NC: What are your favorite hairstyles to wear with your curls?
RF: I really don’t do much with my hair except let it loose or tie it in a poof. I guess I’m pretty lazy with styling it.
NC: What reaction did you get when you first decided to go natural?
RF: It was definitely a mixed reaction. Most of my friends loved it and I’d get stopped when I went out. I always wonder where these pictures random people take with me end up! But my family reacted a little differently. There’s a stigma in my culture (maybe not all Dominican families are like this, but I have heard of many”> that “good” hair is straight, easy-to-comb hair. Because I grew up hearing this, I decided at the age of twelve that I wanted to get my hair relaxed so that I could have that “good” hair. When I went natural, I had family members tell me that I needed to go back because my hair was “bad” and not as nice as when it was relaxed. I think they have grown to accept it now. Most importantly, I love my hair and the way it grows from my head!
NC: Did you big chop or transition and for how long?
RF: I’ve always had really long thick hair so I actually let it grow out at first because I was scared to have short hair. But then I realized that the curly hair growing out was not matching the rest of my hair, so I chopped off most of my hair, all the way to my shoulders. It was almost down to my waist before the chop. After that, I let my natural hair grow to my shoulders and I cut the rest off just recently. This process took about a year.
