Tia Talks About Natural Hair

Q: What is your hair story? What kind of hair styles have you rocked, before embracing your natural hair?
A: I initially began my hair journey wanting to learn more about growing long and healthy relaxed hair after my relaxed hair started breaking. While I was looking up how to take care of my hair, I learned more about natural hair and the great experiences others had with their natural hair. I saw the range of hairstyles that I could do with natural hair and its versatility, as well as how healthy and thick natural hair was. After reading lots of information on youtube, forums and blogs about natural hair, I was convinced that that was what I wanted to do.

Q: When and why did you decide to start wearing your hair naturally?
A: I decided to be long term transition-er after seeing how other ladies on youtube and forums were able to successfully transition and have a considerable amount of hair on their heads. My last relaxer was January 11, 2010 and I ended up transitioning for 18 months and. The last couple of months of my transition I was actually studying abroad in Spain, so that was definitely a challenging experience trying to manage the two textures abroad. About three months after I returned to America I cut the remainder of my relaxed ends off on July 24, 2011.

Q: Did you have any big fears about going back to your natural texture?
A: Yes, I was traveling into unknown territory and something completely different than what I was used to. As a slow transition-er, I slowly became use to my texture, but I wasn't completely sure how it would look after I cut all of my relaxed ends off. I had some issues styling my hair at first but I eventually learned that braid outs worked more for my hair than twist outs. 

Q: What are three products you can't live without for nurturing/styling your hair?
A: I always use shea butter to seal in the moisture. I like the thick consistency of it and it’s ability to hold stretched styles like a braidout. I also like Darcy Botanicals Curl Smoothing Cream and Karen’s Body Beautiful Super Duper Hydrating Cream as moisturizers. I like the smell of both of them and I like their consistency and thickness.

Q: What would you say to someone who's thinking about embracing their natural hair, but scared about being rejected in various parts of their lives?
A: What really helped with my natural hair journey was focusing on what my hair and what I liked rather than what others were saying or doing. I read a lot about natural hair on blogs, forums and youtube and saw how great natural hair could be. I didn't see that many other natural women around me when I initially became natural, so I found positive inspiration on the internet.

To see more about Tia, go to her youtube page tiajonay.