Kinky TRESSES: Meet Ndeshi

I’ve been featured on Black Zulu. Just wanted to say thanks to Nekisha for this great piece!

Black Zulu

As promised, this week’s Kinky TRESSES: takes us across the globe to meet fellow natural hair blogger – Ndeshi, who currently resides in Canada. She is a Zambian-born natural beauty who started her hair (re)discovery journey in early 2012.

Tell us a bit about yourself and the life of your hair before going natural.

I grew up in a small town in northern British Columbia, Canada. As a kid my mom would do my hair. I spent hours at her feet, head bent this way and that way as she hot combed, braided, twisted and cared for my hair. After my first relaxer at around 9 years old, I would relax my hair infrequently. Having a small black population they didn’t have very much available for our hair so when my dad went out of town we would get him to bring us hair products. When I moved away at…

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Two Years Natural

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROCCO!

I just want to take a moment to say.. TWO YEARS?! Holy wow. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was getting my hair buzzed off. I wasn’t sad to see my fragile, broken strands swept away but I was sad I didn’t have a scarf to keep the cold air off my newly exposed neck.

There are going to be so many photos in this gig. I need to one-up my one year anniversary post. Plus there’s going to be some cameos from my Big Chop buddy! My momma!

Rocco: The Early Years

I think my hair had better things to do than grow when I was younger. Legit. My hair follicles were unproductive. I rocked a mean TWA until I was like 4… and then I rocked a fluffy ‘fro. My hair took its sweet time to make an appearance and I wasn’t wearing cornrows or braids until I was about 5 or 6. No biggie. My hair had other things to do, I get it.

Throughout school I wore my hair in braids, corn rows, we hot combed my hair *cringe*, I got my hands on a curling iron and I rocked rolled out bangs like nobody’s business. Around 9 I got my first relaxer. One lady in town relaxed my hair, but it was pricey so I didn’t go very often and they didn’t sell boxed relaxers where I lived. In between I mostly flat ironed it and occasionally wore box braids.

When I moved away for college I was loving that I had access to more hair products so I relaxed my hair and then got it cut at salons. I’ve only ever had maybe two good hair cuts and one of them was at a salon in the mall. Michael only charged me $7 as a ‘bangs cut’. I tipped him well. But when I went back for another cut he was gone. *sob*

After a couple of years I realized this life was no longer for me. Now I know I wasn’t taking the best care of it. I didn’t deep condition it and I flat ironed it like crazy. After straightening it I would have a collection of matchstick strands surrounding me. Rocco was not in good shape.

I had a wise idea of trying to get it sorted out at a local hair salon. My hair dresser had no idea what he was doing and decided to wing it (and I foolishly let him). You can bet I wore my hood up leaving that salon. A couple of weeks later I lopped it all off. Two years later, here I am.

Natural Days

I still stand by the fact that my TWA was the most freeing period in all of my hair history. Washing was easy, drying was easy, moisturizing was easy. There was no detangling, no combing, no SSKs, no major bed prep. There was no blow drying, no teasing and no straightening. I barely had to do jack shit. I slept with a satin cap, and for my 6 am runs I whipped it off, suited up and was out the door. It was sooooo eeeeeasy!!! #sospoiled

Why Am I Still Natural?

This hair of mine is versatile. Sure, there are days when my hair is dry, tangled, uncooperative and makes me wanna just put a hat on. This tuft up there is so unique it makes me happy. When someone says, your hair would be so long if you straightened it. Sure, I could straighten it but then what would I do with it? It would just sit there. I feel as though my natural hair allows me to be creative and get funky and have fun with it. I find my hair matching my mood and it gives me that extra kick of funky charm 😉

Not to mention the community. The online support, suggestions, finding your hair twin, making your own hair products, tweet chats, finding a product your hair loves, this is all gold people. The encouragement, the helpful suggestions, the conversation surrounding natural hair can be so positive and so uplifting and so inspiring. You’re never alone on your journey and you’re always learning.

Rocco’s 2 Year Length Check

I find myself forgetting to do length checks. But that’s because this is just my hair now. It’s less of an experiment in hair growing and more, this is my hair. But since it has been a while I’m excited to see how Rocco’s been doing length wise.

Front:

I’m looking at about 8 inches all round. I’m not mad at that. My ends could use some dusting this spring but otherwise. Thanks for reading!! Have a great Friday!

Rocco’s Previous Milestones:

9 months natural
8 months
6 months
My natural hair story

I Wanna Chat With You!

Hey everyone,

My natural hair anniversary is sneaking up on me and I’m going to put out a little vid fun. So I wanted to put out an offer, if you have any questions about my natural hair journey or about your natural hair journey or you’re my hair twin and want to know what I do with my hair or what I use… send me an email, tweet, or just say hi! That’s cool too. I would actually love to hear from you all. I’ve been blogging since May 2012 so that anniversary is coming up as well but in general… yeah I just want to hear from you. If I can answer your questions, cool, or I’d love to just discuss some topics. I’ll leave that to you 🙂

email: curlypotential@gmail.com

twitter: @CurlyPotential

Q 1 – From Isle of Azure: Do you do twists? If yes, how do you daily maintain them? What do you love about being natural?

I loooove twists. I like to put my hair in mini twists on wash days and wear them for two weeks. At some point during the two weeks I’ll take the twists out and wear a mini-twist-out. I like that I can style my hair as though its loose, but that my hair is still together which allows for less tangles/knots.

To maintain them I first prep them by running some curl enhancing smoothie in them before I twist them up. On the ends I’ll use shea butter. Throughout the week if I feel they need some moisture, I can spritz the ends with water, or steam the ends, and rub some coconut oil throughout and seal with shea butter.

I love that natural hair is my own. My most recent adventure with extensions made me realize that I actually just prefer my own hair. Natural hair is so so so so versatile. You can have 50 naturals in a room and they can all have different styles. It’s amazing!

Q 2 – From An Afrikan Butterfly: Length retention. What’s your approach? Like what part of your regimen/ hair life do you think helps you retain length the most?

If I can keep my hair low on knots and breakage, I can trim my hair less. If I can style my hair in a way that I can leave it for a couple of weeks, I can let it do its thing. I don’t see split ends in my hair. I do see single strand knots however and those tend to get caught on each other resulting in tangles and frustration. To curb that, every once in a while, as needed, I will dust my ends. I think I did that twice last year.

As far as length retention, I try and keep my regimen and products simple and while I do use a comb and brush, I try and be gentle and I don’t force either tools through my hair. If I’m at the point where I’m using a brush or comb then that means I’ve already detangled. But in general, I like to set my hair up with low manipulation styles that I can keep in for a while.

Also, I don’t know if this adds to it, but the only heat I use is blow drying twice a month and not very much. I don’t aim to get my hair pin straight when blowdrying, more just stretched before putting in my twists. I’m curious about flat-ironing it but I’m also terrified of heat damage!

My New Route For Protective Styling

I like protective styles. They save me time on styling and prep. But I have to say I don’t think I’ll be doing protective styles with extensions in the near future (if at all).

Growing up I used to love getting box braids. Used to love swinging my hair around like a boss. Used to have fun with styles and ponytails and buns and all that good stuff.

I bought extensions over a year ago so I could put my hair away and let it rest while wearing some length. I wore twists for a month last March and I recently put them in mid-February.

I lasted two weeks.

It wasn’t that I missed my hair. I just wasn’t a fan of the extra weight. I only wore it in a bun on the top of my head to get it out of the way. I tried to wear it in a bun at ponytail level but it just pulled on my hair and gave me an instant headache. Not cool. My shower caps were plastic bags and hats were no longer an option.

As impromptu as I had put my twists in, after 45 minutes they were out again. It’s never fun to see the shed hair that’s lost but I made sure my hair was well taken care of after that. I steamed my strands, coconut oil pre-poo’d, washed, deep conditioned, lightly blow dried and put in mini twists and I am much happier.

I love that the length I looked for from extensions I’m slowly making my way towards with my own hair. My hair in twists now touches my back. I can swing it around the way I loved to and I can pin it up and style it. I think my protective styles from here will really be just with my own hair. It’s capable of a lot and that makes me happy because you know what? That’s all because of me! I’m the one to thank for my hair’s health and in the nearly 2 years since I’ve gone natural Rocco has come a long way and so have I.

Why I’m Still Natural

I did my Big Chop March 2012 and my new short ‘do was completely new to me. While it was foreign having relatively no hair it was the change I needed after dealing with my previous broken, uneven hair. As my hair grew it formed its curls and coils and I kept up with its changing needs. Now, at nearly 19 months my hair has gone through a number of styles and products.

Do I ever have thoughts of returning to relaxing my hair? Yep. But they’re usually nightmares. Never have I thought of returning to relaxing my hair because honestly, I can achieve the straight look without slathering my hair in chemicals. If I get tired of dealing with my hair I’ll take some time to put it in mini-twists that will stay out of my way for a week. Or I’ll put some long-term twists in or box braids but what’s nice is that I have options.

The only time I get hair anxiety is on wash day. The process of actually washing my hair doesn’t take too long but it’s taking care of it afterwards that is critical and time consuming. I know better than to wash my hair too late or I won’t want to stay up and do it. I also like to leave time to deep condition so I give myself enough time to do it all. I know once I do my hair I’m setting myself up for a less tangled week which I will only thank myself for later on.

I stay natural because my hair is no longer something I have to ‘deal with’. My hair is something I nurture. I’m not going to pretend it’s all rainbows and sunshine. I have my share of tangles, single strand knots, multiple strand knots, dry, crunchy ends, but I am so equipped with knowledge, tools and products that help me get my hair to the best it can be.

I’m excited to see what my hair is capable of. I don’t have an ultimate goal but I like that strands that stopped above my eyebrows now reach my chin.

I get the occasional comment about how long my hair would be if I straightened it. I like that I have the option to wear my hair short and curly or long and straight. I really do.

If you don’t mind, I have some questions for you out there:
Do you ever feel the pull to return to chemically straightening your hair?
What keeps you natural?

My Curly Twist-Out

My hair has been in a protective style for two weeks. August 23 I put mini braids in my hair and wore them for about 4 days and then decided to switch them over to mini twists. I find many of my involved hair styles are done impulsively. I’ll start getting my hair ready for bed and I’ll be inspired to do something different and I’ll end up in bed at 1AM or something silly like that.

I just took out my twists yesterday after my flight home on Friday. I washed my hair in the morning which I don’t normally do (usually done in the evening) and I was busy unpacking and cleaning during the day that I didn’t have the time to sit down and twist or braid my hair to stretch it out. Rookie mistake. Instead I let it air dry and tied a patterned cloth around my head. By the end of the night I knew something had to be done or I would be in big trouble. I haven’t worn a wash and go since my TWA days. My hair did not thank me for wearing it yesterday and I know I would be left with dry, tangled hair if i used it as a style *shudder*

So I sat down, sectioned off my hair with elastics and got on with it. I worked water into each section, sealed with coconut oil and then added Shea Moisture’s Curl Enhancing Smoothie to each bit. I then twisted each section and was suddenly inspired to put those twists into Curlyformers. Why not right? It’s only 10PM… Some pics for ya.

Removing them this morning left me with spiraled twists which was a fun look. I separated them all and got a soft, curly fro. I pinned one side and wore it like that for the day.

You can read about my Curlformers purchase here. Also you can see in the pics where my hair ends within the Curlformers. So I still have plenty of room to go before I outgrow these.

I started out with mini braids which I often pinned up. I switched them over to mini twists because I liked a fuller look but I didn’t take a pic of the twists.

Borrowed this from my mom. I really like the print. My hair shrinks soo much. Serious coils.

Sectioned hair

Hard work. Not really though, Curlformers are pretty simple to use.

They’re in.

Next morning

I love the spiraled twists. So cute.

An interesting look.

Crazy hair, they’re all out.

Curls. I basically go for stretched styles. I’m not too concerned with maintaining the curls ‘just so’. As long as my hair is stretched it’s less likely to tangle and that’s exactly what I want.

Rocco’s Routine — 16 Months & Growing

I recently did a length check but it’s been a while since I’ve done an update on how I’ve been caring for my hair. Here’s a week in the life of Rocco, my fro.

Weekdays

I pretty much always wear my hair in an ‘out’ do. Either braid or twist-out. It’s either a free fro with a part or I twist the front portions down to the sides. Sometimes I wear a puff but not very often. I’ve made a point of getting my hair ready for bed as soon as I get home from work. So before I go about getting food ready or sitting on the couch I get my wide toothed comb and twist/braid and oil my hair.

To prep my hair I spritz the ends with water and work it in with my fingers and then I’ll seal it with shea butter. I usually end up dividing my hair into six sections. Once that’s done I am free to do what I want and my hair is now one less obstacle between me and sleep when it comes to bedtime. Although if I have plans after work then I’ll just do what I gotta do and do it up before bed time. I will be the first to admit I have gone to bed with my hair loose. It wasn’t the end of the world but it doesn’t set me up for a good hair day.

If my scalp is feeling dry and itchy I put some coconut oil on my fingertips and massage my scalp.

Fridays

Wash daaaay for Rocco! I put him in 4 pony puffs and hit the shower. Normally I wet, shampoo each section, condition (Tresemme something or other) and rinse and then I put in my deep conditioner and hang out for a couple of hours with a plastic bag wrapped around my head and a towel wrapped around the plastic bag. Afterwards I rinse it out, oil it,  and put in medium sized braids.

Weekends

Now sometimes (depends what kind of weekend it is… if it’s a hermity weekend or a social weekend) I will leave my braids in for the whoooole weekend and just moisturize them as needed. Then come Monday I have a solid braid-out! This is my slacker way out. Honestly though, I’m not bothered leaving my house with my hair in braids. I usually go for runs with my bedtime twists/braids in. Saturday morning I went to the grocery store and did my thang. I’ll admit though Saturday afternoon I had to pick up something I’d forgotten from the store and I left my helmet on… ha! But really, I don’t mind.

Products

Shea butter – loooove this stuff
Coconut oil
Water
Deep conditioner – Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner
Shampoo – I started out with Shea Moisture’s Organic Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention. After a year (that stuff got me through my first year as a natural) it ran out… I haven’t found it in Canada so to tide me over I’ve been using Giovanni. But it’s a little pricey for me ($10 for 250ml) and it leaves my hair a little too squeaky clean. This past weekend I opted to purchase Jason Restorative Biotin Shampoo. While it was also $9.99 it holds 473ml — sold! Maybe this will lead to a product review…? I’ll let you know how it is.
Conditioner – any cheap stuff will do. I’ve used Tresemme Naturales mostly because it comes in a big bottle and probably because it was on sale. On Saturday I picked up a smaller bottle of Garnier Fructis… meh. I need to visit Seattle and stock up on all the good stuff hair-wise.

Generally my hair has been happy. I trimmed it last week because the ends were getting crunchy and knotty. I don’t trim on a set schedule, only when I feel it’s necessary. In my 16 months I’ve trimmed my hair 3 times.

I’ve learned plenty these past 16 months. I feel like less is more with my hair and I try to keep it simple. I am ready to try new styles though, maybe a twist that goes all around my head like a crown, or chunky twists assembled in a neat way. The only bummer is I have to slap a helmet on it for my ride to and from work… I just have to find something that travels well 😉