My name is Luna and I am from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I am 27 years old and have danced all of my life and I guess I can say I am a Jack of all trades! The best way to describe myself is to say that I am an Urban Articulator. I have this talent of putting people and things that work well together, everywhere. I run a women’s empowerment program and I have a Turban Brand called Crowns of Nyanga where I share my passion for African fabrics and creativity. After traveling to Africa, I came back with a bag full of fabrics, so I had to share! LOL
I normally work with fashion, culture and artists. I have been around the world quite a bit, so I speak 4 languages and when I am tired they all become one big mess of words… and my hair translates my personality i.e. WILD CHILD. LOL
Read On!>>>
How long have you been natural?
I have been natural for at least 10 years. When I was 16, I had a dance performance called the 40 Spontaneous and I realized my hair was a huge problem for me. I wasn’t happy with it, because of all the perm treatments I had done to it since a very young age. So one day, I left rehearsal, went to the salon downstairs from the theatre and shaved my “waist length hair.” That was the beginning of my liberation process. To be a 16 year old girl, 10 years ago with a fro was quite interesting! Lol!
Were you a bigger chopper or transitioner?
Honestly, my transition was pretty fast. I just shaved it all and rolled with it. Self discovery was the most fun in this process! I had to re-discover myself as a beautiful girl, with a shaved head and some “nappy’s” growing up! LOL This process taught me a lot about self-esteem and courage.
How would you describe your hair?
I can describe my hair as magical. It has opened so many doors in my life to actually own who I am. It makes people smile at me, laugh at me, tell me their stories, give books randomly on the subway, start noticing themselves because of my “presence”… There are just so many cool things about my hair… It has its own life sometimes. I love watching people’s reaction to it. Makes me happy to see that even if it’s not a positive reaction, at least it causes reflection, it brings about polemic, discussion and it communicates in a genuine language. Yeah, I am different…so what? LOL
What do you love most about your hair?
What I most love about my hair is its fluffy feeling. The texture is like cotton candy. The curls start out nice and sharp… and become part of a big beautiful mess afterwards…hahah…Yeah, I love my hair!
What has been the most memorable part of the journey?
Everyday is memorable to me. I discover things about my hair ’til this day! The most difficult part of my journey, I don’t know, it’s weird that people have this idea of black hair as “bad”. I heard a lot of family members and even people I knew, talking about how crazy I was for shaving it… as a 16 year old girl, it’s hard to understand why people are just so caught up in this whole image thing. I just wanted to be free and feel pretty to myself, feel like I belong here…and not keep trying to be someone else. That was the hardest part of the process. To understand that being different is a warrior move, not everyone has the balls for it, but once you go, there’s no return.
Also, rainy days are difficult! hahahahah…the humidity ain’t my friend…but hey! I got my Crowns! whenever I start complaining that my hair looks like an electrocuted poodle dog, I think to myself…GIRL,wrap it up! LOL
What were your favorite transitioning styles?
Transitioning styles that I love…Braids! I loved to have my braid game on point! Every month was a different story. I was super exited to have designs and colors whenever I had my braids changed. There’s so much creativity in it!
What have your experiences been as a natural?
I have so many! I almost provoked a fight in a club one time! lol because my hair was so “different” this dude on the club line started to tell me that I was a pretty chick, but that my hair wasn’t really a good look for me. In their opinion, my “nappy’s” were not cute at all, and they said it looked weird. Meanwhile, this other dude behind me told them to shut up! and said I was original, so they had to leave the place before they got their ass whooped! His quote to me was: Gurl! tell those retards! I am a lioness, I am used to the jungle. Sorry if I am too much for your backyard! LOL… yeah, it is an interesting life!
What is your hair regimen?
My regimen is simple. I make sure I condition my hair every time I wash it. So there’s no question I will take at least 20 minutes in the shower on wash day! LOL I use Carol’s Daugther Monoi hair mask, coconut oil, light leave in lotions, Miss Jessie’s pillow talk, and Knot today.
What are your favorite vlogs and blogs?
To be honest, I don’t watch a lot of hair videos. I just let it out. But, I like Natural belle blog. I follow a lot of curlies on IG and I travel a lot. LOL
Anything else you would like to share?
I just want to thank you for choosing me to be featured in your blog. I love the idea of telling my story. I feel pretty confident about who I am now that I have space to be genuine. I think it is great that all these curly ladies are making the same decision. It’s just empowering and truthful. I am part of a project called Project {U}nicorn, with a dear beautiful fashionista known as @thebazaarbohemian. All we want is to spread love and inspiration through our stories and visual perception of this crazy world we live in. So I think life should be about that. Collaborating and sharing what makes you happy.
“And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” –Marianne Williamson
Where can we find you on social media?
People can find me @julianaluna or @crowns_of_nyanga. My email is crownsofnyanga@gmail.com.
