Naturally Fierce Feature: Jahnique

Hello! My name is Jahnique (Jah-neek), I’m 19 years old. I’ll be 20 in December. I was born and raised on Long Island, NY up until I was 12, when my family and I moved to Northern Delaware. I’m currently in community college for Accounting. My ultimate goal is to become a Forensic Accountant for the Federal Government.

How long have you been natural?

I’ve been embracing my naturally curly hair for about a year and 7 months. I stopped getting relaxers when I was 16. I just hated how dependent I felt on thecreamy crack just to maintain the sleek, straight style I was so used to. Over the course of the 3-4 years, I would get frequent trims, when I would go and get Dominican blowouts at the hair salon. When I started wearing my hair in Wash n’ Go’s I would gradually cut the straight pieces I seen. So I would say from November (when I got a Devacut) to now is how long I’ve been fully natural.

What motivated you to go back to natural?

I unknowingly transitioned to be honest. I didn’t know what that I was until starting reading natural hair blogs. I would wear a lot of box braids and let my hair grow out. Then I would get my Dominican blowout and asked for the dead ends to be cut. Once I started buying the products they Dominican ladies used on my hair, I started doing my own blowouts. In the end of 2012, I cut my own ends (and it actually came out really good). Then I got a Devacut following year. Big chopping never crossed my mind. And even if I wanted to big-chop, my mother would not approve.

How would you describe your hair?

My hair and I share the same personality. When I’m happy, my hair is happy. When I’m not, my hair isn’t happy. When I’m feeling rather diva-ish, my hair becomes Diana Ross! The only difference we have is that I adjust to new things well. My hair does not. It takes my curls a while to warm up to a product, but once it’s adjusted to it, they really show out. My ‘classified’ hair type is a medium dense mixture of 3B & 3C with small areas of the 4a/b/c. My curls are like tight corkscrews, with my shrinkage percentage up in the 30% mark. My current length is bra-strap length. I do have dimensional highlights that I got at my Deva certified hair salon back in April. The weird thing about my hair was that it always had texture, even with a relaxer. It turns out my mother, who did the majority, if not all of my relaxers never left the relaxer in my hair long. She would leave it in, until she got finished with all of my hair, which took her about 25-30 minutes. Once she was finished, she washed it out immediately. Come to find out, that’s the texxlaxingmethod.

What do you love most about your hair?

The thing I love most about my hair is the versatility of it all. I love that I’m given the option of doing basically anything to it. Even though my hair is in a wash n’ go 99% of the time, I love watching tutorials of ladies with my curl type doing different styles with it. I also love shocking people when I straighten my hair, and they see how long it is. I become a different person when I go from curly to straight. I should come up with a nickname for myself when I straighten my hair in December.

What has been the most memorable part of the journey?

The most memorable part of it all is watching my hair become curlier with each wash n’ go. I can’t even describe it; it was glorious watching it thrive into what it is now. It was difficult for me at first, but I just said forget it and went with the flow.

What are your favorite hairstyles?

I’ve done twist-outs when I first started because I wanted to blend my damaged straight pieces with my natural hair, but since then that’s about it. I am no stranger to curly puff ponytails and buns though. But since I kept my hair straight will I grew out most of my relaxed ends, I guess there was no need for them. When watching girls on YouTube do different hairstyles, I get scared that my hair won’t come out right, mainly because my roots are so puffy and I have a lot of short hairs that are growing in up there. So I’m a devout wash n’ goer.

Any memorable reactions from others?

At first my mom kept asking me when I was going to straighten my hair, for whatever reason. But she’s come to love my hair the way it is naturally (she’s the one that gave me curly hair lol) Earlier this year, I went to a funeral in New York and one of my cousins comes up to me and says “What’s going on with your hair? Why is not done?” I didn’t even respond I just ignored him. Later on in the day, he came up me and told how much he liked and howexotic I looked *rolls eyes* Other than that, my family complimented me and kept touching it, which I really didn’t like.

What is your hair regimen?

Currently, I am on the Castor Oil Challenge withKinkyCurlyCoilyMe.com. I pre-poo/detangle with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I generally use my fingers to do that. I’ll then put it up and go to sleep with it in. In the morning, I wash it out using DevaCurl No-Poo. I’ve been of a No-Suds shampoo challenge since June. I’d then condition my hair using Jason Pure Natural conditioner. My favorite conditioner to date is either the Tresemmé or Herbal Essences conditioners, Shea Moisture or Aussie Moist. Since I’m a product junkie I don’t have a favorite in any product category. I deep condition afterwards. I’m currently using one by Neutrogena. Some of my favorite deep treatments are Shea Moisture’s Anti-Breakage and the Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque and the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Moist & Strong treatments. I’ll either sit under the hooded dryer or use my Q-Redew to steam my hair. I’ll rinse it out with cold water. Then I’ll apply my styling products. Right now, I’m using the Restructerizer spray from ApHogee, Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In repair cream, I then brush it in with either my Denman brush or a dollar store brush. My favorite leave-ins to date are the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie, DevaCurl B’Leave-In and the Kinky Curly Knot Today leave-in. Depending on the weather I’ll use a cream to do the LOC method and my favorite cream is the Dabur Vatika Hair Fall Control Cream and the Organix Shea Butter Curl Smoothie. Then I apply gel, which is the Eco Styler Krystal. I alternate with the La Bella Lots of Curls styling gel, when I want to save some extra coins, or if I don’t want to use too much of my Eco Styler too much. After that I’ll sit under my hooded dryer until it’s 100% dry. Then I’ll turn the settings to cool to set it. I’ll then take my handheld blow-dryer and stretch my hair and fluff it with my fingers. After that I’m finished and this will last me 4 days. In the middle of the week I’ll cowash and repeat the same process. I preserve my hair by putting two pineapple ponytails in my hair and securing it with a silk bonnet.

Who are your favorite vloggers and bloggers?

My ultimate hair crush is MuchMoreThanBeauty and NaturalNeiicey on YouTube. If I were to combine them together, that’s how my hair will be in the future when, I reach my goal length.

Other YouTubers are definitely Summer Kellsey, LipsticknCurls, and SunKissAlba. I loveNaturallyCurly.com,BlackGirlLongHair.com andGlobalCouture.net for their informative articles.

Anything else you would like to share?

The one thing I want readers to take from this is that the world is full of information regarding hair care. Take a chance and experiment; you’d be surprise how much you can learn. You can’t base your off of bloggers like me. You know your hair better than anyone else so take the time and listen to it. Another thing is take your time and appreciate every stage of your hair journey, it wouldn’t be a journey if didn’t enjoy each stage. Make sure to document it (it could be an easy school assignment if your stuck). Good things take time.

Where can we find you on social media?

I have a YouTube channel (bit.ly/WPMwt6), Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram is all Jahniquexo. I have a blogspot (curlnique.blogspot.com), that I haven’t really been on but soon enough I will be.