Captured Curls: Gabrielle Allen of Strawberri Curls

Ladies, I am pleased to introduce to you Gabrielle of Strawberri Curls!

If you have not yet checked out her awesome blog please do so by clicking here.

I reached out to Gabrielle via Twitter mainly because I love her hair and she is such an inspirational woman 

in the natural hair community.

I love having inspirational naturals feature on my blog and I was honored that she was willing

to share her story with us.

Below is her natural hair story, I hope you all enjoy it!

1. Tell me about you:

My name is Gabrielle Allen aka MsLizziA. I am a college student majoring in Business with a concentration in Computer Science.

2.Tell me your hair care regimen (do you use heat, natural products, ect...)

I used to have a regimen that i was gung-ho about but as of late it has been all over the place. I try to DC at least once a week which doesn't always happen. Lately i have been doing tons of protective styling and moisturizing my hair while PSing. I don't use heat often at all in fact i use it less than once every 2 months. I don't shampoo my hair often at all. About once a month, thats all
My staple products include :

Leave-in - Aussie Moist or Dove Intensive Repair Conditioner

Gel and pomades - Eco Styler , Oyin Burnt Sugar

Shampoo - Dove Moisturizing Shampoo and Suave Clairifying Shampoo

Moisturizer - Crisco

Oils -Olive oil, Jojoba Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil

Misc- Henna

3.Tell me your texture and what works best on your hair type:

I don't get caught up in hair textures. I think its whats work for THAT persons hair as opposed to what works best for a particular hair type.

4. Tell me the reaction you got when first going natural:

Ha! My whole family thought i had lost my mind. Everybody was like "Whats wrong with you?" "You going through something" and the "Living my life like its golden" n " I am not my hair" theme songs as i walked by. I can't really say anybody was that supportive when i went natural. At the time i had no hair boards, knew nothing about the natural hair community, no blogs, NOTHING! I was basically on my own and no one else around me was transitioning but me. I did it basically because i wanted to and didn't (and still don't) care about what anybody had to say.

5. Did you BC or transition, if so when or for how long?:

The 1st time i went natural, i transitioned for a year because i was afraid to have short hair. I cut the hair off, wore it natural for some months, texturized it because i didin't know what i was doing, then permed it some months later, and transitioned the same exact week i permed it. The second time, i didn't care and didn't have the patience so I chopped my hair off after 4 months and haven't looked back since!

6. What makes you love your kinks, curls and coils?:

I love the versatility of my hair. I can do things with it that i never even knew was possible. I can go straight, curly, updo, braidouts, twistouts, rollersets, yep all that! Lol. I just love it because it represents my personality.

7. Where can we find you on the web?:

You can find me a couple of places

Blog:http://www.strawberricurls.com

Fotki:http://public.fotki.com/mslizzia/

Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/user/TheStrawberriCurls

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mslizzia

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/StrawBerriCurls/366079370392#!/pages/StrawBerriCurls/366079370392

8.Anything EXTRA you want us to know?:

 I do have some advice for people on their journey; please be patient with your hair. Don't obsess over length because with healthy hair, length will come. Everyone's hair doesn't grow at the same rate so don't look at the next person's hair and wonder why yours isn't growing as fast. You are YOU and no one else so if your hair grows a little slower, so what? If you keep living, that time will fly by and your hair will grow.