Yolanda Renee

YouTuber/Blogger

Before going natural I was like every other black women...carelessly following the regimen my parents subconsciously instilled in me- slapping a relaxer in my hair every month and not realizing what it was doing to my strands. I took over my relaxing regimen at a very young age because I've always had a natural gift of doing hair. I was the "neighborhood stylist" in my small town. Lol. I started doing hair in elementary school. Can you imagine me doing grown women's hair at that age? Yep, that was me, trying tbe a business woman, even back then. The funny thing is I did natural hair styles...my specialty was box braids and later on, weaves. Both of these styles are great for protecting your hair. At that time it wasn't natural hair though...we would slap a relaxer on and then do these styles. So silly, right?

One day...several years later I woke up. I thought...why am I relaxing my hair but covering up with a protective style? What sense does that make? Absolutely, NO SENSE! In November 2011 I decided to stop relaxing my hair. Just think how many years I wasted damaging my hair. Not to tell my age but I was born in 1983 and didn't start learning to embrace my natural hair until 2011. That is so embarrassing. Once I stopped relaxing my hair it started to grow like wildfire and became thicker. This happened even before I knew how to properly care for it. It was flourishing just by removing the relaxer from my regimen. During my transition I wore a sew in weave so my hair was always braided up and protected. The last weave I wore I took it out in April/May 2012. So 5-6 months of transitioning and then I was ready for my big chop. I had about 3 inches of new growth that was completely natural. I didn't plan to big chop when I did. I was watching a few YouTube videos of people cutting their relaxed hair off and it inspired me. I was so excited to do the same. YouTube is an amazing place to build courage to do something like CUT YOUR HAIR OFF. Lol! I didn't have a huge following on YouTube at the time but I decided to film my big chop anyway, just in case. I set up my camera. I was not ready yall. I had some office scissors (LOL a big no no), didn't have the proper products but I was "ready"! I cut my own hair...there was so much hair. My fiance was so confused. It was such a liberating experience. Once the hair was gone I felt good but what do I do now? I didn't have a clue but I learned. I learned with my new audience because chile...when I posted the big chop video my audience grew over night. I touched a lot of women with my personal big chop. Once that happened my journey was not just for me, but for women all around the world. That may seem a bit dramatic but its true. My natural hair journey is everyone's journey. It has become my WORK! Going natural is bigger than just hair for me. Its my way of contributing to the black community. Through hair we have accomplished so much. I feel like the natural hair community is the blueprint to building up the black community as a whole. Through hair we have connected with women all over the world, created businesses, change the beauty business and shifted the focus on our beautiful tresses, and we are making people's wildest dreams come true. I've become a brand through my natural hair. All my talents of being an artist, doing hair, loving fashion, etc are make sense now. I am able to use all my passions to better myself, my family, and my curlfriends around the world. It doesn't get better than that.

Three years later I'm still natural and loving it. Through hard work my YouTube channel has grown and I have a huge audience that is inspired by my natural hair. I receive so many emails and social media comments that explain they went natural because of "little ol me"! And they learn through the content I create on YouTube, etc. That makes me so proud and motivates me to continue my journey to help others. Because of my huge audience I've been able to work with top brands, travel the world for natural hair events, and even get invited to projects like this one- Washington Naturals. My journey never ends...I am continuing to learn about my hair; because it is a complex thing yall! Hair is a science! So that "just hair" phrase has to stop...its deeper than that! Going natural was the best decision in my life. A decision that not only impacts myself but other around me. I LOVE MY NATURAL!