Naturally Fierce Feature: Ashley

 
My name is Ashley Jackson and I’m from Columbus, Ohio. I am 20 years old and I am an aspiring entrepreneur. My hair journey was and STILL is very challenging, but overall rewarding.

How long have you been natural?

I stopped receiving relaxers in the summer of 2010 when I was 17. I’ve always admired natural hair and wished I could have just stayed natural, but like most black girls growing up we didn’t really have a choice. I had to find ways to ease into the natural hair state because it wasn’t a pleasurable thought for my mom. I had heard of a treatment called the Brazilian Blowout and towards the end of 2010 I tried it out. But then after the fact, I started hearing really bad things about the treatment and stopped getting it after only one time. After that I just continued to flat-iron my hair and started to discover weaves. After my first weave I decided I wanted to cut my hair as a way to disguise my transitioning process from my mom. When I went to the salon in February of 2011 I asked for a “choppy bob”, which was a HUGE mistake that I’m still paying for till this day. It was a cute temporary style, but now I wish my hair was even.

 


 
 
What motivated you to go natural?

After about age 10 I had always had shoulder length hair, which was frustrating because I couldn’t understand why my hair would always stop at the same length. Then on top of that my hair was getting weaker and weaker every year. My ends became see-through and I just had enough. I wanted the full thick curly hair that I knew I naturally had, but I was so clueless, which didn’t help my case when I brought the idea up to my mom. So because of that, I was definitely a transitioner. Even though I personally would love to be a big chopper, I didn’t have much support on that thought. Although, I had a semi-big chop in July of 2011. I say semi because my hair was still choppy so it really didn’t help much.

 

 

How would you describe your hair?

My hair is thick and has a 3c curl pattern I believe. I have difficulty giving it definition, but it’s all a great learning experience.

What do you love most about your hair?

I’m IN LOVE with my curl pattern. I love all natural hair, but I’m really proud of mine. 🙂

What has been the most memorable part of your journey? Has it been easy or difficult or both?!

I’m having memorable moments all the time with this hair, but overall I think my most memorable moment would have to be me recently chopping off all of my heat damage myself. I just got so fed up with the different textures and just wanted to be all natural, but I should have left that to a professional….

This journey has been extremely difficult because the people closest to me don’t agree with my decision. My mother and my significant other cannot see the point in returning my hair back to its’ natural state. No matter how much explaining I do, they’re just stuck in their ways. So that’s why I can’t be a big chopper even though I know I shouldn’t care about their opinions.

 

What are some of your favorite transitioning hairstyles?

When my hair was a little bit longer I loved to wear buns. Just recently I was wearing the box braids and then the Senegalese twists. I currently switch off between perm-rod sets and other curling tools.

 

Any memorable reactions from others since going natural?

As sad as it is, perfect strangers and fellow naturalista’s are 100,000,000x more supportive than my loved ones. It’s so unbelievably refreshing when I see a beautiful natural and she compliments my hair and I compliment hers. It helps fuel my fire to prove those who don’t like it wrong. It’s a movement that I will always be a part of supporting.

What is your hair regimen (including fav products)?

Okay so I fully wash my hair with the TRESemme Naturals shampoo and conditioner like once a month and if it’s not time for that I just co-wash with the conditioner. I leave a little bit of the conditioner in and then I put the Kinky Curly Knot Today all through my hair by just raking it all through with my fingers. Then I use my new Shea butter mixture that I just got hip to. It’s just pure unrefined Shea butter from my local beauty store and mixed it with a different combination of oils that I bought from a natural oil bar. You can use any type of oils that you prefer to make the mixture and mix it to a consistency that you like most. After putting those products in my hair, I just style my hair whichever way I felt like doing for that day. Super simple. I mean I still have a million different products in a basket on my shelf of course.

What are some of your favorite natural hair websites,YouTuber’s, or blogs?

I definitely give all praises to Whitney of Naptural85 on YouTube. She gave me the courage and all the help I needed to be natural. I watched her religiously and swore by her tutorials. If I ever meet her one day I just want to give her the biggest hug and will probably cry. She’s just been that great of an influence in my life and I am grateful to have found her during my aimless research on how to handle my hair. It doesn’t even matter that we don’t have the same curl pattern, she’s the bomb.com. I also loved watching Taren of Taren916 on YouTube every now and then just because I was praying my curl pattern turned out like hers.

Anything you want the readers to know? Inspirational words?

I just want my fellow natural that are going through this tough journey to know that there is a humongous community supporting you, so don’t get discouraged. There will be times where you question your decision, but trust in what God gave you. He didn’t make a mistake when he gave you your beautiful locs and it’s time we embrace it fully. Your hair is unique and lovely, so rock it.

Where can people find you for more information?

Blog: curlvisionmagazine.wordpress.com. Instagram: curlvision & curlvisionmagazine


 


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