“I’ve lived in Portland, OR for five years now so it’s funny that you’re stopping me because this would probably never happen there. It’s very different, but it’s cool. It’s a really beautiful place. It has great things to offer, it’s just not DC/MD/VA. It’s been good, however.

I think that I’ve been natural for about nine years. My last perm was during my prom. I stopped perming my hair because it was falling out. The day of my prom I decided that I just needed to stop getting relaxers. I have a friend who regularly straightened her hair, so for a while I would just straighten my hair. During the last four years I’ve had the courage to wear it out, however. Laziness is probably one of the reasons that I had the courage because it’s a challenge finding someone to do my hair rather than doing it myself. It’s been good. I have noticed that when you have natural hair sometimes people assume things about you. They assume that you’re an activist, but I think that wearing your hair natural (in itself) has been pretty empowering.”