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: “What are some of your favorite hair products?” : “My favorite product to use on my clients is KeraCare, which has a natural hair line. KeraCare has been around for years. It’s by Avalon. I think that as a whole, I would gravitate to that line before anything else. Next to that, is Design Essentials. They have great products that I use for quite a lot of different hairstyles. Those are my two favorite ones. Influance has a natural line, which is all organic. A lot of our naturals like the line because it is organic. It doesn’t have all of the parabens and other ingredients that naturals are trying to get away from. I don’t think, as a professional, that those ingredients will hurt [the hair]. Using sulfates on your hair will hurt your color, but it won’t necessarily damage your hair. We’ve been using sulfates for years, and most of us still have of our hair. I think that a lot of people are moving towards natural everything, not just natural hair.
“This is the hair that my parents gave me”
market. I didn’t have anything. I tried to wear my hair in little afro puffs, but I wasn’t as bold as to wear it in an afro all over. They didn’t have flat irons [back then], so I was still using a straightening comb off of the stove if I wanted it straight. I remember one day, back in college, I was straightening my hair, and I looked on the counter and saw that there was hair everywhere. I had a complete breakdown. I went to my aunt, who is also a cosmetologist, and she put a comb-thru on my hair, which is almost like a really light relaxer. The next day, I tried to straighten it, and at the end of the day, it was still poofy. So I realized that this isn’t working. I just let it grow out, and it’s been all she wrote since then.
: “Tell us about your own natural hair journey.” : “My natural hair journey didn’t begin with being relaxed, and then having an epiphany, and then becoming natural. I grew up in Anchorage Alaska, so it was never really a problem to have my hair natural, because the weather there is so dry and cold. My mother never gave me a relaxer. I had a very sensitive scalp and a fine hair texture, so a relaxer was really nothing that I needed to have. My mother is originally from NC, so when I moved back here right before high school, I remember thinking that the weather here was completely different for my hair. I would press my hair at night with a straightening comb and then leave for school the next morning, and when I came back, my hair was in a ponytail because the weather had messed it all up, making it poofy. So at that point, I started trying a few things. This was prior to the whole Natural Hair Care Revolution, [with products] all over the
SETK
ing natural?” : “I love the versatility. I love everything about it. Honestly, I love my culture, and so I think that connecting from a cultural standpoint is what I love the most about it. When people see me [wearing] my real fro, and it’s picked out and round, I think that people look at me and say ‘ok, she loves herself, she loves her culture, she loves her people, and there’s no doubt about it’. That’s what I love for people to know about me. By no means am I negating any other culture, but I just love where I come from, and I love who I am. I love that I’m able to go bright with color because I don’t have any other chemicals that are restricting me. I love that I can go blond today and, maybe, red tomorrow. I love that. This is the hair that my parents gave me, and I would never, by any means, want to hide that from the world.”
SE
: “What do you love the most about be-
TK
Traona Kearney styles her clients at Masterminds Design Studio, 309 W. Lee St; Suite A in Greensboro, NC. She can also be contacted via the Masterminds Design Studio’s Facebook page, and on Instagram at tray_bay.
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www.simplyelevate.com
www.simplyelevate.com
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