Mzansi natural of the week: Shé Davis

This week we are featuring a beautiful Mzansi coloured lady, who has taking the time to give us a run-down of how as a coloured lady she takes care of her hair. She also gives us a break down of the challenges and joys that come with having her type of hair texture. We would like to present: Shé Davis, our Mzansi natural of the week:

FC: Where in SA do you originate & what do you do?

Gauteng, Pretoria, Eersterust. I am the marketing assistant at an academic publishing house

FC: You’re what we call coloured in SA, which means your hair can be a bit kinky or completely straight. Please educate us on the different types of coloured hair textures.

You get thick and curly and then you get thin and straight.

FC: What’s your hair texture like?

Thick and very curly.

FC: Is your hair as easy to maintain as we think it is? What is are some of the challenges you face and joys you experience with having your type of hair texture?

Not at all, but sometimes it depends on the look you want for that particular day. One of our major challenges would be if our hair is straight it “frizzes” quickly if the weather does not play along that particular day (i.e. if its hot and humid), the easiest way of dealing with would be to wet our hair, put some conditioner on it and have the “wet look” - and still look good.

FC: What is your signature/everyday hairstyle? And what other hairstyles have you experimented with/tried out?

Everyday hairstyle “tied back in a pony”. Some of my hairstyles that I do need my hair to be blown out straight and to get my hair straight it takes me about an hour. Other hairstyles that I wear would be curly ones were I would roll in my hair in rollers, let it dry for about a half an hour, take the rollers out and there I go.  Then my favourite (of course) would be the wash and wear/go, where I would just wash my hair, put conditioner in and of course every coloured’s favourite product SOFT AND FREE GEL.

FC: I find that a lot of coloured women like colouring their hair. Your take on that, please.

I think it depends on their moods and also change of hairstyle coz we tend to get bored with our hair quickly.

FC: What products do you swear by?

Believe it or not I use anything for my hair but my favourite would be COLGATE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER, it actually makes my hair shine, and of course every coloured lady’s trusty “swirl kouse” (this is a pantyhose which has been cut by the knee of the one leg.  A knot is then tied at the ‘foot’ part and you would then stretch out the leg part of the pantyhose. Once you hair has been blown straight, you ‘wrap’  the hair around your scalp and put the pantyhose over it, to keep your hair in place while sleeping.)

FC: Please take us through your hair care regimen.

Weekly wash with shampoo and conditioner and then blow dry.

FC: Lastly, is there a debate in the coloured community about what is classified as ‘good’ hair or are all different types of hair textures appreciated?

We complement each other if our hair looks good but in our case it is different strokes for different folks, as long as you don’t walk around looking like Tina Turner (a.k.a. frizzy hair) that is a no, no in the coloured community.