Now Featuring Carla

This week Crystal's Curls is featuring Carla. Carla is gorgeous and so is her hair. She wanted to share her journey with you. Enjoy!!!

Name - Carla Melonson
Originally from - Riverside, CA - living in San Antonio since Aug 2011
- I started growing my relaxer out in late 2009 and have been completely natual since about June 2011.
- I decided to go natural because I wanted to be able to color my hair and my stylist wouldn't do it because of the relaxer. I wasn't really planning on going curly at that time - I was just flat ironing my hair instead of relaxing.
- I did not do a big chop. In June 2011, I cut out the remaining relaxer, which was just a couple of inches. I never really considered doing a big chop because at the time I wasn't really planning on going curly. 
- My regimen: I use the Curly Girl method - that book taught me how to really take care of my hair. I use Wen Cleansing Conditioner to co-wash and as a leave-in, then I blot excess water out with a microfiber towel, use a little bit of DevaCurl gel and blow dry with a diffuser. On days that I don't wash my hair I use DevaCurl Set it Free to refresh the curl.
- I would say that my favorite thing about being natural is not having to worry as much about what my hair is going to do on humid days. I really love my curls and they're basically weather-proof which is very refreshing after all those years of fighting my hair on humid days. Also, I can work out, run, swim, do whatever exercise I want without worrying about sweating out my relaxer - I LOVE THAT!
- My celebrity hair crush is Halle Berry - whether she's wearing her hair short or long, her hair is always FIERCE! I love when she was wearing her hair long and curly - I would look at her hair and say, "That's what I want MY hair to look like!"

I would like to add that the thing that has made the biggest difference in my hair was learning how important it was to keep it moisturized. I never realized how much damage I was doing to my hair with all of the heat styling that I was doing. Once I read the Curly Girl book I started to really keep my hair moisturized and I stopped using my flat iron, and my hair really started to change. After a couple of months I had this head full of really soft and defined curls. I was like, "Where did this hair come from??"

Carla, thanks for sharing your journey with us. The thing I love about Carla's story is that she is another testament to the CG method that I have been discussing on the blog.  It is the real deal.  Carla, I would love for you to do a product review of the Wen!!!! So readers please look out for that.