Natural Hair in the Nigerian Diaspora... meet Ijeoma!

Hello all,

 

We recently discovered some absolutely beautiful kinks, and further investigation led us to the website Klassy Kinks. We were so excited to discover the blogger behind it was the gorgeous Nigerian natural Ijeoma Eboh! Haven't come across her over the internet yet? Get acquainted...

 

A little about me

I'm an Umuahia girl born in Port Harcourt, but I was raised in the United States (New Jersey to be exact).

 

I've been fully natural since May of 2010, so 3.5 years now!

 

The summer of 2009, I randomly got some kinky twists and was enjoying the break from my hair, and at the same time started reading articles in Essence Magazine about natural hair. That led me to YouTube and various hair blogs and I desperately wanted to see what my real hair looked like because I'd had it relaxed since I was a toddler. It was my second year in university, so I wore twists and weaves over the course of the school year before cutting all but a few inches off just a few days after I came home from exams.
 

My job and my life

I'm a doctoral student in history of public health, which more or less entails reading an absurd amount, writing a slightly less absurd amount, and working as a research assistant for a professor. My hair doesn't impact my work or schooling whatsoever, although I get a lot of comments on my hair because it changes so frequently. Because I should theoretically be devoting all my time to schoolwork, I try to do low maintenance styles and I alternate retwisting or rebraiding my hair in large sections at night with pineappling.

 

My natural hair in Nigeria

I went to Nigeria a year into my natural hair journey (two years ago), and got a lot of questions from my cousins and other family members about why I didn't have a relaxer, and if I wanted to get my hair plaited/braided at the salon. Hilariously enough they were bewildered at the length of my hair and my ability to even comb it, but at the same time denounced it as unacceptable. I'll be back again this December, and since then some of those same family members have gone natural so the dynamic and conversations may be somewhat different. I'm excited!

 

 

Natural hair challenges I've encountered

Navigating the abundance of online resources was challenging at first: there are so many different websites and opinions that sometimes have contradicting information, so deciding for myself what would be my trusted sources of information took some time. Until recently, I'd also struggled finding a hair stylist who knew what they were doing!

 

 

My routine

I only wash my hair about every three weeks-once a month (grad school + laziness = later and later washes). I'll start off by using a mix of conditioner, coconut oil, and water to carefully finger detangle my hair and put it in about 6 braids. I'll then shampoo and deep condition, still in braids. Once I'm done prancing around, I'll undo each braid in the shower and apply some more conditioner, smooth over my strands, and braid it back up. After drying under a t-shirt for a bit, I spray a leave in conditioner, seal with my shea butter/coconut oil/aloe vera gel mix, and begin styling. I wear my hair in all sorts of styles, from braidouts to flat twists to puffs to pinned up styles, and will simply remoisturize every few days. More details about products and such are on my website.

 

My view on having "hair idols"

 

I don't idolize anyone's hair, and I don't have any hair crushes. I also cringe when people say they wish they had my hair. I think that kind of thinking is counterproductive; it actually holds us back from accepting our hair, whichever way it exists on our heads. My hair is hands down the most fabulous thing that could grow from my scalp, precisely because God anointed each strand, just for me! I do respect other people's hair practices (most often their styling abilities or extensive knowledge of proper natural hair care) and I have a list of those bloggers and vloggers on my website.

Finding me online

I’m the founder and editor of Klassy-Kinks.com, which has the latest natural hair news, advice and tutorials for hair styling and maintenance, healthy food recipes, weekly features of other fabulous kinky-haired women (and men!), and most exciting of all, monthly giveaways! I’m also on YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Say hi!

 

  Thanks Ijeoma! We have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of you around ;-)