Naturally Fierce Feature: Meka

October 6, 2013

My name is Meka L, I was born in the islands, grew up in VA and I currently reside in the suburbs outside of Philly. I work in healthcare but I have a passion for blogging about natural hair. In terms of my hair I’ve done it all, from perms, braids, locs, and now a fro…continue reading to learn more about the journey.

How long have you been natural? I have been natural since 2005 or 2006

What motivated you to transition? Were you a transitioner or a Big Chopper& why? I can’t remember why i decided to go natural but I made the decision around 05/06. I decided to transition but back then I didn’t know that I was transitioning when I stopped getting a relaxer and wore braids for about six months. The girl I was dating at the time was natural (in case you’re wondering I’m not gay I’m bi) and I fell in love with her hair and became inpatient with transitioning so with some encouraging words from my coworker I big chopped and decided on locs. It takes a COURAGEOUS woman to big chop. You have to really be comfortable with yourself and have tough skin to accept any negatives that’s thrown your way and sometimes those negatives are self inflicted. I was about 26 when I first big chopped and I was so self conscious, I have never seen my hair that short and I didn’t know how to accept it. My girlfriend was supportive but I remembered looking at myself in the mirror and thinking ‘I’m ugly’ ‘I look like a boy’ ‘I can’t go to work like this’ and then I started crying. A week later my first twa turned into baby locs. The baby locs did not help build my self esteem not only was my hair still short but now you can see every part in my head. I can’t remember when but at some point I had to accept it because there was nothing else that I could do at that point except have patience. I had locs for about five years maybe six. I loved them and they were about bra strap length before I cut them about jawline length in 2010 when I turned 30. In 2011 I decided to big chop again and it was a decision I made the day I got it done. I had an appt with my loctician for maintenance and I told her to cut it off. I was just ready for change. There was no questioning my identity or how I looked with my second big chop. I loved it, I loved the look on me, and I was okay with it when someone had something negative to say about it. I rocked my twa raw…I didn’t do head bands, flowers or any type of accessories in my hair. I RARELY wore earrings at the time, and I didn’t wear make up either. I didn’t feel the need to hide behind anything to be comfortable with the look. Plus I was not big on earrings or makeup before the chop.

How would you describe your hair? She does her own thing…isn’t that weird? LOL, my hair has several different textures, the back is tightly coiled and coarse the top/front is coily and fine and it tends to grow a lot faster than the hair in the back.

What do you love most about your hair? The way it feels. My hair is in a protective style now and has been for several months but I can recall laying around on a lazy day and playing in my hair and falling in love with a random coil in the front or the texture or coarseness in the back. I love that it’s mine. I love that it’s different and that’s one of the joys of being a natural…the differences in our hair from one person to the next and the differences in our hair from one part of our head to the next…it’s like a snowflake.

What has been the most memorable part of your journey?Has it been easy or difficult or both?! Both difficult and easy lol. The most memorable part of being natural so far were my dreads because I’ve been through all the stages. I started with baby dreads the equivalent of a twa, I remember feeling self-conscious because I had nothing to hide behind. And then it started to grow but it didn’t happen over night, I had to learn to embrace and enjoy every stage because I had no choice and then one day (5/6yrs later) my dreads were at my bra strap. It’s a learning experience that I’m trying to adapt to now, I didn’t “enjoy” every stage with my dreads because I was too worried about when it was going to grow and I think that’s something that most naturals struggle with now. Some of us are so focused on their hair crush’s hair and ask questions like “how did you get your hair to grwo so long?” and “what do you use on hair?” nothing is wrong with that but make sure you focus on what YOU have too.

What are some of your favorite hairstyles? I’m still in the twa stage (at least I think so) mind you, haven’t really seen or styled my hair since November 2012 but to answer your question I’d say twist outs.

What have your experiences been as a ‘natural?’ Any memorable reactions from family or others?When friends from high school decided to go natural and they tell me that I was their inspiration.

hat is your hair regimen (including fav products)?
This question is tough because I really don’t have a regimen now and I plan on switching my regimen after I end my protective style journey. Here’s a little blurb from my blog to give you an idea of what I plan on doing. head over to naturaldo.com for more details:

Detangling:
I’m going to start detangling in sections. I started out with a TWA so detangling in sections was not an option because I didn’t have enough hair….as the hair grew, I stuck with the same routine and I still ended up with a few tangles after I washed it. I watched a video by mynaturalsistas and I’m really thinking about adopting India’s “break down method“…..

Deep Conditioning (DC):

I’ve been doing it all wrong. Did you know that you’re not suppose to apply DC to your scalp? I didn’t. I use to massage my hair and scalp with my DC but after watching Toni’s video (from mynaturalsistats) and reading The Science of Black Hair I realized it was time for a change. Speaking of DC, I need a staple…I’m a PJ (product junkie) so in the past, I just grabbed whatever DC my hands touched first. I can’t say I paid much attention to how my hair felt and looked afterwards, but I was never really disappointed with the end results. I haven’t done much research yet but I am interested in trying The mane choice green tea and carrot deep conditioning mask
Styling:

I was always a two strand twist and go girl. I’ve tried many products but Qhemet Biologics Honey Bush Tea Soft Gel

And Palmers Curl Conditioning Hair Pudding leaves my hair feeling like soft cotton balls so I will more than likely keep them in my regimen. Shrinkage is my best friend (big surprise right lol). So I’m thinking about incorporating Naptural85stretching method to achieve some length with my twist out.

Retaining Moisture:

Do you know your hair’s porosity? Read more about here. I have low porosity type hair which means products usually sit on my hair (this includes oils). I’m in the market for a very light oil to help retain moisture because I don’t like the oily residue that’s left behind. I’ve heard great things about coconut oil but I’m leery .

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

curlynikki.com, naptural85 vlogs, mynaturalsistas vlogs, thegoodhairblog.com

Anything you want the readers to know? Inspirational words? Love YOUR hair. It doesn’t have to be curly, big, soft, frizz free texture for it to be considered “good hair”…it doesn’t have to grow 12inches per year for it to be “right” if it’s coarse, can never seem to get enough moisture, beyond kinky, 1000% shrinkage and only grows .0000003 centimeters per year…OWN it and LOVE it because its yours and THAT’S what makes it “good hair”

Where can people find you for more information www.naturaldo.com

BONUS: My hair now:In some of these pics ladies I have A LOT of hair but it’s not mine. I”m in the middle of a one year protective style and I am wearing a natural hair weave from heatfreehair.com. One collection is the for kurls (curly texture) and the other collection is the for kinks (kinky texture). Head over to my blog to read more about the hair and my journey with it.

“I’VE JOINED THE HEATFREEHAIR MOVEMENT.” That’s the lingo used when referring to the weave I have installed as a protective style (my very first weave). The heatfreehair is a natural hair textured weave. The hair comes in kinky (for kinks), curly (for kurls) and the newest texture coily (for coils). I’ve had both the for kinks and for kurls collection installed and the for kinks is by far my favorite because it’s similar to my hair texture. The for kinks collection was installed first, back in February and I kept the hair in for 3months, it can probably last longer if you REALY take care of it but I was ready to take it out. The for kurls was installed right after the for kinks collection (back in May) and I’m currently two months in. I chose to do a protective style to give my hair a break and to achieve and retain length. I’ve done a review on the for kinks and the for kurls collection on my www.naturaldo.com click on the HEATFREEHAIR category.

FAQ’s:

1). Where can I purchase this hair? The hair can be purchased at www.heatfreehair.com

2). How much is the hair? Expensive.com lol I believe the bundles start at around $140

3). Can you straighten the hair? You can, I didn’t but I was told if you do the hair may NOT return to it’s original state.

4). Can you wash the hair? Yes, I washed and detangled the hair once per week.

5). Can you use products on the hair? Yes, head over to my blog to find a list of products that worked really well with the hair.

6). What lengths does the hair come in? I believe the lengths vary based on the texture you purchase…. but the minimum length is 12inches the max that I’ve seen is 22inches.

7). How many bundles did you get? The stylist told me to get three bundles to achieve fullness but for both collection all I needed was two bundles.

8). Who installed the hair? I got the hair installed by Ngozi in DC, I believe she’s the founder of heatfreehair (DON’T QUOTE ME, I COULD BE WRONG) the website to her salon is www.nzohairstudios.com.

Follow Ngozi and Heatfreehair on Instagram @heatfreehair and @ngozithestylist

Any other questions should be addressed on my blog, if not email me naturaldo32@gmail.com