see which way to battle this uncharted territory, and then he finally went in. The actual haircut wasn’t horrible, although it was a little uneven, but they left my hair so dry!

At one point I honestly wanted to yank the comb out of this man’s hand and teach him how to properly comb my hair. And this whole fiasco cost about $$40. (Luckily my sister paid for it since it was my birthday week and I am a poor college student)

This brings me to the main point of this post: MAKE SURE WHOEVER CUTS YOUR HAIR HAS EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR HAIR TYPE.

Have no shame asking if the people there have experience with curly/afro hair and then don’t be afraid to be vocal about your feelings.

Things to consider while shopping around for a stylist

Do you have sulfate-free shampoo?

Do you have products suited for natural hair?

Anyone with experience with my hair texture?

Extra services: deep conditioners, braiding, locking, etc?

Another issue is how often should you be cutting your hair.

From personal experience, I big-chopped and then cut my hair religiously every two months for a year. My current stylist told me that your scalp can take quite some time to readjust to such dramatic changes in your haircare and may not show your hair’s true potential right away.

My hair was definitely dead when I first cut it. Certain parts of my hair still feel substantially dryer than others, actually. By trimming my hair every two months I continued to cut off the hair that was dryer and less curly, allowing my hair even more room to improve.

After that first year, I didn’t cut my hair for about five months. My ends looked alright, but I had spent so long without cutting them that I figured they had to be unhealthy. When I went in I only had to cut about 1/2 inch. (I am incredibly proud of this length retention).

My curls are so silky and tight right now. That haircut really did the trick. Prehaircut, my hair definitely felt more brittle; now I can’t stop touching my hair.

Which brings me to my next point.

If you live in Gainesville, Fla. you NEED to check out A Nu Twist.

A Nu Twist boasts itself to be a multicultural salon — and truly it is!

They have all sorts of services to offer from braiding to locking to normal wash and trims.

They also carry several natural-hair community gems like Design Essentials that they use to wash and condition your hair.

If you are running low on products, you can head over and purchase brands like Oyin Handmade and Jane Carter, among others.

The stylists are all very friendly. I have never been greeted with nothing less than a warm smile.

Best of all, a wash with natural-hair friendly products, a trim, and great conversation cost me $10, and I always leave happy with the results!

My hair after my recent wet trim.

Product Review: Kinky Curly Curling Custard

Photo by: Ambar Mejia

Do it — but proceed with caution.

Kinky Curly Curling Custard gives fabulous hold and shine that will last for days — as long as you use just the right amount. No more. No less.

The description on the container claims you can use it alone, but that it would go better with the Kinky Curly Knot-Today leave in conditioner.

I have really thick hair that probably wouldn’t be weighed down just by KCCC.

If you find that happens to you, use a leave-in underneath this. KCKT is a good one; I also really like Shea Moisture Style Milk for thick, curly hair.

What I love:

It really does give you a nice hold. If you put in the right amount, you will have glorious curls that last for days.

A little goes a long way, so despite the price (about $17 for an eight-ounce container), it will last forever. I’ve had my bottle since June. I wash and go every three days, and still have a respectable amount of product left.

I still get some frizz, but this is the most frizz control I’ve ever gotten. (I also think I am in serious need of a haircut, so it’s not all KCCC’s fault.)

It has that faint candy smell that most Kinky Curly products have.

It has a great list of ingredients including horsetail (Read more about it here http://bit.ly/du4y5i), which improves hair elasticity and promotes hair growth.

You can easily pick this up at Target, so you don’t have to worry about running out.

What I don’t care for:

You really have to go on the kinky curly website and follow the instructions closely, or you will be left with stringy, crunchy, limp curls.

It has horsetail. I know. I just said it was one of the things I love, but this just further underscores the point that you really have to be careful with how much of this you are using.

Too much of a good thing, and horsetail can dry your hair out even more. Curly hair and afro hair tend to be on the drier side, so this can be a problem.

Before I read the instructions, I was under the impression that if I put more of this product in it would give me more frizz control, but it really just dried out my hair.

Later on, I read that it’s best to put this into soaking-wet hair. Now I keep a spray bottle by me when I put this in to make sure that it’s wet enough—even if I just washed my hair.

In conclusion:

If you’re looking for something to provide you with hold and shine, you should really try KCCC. But before you do, you really should go onto their website and read the instructions.

It tells you what to do based on what look you’re going for and what type of hair you have.  Results can be disastrous if you don’t use this correctly, and that would be a shame because it really is a nice product.

Featured Natural: Satonia Joell’s hair-care journey

Photo by: Maite Echeverria

Santonia Joell is a fourth year linguistics student at the University of Florida who has been natural for almost two years now.

How long have you been natural?

“16 months. I first permed my hair when I was 12. It was okay for a while, but heat was bad. I just didn’t like it anymore. It was lengthy, but it was very thin and unhealthy.”

She started transitioning in sophomore year of college for 8 months, and finally big chopped in summer of 2012.

Was it scary to big chop?

“It was scary just because I thought I had a big head, and (thought) it’s not gonna look right. I just had some family that kept saying I would look like a boy, and that was also their main issue. I had someone on hand to do twists just in case it came out bad.”

Has it changed the way you view your hair?

“It was really interesting to learn that some people have really coarse hair. I would break combs like there was no tomorrow, and I thought I had bad hair, ‘nigger naps.’ There’s a lot of different terminology that goes around to me.”

But Joell said no one has directly told her she had “bad hair.”

Joell said going natural has changed the way she gets ready in the morning. For the most part, she can just wash and go. If she had a perm, she said, she’d have to dedicate some time to doing something with her hair.

What are some of your favorite products?

“I really just use products to give my hair some moisture. At first I didn’t understand that my hair may not like something. Then I realized sometimes it feels stringy.”

Her current favorites are:

Tresseme curl activator

Twisted sister from Target

Moroccan Argan oil

Giovanni products

What’s your hair care regiment like?

“I used to (condition) every day, but I found out that strips the natural moisture from your hair, so I’ve been trying to tone it down.”

She shampoos twice a week, deep conditions every two months and conditions when necessary.

How do you spend your time?

“I really enjoy baking and sewing. I sew my own bows too. I started up a business, Boutique by Satonia, where I make bows for my family and friends. I just finished a cake decorating course, but I’m not trying to start up a business with that.”

How do you handle a bad hair day?

“Hats. That’s what I would do while I was transitioning. I would do bantu knots on one side of my hair, and then cover the other side with a hat.”

Where will your future take you?

Joell is really interested in speech pathology and hopes to pursue it at the graduate level.

“I’m thinking of UF, only because it’s number 12 in the nation, and USF. Really good program there,” she said.

Joell isn’t against perms and might perm her hair again, but she thinks is good to give her hair a nice break.

Final thoughts?

“Your hair isn’t gonna be the same ways as everyone else. Everyone has different curls. At first, I was trying to fit my hair into what other people’s hair looks like and then wondered why my hair wasn’t doing the same thing.”

Product Review: Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Shampoo

Photo by: Ambar Mejia

I have been a natural for a year and a half. I have been using Giovanni’s Smooth as Silk Shampoo since.

I swore I would never move on. It has never failed to produce moisturized, silky locks of hair.

I also don’t use shampoo often enough to want to experiment, and I was always afraid the change would be disastrous.

I was at Walmart looking for a new conditioner that didn’t have glycerin since it seemed to be drying out my hair with the change of weather.

I had recently finished a bottle of the Smooth as Silk and said “why not?”

I came across the Shea Moisture line. I really like their style milk (review coming soon), so I thought I would try their shampoo.

What I love:

The first ingredient is water so you know it is moisturizing.

It has that sweet, candy smell that products with coconut oil tend to have, but it is not at all overwhelming or obnoxious.

There is a long list on the bottle of harmful ingredients it DOESN’T have (sulfates, parabens, etc).

Animal lovers and vegans will also appreciate that it’s not tested on animals.

It is also “ethically” traded and “sustainably” produced. (I’m not sure to what extent that is true, I tried to look it up on their website and didn’t find a lot of info. I’ll take their word for it until I do).

It is loaded with moisturizing ingredients like coconut oil, aloe vera leaf juice, shea butter, and rosemary just to name a few!

It feels great on your hands and even better in your hair! It is light and creamy and smoothly goes onto the hair. It left my hair feeling soo moisturized and smooth when my hair had been feeling straw-like for days. (I am seriously considering trying the conditioner).

It also comes with silk protein to leave you with soft, silky hair and neem oil for brilliant shine.

I haven’t tried a lot of the Shea Moisture line, but I like that it’s split up between textures. This particular one is designed for thick, curly hair, but there are other product lines designed for thin, curly hair and so on.

You can easily get this at WalMart, Target, or Sally’s.

What I don’t care for:

Don’t know that there is anything about this shampoo I don’t like!

It is about $10 a bottle, but it’s a decently sized bottle. I can make a bottle of shampoo last for several months since I don’t shampoo too often, so the price really doesn’t bother me considering the effect.

In conclusion:

I think I found my new love. Full stamp of approval!

My hair has seriously been feeling AWFUL. So bad, that for the first time in the 1.5 years that I’ve been natural, I rocked some protective styling because my hair was going to pieces and my ends just wouldn’t curl. My roommate complimented me on how curly my hair was looking, and one of my friends couldn’t stop sneaking touches.

Songs to ROCK your natural-hair to

As a natural, you know there are days you wake up, look in the mirror and think your hair is absolutely nothing short of FABULOUS. Then there are the days you just want to wrap it in a scarf because you just don’t even know where to begin.

Here’s a list of songs to celebrate the beautiful kinks, curls, and coils in your hair. So no matter if today is the day that you are ready to rock it or not, this playlists will get you pumped!

Whip your hair back and forth, and remember why you are precious and unique.

Songs to rock your natural-hair to:

Where I’m from by The Digable Planets

Put your Records on by Corinne Bailey Rae

I am not my hair by India.Arie

Beauty Within by Dead Prez

Dawn of the Dreads by Arrested Development

Precious by Esperanza Spalding

Afro Dance Les Nubians

Afro by Erykah Badu

Whip my hair by Willow Smith

Na Tu Ral by Qu’ality

Here’s a link to the playlist:

Ingredients to fall off your hair-care regiment this Fall

It is Fall! The leaves are changing and so should your hair-care regiment.

It might not need a complete makeover; but as the weather changes, a second look at your line of defense against those frizzy flyaways should never take the back seat.

Let’s take a look at the basic essentials of a hair-care regiment:

Moisturizing shampoo

Sulfate-free conditioner

Deep conditioner

Leave-in conditioner or other moisturizing cream

Styler (This isn’t essential. Using this depends on whether you want extra hold for your curls to pop or whether you want to rock a bigger style)

Sealant (oh so essential)

Recently, curlmart.com released a list of ingredients that you should limit in your hair care regiment.

Among them are glycerin and protein. https://curlmart.com/fall-hair-products/

I didn’t instantly subscribe to this idea, but I noticed that my hair was incredibly dry! I haven’t trimmed in a few months and the ends of my hair felt like straw.

Seriously, the ends of my hair looked like a wicker broom! I just wanted to run to the salon and chop off my hair all over again. I figured it wasn’t because of products since they had been working so well for me.

I wondered if my hair had just gotten too thick for my current products, and if I needed something heavier.

I went to the nearest sally’s and bought a few new products. It was all the same. Nothing had changed in my hair.

Then I realized a bunch of products had glycerin and protein in them. I changed my entire hair-care line for the fall to exclude glycerin and have less protein and WOW is there a difference!

You can find several recommendations from CurlMart, Naturally Curly, and possibly other natural-hair blogs, but here are some of my personal recommendations:

Moisturizing shampoo

Giovanni Smooth as Silk Shampoo

Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus shampoo (current love)

Sulfate-free conditioner

Neutrogena Triple Moisture

Giovanni Smooth as Silk Conditioner

Elucence Moisture Balance

Aussie Moist Conditioner

Deep conditioner

Jessicurl Deep Conditioning

Leave-in conditioner/other moisturizing cream/styler

Shea Moisture Style Milk

Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave In

Kinky Curly Curling Custard

Sealant (oh so essential)

Jojoba oil

Vatika Oil

Argan oil

Most of these products you can get at either WalMart, Target, Sally’s, Amazon.com, or CurlMart.com.

Your hair may have a different reaction to these ingredients. If it works, keep it! If something is suddenly not working for you, switch it up.

Product Review: Jessicurl Deep Conditioning Treatment

Photo by: Ambar Mejia

I have bought this deep-conditioning treatment several times. I seriously refused to move on for a long time.

This, for me, is a holy grail product!

I buy the no fragrance version because I am always afraid of what anything referred to as “island fantasy” will smell like. The other option is citrus lavender — hmm, might be worth a try.

This deep conditioner feels thick and creamy on your hands.

When you apply it in your hair, it almost feels like it disappears. All that’s left is moisturized, silk-like locks of hair.

I absolutely love it.

Sometimes I let it do it’s own thing; other times I add whatever conditioner I am currently using and add olive oil.

I let this sit in my hair for an hour, if I have the time, and I am left with perfectly conditioned curls.

What I love:

It is loaded with lovely oils and minerals that are fabulous for your hair.

It has Behentrimonium Methosulfate which is one of the gentlest cleaners, encourages curls, and adds slip for detangling.

(Check this link out for more info on BM http://www.curlynikki.com/2009/04/conditioners-containing-behentrimonium.html)

It is cruelty free: for all you animal lovers/vegans.

It works wonders, no doubt about it. Recently I had spent a good month ignoring my hair-care routine, and my hair was feeling like hay. I put this in for 30 minutes, and my hair is back on track.

You know it is made with fully organic ingredients because the bottle suggests you keep it in the fridge. If you don’t, it will start to oxidize. (I learned this the hard way.)

The marketing company clearly has some word-play lovers on their team with a slogan like “you have the right to remain curly” — and I am a sucker for word play.

What I don’t care for:

It’s a little frustrating to get out of the bottle when you’re near the end.

The price: At $17 dollars a bottle plus shipping costs, it gets rather pricey for something you are supposed to use once a week.

I can only find this online through CurlMart.com or Jessicurl.com.

I’m almost positive there is a comparable product for less money. It might just be time for me to move on.

I still give this product two thumbs up!

If you are in the market for a new deep conditioner and manage to score a coupon from curlmart, then invest in it. You won’t regret it.

The roots of my hair journey

Photos by: Ambar Mejia

When you’re young, few things are more uncomfortable than being different. And I don’t mean different because you’re the fastest at jump rope, or because you can do a cartwheel better than anyone else.

I mean the kind of different where you wonder why your ears protrude way beyond your classmates’.

When you’re young, normality is pretty much the goal.

In a school where there were maybe about five non-Hispanic children, I wondered why my hair didn’t look like any of the other kids’. Every morning I had to wake up earlier than my half-sisters to have my hair tugged on and slathered with petroleum jelly.

It was confusing when I started to cry after someone told me I had black-people hair. I certainly didn’t define myself as black; I am Hispanic.

I went home with tears in my eyes, only to have my father quickly rush me to the nearest salon for a relaxer.

I very much remember my father bursting into a salon and, with all his charisma, he said, “Who here knows how to tame bad hair?”

That day, my mane was altered with rancid, ‘creamy crack’ (as so many naturals affectionately call the relaxer cream). Then it was subjected to four hours of hot rollers and blow-drying — I have a lot of hair.

Every few months, as I sat through the same process, my father told me how it was my duty as a female to look “pretty.”

My classmates had made it quite clear that I was different, and that I had “black” hair; and my father had essentially assured me that it was a bad thing.

It wasn’t until January 2012 that I finally got fed up with my damaged hair. My once ultra-curly, thick hair barely made a kink anymore. It was thin and constantly shedding.

For the first time in 10 years, I put away my blow dryer and flat iron for good.

Nothing helped me love my hair like understanding why it works the way it does. I was hooked to natural-hair-care blogs.

I started off by transitioning, using rollers to try to match the waves that were growing in. After a while of seeing all these beautiful naturals with their big, in-your-face hair, however, I realized that sporting my damaged hair definitely didn’t look any better than just chopping it off.

I finally cut off my relaxed hair on June 1, 2012.

I remember fighting with the stylist. She insisted I’d look awful and refused to cut all the straight/damaged hair off.

She left a bit, and it looked awkward. My hair was terrible.

Sometimes I’d look at myself and wonder what on earth I had done to myself, but most of the time I was just happy I had done it. My hair felt beyond damaged for the longest time, but I finally look in the mirror and am happy with what I see.

Lately, even when the curls don’t want to cooperate, I can usually get away with just working some weather-proofing product and picking my hair out into a fro (which I hope will get obnoxiously large soon), and I rock it out.

Nothing has felt more liberating than shaking out my hair, and knowing I am one step closer to embracing myself.

Call it kinky, call it nappy, or call it textured — I absolutely love it! Even my family, who had always warned me against going natural, tells me it looks beautiful.

It is a sad and confusing thing to have all those you crave acceptance from shun who you are naturally — especially when you’re young and trying to find your place in the world.

This blog is dedicated to all the beautiful women who aren’t afraid to be different. The women who are changing the way society views afro hair so that maybe one day that little girl sporting those cute Afro puffs to school doesn’t feel like she has to hide her beauty and her rich heritage.