I am happy to introduce you to Kenya Johnson, who is a reader of the Naturally Beautiful Hair blog; has naturally beautiful hair; and is the designer and creator of
OhNaturalHairDesigns T-Shirts. Keyna took the time to write in to tell us about her natural hair -
Q: How long have you been Natural? If you transitioned from process hair to natural hair, what made you want to change?
A: I've been natural since 2007. I've transitioned from super short hair to braids, from wearing a relaxer to natural hair and many styles in between since the early 1990s. I stopped relaxing my hair in 2006 because I knew the chemicals were damaging my hair and scalp. My scalp was constantly flaky and dry and wouldn't respond to anything until I tried a medicated shampoo and stopped relaxing my hair altogether. When my scalp and hair started to look and feel better, I decided to get back to my roots, so to speak. I have been switching from natural hairstyles (two-strand twist outs) and two-strand twists/braids since 2007, and I enjoy the versatility very much. I'm learning more about various products I can use and different techniques to styling my afro/curly-kinky hair.
Q: What has been the most amazing or surprising part of your having natural hair?
A: The most amazing aspect of having natural hair is that it gives me much more freedom than before. With relaxed hair, I was limiting my activities based upon their impact on my hair. Would it rain? Will I sweat a lot? Would the curl fall out? Now, I just go and my hair follows. I'm a dancer with a community group in my city and sweating just comes with the job. Additionally, I have a daughter who is now 5 years old. When she was 3, she told me that she wanted "straight" hair like her friend at pre-school. Because of her, I designed and created a line of t-shirts that I am currently selling and promoting. My website is at
http://www.ohnaturaldesigns.com/.
The fact that she inspired my t-shirts gives this little girl so much pride in herself and her beauty. She is bi-racial, and she sees herself in me as I see myself in her. I want to give her positive images of our beauty and self-awareness, and simply by wearing my hair the way I do does just that. She lovingly calls our hair, "crazy hair," and I LOVE that! She currently prefers to wear her hair in two-strand twists every day. When I take her hair out, she loves that it looks like mine does. For me, that's amazing.
Q: What is your maintenance routine? What products do you love?
A: My routine is the following: I wash my hair every 7-10 days with shampoo or just conditioner. I put two-strand twists in my hair every 2-3 days using water, Carol's Daughter Mimosa Hair Honey and Tui Jojoba and Shea Butter Hair Sheen for moisturizing and twisting product. I also use Pantene cleansing shampoo and Carol's Daughter Mint Rosemary shampoo.
Q: What advice do you have for any one that is considering going back to their natural texture or getting their hair loc'd?
A: My advice would be to talk to women who wear natural hairstyles or locs and see what they do to maintain their hair and talk about challenges. I would advise someone to look for the many resources out there (Facebook pages, blogs and websites) and let them know that no one has to do it alone. It's a huge step I believe because so much power has been placed in and on the hair that black women and girls wear. Wearing natural hair is extremely empowering. I would also let them know that trying different products is important to find the right ones for them; the same goes for hair styling techniques.
Q: How can we keep up with you and your journey (for example: facebook, fotki, tumblr, twitter, and more)?
A: My t-shirt website is at
http://www.ohnaturaldesigns.com/. I tell my story about how I decided to create the t-shirts inspired by my daughter on this website and why the shirts and what they represent are special to me. My goal is to share them with as many women as possible, and I would write about how energizing it is to see that women are truly enjoying my shirts. Here is a video one of my customers created and posted on
YouTube.
Kenya Johnson
Oh Natural Designs
