Introduce yourself: Hi, my name is Neosha. Many people know me as my online name, NeoshaGEE. I am a 22 year old multi-passionate entrepreneur, blogger, and graphic designer. I LOVE nail polish, shaking a tailfeather in the comfort of my lonesome, makeup, all things style, and I'm in love with the transformer, Optimus Prime. He's my imaginary mechanical husband. lol. I have been natural for two years (March 2011).
What made you decide to go natural?
Believe it or not it was just my random moment of spur that led me to go natural. My hair went through a phase where it would grow and NEVER grow past my shoulders. When it did, it must have been through strife because my ends were something terrible. Very weak and damaged from being over-processed. For as long as I can remember, I've been getting relaxers so the health and having knowledge of what relaxers do to hair never occurred to me. It wasn't until in 2010 when I discovered the natural hair community on Youtube. Beautiful women with hair worth envying over. I wanted in but didn't know I would end up initiating myself into the community the way that I did, lol.
Did you Big Chop or did you Transition?
I transitioned for 7 months. From September 2010 to March 2011. I allowed my hair to grow out just a little bit and one random morning a few weeks before my 20th birthday, I just had the urge to wake up and grab a pair of scissors. I locked myself in the bathroom, had a little small talk with myself and began to cut. At that moment, nothing else mattered to me. I wasn't thinking about what others would say or how I would look. I just knew I wanted that dreadful hair out of my life. In a matter of 20 minutes, I had a TWA. Talk about a sista was feeling empowered and relieved of a burden! I felt like a young Foxy Brown.
What were some of your fears/concerns going into going natural?
I didn't have any fears or concerns prior to cutting my hair. It wasn't until I came back down from my mental high of my new cut was when I realized that I have to walk out the bathroom like nothing ever happened. When I walked out, I had no plans of telling anyone anything. When my mom saw me, she just looked at me and said, "I don't why you cut it but it looks good." FEAR MODE DEACTIVATED! lol. I was feeling good after that. My siblings were in shock, my college cosmo buddies were in even bigger shock... it was just a shock fest lol. They were so use to me being the girl who kept her hair nice and fresh with the braids, fresh relaxers, blue hair, I had it all. The hair was always laid. After the initial shock wore off, what could they say? Nothing because I was good and happy about my decision. No one could tell me any different.
Name some reasons why you are happy about your decision to go natural.
For one, I noticed that when I went natural it sort of sparked a mini-movement around me. Close associates of mines and so forth started to cut their hair as well. I began to see so many more women get back to their roots and truly shine with what they were born with. I began to have people write me Facebook and come to me when they had questions about taking care of their hair. Mind you, when I cut my hair I was in cosmetology school. They don't teach you nothing about caring for natural hair so everything I learned, I learned through TONS of research and TONS of trial and error. I can give you my advice and tell you what has worked for me but just because something works for my hair, doesn't mean it will for anyone else. So being someone of influence in the natural hair community has been one of my greatest reasons for remaining happy and over-joyed with my decision. Two years later, I'm even more proud of myself for getting this far.
Ohhhh, how I love hair products. In the beginning of my journey, I was a bonafide product junkie. I was the girl who like many, I'm sure, would sit and watch Youtube and compare my hair with others. Most of the time, the women I watched didn't have the same hair texture I had but I'd still go out and purchase products JUST to see if it would work. My staple product use to be the infamous Eco Styling gel. I used that for a few months until I got tired of struggling with the "crunchy hair" feeling. So I stopped using gel. I then discovered Oyin Handmade, Terressentials, and Shea Moisture products! LOVE them.
My faves are Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie (which I have another fave alternative for -Africa's Pride Bouncy Curls Pudding & their Leave-In Conditioner)--- Oyin Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner, Organic Root Stimulator Hair Repair Vital Oils, Soft'n'Free Milk Protein & Olive Oil Growth Oil, and Suave's Almond Shea Butter Conditioner. I live by these products!
Current hair regimen?
My current regimen has actually changed since I recently dyed my hair. I'll be sharing it in more detail on my blog in the coming days. My hair was dark and I made the leap to go blonde so you can imagine the stripping of moisture that it did to my hair. I've never dyed my hair light in any way. I currently have box braids as a protective style because this GA heat and blonde hair dryness was not the business. So I'll be rocking braids for the next couple of months but before doing those I had to add 5 times more moisturizing to my regimen. I will pretty much be deep conditioning my hair once every two weeks, pre pooing once every other week, applying daily moisture and oils, and keeping my monthly ACV rinse ritual going. When my hair is out, the signature style for me is a classy twist-out. Great for stretching my hair and I just love seeing my hair bounce now that it has weight to it to hold it down and not up lol.
What do you enjoy the most about being natural?
My hair, duhhh!! lol. I love how creative I can be with it. I can literally go from curly to wavy to blowout to straight to huge afro in a matter of a week. I have so many alter egos now that I'm a natural girl its almost like competing with Sasha Fierce. It's that great! I also love the comments that I get from other people. Men and women. I have gotten so many compliments from white guys it's just so flattering. Like, who would've known? lol. I wore a fro one night out and this white guy says, "your afro is SICK in a beautiful way! You look like a true Egyptian goddess. Do you need a bodyguard?" LOL. So having natural hair has definitely had its perks from free food to random strangers wanting to take pictures with me. It's also cool for getting into Natural Hair events and people know who you are.
I would say if you are considering on going natural, go for it! I know people have their doubts but if you feel it's something that will empower you, something that will help you become a more confident person, or however... DO IT! There is nothing more beautiful to me than a woman who embraces her natural self. Whether she's rocking a weave or not. If you want to gain more inspiration, I collaborated with a few other great women who have gone natural and agreed to share their stories with me here on Youtube. Going natural is a very STRONG movement. It symbolizes beauty, culture, freedom, empowerment, strength, confidence, sexiness, and all! You need no one's approval but your own! DO YOU BOO BOO! *in my yassss girl voice
Make sure to follow the lovely NeoshaGee on all of her social networks!
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/
INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/neoshagee
Thank you NeoshaGee for sharing your story! Such an inspiration not only for us natural ladies or those considering going natural, but for us young entrepreneurs!
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