by
Meosha
Introduce yourself!
C: My name is Chandra Hawthorne and I am from Dallas, Texas.
Why did you make the decision to go natural?
C: I have been natural for 4 years. I decided to go natural for two reasons. I was tired of getting it relaxed, and bored with my relaxed look. Also I had begun a healthy hair journey on my relaxed hair by using all natural products. Well it took less than a month of doing that to realize that it made no sense (to me) to use natural products on my hair if I was going to still chemically relax it? I really wanted to know how well my hair would do with no chemicals or harsh products being used in it. So I stopped relaxing it.
How would you describe your texture?
C: My curl pattern is a 4A/4B with 3C in the nape. My overall texture is very cottony, dense, and spongy. My hair has medium, fine, and coarse textures mixed in. My hair in the nape is very curly and has a fine texture. The rest of my hair is very kinky-curly, cottony, and coarse. The front of my hair has little to no curl pattern, so I have to use more holding product there to keep my set styles. My hair has about 70% shrinkage, and it needs a lot of moisture. It is prone to dryness so I have to stay on top of it. My hair also tangles quickly, so I have to be very patient when detangling and styling my hair.
Describe your styling regimen over the course of the month.
C: My styling regimen is centered around hair health and my lifestyle 98% of the time! I tend to wear protective styles most of the time because they hold moisture in my hair much longer, help me retain most of my length, and they work for my lifestyle. I wash my hair about twice a month with apple cider vinegar and water and I deep condition with Hydratherma Naturals Moisture Boost Conditioner for about an hour. I then rinse and add my leave in, moisturizer, and oil from the Hydratherma Naturals line. I also use other carrier oil mixes such as extra virgin olive oil, Vatika, and safflower oil. After I’ve air dried my hair in plaits overnight, the next day, (or two days) I slightly re-moisten and add Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and proceed to twist my hair. I keep the twists in about a week and a half to two weeks. I wear my hair out in a twist out for about 3 days and repeat! I also use henna and amla about once every 2 months, and I cleanse with Aztec Bentonite Healing Clay once a month. In the rare event that my hair is out, it will most likely be a twist out, braid out, or some kind of bun.
What does wash day look like for you?
C: I wash my hair once every two weeks. I start with a dry finger detangle with oil. I then add a prepoo mixture of extra virgin olive oil and conditioner. My prepoo sits for at least 2 hours and sometimes overnight. I cleanse with apple cider vinegar and water most of the time, followed by Hydratherma Naturals to deep condition for at least an hour. I then use Hydratherma Naturals Leave In, Moisturizer and I seal with oil. Afterwards I typically twist my hair up with Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and wear it in twists for 2 weeks and repeat!
Describe your favorite go-to hairstyle for days when you don’t have a lot of time to style.
C: My quick go to style is definitely my banana clip bun, with side swooped, pinned bangs. It’s so easy and it looks very classy. I Love it!
How do you combat shrinkage?
C: I put my hair in about 12 plaits and let my hair dry about 95 %. If I really want it stretched I just blow it out on low heat.
What are some of your problem areas (if any) that require special care and attention?
C: Definitely how easily my hair tangles and forms knots, especially in the nape. I have to really slow down and take my time or I will have to pull out the scissors!
What are 2 do’s for your texture?
C: I have to keep my hair stretched, and I have to keep it moisturized.
What are 2 don’ts for your texture?
C: I can’t let my hair fully shrink, or fully dry out, or it will be a wrap!
Is there a blog/webpage where we can find you?
C: Yes! I can be found at Chanshealthyhappyhair.blogspot.com, Healthy Happy Hair on Facebook, and Chawthorne3 on Instagram.
63 Responses
Great interview and photos. I like the first ohoto with the pompadour in the front and poinytail in the back. It’s cute.
lol..thank you so much Desiree!
OMG your hair is so beautiful and thick! I love it!
Beautiful hair, beautiful you!!
Aww thank you Jakalaonu!!
Gorgeous thick hair! Loving the bun!
Thank you Maam! I absolutely love buns!
Such thick, luscious hair! It looks great, probably feels great and the routine IS great! Love the reasoning behind going natural too.
http://vertmoot.blogspot.com
Thank you so much! Yes it does feel great most of the time! If I stray away from proven ingredients that my hair loves the softness goes away! Every now and then I get that reality check!
Oh. My. WOW! ????
I’ve never seen someone whose hair looks just like mine! Beautiful and inspiring. This gives me an idea of what my hair can look like in the coming years.
Hey Maria! I am so glad that this has given you some sort of vision! I love it when that happens also!
Wow! We have VERY similar regimens with very similar hair too lol, and I keep two strand twists 2 weeks at a time & repeat as well. Ahh, & I just love your hair! It looks so healthy, lush, and beautiful! 🙂
Aww Thank you so much T! Its so good to know that I am not the only one that go through all of these various steps! I am glad that it all pays off! lol.
Hey thank you so so so much for sharing your story!
quick question…how long did it take you to grow your hair from the shortest length in the pictures above to the longest length, also in the pictures above?
P.S. YOUR HAIR IS SOOO PRETTY
Yay! I love when I see women with hair textures like mine!Beautiful !
Lovely
I love the natural unpermed hair trend. I am 5 months on transition and its so much fun knowing that my hair will no longer suffer the aftermaths of relaxers…pheew!. But I can hardly get styles that suits me. But its fun!
Gorgeous lady! Beautiful hair! I get slightly jealous of ladies who have no frizz in their hair 🙂
lol..thank you so much Zanjanil, but girl I don’t make that cut because my hair gets frizzy! I love moisture and glycerin so it doesn’t take much for my hair to frizz actually.
Ohh so similar to my 6 year old’s hair. I’m not one who does fancy braids in my child’s hair, but I do twists and big plaits. It’s nice to see all of the different hair routines.
Chandra your hair is divine simply gorgeous you’re an inspiration.
Thank you
Thank you so much Lovey!
Ditto Elaine’s comment; “hair crush”! 🙂 I’m generally not the envious type, but what I would do to have hair like yours! lolol Absolutely gorgeous! I wore my hair in a twa for more years than I can remember. I started growing it out last December. I soooo miss the ease of having a twa 🙁 But, would love to have the versatility with hair like yours. Hmmmm….
Thanks Tessa! lol u are funny. Let me tell you its like anything else you are willing to pay a price for. Hard work, but worth it in the end! I often think back to the days of my twa and WISH I would have cherised that stage more, because it was so much easier then! But you are right, if you love versatility, length is your friend! I also love that if I don’t feel like doing it I can put it in a Bun and forget about it! So yeh girl keep growing it and just have patience and you will be there in no time. My hair has never been this healthy in my life!
Hair CRUSH!
Hair twin!! Love it! Grow on & glow on, Sista!
Thank you so much!!
Beautiful hair!
OAN–BGLH is leading me to believe that women with average to lower density coverage don’t qualify as hair inspirations, because I haven’t seen one featured in a LONG time.
Thank you Dawn!! I actually would love to see more fine-haired low density inspirations too because I actually have a few clients with that hair type and they are always disparately searching for hairstyles that they find flattering on them. I’ve actively searched for them and I haven’t found many women with the hair type posting pics. I actually have one client with this hair combination, and I grew her hair from twa to slightly past shoulder length in one year. She gain more fullness and length. I used frequent henna treatments and protective styles. I attached her photo, although we are still trying to find “stretched” styles that she can live with she is happy with her length and fullness. Her hair has grown even more sense this photo. (the back shot is cut off but its past her shoulders)
[img]https://bglh-marketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/NaturalGrowthwithHenna.jpg[/img]
Hey Chan 😀
I appreciate your reply! Thanks for seeing the need for diversity among inspirations (I’m sure *someone* will think I’m the Debbie-downer/Hater/Simon Cowell of the comment section lol) and I’m glad you show a concern and try to meet the specific needs of your clients. Wonderful job on her hair and thanks for sharing!
Oh no I didn’t think that at all, I guess I understand that frustration because of the clients I have with that hair combo. But I really think it begins with women with that hair type wanting to inspire and post pics and vids from others to draw from. I can recall when I first went natural not many women with type 4b/4c hair were posting as many pics as the others. Many women with no definitive curl patterns were frustrated because everywhere you looked were curls and waves! And women were complaining lol, but now there’s endless inspiration in these categories. Don’t give up, keep looking and maybe you could work hard to become a source of inspiration for women with your hair type. I never set out to inspire anyone. I just wanted my hair to be the best that it could be. And in the process I one day just accepted my hair for what it was and wasn’t! I played to my strengths and wore my hair with pride.
Finally someone with a texture like mine!! 3C in the nape and 4a/4b everywhere else (:
her hairr is the bomb.com
love it! one of my faves
Thank you Dee!! : )
Just A word! Wow!!!!!
That hair is LUSCIOUS.
That mini twist style is gorgeous!
Oh wow, lovely head of hair
interesting post
Finally, my hair twin!!! love your hair!
I guess we are hair triplets because her hair description was mine to the tee!!
Make it quadruples….because i can relate to her texture..Amix of 3c (nape) and 4a (front) and all those coils in between:)
Soft fluffy to the toutch
Hair quadruplets?
This is definitely my hair too. Curly at the nape, 4A/B every where else… Cottony.
Yep, this is my head of hair!
OH my goodness!! All of these hair twins!! I really want to see all yalls hair! This is so exciting!? I’ve only been able to find one other person with the same amount of cotton and sponge that I have going on!
well I raise their quadruplets with a some QUINTUPLET realness! lol I think mine might be a bit more dense, but everything you’ve described is very similar! G-d help me if I lose my mind after watching a few misleading tutorials and do a wash & go… ohh dear… lol
uh oh! revoked! I see another quint! can I get a SEXTUPLET?! haha
Somebody’s momma was working overtime because we’re quadruplets. Chandra gives me hope. 🙂 Seriously beautiful hair.
Oops. Quints. I’m late. 🙂
Thank you so much Curly Q!!! Now I want to form a group for the Hair Quints!! We could really help each other out!
You form it and I. Am. IN! Seriously, your hair is amazing and from your description I am thinking my hair may be very similar when it gets more length and I am ecstatic!
Yaaaay! Michele I am so happy that there’s some other people out there with this hair! It’s always so exciting when we find each other! I think I’ve only found one other person with the same cottony sponge like texture.
a very pretty healthy head of hair!
Thank you so much!
Very beautiful hair!
Thank you!! : )
I love how honest she was when describing her hair and the general interview..good job and lovely hair! 🙂
Thank you so much Polly! I tried to be descriptive as possible! My hair seem to have so many different faces!
Your hair and curl pattern are divine!!! It’s pics like these that make me want to cut my locs and become a loose natural.
What a beautiful compliment, thank you so much. I also think about locking atleast once a year! lol..
I love this hair and those twist are luscious. Gorgeous!
Thank you so much! Twists are my fav!
Beautiful hair and great hair growth!