WhenYouGonna is on Instagram!

We are now Instagramming pics of our favourite Naturals as well as daily do updates for your viewing pleasure :-)

Follow WhenYouGonna on Instagram here http://instagram.com/whenyougonna

With #instalove,

Karla and Kanika x

Brooklyn's Natural Beauties

In continuation from my last, slightly stalkerish post, in which I showed you all some of the hottest Naturalites spotted at Brooklyn's 2013 AFROPUNK Fest last month; I wanted to introduce you to some of my favourites.

Brooklyn's Natural Beauty Exhibit A: TESSA 

NAME: Tessa Kagbala
Age: 29
NATURAL FOR: 12 years.
Tessa's family are Rastafarian and she went natural to challenge the ideas of beauty that were around her every day.

2 MUST HAVE PRODUCTS:
- Karen's Body Beautiful Sweet Ambrosia (available from Target or online) and
- Natural Shea butter + Olive Oil

Tessa's Top Tip:
Use Bentonite clay wash regularly to cleanse your hair from root to tip without stripping it of its natural oils.



Follow Tessa's blog at www.afroista.com  She is more than just a chick with a 'fro...

Brooklyn's Natural Beauty Exhibit B: BETHLEHEM

NAME: Bethlehem
NATURAL FOR: 7 years.
Bethlehem is natively from Ethiopia and although had used relaxers before, hated depending on it to feel good. She grew out her relaxer and one day took a breath and cut her ends off herself into her sink! Since then she's tried various styles and experiments regularly with her curls.

2 MUST HAVE PRODUCTS:
- Queen Helene's Royal Curl Shaping Creme available to buy online
- Kinky-Curly Knot Today Leave-In Conditioner

Bethlehem's Top Tips: Buy inexpensive Natural hair products from www.terressentials.com.
In Ethiopia women often put butter in their hair before washing... But that doesn't work (and it smells.) So she created her own special Pre-Poo mix:
Ingredients:
Egg yolks
Oil (olive, jojoba or Moroccan, whichever you prefer)
Coconut Cream
Avocado

Whisk the egg yolk and oil together bit by bit to create mayonnaise. Then add the coconut cream and avocado. Add more oil as needed and coat your hair. Cover your hair and do your business. Wash out after a couple of hours and boom - soft, beautiful curls!

Brooklyn's Natural Beauties Exhibits C-F: PARIS, JULES, ZAHRA and NDELEA

NAMES (l-r): Zahra, Paris, Jules, and Ndelea
NATURAL FOR: 16 years, 13years, 10 years, 15years!

Interestingly, they all went Natural in their teens years, rejecting the image of straight haired beauty that surrounded them. Zahra grew up in Hawaii and said she didn't have a colour complex, but instead wanted hair she could run her fingers through, like the other girls. Eventually though she had a realisation: "I can be beautiful in a way that can represent beauty for others."

2 MUST HAVE PRODUCTS:
Z - Apple Cider Vinegar  and Olive oil. "If you can't find it in the kitchen, you don't need to use it!"
P - Nature's Blessing Sweet Almond Oil and that's it!
J - Water! And Jojoba oil - which she'd been using for years but was so clueless after first going Natural, she was calling it 'Joe-Joe-buh' oil. Needless to say she has much more of an clue these days...
N - Shea Butter is a must have. "And whatever else I can find in the kitchen."

Brooklyn's Natural Beauty Exhibit G: JENNIFER

NAME: Jennifer

Age: 29
NATURAL FOR: 12 years
Jennifer had been Natural and had long hair until she had it relaxed before high school. After it breaking and not being as long as it had in the past, she decided to go back to natural hair at the age of 17 and hasn't looked back as her hair is relatively easy to maintain!

JENNIFER'S 2 MUST-HAVE PRODUCTS:
- Miss Jessie's Curly Butter Cream
- Miss Jessie's Supersweetback Treatment

Big up Miss Jessie which you can buy in the UK online from the Curly Emporium here :-)

Brooklyn's Natural Beauties Exhibits H and I: ADAMA AND SIQUELE

NAMES: Siquele and Adama (Meaning "Queenly") 

AGES: 29 and 'A Lady Never Tells'
NATURAL FOR: 12 years for both

Siaquele decided she was through with relaxers. She was tired of conforming to the neat pretty look and so wanted to grow out her natural curls. She loves her baby curls so much, she shaves her hair down every February to rock a refreshed new look.
Adama grew her locs as an experiment and now wears waist length hair. At AFROPUNK fest she told me she was trying out a shorter look by twisting up her locs ahead of chopping them off...but, by the end of the day had decided she preferred her long hair.

2 MUST HAVE PRODUCTS:
S - Natural Shea Butter and Aloe Vera Gel
A - Natural Shea Butter and Coconut Oil - Simple is best.



All Hail the Brooklyn Beauties.


Karla x

AFROPUNK 2013

Last week I got back from a trip to New York, during which I went to the very cool (and free!) AFROPUNK FEST!

AFROPUNK is a Brooklyn based 2-day, all day festival that celebrates the best in Black Alternative music. Last year's lineup included Janelle Monáe and Erykah Badu, and this yeart saw Public Enemy's Chuck D, ?uestlove from the Roots and Theophilus London hitting the stage, as well as some lesser known but equally excellent groups (Look up Vintage Trouble - very charismatic James Brown-esque disco/rock outfit).

The 9th AFROPUNK FEST line up

#OKNotToBeOK

Some of you might have noticed that it has been a while since the last post.

And that this last post, a tender revelation from my co-blogger Kanika, may have seemed off-brand from our usual jovial tone. But in all honesty, this is exactly the reason she and I began writing here. This blog, to us meant an honest open space where we could explore our true selves and our innermost feelings. And not everyone feels super positive 100% of the time.

People who know me, usually envisage a big smiling face, but may not be aware that sometimes I feel 'blue' (as a result of PMDD) and need to hide away and recharge for days at a time to maintain the level of 'up-ness' that I like to show to the world. My highs are as high as they appear, but the low periods - of which there are many - are equally low. Low, dark and dangerous.

Many of us can relate to these feelings of depression and desperation but so few of us ever talk about it.

What to do when things don't go to plan?

I’ve been pretty silent on the blog front of late. Save from the odd tweet, you’ve not heard much from me in the last couple of months.  

Why?  Because my 2013 has turned out to be pretty shit so far!

I went into this year full of hope that, for the first time in a long time, things were really gonna be good and my life was finally beginning to come together. Ha! That didn’t last long.

My relationship ended.  

A close relative of mine has mental health issues and while, thankfully, they have been doing better following a recent bout of depression, the stress of their ongoing illness and the impact it’s had on my family has become too much.  

The new job I was so excited to start, working for a great organisation that I was proud to be part of and was actually enjoying my role....as of this week, I no longer work there.

I’ve found it difficult to cope with the personal setbacks I’ve had this year.  I’ve tried to remain positive and not fall off the good path that I started on last year, but at the moment that feels impossible.
Initially I threw myself into things, working, writing, going to seminars, making sure I had something to look forward to every week to try and occupy my mind and keep forging on.  It didn’t block out all my negative feelings or sadness but it certainly helped.   Gradually though, over the course of this year and as more has happened, I’ve continued to feel worse about my personal situation and the direction my life feels like it’s heading in.

The last 2 months have been the worst, hence the relative silent.  My confidence is as low as it has been.  I’ve been on daily a cycle of feeling crap, having something to take my mind of it but then feeling crap again when it was over.  I’ve withdrawn from situations and lost the motivation to push myself and engage in others.  I don’t feel like myself and I haven’t for a long time.

I DID IT!

Reader, I removed them!

After months of threatening, umming and ahhing, debating and procrastinating, I, Karla-Jayne Elizabeth (yep!) Thomas am now braid-free and it feels good. My head felt lighter. My curls are super bouncy and lovely and I am filled with hope and refreshed by a change of style.

But suddenly my clothes don't seem to fit the same. My earrings don't work and my make up seems out of place. I look different and I feel different.


The thing that people underestimate when they go natural is the ability to still 'do you'. I've been in and out of long braids for the past 4 years and my personality and style was inextricably linked with my having waist-length hair. I would wear boyish outfits relying on wearing my hair down and long to create a feminine, girly-girl-in-boyfriend's-clothes look instead of just looking butch (nothing against looking butch, it's just not my style).

Long hair = sexiness/ femininity/ sensuality, right?

But I was prepared for this, wasn't I? I have talked before about how people would complain when I first took the braids out:
"Oh but the braids were soooo niiice!"
"Noooooo!!!"
"Why did you change your hair?"

and my personal favourite
"WHHYY did you cut your hair?!"

In reminding these people, I also need to remind myself that I am still the same person as I was with the braids, in all my ridiculous face-making glory - I AM the same woman.

Actually my hair is in pretty good condition. I tried to take care of it while I was in Brasil, using heat protecting products, any shampoo/conditioner/oil including 'karite' (shea) or Argan oil I could find; wetting my hair and running olive oil through it whenever I could remember  every other day, and conditioning, conditioning, conditioning.

So now I have healthy hair which has grown remarkably well:

...despite shrinkage making it look like I have a curly bob...

Whatever. It's my hair and I choose to make the most of it, curls and all.

London's Natural Beauties - Exhibit F. Bibi

Hello friends it's been a while! Nearly June already, wowzahs! We're dusting off our keyboards to bring you some lovely hair goodness, from the 6th installment of London's Natural Beauties. Meet Bibi, a London Barrister with a mean Samba no Pe.

Name: Bibi

Age: 32

Natural for: 5 years

When You Gonna: Tell us about your Natural hair journey, why did you decide to go Natural?

Bibi: I decided to stop relaxing my hair in March 2007 because my hair was in such a sad and sorry state. It was constantly breaking and looked so lifeless, even with the tracks my hairdresser had added to give the illusion of thick flowing hair. I remember my fringe just looking awful because so much of my hairline had broken off but so angry at the hairdresser who ignored the deteriorating state of my hair and continued to charge me almost £200 to slap the creamy crack on my head. Fuming.
This wasn't the first time I had given my hair a break from relaxing and grown it out by putting it in braids. I had done it twice before and grown a nice head of healthy hair only to relax it again as (a) I didn't know what to do with it and (b) the feel of freshly relaxed virgin hair seemed so fantastic at the time. What made me decide my break from relaxing was permanent was the realisation that my hair simply couldn't manage it. It would break every time. It looked lifeless and depressed. I really had to start taking care of it.

This revelation coincided with the growing popularity and availability of full lace wigs. This offered the opportunity of maintaining my long straight haired look instantly without applying dangerous chemicals to my head. Or so I thought. It turned out I was allergic to the mainstream adhesive and instead had to use a white glue similar to one used to stick pieces of wood together. Yes. Wood glue. On my head.

I was then introduced to the natural hair movement by a friend and haven't looked back. It really has been a learning process for me, during which I have made plenty of mistakes. I moved on from the wood glue and began using clips and pins to secure my full lace wigs but the clips ripped my hair out of my hairline and left my with fifty pence sized smooth bald patches above my temples. My boyfriend encouraged me to wear my
hair out instead of wearing full lace wigs last October but I think he may regret it as I do spend quite a bit of time on my hair! I am trying to get better though.

I also discovered that I should not be allowed anywhere near a comb, even a wide tooth one, as I am far too heavy handed and break my own hair myself! So it's finger-combing and finger-detangling all the way.

WYG: Describe your hair?

B: I find the current definitions fairly limiting but to give everyone else more of any idea I guess it would fall under 4c. It is kinky and very soft. It's definitely not thick but full of tiny tiny corkscrews which I love.

WYG: What's your routine like?

B: I started the New Year with the intention of using either only 'clean' products with no harmful ingredients or homemade concoctions on my skin or hair. I don’t use any heat on my hair.  I wash my hair once a week. I have been experimenting with a few ideas and playing
around with the order in which I do things. But my basic staples are to:
• clarify with apple cider vinegar
• steam my hair with coconut oil
• deep condition my hair with coconut milk and honey or Greek yogurt
• Wash with rhassoul clay

In between washes I mist my hair with water, followed by aloe vera gel and seal with an oil daily. I am loving Moringa oil at the moment. Not a fan of the smell but it makes your hair feel so so soft and smooth. I always sleep with a headscarf and I usually sleep on a silk pillowcase. If my hair feels dry I'll baggy it before bed.

I henna my hair once a month and it has definitely added strength to it. This is the only time I use commercial products as I haven’t figured out how to get the henna completely out of my hair in a natural way yet. I use Hairveda because they are very clean products which are handmade and impart a lot of moisture which you need after a henna treatment. A tip for those who have hard, harsh and dry hair after using henna – mix it with coconut milk instead of any other liquid. I use the Amla Cream Rinse, Moist Condition 24.7 then go under the steamer for 20 minutes with the Sitrillinah deep conditoner which is amazing.

WYG: Favourite products and where do you get them from?

B: My favourite product is one of my concoctions. It is a gel which holds my curls if I do a wash and go but also gives me consistently good results when I do a twist out. I haven’t named this potion yet though. As I mentioned above I love Moringa oil and am pretty partial to Aloe Vera gel

Hairveda products are very moisturising and just excellent. I think the only stockist www.britishcurlies.co.uk which specialise in selling products for curly hair.

WYG: Top Natural tips?

Bibi: Be willing to learn and become an expert with your own hair. I have been finger detangling for almost a year and a half. I only realised a year in that the way I was doing it before was causing breakage. I could have died but better late than never. You learn something new everyday.

Get a steamer – it helps give excellent curl definition. Use coconut milk and henna!

WYG: You work in a very professional environment and do you ever feel pressure to wear your
hair in a certain way?

Bibi: The easiest thing for me while I am working is to wear my hair in a bun as it is a very easy style to maintain and it’s very neat. Sometimes I just don’t have much time to do anything but re-moisturise my hair and go to bed!

I wouldn’t dream of wearing my hair out in court but that is regardless of my hair type; it’s a pretty antiquated profession in that sense. That said, I have felt completely comfortable in being natural as a barrister. Complements from clients or other lawyers about my hair have been a bonus.

WYG: Does your dancing affect what you do with your hair?

Bibi: No, not really, I just wear it up in a puff and wash it if it gets too sweaty and dirty. A good thing is my hairstyle doesn’t really get affected but I haven’t tried dancing with a full blown afro yet.  When I do shows I wear the passista ponytail extensions because I like the look. It feels very much like part of the costume and best of all it’s easy and only takes minutes to throw on!

WYG: Best thing about being Natural?

Bibi: As much as it sounds like a cliché I think it is completely liberating. I feel absolutely confident that when I have children I can care for their hair and also teach them how to do so. It has also been empowering because there is a level of self-acceptance. I really like my own hair (even after watching youtube hair porn!), I am so glad I am in a position to learn about my hair and understand what it likes and what doesn’t work. It has also started me on a journey to finding the best natural and ‘clean’ products for my hair and skin which has made such an improvement in those areas. I make my own facial cleansers, toners, deodorants, hand creams, lip balms and body butters now as well as stuff for my hair. You’ll be getting some samples soon…

WYG:  Thanks, Bibi, we can't wait!

Tress Talking

Two Sunday evening’s ago, following my bovine escapades and a much needed samba class, a bunch of us ladies braved the bone chilling weather in search of a cosy chinwagging spot.  Lured by the promise of the best hot chocolates around, we headed for the nearby When You Gonna office, aka Scooter Cafe in Waterloo, where we took up residence for a couple hours.  Side note: Their hot chocolate, is of a thing of unadulterated sin! Hot milk (but not too milky) or white, liquid chocolate you want to dive into, or, at the very least smear all over someone and lick off, slowly! Ooooh Mama!

Ooops! Nearly finished my white hot chocolate
before I took a snap

We made ourselves comfy, talking about a mishmash of random, and eventually the conversation turned towards hair.  One of our number was off on holiday the next day, and wasn’t sure what to do with her Brazilian Blowdried, curly afro hair.

 

One of the reasons Karla and I started W.Y.G was so we could discuss hair.  Most of the stories and info we read, via the blogosphere, were largely from an American perspective. In real life, neither of us had had many conversations, with other people, about natural hair and most of our Black friends were relaxed.  Feeling a bit remote from the growing ‘community’ we wanted a forum where we could share experiences and invite chat.    For us, it's not the norm to be anywhere where naturals make up a sizeable number, so this impromptu convo two Sunday’s ago was lovely. 

The others had slowly peeled off leaving Ami & Isabelle (former London's Natural Beauties), Dee and myself to get stuck in.  As a group of Black women from different ethnicities and Nationalities it was great to have a range of perspectives and stories.  We touched on everything from regimes to myths to our individual hair journeys and other people’s reactions to our hair.