Curl R Us: Vikky is Ab Fab!

Finger coils

My name is Vikky Wambui, I have been natural for 18 months and I am a product junkie!

I had relaxed hair for over 10 years before I decided to go natural...some may say that my hair looked healthy, but over the years it had started to thin, break & was quite dry despite regular trips to the hairdresser’s for rather pricey “treatments” (read deep conditioners) and using top of the range hair relaxing brands.

I decided to reduce my re-touches to twice a year and in between I would braid, weave or even wear a wig...however it was very difficult to deal with the two textures and the thought of cutting it all off did cross my mind several times, but I just had no clue of how to take care of my hair in its natural state and plus my hair was my identity...it was what people used to describe me! “What about my rather prominent forehead and the shape of my head!” “What will people say/think”...believe me there were many reasons or rather excuses for me NOT to cut off my relaxed hair.

So I decided to transition instead and in the meantime I started my research on natural hair. My plan was to transition for about a year as I cut off the relaxed ends so that the change was not so dramatic. However, after watching numerous YOUTUBE videos & reading several blogs on natural hair, I acquired the confidence to take that bold step & just could not wait to start the natural hair journey! So on 19^th May 2012 at 7:00am in front of my bathroom mirror, I cut it all off!  TALK ABOUT FREEDOM!

I am not sure of my hair type in terms of letters & digitsJ, but I would say looking at the curl pattern & texture, it is curlier than it is kinky. It is not tightly coiled but has a loose defined curl pattern, what we call in my ethnic community “Kimira” translated mucus like hair. Yeah I know...eeeeiiiwww!

 The curl pattern & thickness of my hair differs...at the back of my head the curls are very well defined, it is very thick at the crown where it also tends to grow faster than the rest of the head and the curl pattern at the front & sides is less defined & tends to get frizzy.

During the first few months of my natural journey, I stuck to a regular weekly regimen which included:

·         Pre-poo with EVCO

·         Washing with a sulphate free shampoo – Dr Organics or Timotei

·         Deep conditioning  - mostly with ORS Replenishing Conditioner /any other DC that did not contain mineral oil or petrolatum

·         Moisturizing with a leave-in conditioner

·         Seal with EVOOWith time however I have come to realise that as long as my hair is well moisturised & sealed, I do not need to Deep Condition every week. I now DC every 2 weeks with either: ORS + Mayo or Natural Yoghurt + Honey....the more natural the products, the better my hair responds.

For weekly maintenance I:

·         Pre-poo weekly with a mix of olive oil & castor oil

·         Co-wash with Suave Naturals or Timotei.

·         Moisturise with a mix on water, leave-in, glycerine & aloe vera gel

·         Follow up with sheabutter & seal with EVOO.

All the products I use are locally sourced, either from the local super markets/beauty stores or from healthy U. I also source from Tricia’s Marketplace on FB.

Wash n Go is my favourite style but as my hair gets longer it is no longer very practical, however I do wear  wash n gos on weekends after I have co-washed my hair.

Because of my busy schedule my styling routine is very simple. On Sunday evenings I will put my hair into twists which I take down on Monday morning to wear a twist out. My twist-outs don’t hold for long (partly because I do not keep the twists in long enough & also because I do not use any gel) so for the rest of the week, I will hold up the twist-outs into a bun with the front left in a couple of twists. This style is so easy to maintain as I do not have to take down the bun when I go to sleep, I just tie my silk scarf & off to dream land I goJ! In the morning, take down the bun, moisturise with my spritz, bun up my hair & I am done!

Every couple of months I will still wear braids or weaves for protective styling but not for more than 2 -3 weeks at a time.

My goal is to keep my hair in its natural state & see how long it can grow. I had achieved 15 inches when relaxed & I would like to beat that....maybe even double it so relaxers or locs are out for me. 

It has been an exciting journey for me...so exciting that I decided to start a blog about my natural hair journey: nappy-glam.blogspot.com unfortunately due a very hectic schedule I haven’t been able to update in a while, but I do plan to continue to share my experiences.