Naturally Fierce Feature: Ricki

August 30, 2013

Hello! My name is Ricki Wilson. I was named after my dad, which I hated when I was a child but I’ve learned to embrace it along with my natural hair. 😀 I was born and raised in this little country town known as Valley, Alabama! I am still here until fall, where I will be attending college at Tuskegee University!!

How long have you been natural?
It has been almost 2 years since I big chopped. July 14th is my nappiversary!

What motivated you to go natural?
Wanting my hair to be healthy motivated me to go natural. My sophomore summer of high school, I was playing basketball and also cheering year round so it was almost impossible for me to keep my hair done. My mom has been natural for about 20 years so her journey from dreads to fros also motivated me! She helped me through 8 months of transitioning by 2 strand twisting my hair and also strawing it. After seeing my hair break off, I woke up one morning, called a friend, and told her to start this journey with me. Almost two hours later, I was perm free!

How would you describe your hair?
My hair has a mind of its own. Most of my bad hair days make great updos!

What do you lobe most about your hair?
It makes me different and a trendsetter. After going natural in high school, I inspired about 15 girls to do the same!

What has been the most memorable part of the journey?

The most memorable part would have to be everyone downing me and begging me not to cut my “pretty” hair! Little did they know, they are the reason I cut it because I’m a rebel. lol! They were also the ones complimenting me when I cut it. It was easy after the big chop, but where I am now is the difficult stage!

What were some of your favorite traninsitioning hair styles?
My favorite transitioning styles were rods, two strand twist, straws, and micro braids!

Any memorable reactions from others since going natural?
The only experience that just comes to mind is when a white girl asked me was I going to do something to my head for homecoming court? It kind of caught me off guard for a moment but I proudly said of course!! I’m going to braid it out! And walked away. She had a puzzled look on her face but I didn’t think she needed any further explanation!

What is your hair regimen (including fav products)?

I actually don’t have a hair regimen so to speak, but I try to wash every two weeks. I use Pantene for naturals and detangle with Mane n’ Tail detangler. My favorite moisturizer is Pantene hair lotion and olive oil hair Lotion mixed together.

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

I’m not really into the blogs and YouTube channels but I do love mz_tammy’s Instagram and also candi’s YouTube channel! She is hilarious !

Anything you want the readers to know? Inspirational words?

A lot of people comment on my Instagram pictures asking how I achieve such defined twistouts and truly the answer is by just twisting. I do all of my twistouts with no products and I take them down with oil, which makes my hair soft and shiny. When I want them to last longer, I use Eco styler to twist but that’s rare! Oh!, and my “go to” style is a puff! 😀