Captured Curls: Meechy Monroe

I am sure a lot of you are familiar with the beauty above, Ms. Meechy Monroe! I've seen Meechy on YT and via her blog numerous times, her hair is to die for and she's indeed stunning. After recently coming across her InstaGram page she quickly became one of my hair crushes and I had to have her on the blog. I think many of you will find her story helpful and full of insight, enjoy!

Please, introduce yourself! 

Hello everyone! *waves* I am Meechy Monroe… a Natural Hair Enthusiast, Blogger/Vlogger and creator of MeechyMonroe.com. I love being immersed in anything that has to do with Beauty, Fashion and Style, and the creativity of the arts in general.

What is your current hair care regimen?

I attempt to keep my hair regimen as simple as possible while trying to get through this hectic and unpredictable thing that is life. I wash my hair anywhere between a week to a week and a half as my hair performs better when it is thoroughly cleansed. After a good wash with a gentle shampoo I always detangle my hair carefully only while it’s slippery and has conditioner in it. After each small section is combed through I braid the section so when I rinse (braids still in) my hair is still detangled. I normally twist my hair right after, using a water based leave in conditioner and seal with Shea Butter or a light oil. I find myself rocking my twists for a few days to be sure my hair is dried fully. A pulled back ponytail or pinned up twists are always my go to styles. Once my hair is dry I unravel my twists and I have textured hair to perform any style throughout the week. Each night I re-twist my hair without adding any additional product, but I do midst with water from time to time. Re-twisting my hair each night in small to medium sections allows for good definition as the week progresses as well as stretched hair. I call it the “elongated twist out” and by the end of the week I have full, fluffy, defined and almost shoulder length hair without using any heat. I’m always sure to cover my twists each night with a satin cap and that’s it!

What is your hair type and what works best for your texture?

You know, I am not really big on using the hair typing system. I can throw a guess out there but due to my hairs porosity, density, and even the several curls patterns throughout my head my prediction is that I would be wrong or close to it. My hair texture is that of coily/curly strands that range from tight to more so of a wavy pattern throughout. My hair tends to be very dry and due to its tight/coily texture I am crazy prone to single strand knots. My hair seems to thrive when I simply incorporate natures best kept secret, H20 on my dry strands. I always use water based leave in conditioners and hair milks to also combat my dry hair problems along with sealing in the moisture with some sort of oil or butter.

What reaction did you get when you first decided to go natural or have you been relaxer free all your life? 

I decided to transition back to my natural self the year I graduated from college, which was a huge adjustment in itself. Luckily, my immediate family was very supportive seeing that my two older sisters had already big chopped and my Mom was in the process of a long term transition. I had a few male friends express that they were not sure why I wanted to chop all my hair off but that part I understood, they’ve never really seen anyone follow through with such a drastic change. Once I chopped my hair with only about an inch and a half of growth they absolutely loved it and the way that I rocked it. A ton of my girlfriends have since then became natural themselves and continue to have pride in their natural beauty. My coworkers at the time seemed so impressed by such a bold move and communicated daily how much they loved my texture and that I looked absolutely stunning. I started to notice a lot of long stares of admiration while out and about in the Chicago area and mostly from men, of all races. Basically I had a pretty smooth transition into my new natural self. I think the most important thing is being able to exude confidence. If you set the standard the rest of the world will follow your lead.

Did you big chop or transition, for how long? If you’ve always been natural, did you ever have any curly hair girl insecurities? If so, what helped you adjust to having naturally curly hair over the years?

I decided to transition a bit by wearing a few weave installs. This process did not last long at all since I found it harder trying to take care of two textures, one in which I no longer wanted. One day while washing my hair, sew in still in, I noticed that my hair that was left out to help blend the weave seemed to not have curled up as much while wet. I feared that I had damaged my hair with the flat iron and I immediately took out my install and had my sister perform the big chop the very next day. I had only transitioned for about 3 months but that was enough for me and I was very pleased with the results right after.

For me going back to being natural wasn’t as big of a deal as far as dealing with my texture since I’d actually been perm free right up until I was about 16/17 years old. I was very familiar with my natural hair even though in the past I’d opted to wear it pressed straight more than anything. Again it goes back to being confident and simply loving yourself. Embrace it and play it up to work for you. I felt that my short curly TWA helped bring out my facial features and the bone structure of my face. I played around with makeup to spruce up my eyes and lips, and rocked funky and dangly earrings for balance. Natural Hair can be quite exotic and high fashion, I just went with it.

What makes you love your kinks, curls and coils?

What makes me love my hair? First and foremost I am happy to embrace the hair that I was meant to have. Every curl, kink, and tangle is all me and I am content and proud to say that I am accepting and actually loving the hair that I was created with. I also love the fact that my hair allows me to stand out and I can do so many things with my textured strands. The versatility of natural hair is such a plus seeing that at any moment my hair can go from springy and coily, to stretched and textured, to full and poofy, to silky straight. I love the funky feel I have while displaying to the world the real me…uncensored.

Where can we find you on the web?

I am pretty much all over the place. Feel free to check me out….

Blog: http://www.MeechyMonroe.com

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/meechymonroe

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/meechymonroe

FaceBook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/MeechyMonroeFanPage

Instagram: MeechyMonroe

Anything EXTRA you want us to know?

I would like to thank you for the amazing feature and the inspiration you provide to the natural hair community! Keep up the great work. J