A Day in The Curls of Kristina

A Day in The Curls of Kristina

Kristina is 3C natural raising a little curly. This is her hair journey. Enjoy!

Q: How long have you been natural?

Kristina: I have been natural since July 2010.

Q: What prompted you to make the decision to go natural?

Kristina: I didn’t really think too much amount the benefits of being natural, I just wanted big hair.

Q: At what age did you first get a relaxer?

Kristina: It was at about 10yrs old.

Kristina pre natural

Q: Do you think it is important for little girls of color to grow up with their natural hair for a while before getting a relaxer? If so why?

Kristina: Young girls, yes. I think that should wait until they are old enough to understand the benefits of being natural vs. having a relaxer.

Q: You have a daughter; do you plan on relaxing her hair at any point?

Kristina: My daughter is 3 now, if I was still relaxed I’m sure I would have thought about having her hair relaxed at some point. However, now that I’m natural, I’d never. I’ll try my best to teach her the beauty of being natural and the benefits of healthy hair.

Q: Do you think being/going natural has affected the way you raise your children?

Kristina: No, not really. I notice myself doing different things with my Daughters hair now. Things like trying to prevent damage and to help with the growth of her hair, but as for the boys, not so much.

Q: Do you ever miss relaxers?

Kristina: I’ll never go back to a relaxer.

Q: What is your favorite thing about your curls?

Kristina: They give me big hair!

Q: What is your guilty hair pleasure (something you do to your hair even though you know it is not necessarily good fort it)?

Kristina: I recently had my hair straighten. I don’t get it blown out often because of the risk of heat damage. But I loved how silky it made my hair... and the feeling of being able to run my figures through my hair was great as well.

Q: What is your signature hair style?

Kristina: The part-to-the-side "wash and go".

Q: What is your favorite thing to use in your hair?
Kristina: At this time it’s "Curls Unleashed Curl defining Creme".

Q: Do you have any advice for mothers that are struggling to maintain their daughter’s natural hair and considering relaxers?

Kristina: DONT DO IT! I know some days may be harder than others however; your daughter will love you for it in the end. I’m sure the reason why my mother relaxed my hair was to make it easier to control. At the time it seemed ok because I didn’t understand the difference. Me now being natural, I would never advise someone to relax their hair or their child’s hair. I found that combing thru my daughters hair while conditioning makes it easier for the both of us.

What are your thoughts on little curlies and when it is appropriate to introduce them to relaxers?

It's The Little Things.....

It’s The Little Things...

One of the things that I was most excited about sharing with you guys on this blog, other than natural hair, was my iguana Onyx aka Bubba. But, she passed away recently before I could even introduce you guys.

Bubba was given to me for my 22^nd birthday by my girlfriend Giddy and had become a very big part of our lives. Giddy had even just built her a new home to live, a big 6’ by 3’ mansion and she loved it. When Bubba passed I found myself in very unfamiliar territory. I used to be one of those people who made fun of people who cried over their pets and here I was sitting on my closet floor crying and trying to convince myself that Bubba was just a pet. But, she wasn’t, Bubba was family and a loss is a loss.

After that, I avoided my living room at all cost, not only because that is where she lived and where her big new mansion still sat in the corner in constant reminder that I no longer had my Bubba Luva but also because she had died in the living room. Everyone kept saying to get a new pet and I was like:
“Broooo, I don’t know. She just died; I can’t deal if something happened to another pet.”

Then on this past weekend Giddy called me and told me she had found a red iguana and wanted to know if I’d be willing to go look at it because she thought she was ready to have a new pet. I was willing to try but with certain rules, no iguanas smaller than Bubba.

We visited the pet store and met this little Pheonix and he was beautiful but skittish, which made me nervous. We decided he was too small and to go on an adventure. We ended up at a different pet store; saw 3 more iguanas and they were all too small. Then the guy asked if we had seen the Chinese Water Dragons. He escorted us to the back of the store and brought out this tiny little creature who crawled onto my finger and perched herself there. She was calm and cool, exactly what we needed, but tiny. So he bought out a bigger one and gave it to Giddy and the bigger one immediately jumped out of her hands and started going crazy, so we knew he wasn’t a match. Then I went to give the smaller one back to the guy who was helping us and she proceeded to crawl further up my hand and continued resting, felt like it was choosing me.

But, was she too small?

Meet Matilda
(We don’t know if it’s a girl or boy yet, lol)

The loss of Bubba has helped me appreciate a lot. But, it has definitely helped me appreciate Matilda more. I enjoyed my time with Bubba even though it was cut short, but now I wish I had spent more time interacting with her. We can all become so caught up in our lives that we forget to spend time with the things and people that we love. Bubba taught me responsibility and also made me aware of what responsibilities I am not ready for (i.e.; parenthood). She taught me that it is perfectly okay to cry over losing a pet and that you are never too cool to be human. Every day I come home excited to see Matilda and make sure I spend time with her and even attempt to feed her those scary lil crickets (Giddy is better at it than me).

Do you have any pets? If so, what have they taught you?