My hair in the spotlight

1. Where are you from and how is the natural scene there?
The beautiful twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
Hmm…the natural ‘scene’ hair (ha!) is made up mainly of women who wear their hair in locks I guess. The fro wearers are few. Many women will rock canerow and braids along with their natural hair.

2. How long did you transition and how long have you been natural?
I transitioned for about (reaches into the vault that is my bad memory) four months.
Made the big chop in 2003. I’ve chopped once since then in late 2003.
And getting ready to chop again.

3. When did you decide to go natural and why?
I decided to go natural sometime late 2002 because I actually wanted to put in the Afro Kinky braid and my relaxed hair was too long for that style. LOL. My hairdresser had in the braid at the time and it looked FAB!
So I decided to grow out my hair, cut it off so I could put in the braid. (Crazy I know).
Oh yeah, my relaxed hair had been breaking up really badly for a while and my hairline was getting invisible and my hair was coming out in graps.

4. How was your transition?
On a scale of 1 to 10, (1 being absolutely horrible and 10 being fantastic!) it was about 4.5.
Trying to maintain the relaxed hair and new growth sucked monkey balls. And because of where I work, it made it harder, because it kinda demands neatness. I did it with no wigs, no braids, just new growth and relaxed ends.

5. How much support did you receive when you decided to go natural?
Support? What’s that? LOL.
Umm…I got support from my mom I guess because she had gone natural about 6 months before me. And there are probably other people too that I can't remember now.

6. How did you feel about your natural hair in the beginning?
I loved my natural hair! It was low, easy to maintain and had a FAB colour.
I didn’t like people’s reactions and comments on my hair though and it gave rise to mixed feelings on my part.
Then I basically said, “Fuck it, it’s my hair, not yours.” (well not to their face, but that was my general attitude).

7. Has there been any difference in your life from going natural?
It’s even easier to get ready in the mornings than it was before. LOL.
People watch, no...correction, they STARE you down when your hair is natural. Especially when it’s as long as mine is and combed out in all its glory.

8. What has been the best thing about being natural?
No more chemicals and making appointments to go to the hairdresser and spending all day there.


9. What is your favorite hairstyle and why?
My fave hairstyle is what I call my weekend hair.
Because I often have to be a bit more conservative during the week at work and keep my hair in a neat fro, from Friday to Sunday evening, my hair is just left to be itself. I wet it during my shower, put in some hair grease and hair polisher nad let it fall where it may.

10. How do you take care of and maintain your hair?
Daily: I wet it every morning (that’s the only way for me to comb it without getting a headache, and even then), use a detangler by Vidal Sassoon, apply Eternal hair conditioner throughout.
If I’m leaving it open I’ll use Twisted Sista Curl Activator and I always finish up with Eternal Hair Polisher.
Weekly: I wash it once a week with Pantene ProV shampoo and conditioner.
Other: I colour it every 4 – 6 weeks or so using Clairol Textures and Tones Flaming Desire and Cherrywood.

11. If you were stranded on a deserted island and had to choose 3 things for your hair, what are three things you would have to have for your hair?
Eternal hair conditioner
Eternal hair polisher
Twisted Sista Curl Activator Spray

12. What advice would you give someone who was thinking of going natural?
Just do it. And once you’re there, don’t study what other people are saying.

13. Any final thoughts?
Go fro!

Questions courtesy www.motowngirl.com