hey guys welcome back to my channel okay so today's video we are going to be chatting all about my natural hair journey and just reflecting because y'all it's been 10 years i think since i started my youtube channel showing my natural hair journey but also 14 years since i first went natural okay today's video is in partnership with dove amplified textures yes it is so i'm gonna be showing you guys how i refresh my protective style while also talking and reflecting on my natural hair journey so if you guys are excited for today's video make sure you give it a thumbs up if you're not already subscribed come on come on join the family all right so let's get into it by the way i'm just going to spray some water on my braids because water is the ultimate moisturizer so oh that feels so good boom boom boom boom boom water is your friend y'all i went natural almost 14 years ago for the first time and if you guys don't know the story about how i went natural in the first place let me know if you guys want a story time because it had to do with my dad papa doodoo so if you guys do want a story time let me know in the comment section below when i first went natural i had no idea what to do with my hair because i had never seen my natural hair before so i wore a lot of protective styles and like i said i'm going to be refreshing my hair so i'm going to go in with the dove amplified textures this is their twisted moisture shaping buttercream this product is really great i like to use it just for moisture especially also great for twist outs braid outs all of those like twist out styles just because it gives you that like moisture and a little bit of hold but it's not too heavy if that makes sense first of all this line smells amazing let's start there the line smells amazing this is infused with jojoba you know jojoba is a great light oil for the hair a lot of these braids are actually my natural hair like there's not a lot of extensions we always need to go in with some moisture so i'm just gonna put that right on my braids on the length of the hair as well but yeah so after i went natural for the first time and cut my hair i like went on youtube because that's where the girls were posting videos and showing their natural hair journey what i noticed was that there just wasn't a lot of women with like my hair type and when i would see a woman with my hair type i'd get so excited you know because i felt seen i felt represented so i wanted to be a part of that i was just like you know what i need to share my journey because in life and this is basically how business to start right when you see when you see a problem you find a solution to it so i found this is gonna be a solution i could increase the representation of women that look like me have hair like me etc etc youtube was my space to do that and i was having a blast but and the beautiful thing was that it was for me it was more than just like showing length checks and tutorials it was more so just a space for myself to feel seen i don't know representation back then just wasn't what it is today and even today we still you know i just i feel like there could always be more representation but there's a lot more today than it was back then and i feel like that's a lot of the reason why a lot of you guys connected with me so much was just because i would show the real of what i was going through i wasn't just trying to show perfect hair tutorials i would talk about the fact that i didn't really like or accept my hair texture because i didn't know what to do with it and it was just difficult you know i shared those things and i believe that's why you guys connected with me and i continue to do that today and it's gone past just hair hold on before we even get into that so now that i've moisturized my hair now i want to set my hair um because i want to get rid of any fly aways and any frizz so i'm gonna go in with the dove amplified textures this is their define and moisture styling gel this this gel right here i really really really enjoy this gel for a lot of reasons one it's alcohol free you're not going to get all of those flakes and it's kind of lightweight i need something lightweight because i kind of i just want to define my not defined but i want to set my hair going to reduce any frizz so this is a nice trick you can use when you have protective styles if you kind of want to get rid of any flyaways and any extra frizz so i'm just going to put this on the length of my hair also this is great because it's alcohol free it's it's not going to dry your hair out or in any way so it's still going to help you you know retain that length also great when you want to do like twist outs braid outs or even just twists where you kind of just want a little bit more of a defined look keep your hair still moisturized but you want that extra hold right here it smells amazing by the way okay and then i'm also just gonna use a little bit for my edges just to set my edges down a little bit which is totally optional let's make that very clear i'm okay with like decent edges i don't need my edges to be like super super defined and this is one of the reasons why i like this gel as well because it kind of just gives that light hold because it's not everyday edges to the gods okay like swooped to the gods like sometimes i just want like you know just like a brushed down look but that's really it i'm just gonna brush that back just as a reminder this is really really great if you want just a little bit of extra hold but without the flaking um that light hold is still gonna ensure your hair is still moisturized you're gonna have a lot of shine this also helps with a lot of shine in your hair there's no parabens no dyes it's color safe um yeah and it has aloe in it which i should have started with that i love products with aloe in it because it just has really great and this is for the entire line as well it just has really great natural ingredients in there that's gonna just help preserve the health and length of your hair so definitely get into sheet and i'm just going to tie my hair down but yeah ultimately i feel like that's why a lot of you guys connected with me because i just shared a lot of the my struggles um and real things that i was dealing with whether it's not retaining length not liking my hair texture being a lazy natural did i say not having fast hair growth like all of those things because those are real real issues but i think generally like my natural hair journey was really more so the beginning of my self-love journey you know what i mean because i mean hair is so big hair hair hair is like a part of you right so it has to do with not only your hair your looks your body like all of those things and i think that's ultimately honestly why i started my channel even though hair was my avenue like there were so many other things i wanted to talk about as well and it's kind of wild to see it all come to fruition now because like y'all i was like 14 in my bathroom like i want to talk about my scars and like how you should be able to love them like these are conversations i would have with myself and i wrote in my journal y'all fun fact i've kept the journal since the sixth grade since i was like 12.

 so it's all written down and it's really crazy to see that like i'm actually living out all of the desires and ones i had for myself back then ultimately my natural hair journey was when i look back at it now i realized that that was really the beginning of my self-love journey and just my journey to loving all parts of myself and i think in life you have seasons first they may start off with hair and then it will start off with that maybe your skin color or the certain body type body part that you don't like whatever it is or and now it kind of transforms into just the lifestyle that i live and all the things that i want for myself it's it's life is interesting life is so cool um and i'm just anyway i'm just it's kind of crazy to be here now and yeah but ultimately i feel like some of you guys still may be struggling whether it's with your natural hair texture or just other parts of yourself that you may not just accept just yet and i think the advice that i would give to you if you are struggling to embrace any certain part of yourself um specifically maybe your hair i can only tell you what i kind of had to do i think for me like looking back now i realized that all of those things that that i was once um uncomfortable with or i didn't really like about myself have ultimately become the things that like make me me and make me my brand like it just it's all of the things that made me unique because i used to get bullied about my name i used to get bullied for my name y'all i just think i believed for the fact that i was african nigerian i used to get bullied because of my skin color like first of all i grew up in the bronx if y'all didn't know half of my life was in the bronx half of my life was in rockland county the suburbs of new york um so right outside new york city but ciao they were brutus brutal in the bronx okay they used to call me burnt cheese because i was dark skinned and my my name sounds like cheese i just recall african beauty scratches so like all of these things made me not like all of these aspects of myself but look at me now like first of all my name is the household name yes it is but i now i love my culture like you you couldn't pay me to like denounce my culture i used to struggle with my stomach i still have my days don't get me wrong ultimately these are the things that make me me these are the things that people follow me for now and look up to me as inspiration for so it's just it's a reminder that all of those things that you may not be uncomfortable with those are your unique features so you can take your power back take the power back and recognize that yeah you may not like it but this is this is who i am this is a part of my story this is part of my journey you'll learn to love it but you do have to give things time you really do definitely not an overnight fix like i started my natural hair journey aka myself love journey really 14 years ago you know what i'm saying so where i'm at now is just this is a journey of over 14 years it's not going to happen overnight so that's kind of my advice to you but it's kind of wild to just see the evolution and i really do want to hear you guys is just like your natural hair journey or just your self-love journey how how how it's all kind of how it's going for you and how you've evolved over the years comment down below let me know i think my hair is set so let me take this out okay so this is my hair as you can see it looks a little bit more set it's more defined it's less frizz shout out big big shout out to the finishing gel again if you guys haven't checked it out you really really should and honestly i also just want to say that i'm so excited and i'm really proud to partner with dove amplified textures because i'm at the i'm at the space in my life where if you're not for me i'm not partnering with you you know what i'm saying dove has consistently had amazing initiatives that just represent everyone um and personally with me it represents me and i really appreciate that they're always trying to just amplify others um and it's so important so i'm really really excited to and genuinely excited to partner with dub amplified textures and you guys really should check out the line it smells amazing there are amazing natural ingredients in here like jojoba honey aloe coconut oil so definitely check out the line i'm going to leave a link in my description box down below so you guys can check out dove amplified textures line and yeah that's pretty much where i'm at when it comes to my natural hair journey and just my self-love journey overall it's it's crazy to see just how things evolve over time it really is we thank god we thank god that way um again i want to hear you guys's journeys and just all about your experience with your hair and loving yourself and accepting yourself down in the comment section below so let me know and i will catch you guys in my next one make sure to check out some other videos alright i'll see you guys next time [Music]