Due to straightening my hair so frequently it was breaking off badly, because all I did was add oil whenever it looked dull, greased my scalp whenever it itched and washed it whenever I felt like it! So crazy!
I decided to embark on a healthy hair journey so I googled how to grow and look after black hair and one of Taren916 videos popped up and from then on I was hooked to youtube! The rest is hair history!!
It is amazing that you and Naomi decided to create a YouTube channel to help the UK natural hair community, what are some of the things you would like to see change in the natural hair industry in the UK?
We created our channel because majority of the channels were based in the US and not many for the UK. Our aim is to inspire and educate, we want the industry to start to acknowledge their consumers and educate about hair.
A lot of companies want to give you a quick fix or a ‘solution’ to what they think is a problem but not actually educate women on how to learn different techniques or aids that will help improve the real problem the consumer has with their hair. I know the industry wants to make money, but so much more money could be made if companies told the truth and lived by ethos that make sense!
From everything that you have learned so far what would you say is the most important piece of advice or thing that you have learned that has kept your hair healthy?
Listen to your hair and not someone else’s. We all have hair envy but a lot of people don’t know how to separate themselves from the desire of someone else’s hair. Your hair is your hair and it will only do so much or not. So learning how your hair reacts to ingredients rather than products is the key!
Now about that gorgeous color! Has it been easy to maintain the health of your hair with the color treatment? What advice do you have for someone thinking about taking the color plunge?
A lot of people are scared to color their hair because of the fear of breakage. Before you color your hair you need to understand the process of colour and dye and also learn how to moisturize your hair even more than before. Colored hair is weaker and it is harder to keep the moisture in, so you do have to adapt your routine to this and moisturize often.
I first used henna* for a natural color which only showed in the light, which annoyed me! So I got a tint and then 6 months later I bleached my hair to create an ombre effect and yes bleach can be dangerous and a lot of people are like heck nah!
However because I have learned my hair and how to moisturize it, it hasn’t broken off and continues to grow!
You have been very vocal about your feelings about weaves, wigs* and extensions*. Do you think that wearing a weave could be considered a crutch for women who prefer not to deal with their natural hair?
I do think that is one of the reasons for some women, there are so many different reasons as to why some women wear weaves or extensions*. I just don’t like them, its not my preference.
You have been natural all your life and it might be easy for some to say, ‘Your journey is not as hard as mine because I just big chopped after years of using a relaxer’. What has been the hardest thing for you during your healthy hair journey and what would you say to someone with that assumption?
The hardest thing for me is routine. I am not a fan of routine at all, so adapting a hair routine has been a struggle but it is apart of healthy hair care.
A lot of people say that I can’t identify with those who used to relax their hair, which is true, I can’t! But then there are those who assume I think that I am better than others because I have never relaxed and that is not true at all.