Peluncatan: Fresh-Squeezed Fotki Juice: AfrikanHairGod

I'm really excited about this entry in the Fresh-Squeezed Fotki Juice series! The name AfrikanHairGod really says it all. When I came across his fotki page, I knew he had to be a part of this series and I am so glad he obliged. This young man's mane is glorious and his attitude perfectly compliments his regal style. Here is his interview and don't forget to go over and c heck out his albums!

NL: Your hair is so cool. Tell us about your natural hair journey.

AHG: Personally, I really don’t think I had much of a journey. I have read and heard about many women who went through years of damaging and burning their hair with relaxers only to realize that they were running away from the natural curls that we were born with. I was lucky enough to start off from a clean slate, without having to BC or transition. Like many people I started out growing my hair without any knowledge to properly caring for it. In my early stages of growth, I was ripping and burning my hair out my hair with thin-toothed combs and scorching flat irons. I am proud to say that I am not nearly as ignorant as I was a year ago. I have learned so much about hair and even now I continue to learn everyday about my own hair. I had my last haircut in April of 2008. When my hair finally grew to 3-4 inches, I found someone to cornrow it for me, since I had no idea what to do with it. But after a while I got tired of having to have someone do my hair for me so I decided to learn how to do it myself. I knew learning how to cornrow would be way too difficult for me to learn on my own so I learned how to flat twist. It’s a learning process and I am still learning about and experimenting with my hair. For it to only be one year and a couple of months I think that I have come a very long way.

NL: What inspires you to create your styles?

AHG: Personally, I use my hair as a way to express myself. I am not one to follow trends or go along with mainstream society. I have a mind and I think for myself and allow no one to think for me. I have learned to embrace the fact that I am different and have used that as my prime source of inspiration. I am a unique person and I want people to see that when they meet me. I love walking into a room and knowing that there is no one with the exact hairstyle as me. It makes me feel even better when people complement my hair and find out that I did it myself. A painter uses paint to express his inner feelings and emotions, a poet uses words, but I use my hair.

NL: Do you have a specific hair/product regimen you follow?

AHG: I don’t have a very strict regimen when it comes to my hair. The important thing that I try to keep in mind is that in order for hair to grow healthy, you have to make sure it stays moisturized. On a daily basis, I moisturize my hair with water, followed by applying my leave-in conditioner (along with other conditioning products), and finish by sealing in all the moisture with my oil moisturizer. I do this twice a day, once when I wake up in the morning and again before I go to bed. I shampoo my hair no more than once a week always following with a rinse-out conditioner. Throughout the week, I co-wash as often as needed, sometimes for styling purposes or to cleanse my hair and scalp. Every month, I do a deep-condition at least once, but never more than twice a month. I have also started to trim my ends every 3-4 months to prevent damage from split ends.

NL: You mentioned in your fotki that you always used to wear your hair cut close. What has it been like to experiment with longer hair and what have been the reactions from other people (friends/family)?

AHG: When I first started growing out my hair, I had no idea how to care for it or even how to style it. I struggled in the beginning stages because I had no idea what to do with it. I would spend 30 minutes to an hour trying to make it look decent enough for me to walk out in public with it. I didn’t know how to use a hair pick properly so I could figure out how to do the afro or the puff. However, after I began to research how to care for and style natural hair (Thank you for everyone with the youtube tutorials, who knows where I would be right now without them) I began learning and practicing every chance I got and now I am the flat twisting maniac you see today. In my beginning flat twist stages, I got mixed reactions from my friends and family. They were impressed that I had done it myself but my friends would often tell me that I looked like someone off of a science fiction movie. As I began to get better, my friends and family began to take more notice in my hair. Many of them have suggested that I go to cosmetology school so that I could make a living from doing hair. I have even inspired one of my cousins to go natural and throw away the relaxer. Though my mother sees that I have a talent doing hair, she would much rather I cut it all off and be conservative so as to be discreet and not draw attention to myself, i.e. my sexuality.

NL: As a male, have you ever experienced any negativity through work or school with having longer/natural hair?

AHG: I have never received any negative criticism about my hair at school. I am always receiving complements about my hair from both men and women. Last year I worked as a teacher assistant at an elementary school. Whenever I walked in that school with a different hairstyle, I would get bombarded by the faculty and staff admiring my hair. They just couldn’t believe that I, being a young male, could do my own hair and execute it so perfectly. The only negative criticism that I have received is that my hair looks to feminine or “gay”. Though I will admit that I tend to lean more on the feminine side, that has nothing to do with my sexuality. Typically black males with long hair style their hair in cornrows, but I prefer my flat twists.

NL: Is there anything else you want Naturally Leslie readers to know about your natural hair journey?

AHG: My natural hair journey has completely changed me as a person. All of my life I have been ridiculed and teased by many people. As a result, it had caused me to have extremely low self-esteem and self-confidence. I have lived my entire life trying to fit into the society that I was born into. But my hair journey has taught me to accept and embrace my hair the way God intended, all while teaching me the same valuable lesson about myself. That I should love and embrace myself as a whole in every aspect and not look for other peoples validation or reassurance of me as a person.

Wow! Thanks AfrikanHairGod for your candid and honest responses. As you all can see, embracing natural styles can be just as complex for men as for women, especially if your look goes against the grain of what a black male is "supposed to look like" in our hetero-dominant society. This story was a great inspiration to me and I hope it is to you as well. Here's a peek at what you'll find in his albums. I had such a hard time choosing which ones to post because they're all so cool! And he does his styles himself!

Great twist out!