CurlSTAR Kyla on Growing Long Natural Hair: “Be Patient With Yourself”
Meet Kyla, @Nunies99, a natural hair creator whose journey started a little differently! She’s never had a relaxer. Instead, she learned to care for her natural hair in middle school after her mom told her it was time to start doing her own hair, with one major rule: no heat tools. More than a decade later, Kyla has learned what works for length retention, curl definition and keeping long natural hair healthy. And she’s sharing with the world!
On her beginnings…
I feel like I have a more unique natural hair journey. I know a lot of people transitioned to natural from having a relaxer or something like that, but I’ve actually never had a relaxer or fell into that category.
I did straighten my hair a lot, or my mom straightened my hair a lot when I was younger. But yeah, that wasn’t the starting point of my journey.
My starting point was when I was in middle school. My mom actually decided that it was time for me to start learning how to do my own hair. And she set a couple rules in place for me. For safety reasons, she said I couldn’t use any heat tools.
So it was kind of like the default was, okay, well, now I have to figure out how to do heatless styles.
And that’s when I fell into 2014-2015 natural hair YouTube. That’s where my journey started.
And now, here we are 10-11 years later, and I’m a creator myself. So that was kind of the start of my official natural hair journey, which is a little bit different than some others.
On her absolute favorite hair products right now…
I feel like my favorite hair products continue to rotate because I’m always trying and testing new and different things for my audience.
If I had to say, though, I think my favorite gel of the summer for wash-and-gos has been The Doux Block Party.
It’s very interesting to me, the fact that I have a sweaty scalp, so I will sweat and my hair will be wet, but when it dries, the cast reforms, which is really cool. I don’t know what kind of science they have going on in their lab, but that’s my favorite gel for right now.
And then I would say my favorite mousse for a twist-and-curl or braid-out is probably going to be the Cécred Foam at the moment.
So yeah, those are my two main hairstyles: a stretched twist-and-curl and a wash-and-go. So those two for those two.
On what made the biggest difference in her length retention…
Previously, I was actually like a wash-and-go warrior. I did nothing but wash-and-gos. That was obviously my favorite style. It’s kind of changing now.
I decided last fall/winter to start doing other hairstyles because I’ve kind of realized if you do the same hairstyle over and over and over again, that’s going to increase the damage or breakage or problems you get from that one hairstyle.
So I’ve kind of learned it’s smartest, for me at least, to rotate my hairstyles.
I’ll do a wash-and-go one week, then I’ll do a braid-out the next week, then I’ll maybe put it in some twists the week after that, and then go back to a wash-and-go.
That way I’m not doing the same thing over and over again and potentially maximizing damage
Also, I started stretching my hair more, too. I got the RevAir, and I’ve been using that a huge amount. That’s been helping with the fairy knots, and yeah, I definitely would attribute that as well.
On her best curl definition…
I always say that the best wash-and-gos are done in the shower, when you have a lot of water and you don’t have to worry about getting product or water everywhere.
That’s definitely the best.
And a strong-hold gel. In the summer, I’ll definitely reach for something that’s strong-hold and anti-humidity, but when it’s colder out, just a regular strong-hold gel will do.
And then I also separate my hair curl by curl. It’s called shingling.
I know a lot of people aren’t a fan of that, but that’s truly how you get the best, best, best curl definition.
On keeping her hair defined and frizz-resistant in humidity…
There are things that I do to try to make my hair more frizz-resistant. I’ll use anti-humidity products. The Doux has a really good line. Miche has a really good gel.
So I’ll use those products, but also, it’s kind of inevitable with my hair type that I’m going to have frizz and that the definition is going to leave.
My hair wants to be big and voluminous naturally.
So I will try, but at the end of the day, the hair is going to do what it wants to do.
On her typical wash day…
I would say I wash my hair every five to seven days.
I’m the type of person who likes to wash my hair before it starts to get dry and old-looking. I’ll wash somewhat fresh hair.
Typically, it takes me about 30 minutes to wash my hair. I would say a full wash day takes me maybe two to three hours, maybe four on a bad day.
I’ll start early in the morning because I film when there’s sunlight. So I’ll go early, get in the shower, wash my hair, that takes me about 30 minutes.
Then I’ll get out of the shower and go do my makeup really quickly. That takes me another 30 minutes.
Then I’ll sit down to film whatever hairstyle I’m doing for that day, and then it’s like another hour or so to dry my hair.
On her go-to styles for protecting her hair and retaining length…
I’m the type of person who doesn’t always like the look of protective styles, so recently I’ve become a big fan of half wigs and U-part wigs that also match my hair texture.
I’ll just put my hair in some big, chunky braids with a thick, heavy cream or butter underneath, and that way my hair is protected.
The little leave-out, you’ve got to be careful with that, too.
But that way, the bulk of my hair is protected and I still have the curls that I love to wear.
On what she stopped doing that made a noticeable difference in the health or length of her hair…
I actually fell down the no-oils-and-butters rabbit hole a few years ago.
For some reason, I don’t know why, I believed them when they said that we shouldn’t use any leave-in conditioners, any oils, any butters, anything like that.
That obviously made my hair very dry and broke it off a lot.
Once I reintroduced those into my hair routine, I definitely saw a difference.
And I will never stop doing that ever again.
On one piece of advice she’d give someone trying to grow and retain long, healthy natural hair…
I would say when you want health in anything, you need to be healthy overall.
There’s not just one hair-care routine that’s going to be your saving grace. You just have to be healthy overall.
So make sure you eat well. Eat a nice, balanced, healthy diet. Make sure you exercise.
That’s also this hidden tip that I recently discovered since I’ve become more active in the gym: doing cardio can replace scalp massages. It kind of gives you the same benefits of doing a scalp massage because it increases your blood flow to your scalp, which is also what a scalp massage is doing.
So yeah, definitely overall health. Get in the gym. Eat well. Take care of yourself. And be patient because your hair will follow.
Obviously, a good routine as well. Don’t be ripping your hair out. Let your hair be sometimes, too.
On hair “rules” or popular natural-hair advice she personally doesn’t follow…
I think the one rule I typically skip is pre-pooing.
I understand the benefits of it. You want to detangle your hair before you get in the shower. I would say I do still do it if I’m taking down braids or something like that.
But I’m someone who tries to be very real with myself and very minimalist when it comes to my hair routine, because if there are like 20 steps, I know that’s not something that I can keep up with long-term.
So I kind of feel like it’s not worth introducing things that feel like extra steps.
I just skip the pre-poo, and I detangle my hair with conditioner in my hair in the shower.
But I do understand the benefits of pre-pooing.
On a final note…
I would just say, for anyone starting their hair journey, be patient with yourself.
It is a journey for a reason.
Especially now, I started my journey as a child. I can understand how it’s a thousand times more difficult if you’re an adult and you have to show up to work every day and you’re trying to figure out how to do your hair.
There are a lot of complicated feelings. There’s a lot to learn.
So yeah, just be kind to yourself and keep practicing.
Follow Kyla on TikTok, IG, and YouTube!
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