“If something is magical, it is fair to share it with more people.”- Awanda Perez
Awanda, the co-founder of ‘Go Natural Spain!’ is from Madrid, but born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She currently lives in the north of Spain, in the city of A Coruña with her love and project partner, Alvaro Lago. She says, ‘he is everything to me and without him, none of this would be possible!’ Prior to settling down in A Coruña, she lived in London, NYC, Italy and France.
She straightened her hair for the first time at 14 years old and for years, knew nothing of her natural hair. She went curly for a short stint while living in London but went back to straightening when she returned to Madrid. She has currently been natural and curly for a year and this time, it’s forever! She says, ‘I love my curls and I’ll never again wish them away!’
For her day to day product regimen, she uses a sulfate-free shampoo, moisturizing mask, olive oil spray and to further define her curls, a curl cream by African Dynasty. Her routine, like others in Spain, is very simple. She washes her hair every three days. She cleanses it, applies her cream and then a little oil. She says, ‘my hair is free like me *laughter* and changes depending on the day.’ For color, she uses a color shampoo and mask to achieve that gorgeous brown tone.
Her family received her natural tresses with ‘joy, wonder and surprise’. She commented that her family didn’t ‘quite get it… they didn’t understand what I was doing’. But little by little they came around and now they like it. Overall she has had good experiences. She works in the finance department of an investment company and her hair is not an issue.
They (her and husband, Alvaro) started GoNaturalSpain to promote the movement and launch the natural hair revolution in Spain. She comments:
“There are many women in Spain that continue to straighten because of a lack of information and fear. Many have not even thought of it! When I began researching, I could only find information in English- USA and UK. So we thought if we offered that information in Spanish, it could help girls decide to take the plunge. And so it was!”
They hope their work will bring more resources and natural hair products to Spain. Currently there are a very few brands that cater to highly textured hair in Spain. She says, ‘We hope that events like the one we did with you will bring futher attention to our cause and open a market here in Spain. We need products! Thank you so much for giving me the chance to share my story on your blog! Thank you Jessicurl for sponsoring the anniversary event! I SAY: Go Natural, Girl! Because Love is in the Hair! GO FREE! The real bellaza is inside and if you are free to be you, that is reflected on the outside! GO!”
