Curlfriend: Anna

Hey lovely people, allow me to introduce you to my beautiful Curlfriend Anna. 

Have you always been natural?

No, I haven't always been natural. When I was 11 years old I got my first relaxer but it went totally wrong. My aunty at the time who claimed to have done hairdressing before, probably in a previous life, forgot to add the activator the liquid thing and only used the white creamy substance. So that was a fail. So I grew it out and permed it again when I was 16. Then at the age of 21 I decided to transition to natural hair. Then a couple of months ago. I randomly just decided to cut all my permed ends. I didn't even note it down it was that random. I wish I did now.

What were your main reasons for deciding to transition back to natural?

One of the main reason was that it felt as though my hair was no longer reacting well to perm- it was
constantly breaking, some parts of my hair would perm and some wouldn't and I just didn't like the browny colour my hair was becoming, the more I permed my hair. Plus I kept on seeing more and more people going natural and I just loved it so I thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon.

Do you have a regimen?

Erm I'm still learning about what my hair likes but I think recently I'm finding a regimen that's kinda working for me. I prepoo my hair with TRESemmé naturals conditioner. I leave that on for half an hour wash it out. Then shampoo with elasta qps conditioning shampoo and condition with TRESemmé naturals shampoo with avocado oil and elasta qps olive oil and mango butter. Leave it in for 2 hours which I actually think is too long but yeah. Wash it out then use a curling custard and some oils to style.

What are your favourite products?

My fave product has to be TRESemmé natural conditioner. It is the bomb.com. Nuff said lol. Also lavender oil and At One botanical root revitaliser is great from dry scalp and it smells awesome.

What are your hair goals?

My hair goal is to just have healthy hair and hopefully if it's healthy it will grow to a decent length. Don't really have any length goals to be honest. Actually I can't wait for the day I can put my hair in a decent sized bun. That's been my dream since my permed days lol.

What are do's and don't for your hair?

I have to moisturise my hair every night. If I don't the following day I'm screwed.

Don't put too much product as it can leave horrible white residual that look like dandruff.  

3 days after washing my hair I get really lazy with my hair and don't really detangle or brush my hair so just being consistent with my hair is a must.

Have you got any tips for newly naturals?
My tips would be:

1) not to rush out and buy every product you see in the hair shop. Learning what your hair likes may take some time but you will eventually get there.

2) if you have problems with your hair such as dry scalp or breakage in certain areas buy products to sort these out, don't ignore these just because your hair is still growing.

3) for a long time I did protective styles such as braids because I couldn't be bothered to deal with my hair issues such as dry scalp so my hair has grown but it isn't the healthiest so don't use protective styling to shy away from your hair issues.

4) This is a big one- don't protective style without looking after your hair underneath. I'm still working on this

Join me in wishing Anna all the best on her natural hair journey and be sure to visit her blog whatannabought.blogspot.co.uk