Let’s chat with…
Kristal aka BEadifullYOUniq
How long have you been natural? And if you haven’t been natural your whole life, what prompted you to make the change?
I have been natural since February 13, 2004 after being relaxed since I was 8 years old. When I decided to go natural, none of my friends in my circle were natural at the time so I did not get any external influences when I made my decision to transition back to my natural hair texture. Back then, it was a routine for me to refrain from any relaxers over the summer periods to allow my hair a “break” from any chemical processing. So after my last relaxer back in March 2003, I had already planned to start my hair break until the end of summer right before I started my junior year in undergrad. However, that June I stumbled across Nappturality.com and a few days of reading through articles, lurking around the forums, and stalking fotki albums of natural women, I decided then that I would start the transitioning process. Plus at the time, I had cut my hair to the shortest it has ever been…chin length…so the decision to go natural was not as difficult as it could have been.
Did you have any stereotypes about natural hair or those with natural hair beforehand? If so, what were some of them and has your viewpoint changed?
I have never recalled having any stereotypes about those with natural hair. I just knew that each person’s natural hair journey effected him/her in a different way significant to that individual. But I have been stereotyped many times by others who said I have those “good hair genes” because my hair seemingly grew fast, is looser in the front, my texture is soft, and that I am light skinned. In response, I simply tell them that any hair that grows from the scalp is good hair because it is considered a crown of glory.
It is funny because my hair grows at the average rate of 0.5 inches a month, my looser texture in the front makes it harder to hold twists (my favorite style), my texture can feel rough when my hair is not properly moisturized, and even being light skinned, I have very tight curls in the back of my head, which I ABSOLUTELY love! I guess these people catch me on my “good” hair days and ignore the really rough days.
Do you feel that anything changed in your life when you became all natural?
I think the biggest aspect of my life that has changed when I became natural was realizing the fact that I did not know or handle my natural hair texture until I was 20 years old. When I did my big chop myself after 11 months of transitioning, I had a plethora of feelings rush inside of me. My hair was SO thick and beautiful, but I had no idea where to even begin with it. Literally, I was so shocked that I wore microbraids, kinky twists, and wigs for awhile until the shock passed, and I was really ready to embrace all this hair. Now, I can say my confidence has definitely boosted because I am no longer self-conscious about my new growth and having to put a relaxer in my hair to maintain my beauty. Of course, I have my flaws and my bad days, but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
Being natural has also gave me a sense of empowerment to help others embrace their natural hair texture and know they can be beautiful without chemically altering their tresses. It amazes me how many sisters in my Church congregation who have gone natural over the past 5 years simply because they were encouraged and knew they had the support to embark on their natural hair journeys. Some people can take the plunge on their own, but a simple ‘You can do this! I am here for you’ can mean the world to someone who struggling with the decision to go natural or stay natural for that matter.
What are some of your favorite products to use in caring for your natural hair?
Before March 2010, I NEVER had this thing called STAPLE products. I used pretty much whatever smelled good and was cheap despite the fact that a lot of ingredients in some of the products I applied to my hair were causing some adverse effects such as dryness and brittleness. January 2010, I decided I wanted waist length hair and knew that I had to develop a hair regimen and find some staple products to help me reach my goal. I stumbled across Kinky Curly and Curls products while researching on hair forums and YT for different product reviews. I have heard lots of positives about these two organic product lines and after careful consideration, I decided to invest in the two lines and have been since March 2010.
For my shampoo, I alternate between Curlicious Curls Cleansing Cream (Moisturizing Shampoo), Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo, and Pure Curls Clarifying Shampoo (once every 6 weeks). For my conditioner, I use Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deep Moisture Conditioner and Curl Ecstasy Hair Tea Organic Conditioner (deep conditioner). As far as my moisturizing leave-in, I am using a modified version of YouTuber Kimmaytube’s recipe:
2 tablespoons Kinky Curly Knot Today, 2 tablespoons Aloe Vera Juice, 2 teaspoons Jojoba Oil, 2 teaspoons Coconut Oil, 1 teaspoon Castor Oil
I have been using the same 6 products on my hair since last year and I have been getting great and CONSISTENT results every time. 
What do you love most about being natural?
Having the opportunity to show my daughter that her natural hair is beautiful! I have learned a multitude on how to handle and take care of my natural hair (through lots of research and trial and error) where I am confident to instill the same information and techniques in my daughter over time. I was never taught how to embrace my hair and treat it with tender love and care as I was growing up because I was told it would be easier to manage relaxed hair over my natural texture. Now, I am not knocking anyone who gets a relaxer or chemical process in his/her hair because there are plenty of long chemically treated heads of hair out there, but I can ensure you it takes just as much work to maintain a great level of health and hair retention in relaxed hair as in natural hair. Just different techniques about doing so.
Besides that, I love the versatility that comes with having natural hair, of course! I mean what can you NOT do with natural hair?
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
People use the phrase “It is JUST hair” and I do believe it to an extent. I have had many females come up to me after one of my many scissor happy sessions and ask me why did I cut my hair and that it was SO long. And I would just tell them that it is just hair. It will grow right back. But for many women, it becomes more than just hair when they have the desire to go natural and when they do, they struggle day to day to manage it because they were never taught the right way to care for their hair growing up (before the relaxer). Then these women get frustrated with their hair, some grow a resentment toward their natural hair, and go back to relaxing it. This is when it goes deeper than “it” just being hair.
My main advice for those contemplating natural is to do your research. Ask yourself questions. Why are you making this decision? What are you trying to achieve by going natural? How will this impact your daily life? Ask other natural women questions. I get excited when someone comes up to me and express their curiosity to go natural. I immediately give them resources they can go to online to research more information. When I started this journey, there were not a lot of resources out there to provide the answers to the many questions I had. These days, there are so many books, online hair forums, and blogs you can go to to find a wealth of information about all aspects of natural hair care. You can even watch women do their natural hair on YouTube! Natural hair is so on the rise. I love it!
Any sites where we can keep up with your journey: YouTube, fotki album, any other picture sharing site…etc.
I have a YouTube channel under the username “BEadifully YOUnique” (http://www.youtube.com/user/BEadifullyYOUnique), which I opened December 2010. I have already posted my natural hair care regimen and staple hair products and plan to post hair tutorials on how to style mid back to waist length hair as the year progresses.
My fotki albums are under the usernames “Naturallybeautiful” (http://public.fotki.com/naturallybeautiful) and “Naturallybeautiful2″ (http://public.fotki.com/naturallybeautiful2). The first account contains albums from my transitioning phase and first year of being natural. The second account is from 2006 until now, which I am updating on a monthly basis.
You can also find me on twitter under “beadifullyouniq” (http://twitter.com/BEadifullYOUniq) where I tweet with women about natural hair and tweet pictures of my hair along with my daughter’s natural hair.
I would like to thank Mae for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share my story with you!
hey kristal,
tfs!! i especially appreciate the product list. i’m beginning month 10 of transitioning and in nine weeks will do my bc. these are exactly the products i was looking into getting at target next weekend. : ) will try your modified lic recipe- i’m a kimmaytube fan too. your hair story was cool and your hair itself is gorgeous.
kionna
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Kionna,
Congrats on your progress so far in the transitioning phase! I can remember when I was transitioning how trying it was to manage the two different textures. Just remember to be as gentle with you hair as possible. I hope you can find all the products at Target. I purchased all the items for the leave-in from Whole Foods and the Curls products from my local beauty supply store. The leave-in has worked wonders on my hair…wished I had this recipe when I was transitioning. Definitely let me know how it works for you, and I wish you the best during the remaining 9 weeks of transitioning! You have lots of support!
KRISTAL!!!!
)
I am so excited to read your article!!!! This is so funny because you know I have been keeping my hair braided and in sew-ins for a little over a year because of a bad flat iron experience and when I decided to wear my hair again I was having trouble remembering what I did to maintain and style it. So I was googling sites and looking for idea and I came across Natural Chica “Mae” myself, and have been using a lot of her videos to get me back on track. Now I see you on here sharing your wonderful story!!! I JUST LOVE IT!!!! Its so true, being natural is such a wonderful experience and it is a blessing to have people in your circle to encourage you and sites that help you on your journey!!!! I am just so excited I could scream!
Love you Kris, and Thank you SO MUCH Natural Chica for your site and sharing this story with us all
Kirtina Jones
Natural Since February 2004
Great interview. Like she said going through the journey is based on trial and error. Her hair is nice.
Tina!
You went natural the same time I did! I never knew that but that’s awesome! I have been heat free for 1 year now, and my hair has definitely benefited from that. I want to make sure I do my research on a great heat protectant before putting another flat iron to my hair because I have experienced minor heat damage over the years from not taking the proper steps to flat ironing natural hair. There is definitely a wealth of information on the internet to help us with any concerns or questions we have about our natural hair. Plus you know we are natural hair central over at Southside. So beautiful! Thanks for being so excited about reading my article! It is definitely encouraging especially from an awesome twin like you. Love you too, sis!!! Hang in there and keep up with you healthy hair growth. We are in this together…learning and growing.
Kristal!!! How exciting to read this!!! This is what I am talking about – a beautiful, strong, enterprising, smart woman!!!! So kool to read your story!!! My hair is now natural again
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Really nice article and your hair is beautiful but I’m not really sure why having “good hair” has to correlate with being light skinned.
Yeah, I don’t get why she made that comment either, but then again, a lot of black people are unaware of genetics and how all of these things are determined. Kind of how people will refer to “biracial” hair even though last time I checked, Lenny Kravitz and many other biracial people have kinkier hair than a lot of black people who have two black parents. I really have to forgive non-blacks for their ignorance of black hair when many black are just as ignorant about it and how much variation there can be.
No matter how often people see a dark-skinned person with straight, wavy, or curly hair, there is always this idea that skin color and hair texture are connected.
Mae I love natural chica and your hair reallly inspires me, I always look forward to this part of the site but I have to say I was a bit like hmmm when she mentione the light skinned thing cause I felt like it didn’t really have a place.
Hi Amanda, Andrea, and Aura (all A’s),
I thank you ladies for reading my feature and leaving your comments. I definitely respect your opinions. I was asked if I had any stereotypes about natural hair and since I did not, I thought I would share some of the stereotypes that were placed on me and my natural hair. I am definitely not trying to advocate the light skinned versus dark skinned issue because I don’t choose to characterize people based on their skin color. But it is out there and I have been connected to that stereotype. I expressed how some others have told me my hair was considered “good” hair because it was looser in the front and that I was light-skinned (which primarily came from the perspective of guys). Not exactly sure how you ladies thought I personally was making that correlation.
I was making the point that my hair is multi-textured, and I have a really beautiful grade of tight kinky hair in the back, despite being light-skinned with this supposedly “good hair”. Personally, my twists hold up so much better in the back in the front because of the tighter curl pattern. In my eyes, all hair is good whether it be straight/relaxed, curly, or kinky and whether you are black, white, red, yellow as long as you are properly taking care of it. Just like people stereotype me for wearing wigs over my natural hair and labeling me as being ashamed to wear my natural hair out when in fact, I am just keeping my natural hair in protective mode for one year to help me achieve my hair goals. People are going to label you the way they see it in their minds, whether it be of ignorance or not. I just choose to focus on what I am trying to achieve with my hair and move past the “silly” labels. That is all. Not trying to correlate good hair with being light-skinned. I don’t do that.
But, I totally agree with you ladies’ thoughts because the same thoughts, for a moment, fly through my head when people come up to me with such stereotypical statements.
Appreciate your comments ladies! Happy Hair Journey!
Kristal,
Perhaps you didn’t mean it that way, but you wrote” even being light-skinned, I have very tight curls in the back of my head.”
So that sentence sounds very much like you were expecting us to assume that you had straighter hair because of your skin color. I’m not sure if many black people assume that(probably more than I’d like), and my comment definitely said nothing about good hair vs. bad hair at all.
So maybe in your experience, people assume that your skin means that your hair is straighter than someone who is darker. I know both anecdotally and because of science that the two things are not related. I’ve never used the term good hair to describe anyone, and I certainly know better than to associate straight, wavy, or curly hair with skin color.
I just thought it was weird for you to mention it if you don’t in fact believe that it’s more common for light-skinned people to have straighter hair.
I can only speak for myself, and my comment was not meant to criticize you, but what bothers me more is that black people seem to be very ignorant about themselves and why they look the way that they look, which I associate with a lack of education that I also find very troubling, and is truthfully the part that bothers me the most-the fact that very few of us seem to make it beyond the study of basic science. Good hair vs. bad hair or light vs. dark has nothing to do with it for me, and I hate that people assume that we all have issues about our skin or hair when we point out the incorrect assumptions that many of us seem to make.
We are all different and beautiful colors and hair textures and acknowledging that doesn’t assign value to one over the other unless you link it to unrelated terms. I think that as long as we don’t equate dark and nappy with ugly, we are fine pointing out the variations.
I’m glad that you are enjoying this journey. It still amazes me how many people got relaxers as small children. I’m not sure when that became such a trend since it wasn’t what I experienced or saw when I was growing up. I didn’t have a relaxer until I turned 18, saw relatives 1-2 generations who have always had natural hair, and knew people in college and at work who did the same. It just wasn’t this big transformative moment that so many people have gone through, so it makes me wonder when it became the norm.
Kaara!
I love how my Church sisters are supporting me! Thanks so much for your encouragement, and I hope I can be an encouragement to you as you progress through your natural hair journey! We are a team!
Love ya!
Hi Andrea,
It never crossed my mind to automatically assume that all the readers would expect my hair to be straighter since I am light skinned. That is just absurd because I am sure that most of us have seen light skinned sisters with some of the most kinkiest/tightest curls and dark skinned sisters with some of the loosest curls, both sporting their hair with confidence. I made the statement to basically point out to those who may have been misinformed (particularly those outside the natural hair community although some naturals are unaware, too) that skin tone does not have anything to do with hair texture. Not everyone who reads Natural Chica are natural or even considering going natural but are seeking education about the facts of natural hair. I am very aware of genetics and could have gone on about how genetics play a role in hair type determination (I am a graduate in biomedical engineering). However, I would expect that many of the readers in the natural hair community would know better for me to direct an assumption such as the one you mentioned to them especially if they are already aware of the truth.
I have had women (both light and dark skinned) who were contemplating going natural come up to talk to me and stated they were nervous about transistioning because they figured their hair would not turn out as “good” as mine. I am quite sure I would have gotten that same response from them if I was dark skinned with a looser hair texture. When I respond to their statement, I don’t look at her skin tone and say “Oh yeah, your natural hair will be good/bad because you are light/dark-skinned” and vice versa. I don’t know her genetic background to make such a hair diagnosis and to me, that does not even matter because her natural hair would be good regardless. It is God given. But there are others, unfortunately, who do look at the lightness of skin to characterize hair type and must be educated even if it is just a basic fact. Hence, I made that statement ”even being light-skinned, I have very tight curls in the back of my head” for clarification to those who are simply unaware.
You stated that as long as we don’t associate dark and nappy with ugly, than we are fine. How about light and nappy with ugly? There are some out there who feel that way. I think if we can just simply see how blessed we are to have hair on our heads (“crowns of glory”) then we will be fine. If we look outside of ourselves, we will see that there are individuals who would LOVE a nappy head of hair because they may have some type of genetic disorder or diagnosed with a life-threatening disease and have no hair at all. Our hair is GOOD.
Thank you so much for challenging my thoughts, Andrea!
omg she was one of the first hair journals I looked at on Fotki and inspired me to go natural…2005 I was a sophomore. Her hair is amazing!