Featured Curlie - Ardean

Name: Ardean Peters

Hometown: Born in Toronto, grew up in Jane & Finch, currently in Brampton

First year of curlieness: 1992 (I think... I'm not good at numbers! I was 19 then, and I'm 38 now!)Actually, I just did a youtube video (purfikt), looking back at these early years. I've been following the online natural hair community on and off starting in 2005 and for the last year or two, have been occasionally following some youtubers. I had wanted to start a natural hair channel for a long time, but it's a lot of work. So this will just be the occasional video on what I do, and more a way to connect with other naturals and glean info from them :D

Why I went curlie: Well, as a child of the 80's, I started my teen hairstyling years, in the age of the Jheri Curl. Remember those? NOT pretty! I remember going to the salon early in the morning and waiting forever until they started working on me. At the end - you had this greasy, dripping head of Jheri Curls and there was no 'styling' option on freshly Jheri Curled hair. Getting back home was therefore a matter of trying to sneak out of the back entrance of the mall, unnoticed and taking the back streets to get back home. By grade 10, I moved onto a relaxer. I remember doing the ponytail that wasn't: using hairspray to try and slick up all the hair that was too short to reach into the bun! I also remember taking an hour in the morning to do my hair curling and styling - yikes! Honestly, I just got tired of all the work, plus that lovely burning sensation you always got from doing a home relaxer! So in grade 12, while my hair was still relaxed, I decided to; dun, dun, dun - cut my hair! Something no black girl did back then. I had decided that I would really prefer a short and easy hairstyle - that wouldn't take an hour to style every morning. It was such a cute look. I loved it. But inevitably, the relaxer grew out and my short cut, wasn't working so effortlessly anymore, so I decided just to cut off the relaxed ends and go natural. I figured if guys could do it, why not me? And I loved it. Wash and go hair - literally!

Regime and products: I have never been big into styling, I'm lazy like that and so have also never really been into tons of product. Last year when I found kimmaytube, I started experimenting with twist outs - so then I was using aloe gel for setting and olive oil hair creams for sealing my hair. But that didn't last too long...although I achieved some cute looks, I'm just not one to twist my hair nightly - or even to tie it down and re-fresh it in the morning. So the last few months, I was mostly just washing 1X a week and then daily just dampening my hair in the shower/or spritzing with aloe/water to moisten and be able to style it: a low bun in the back and 2 flat twists in the front.

(above) Ardean with braids.

(above) Ardean with a puff.

Now though, I've decided to re-visit my 'wash and go' again. This is what I did years ago and was doing up to a year and a half ago. I had stopped, because the band I used to pull my hair into my staple large puff, was now causing a tension headache. This time around, I'm going to try the wash and go and either leave my hair in a fro or another simple style, that doesn't cause any tension.

My current products:
1. Conditioner in the shower daily - just started using Tresemme and Tresemme Naturals and so far love it.
2. Aloe juice (by way of Kimmaytube) - I love how this smells and I do see a difference (smoother, less frizzy hair) when I use it. After I condition and rinse, I spritz on my aloe/water combo.
3. Shea butter - I had been using castor oil (sometimes jojoba) up to now, but never liked how they smell. I recently went back to shea butter and love it! I find that shea leaves my hair curly, softer and sealed, while the castor seems to straighten my hair out and never really absorbs into my hair.

The best part of being curlie for me is: Is the 'ease of use'. I don't worry about getting my hair wet. In fact, my hair loves getting wet. The versatility you have with being curly - you can do a straight style anytime you want and then go back to being curly. And mostly, I just love how my curls feel.Chemically relaxed hair, just never felt near as good:D