{Scrts Xpsd} Kristal @BEadifullYOUniq

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am not easily star struck, angered or excited. However, when I came across Kristal's Twitter, I was shocked, amazed and inspired. Kristal has been natural for seven and half years and is currently on the brink of reaching waist length hair. Initially it was the length of her natural hair journey that sparked my interested, however, after perusing her page for nearly 3 hours, I learned that she practices a very simple regimen when managing her tresses. Ladies (and gentlemen) she is proof that it doesn't take complicated regimens to achieve long, healthy hair!

Think back to the year 2004 and then think about how many women were going natural. Kirstal admits that no one in her circle or any of her family members were natural. She began this journey solo after stumbling accross nappturality.com. Along the way, she has learned that you must detangle from tip to root, cover your hair each night, and maintain a moisturizing routine. In addition to managing her own tresses, Kristal is teaching herself how to cornrow as a protective style for her daughter's hair.  

As if life isn't busy enough, Kristal creates BEadifullyYOUniq Accessories. Each piece is created to glorify God and his greatness! "How beautiful, how wonderful, how unique God has so carefully created each and every part of our being. We each are beautifully unique."

Catch up with Kristal via twitter, facebook, youtube, her blog, or her etsy shop!!

To read more about Kristal's story

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Did you Big Chop or Small Snips?

When I started my transition, my hair was at chin length. I decided to transition for a year, snipping a little of my relaxed ends on a month to month basis. By my eleventh month, I was tired of the snipping away and dealing with two textures that I just chopped off the remainder of my relaxed ends. If I had the amount of resources back then that is available to transitioners today, I would have probably tried to transition as long as I could.

What has been your motivation to continue your journey?
My goal of obtaining healthy waist length hair. My mother had very long hair so I want to see if I can achieve the same length at least if not longer. Pictures I have taken along my journey have been very inspirational just to see how far I have come with my natural hair since 2004.

What do you enjoy most about having unaltered hair?
The versatility and not having to be "concerned" about new growth and keep up with chemical processing on a scheduled basis.

Describe your regimen. Discuss staple products and utensils.
My regimen is fairly simple. I wash and detangle my hair at least once every two weeks depending on whether I am protective styling with twists or wearing wigs. If wearing wigs, I usually wash my hair once a week; if protective stlying, every two weeks. During these washings, I simply shampoo with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo, condition and detangle with Giovanni's Smooth as Silk Deeper Moisture Condition, and apply my leave in conditioner recipe (with Kinky Curly Knot Today Leave-in, Aloe Vera Juice, and oils) on damp hair. I detangle my hair using my modified Goody's denman brush, and I do not towel dry my hair. I moisturize my hair as needed, at least twice a week. I cover my hair overnight with a satin bonnet 99.9% of the time.

What have been some of the set backs along your journey?
Before I started my healthy hair journey March 2010, my major set backs were not properly detangling my from tip to root, not covering my hair overnight, and not have a consistent moisturizing routine. All of these unhealthy practices lead me to chop of inches of hair at a time due to breakage and a head full of single strand knots.

What is your stance on trimming? coloring? use of heating tools?

As far as trimming, I believe one should do it if necessary or trying to maintain a certain length/shape. I haven't trimmed since August 2010 and that was only half an inch. Because of consistent protective styling, my ends still look pretty good from that trim. I do not trim on a set schedule because I do not need to and because I am trying to reach a certain length. Once I reach waist length, I will start trimming on a regular basis (at least once every 3 months) to maintain waist length and gradually get rid of the heat damaged ends before I started my health hair journey last year. I am treating this as a second transition from unhealthy hair to healthy hair, and this time around, I plan to be a long term transitioner.

Coloring is not a big issue for me because I have been there and done that. I experience the damage from using hair color and have no plans to do it again. If I want some color, I will buy a colored wig to achieve that look and satisfy that desire. I know there are women who know how to successfully maintain color treated hair, but I believe some extra tender, love, and care are needed to do so.

Heating tools such as flat irons, hot combs, blow dryers and curling irons are fine as long as one properly knows how to use these tools. I have experienced quite a bit of damage that I am still dealing with from the careless mistakes I did on my natural hair especially when it comes to flat ironing. I did not know back then that it is not good to flat iron damp hair although my flat iron was specifically for that purpose. ::side eye:: I did not know that you should flat iron your hair right after it has been properly washed and deep conditioned with moisture. I used to apply oils to my hair as a protectant during flat iron and wondered why my hair smelled like bad fried food during the process. Yeah, that sizzling noise did not mean anything good for my hair. I have learned so much about the technique but have no plans to use a flat iron on my hair for at least 1.5 years from now. I want to wait until my hair is full waist length before doing so.

Where do you see your #naturalhair a year from now?

I see my hair still in protective styling mode but at waist length. Hopefully by that time, I will be into my maintenance mode and not growing out mode. I see huge buns and long twists by this time next year. :)

Fill-in the blank: The top ___ things I'm LoveN about my #naturalhair....

The top three things I'm LoveN about my #naturalhair are: (1) the length, (2) the retention, and (3) the many different textures that make my hair unique and not defined to some hair typing system.

Rambles and brambles...unironed creases? Lost? Is there anything else?

LOL, any rambles along my journey are documented on my blog. My latest adventure is learning how to cornrow my daughter's hair. Any tips would be great! :)

Thanks Kay for the opportunity of featuring me on your blog. It is definitely an honor, and I had a blast answering these questions!