Capture Curls: Kay

I was contacted by the beautiful Kay a couple of weeks ago, asking if I would feature her. 

Of course I obliged, her hair is gorgeous and her story is inspiring.

This Captured Curls feature is WAY overdue, I hope y'all enjoy.

Read below...

Tell me about YOU

I am a teacher by day, fiancée by mid afternoon and blogstar by night. I absolutely love learning and from there I love spreading the news about what I’ve learned! Teaching is my number one passion and I thrive off of sharing my knowledge with others!

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

Style.Hydrate.Protect.Wash.

Style. As a teacher, I like to keep it classy yet add my bit of pizzazz! I truly believe in rocking protective styles and don’t necessarily wear my hair down unless it’s a special occasion.

Hydrate. I never manipulate my hair without using a water-based or oil-based moisturizer. I’ll be honest: the skin on my hands is rough, chile! So, I must use some type of summin’ to ensure my hands aren’t damaging my tresses. I’ve got a few Carol’s Daughter products that work wonders for my strands. When I go to sleep I usually braid my hair into 7 sections and seal my ends with Black Smoothie.

Protect. Each night I braid my hair into 7 sections: Bang, 4 braids through my ear sections and the back is separated into two. This works very well after I’ve washed my hair to give it a curly-yet-straight texture. Giving extra attention to my ends I’ll seal them with olive oil or my very own K for Konkashun.

Wash. I can no longer wash my hair in the sink...bummer...this process has to be completed in the shower and usually takes me about 30 minutes to thoroughly cleanse my hair. Every four weeks, I will use a shampoo, any other wash is with a conditioner. Once my hair is completely saturated, which usually takes about 3 minutes of standing under the water, I will separate my hair into 4 sections. I wash and rinse each section separately. Then I move onto conditioning, which I rely on my 4 sections again. Using a Denman brush, I detangle each section and twist as they are detangled. I don’t necessarily rinse my conditioner out. Just a quick wet and ring out!

Tell me your texture and what works best on your hair type

Natural Texture:

When I am in the shower washing my tresses, my hair is very sleek and wavy. However, once it dries it turns into this massive shrunken pouf that breaks combs and bends brushes! Yes, my natural hair texture is seriously coiled and ranges from a 3c to every 4 category! I know it loves water, any kind of moisturizer and itself!! Once upon a time I tried all the products from every line. Got over that and started using items that were cheap and meaningful. Currently, I’m in love with L’oreal Royal Jelly Conditioner (yellow bottle), Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Conditioner, a few products from Carol’s Daughter and  in the mail, I have the Wen collection coming!

Pressed Texture:

Amazingly, my hair goes from this rigid, rough, don’t-take-no-mess confusion to a sleek, elegant, if-I-don’t-curl-it-a-bit: lifeless head full of hair. As soon as a flat-iron touches these strands, they go from 3c and 4s to 1s and 2s. SCAREY!! So when my hair is straight, I dread adding any type of moisturizer, whether oil based or water based to my hair because it will become limp: oil based and stringy: water-based.

Tell me the reaction you got when first going natural

I transitioned for a year and a half, normally wearing my hair straight or in braids. When I finally BC, baby chop as it was only 2 inches, I wore my hair in the afro style. Many people stated that it was cute! A lady I know once told me that cute is for babies. Needless to say, I never wore my afro wash and go again. Not because of being “cute,” I just didn’t like the shape. It wasn’t big and defined as I thought it would be.

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

In 2006, I went in with shoulder length hair asking for my ends to be trimmed and walked out with a short pixie haircut. I was depressed for a very long time. When I decided to go natural, I knew I wasn’t planning to BC due to that experience. I knew I couldn’t fathom that experience again!  Starting in October 2008, I began transitioning.  I finally BC’d on Earth Day 2010. My contribution to the earth! HA!

 What makes you love your kinks, curls and coils?

The versatility! When my hair is straight, that’s all it is: straight. When I wear my hair in its natural state, maybe a bit of stretching, I’ve got quite a few go to styles. Many of them helped me transition and I’ve hung onto them as I’ve perfected how to create these styles in under 5 minutes! The Stega is an inward braid that starts at the nape of your neck and goes toward your bangs and then you create a hidden bang in the front. I’m addicted to The Smilin’ Frenchie because it keeps my ends extremely protected! Very simple, two french rolls meet at the nape of my neck and fold into each other to make a French roll. Then there’s The Pomp and France which is a mixture of two French rolls and a coifed bun. This is my favorite style. Very Dainty and Very Chic. And then the lovely TER-riffic hair: Tracee Ellis Ross-riffic, in other words a braid out – gotta love that one!

Where can we find you on the web?

I recently started a blog about Hair.Finance.Womanhood. As a school teacher I’m always compelled to share what I know and learned! www.lovenwright.blogspot.com

Anything EXTRA you want us to know?

My hair goal right now is not to grow my hair long. Currently I am seeking to grow out my bangs!! I soooo want to have even hair, meaning my hair in the front is visually the same length as the hair in the back. In April 2009 I got a Sasha Fierce hair cut!! I was every bag of chips on the market! I loved, loved, loved – yes I was feeling myself – this hairstyle! But it had bangs and so now I’m plagued with this mini-mullet which I’ve always struggled with because of my weak ear patches. One hair dresser suggested that I start to get my back cut at ½ inch and my bangs cut at ¼ inch. The process seems to be working! But, boy is it tedious!