My name is Soroya marquis (Soroya Van A Maria Marquis), I am currently enrolled in City College of New York in pursuit of Masters in General psychology emphasis on Forensics psychology. I am planning to become a forensic psychologist, in the criminal justice department in the line of working along with criminals and their mental state. I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1992 (yes just the other day, making it 23 years of age), four years after my birth I moved to St. Vincent and the Grenadines after the death of my father, who died from lymphoma.
As a child whose parents were Trinidadian- Portuguese and Afro-Trinidadian I had long thick Z pattern curled hair, but as soon that awkward adolescence staged kicked in, I felt pressured to relaxed my hair, for numerous reasons, reasons such as that everyone in High school had relaxed hair, it seemed “cool” then, to me it also seemed manageable.
The first four years in high school I welcomed the aged of “ hot comb” into my life, at first I fell in love with it, my hair was straight , silky, then the next 15 minutes of those tedious sessions of getting burned on my forehead, ears and the back of my neck , poof!! My hair decides to take a mind of its own and turn in a freshly washed poodle.
My last year in High School (graduation year) I made that huge decision to relax my hair (technically it was a birthday gift to myself and decision made via peer pressure). I wouldn’t lie, I loved it, silky black, healthy, straight hair, which high school girl on earth wouldn’t want that. For me, I felt like I finally fitted in the recognizable group (lol ), but yes, having relaxed hair then felt like, you’re grown , it added that matured look , a sense of professionalism.
After graduating from high school, this is when the problems started; I was and still forever will be a dye (hair color) addict. I didn’t know at the time that permanent dyes and relaxed hair don’t make a good match at all so I went from black hair, to red, strawberry blonde, blonde, brown, dark purple then back to read in a space of three years. During the last year of my dye experiments my hair decided to “die”; it decided to break off, from the front, the nape of my neck, it was just a complete hot mess. Luckily for me, that was the era when everyone was making that decision to go back natural.
So I thought about it, I talked about it to my colleges peers, the funny thing about that was, my friends said that I wouldn’t be able to make that decision because I love my hair too much, I was all for hair, which was true but hair was also in a terrible state because my love for changing my hair (as they say too much of a good thing is bad for you). So a bet was made, if I did go natural that one of my peers who cut hers, challenged was accepted! It took me a year of transitioning before I made that big chop, which was the summer of 2012 and it was my mother would did the “chopping” for me. Summer 2015, would be three years for me being natural, well lye free.
From there, it was ups and downs for me, trying all different kinds of hair products, seeing what works with my hair and what doesn’t, and that certain products I use in the summer I can’t use them in the fall nor the winter, so it’s always a battle for me .
I tried the LOC ( liquid Oil Cream) method and it didn’t work, my hair doesn’t work well with oil at all, for some reason I don’t know but that’s just how it is , maybe it’s because my hair is made of 3 types of textures and different curl patterns .
In terms of my regimen I deep condition my hair once a month. I tend to use any hair masque from the Shea moisture line (recently I fell in love with the Jamaican black castor oil hair masque, plus it smells really great). Then I would use with the hair milk, also from their line (either the curling milk or the thickening hair milk, depends on the look I’m going for) and then kinky curly curling custard ( it’s a curling gel). During the week I would refresh my hair with Jamaican Black castor oil. I wash it twice a month and comb it twice a month, between the weeks I would put my hair in a pineapple to sleep and shake it out the next morning after a hot bath (to wake up the curls) and when my hair becomes “stale” I would put it in a high pony tail, or a high bun.
Now when it comes to heat, I use heat once a year because I’m afraid it would change my hair pattern.
Have I ever colored my hair, while being natural? Yes!! I did blonde again, red, purple, blue and I would probably still continue to color my hair even considering to do blue again. Would I encourage others to color their hair? I would, BUT, you have to prepare to take a little more time with your hair on the regular like deep conditioning and hydrating it and NEVER color your hair on your own, go to a professional, so they can lift the color of your hair properly.
I would never at this current stage relax my hair over again, probably later on in the future. I am not sure, but what I can say for now is that I am not seeing relaxed hair any time soon, but I do consider it now and then, but if anything I might go with the kertain treatment instead of relaxers.
I really do believe that my natural hair gives the finishing touch to my personal style, I’m known for my hair at work and any place I go, I love wearing my hair “out” curly, wild and big ( go big or go home), and personally I think my hair brings out my personality, sometimes too much, it would bring attention on days when I don’t want it to , but hey what’s not to love about that. I love my natural hair and I embrace it on good and bad days.
