Thursday, January 13, 2011

Captured Curls: Can You Guess Who?

I have a VERY special guest as the "Captured Curls" feature today. She has been one of my FAVORITE YT vloggers since I started my natural hair journey and I have been trying to get her on my blog for months now.I finally got a hold of her and her story is amazing. She's a very smart and ambitious young woman, it's a honor to have her featured on my blog. Many of you, I'm sure are familiar with this natural hair beauty...can you guess who she is?

Click the jump to find out and to read her GREAT feature.




I am please to introduce you all to Nikki Mae.
One of my favorite's in the natural hair community.


Enjoy! 



Tell me about YOU
I'm a young woman who loves living life to the fullest! I'm currently working on my Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering and also a blogger/vlogger that focuses primarily on natural hair care. Photography is a serious hobby of mine along with singing, playing tennis & the bass guitar and traveling the world. God is the most center of my life. 

 Tell me your hair care regimen (do you use heat, natural products, ect...)
My "regimen" changes constantly when it comes to the products I use so I guess I can't really define a regimen lol...I'll try my best though. I usually wash my hair once a week [shampoo (usually sulfate-free unless I have heavy product build-up) & deep-condition (conditioner with heat via heat therapy wrap or steamer)]. I get my hair trimmed at the salon around every 4 months so far. I'm a natural who uses heat, so I occassionally blow out my hair or even have it pressed out to wear it completely straight. This is rare though, considering I've only had my hair completely straightened about 3-4 times over the past year and a half. When it comes to my products, I use a combination of all-natural and non-natural products. I tend to go with whatever I find works best for my hair :) Some of my fav products right now (Doris New York Olive Oil cream, Tresemme Naturals Moisturizing Conditioner, Hair Rules Daily Cleansing Cream, Jane Carter Revitalizing Leave-In conditioner, Pura Body Naturals Cupuacu Butter). Two-strand twist-outs have become my "un-planned" signature style lol. 

 Tell me your texture and what works best on your hair type
I have very tightly coiled hair and if you go by the "typing system", I guess you could say I'm a mixture of 3c/4a/4b. For my hair type, anything that keeps my hair well moisturized is a must for me. I tend to use a lot of shea butter-based products/creams because I find that they tend to keep my hair well moisturized throughout the week. Spray leave-in conditioners to refresh my hair during the week have also become a staple.

Tell me the reaction you got when first going natural
I can't say everyone understood my decision to chop off my below shoulder length relaxed hair to sport a very short natural do' but I had a ton of support from my close friends and family. As my natural journey progressed, I realized that as long as I was pleased and comfortable with the decision I made, it really didn't matter what anyone else thought. I've really enjoyed the acquaintances I've made and the almost immediate camaraderie that develops when fellow naturals get together. I'm #teamnatural all the way! : ) 

 Did you BC or transition, if so when or for how long?
I transitioned for 4 months before I did my big chop on July 22, 2009. 

What makes you love your kinks, curls and coils?
There are many things I love about having natural hair, however what I enjoy most is the VERSATILITY! I love that  I can "fro" my hair out one day, have a curly twist-out the next and then have a straight, sleek look the following day if I wanted to. I'm a person who loves to experiment, so this works well for me. 

Where can we find you on the web?
You can come visit me on my site, www.naturalchica.com, which I started in the months when I was transitioning. It has grown from a personal blog, to a site that documents the natural journeys of others, interviews with natural hair product companies and a bit of my own personal hair updates along the way. I also have a YouTube channel (Nikkimae2003) where I host some  product reviews, hair styling tutorials, etc. This year, I also started a site that is dedicated purely to the Big Chop, called THE BIG CHOP FILES where women who decided to do the BC to transition natural hair are featured. You can also communicate with me via FB & Twitter (can you tell I'm a bit of a social media junkie lol)


 Anything EXTRA you want us to know?
I would just like to add that you should never be afraid to "DO NATURAL YOUR WAY". By that I mean that you shouldn't let others try to define what being natural means to you. Everyone's natural hair and journey are unique meaning that all styles, products, regimens, etc. won't always be transferrable from one girl to the next. Enjoy discovering what works for you : ) 



Posted by kaku at 7:20 AM
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)