Hi loves, my name is Shelly. I am a 21 years old and I live in New Jersey, I’m a licensed hairstylist that works in Philly/ and also a college student.
How long have you been natural?
August 2007 was the last time I got a relaxer, right before my first year of High School. I have been natural ever since!
What motivated you to transition? Were you a transitioner or a Big Chopper& why?
Actually, I was going to hair school at the time and I remember just looking at different girls around the school or outside of school with this long long healthy hair down to their butts, and I always compared mine with their because at the time I didn’t appreciate my curls and my hair was extremely damaged from highlights, color and the keratin treatment I got one time (which nearly destroyed my hair) and going to the Dominican’s salon where I lived to get my hair blown out every two weeks (which if you don’t know reading this they put SO MUCH heat on your hair) and in between I would out even more excessive heat on my hair. And the result of all that my hair never grew past my shoulders. I hated my hair and I envied the girls that had really long hair and so I wanted it.
One day, my Aunt introduced me to Youtube because they always had tutorials on different hairstyles and hair care practices she watched a lot and felt I would like too. Now this was way before the natural hair community was huge on youtube but I still managed to find helpful people like Taren Guy was the first person I fell in love with on Youtube and she was mixed like I am with a gorgeous face and long curly hair so I remember taking the entire day out to watch ALL her videos and I did lol. My addiction to youtube began and it taught me plenty of things that I didn’t learn in my beauty school because there honestly wasn’t too much knowledge on course, curly, kinky, ethnic hair; so I decided to study it on my on terms for my own knowledge to have.
My Junior and Senior year of HS I wore my hair in its curly state when it became hotter outside and my curls slowly but surely were popping back also I stopped going to the Dominican salon which helped my hair tremendously. At this time my hair was straight in certain parts and very wavy from the heat but I did not big chop I was too afraid because I always told myself I have a really big face with big cheeks and so short hair wouldn’t look right on me, so I let my hair grow out then slowly cut the straight pieces off as I went along.
How would you describe your hair?
My hair is a mane (and that’s her name-shes a diva) lol hints my name, it is big it is fluffy, my curl pattern is slightly defined tight S curls all around, but when 4th or 5th day hair comes around my hair eventually will start to fro out and I’ll look like who done it and why??
What do you love most about your hair?
What I love most about my hair is the health state my hair is in, my hair had never felt or looked so healthy and it has grown almost to hip length over the years I have been taking care of my hair. I love the versatility of my hair, its so healthy that when I do go to straighten it when it does come the time to wash it my curls come back with a vengeance. And I love that because no heat damage=no cutting=length retention.
What has been the most memorable part of your journey?Has it been easy or difficult or both?!
I think the most memorable part of my journey was getting straight bangs. As I stated before I had a keratin treatment when I was a sophomore in High School and it nearly destroyed my hair, my curls were limp and lifeless for the longest time. after a while everywhere around my head my curls came back slowly, except for the front left portion of my hair it really suffered the most. So I cut straight on myself and when my hair was curly I still had a lot of straight pieces, so I attempted to grow it out. Unfortunately I got frustrated because it was bone straight again the rest of my curly hair and it was in the front and noticeable so I was real self-conscious about it so one day I grabbed some scissors and cut every straight piece on my left side. Good thing was, my curly texture was long enough to not stick up on the side of my head lol but the down side was I had to cut about 6-7 inches of hair so it looked real choppy when I wore my hair out. So I got creative and found way to style my hair and hide my bad side until it grew out longer. It was both difficult and easy because I was glad there was no more straight pieces in my head but mad that my hair was so short on that side verses the rest of my hair length.
What are some of your favorite hairstyles?
My main hairstyle is the washngo because it is easiest for me to do, but I have tried bantu knots before and they were ok, but it was a one time thing. and a braid out once but I didn’t like the results too much but I’ll attempt that again.
What have your experiences been as a ‘natural?’ Any memorable reactions from family or others?
My family, friends, people I don’t know my clients are all amazed of how much growth I achieved when I started taking better care of my hair, some still think that its weave when I where it straight or I show pictures, but no its all me. As a hairstylist I studied hair care more than my actual major in college (sad I know lol) but I always recommend products and practices for specific textures I come across, and I always encourage people to take better care of their hair and/or going natural if they really wanted too, and recently my best friend big chopped and so did a few of my family members- so I love that I can be an inspiration to others about going natural.
What is your hair regimen (including fav products)?
I usually wash my hair with shampoo once a week usually on Sunday to start me off for the week. First I use a cheap conditioner or coconut oil to finger detangle my hair or just gently comb through my hair because by the end of the week my hair just loves getting real tangled and dry and to wash that as its real tangled I’ll be ripping all my hair out, so to prevent any further breakage I prepoo.
After I section my hair into 4 sections, I drench my hair with the conditioner and oil, after my head is fully detangled I then put a plastic cap over it and let it sit in my hair until I’m ready to get in the shower and wash it all out. In the shower, I usually rotate my shampoo which are drug store, between Tea Tree Mint Shampoo from the Organix Line or Loreal shampoo (usually the hydrating or curly hair shampoo), or my favorite One and Only Argan Oil shampoo. All the shampoos are sulfate free of course and I wash my hair real good twice with shampoo and only focus on my scalp NEVER on my hair shaft or ends!
Once my scalp is squeaky clean its time to detangle, now I also rotate my conditioners and try new conditioner as well Organix conditioner (coconut milk, tea tree, Argan oil), TreSemme (flawless curls, luxurious moisture, natural-volume and moisture) so it’s whatever I have on hand at the moment because I get a huge bottle and I run through it easily. I put A LOT of conditioner on my hair and split my hair into 4 sections again and use my wide tooth comb from my ends gently combing until everything is detangled and move to the next section, then once my whole head is done I go over my hair with my green Tangle Teezer brush to ensure there isn’t a tangle alive in my hair then I clip my hair up away from my face and let that conditioner sit while I finish washing. I rinse my hair with cool water with my head flipped upside down and then I use my Turbie Twist head wrap (which is GENIUS whoever created it) and let my sit in there for about 5 mins.
When I style my hair, I don’t want it to be weighed down so I usually use a leave in first like my favorite Giovanni Direct Leave In or Kinky Curly Know Today, or just a conditioner I have on hand in my bathroom as a leave in. I then either used a crème like Eden’s Body Works coconut crème or just another conditioner over top of the leave in, I try to stay far away from gels or jelly stylers they leave my hair super crunchy and I hate that-the ONLY gel styler I loved was DevaCurl Light defining gel that’s my only expectation unless someone can give me suggestions. Now I don’t use an oil to seal my hair when I know I should however when all my products are in I use an oil spray from Suave or the coconut spray from Organix as a finisher and it leaves my hair real shiny and smelling good and, I don’t diffuse even in the winter I air dry most of the time, in the winter I sat under my hooded dryer to just dry my roots quicker and that’s it 🙂
What are some of your favorite natural hair websites,YouTuber’s, or blogs?
Oh God, SunKissAlba is my mother in another life, I absolutely love her. I love Shamless Maya, Taren Guy those are my three top Youtubers! they are AMAZING! I also read this wonderful blog, HeyGorJess.com, and BlackgirlLonghair.com.
Anything you want the readers to know? Inspirational words?
If anything just have patience and BE consistent with any treatments or routines when it comes to your hair, trust me your hair will thank you in the end ladies!
Where can people find you for more information?
Instagram: Curlioness_
Twitter: _CurlyHair_IDC (this may change in a month or so)
Vine: Curlioness
Pinterest: Curlioness
Feel free to email me about questions or anything, I’ll be more than happy to answerStyledbyShelly17@gmail.com
**YOUTUBE IS COMING SOON**
Gorgeous hair!!!
**glycomute**
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