Mad Hair Monday Model: Lauren of LaCocoBella!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do and why you started blogging?

Hiii! I’m Lauren and I’m a natural hair blogger. I’m also a child of God and a full-time and freelance graphic designer. I just started blogging this past March. It’s actually a semi-crazy story how my blog came about, I had the idea to blog back in 2008 before it was the “thing” to do but girl, I was too lazy to commit to it. Sad I know lol. I even bought the domain, designed the graphics and everything for it, they just sat on my hard drive for years (while paying to keep the domain name lol).On another note, my mother passed away in 2009 and that shut me off from the world for about a year and a half. I suffered depression and the stress took a toll on my hair to the point where it started to fall out. Taking care of my hair just wasn’t a priority and over time it really set me back on my natural hair journey. By the strength and grace of God, I have overcome that phase of my life and am living again (and growing my hair back lol) :o) Fast forward to 2011, I began watching YouTube natural hair vloggers hardcore and following natural hair blogs and was like, dang, I could have BEEN doing this and sharing all the knowledge I gained over the years. I came across Alex from The Good Hair Blog on YouTube and she really inspired me to just take the plunge (she was also the first blogger to feature me on their site so she holds a special place in my heart lol). I also give major credit to my longtime neighbor and friend, Fleurzty of Texture Playground for encouraging me to just do it, what did I have to lose?! Then in March 2012 I finally launched La Coco Bella and it’s been history ever since lol. I know this is such a saturate niche but my main focus is to share what I’ve been doing to regain the health back to my hair and to grow it as long and HEALTHY as possible. It is also to keep me ACCOUNTABLE of taking care of my hair!! No more being lazy! Oh and of course I suffer from PJS (Product Junkie Syndrome) so I have lots of product reviews! So far, I have seen a huuuuge improvement in my hair :o) It’s amazing what a little effort can do.

How long have you been natural? If all of your life, what kept you from relaxing your hair?

I have been natural for over 7 years. I tried my best to transition for like, 4 months and then gave up and BC’d in 2005 (my sophomore year at Howard U! #shameless shout out lol).  I always wonder how long my hair would be if I really knew what I was doing the first few years of this journey. It’s SO much easier to be natural these days lol.

Do you have a hair care regimen? If so, what is it and what products do you use?

My regimen is a weekly process. Every weekend I will either do an ayurvedic powder treatment or wash with a shampoo bar. I really like Henna Sooq and Bobeam shampoo bars and Hesh Ayurvedic powders. I also do a steam, deep conditioning treatment and/or Greenhouse Effect treatment. My goal is to always do some type of moisturizing and/or strengthening treatment every week. Aubrey Organics White Camellia and Oyin Handmade’s Honey Hemp conditioners are my favs. Also for deep conditioning, I like to get creative with stuff in my kitchen lol I like to play with food :o) Honey, molasses, yogurt, egg, avocado, coconut milk are all amazing for treatments. I will also do a protein treatment once a month or so as well. The Cherry Lola Treatment is a great one. As far as styling, I wear a twist-out almost all the time and a wash-n-go when I want to change it up a bit. I always, always, always seal my ends! My fav product line is Oyin Handmade and Shea Radiance. I get a perfect twist-out with Oyin’s Whipped Pudding EVERY time and use their pomade to seal my ends because it is really thick but light. Shea Radiance’s Hair Butter literally makes my hair feel like butter. I religiously use coconut and Vatika oil when doing a pre-poo treatment or when untwisting my twist-outs to lubricate my hands. These oils are so versatile and cheap! I can’t live without these.

What is your favorite low maintenance natural hair style. 

My fav low maintenance style is an old twist-out lol (if that counts) meaning I don’t re-twist, just throw a scarf over my hair and then just re-fluff in the morning! :o) I guess I can consider a puff low-maintenance because I can just tie a scarf around the slicked back part and make it last over a week. I don’t wear puffs too often at the moment because I had some breakage around my edges and they don’t reach the head band so I end up having to use a lot of gel and tie my scarf super tight to make sure the edges are tamed lol. Once they grow back in all the way I will probably rock puffs more often.

What makes you love your hair?

I love my hair because it is how God designed me and we are perfect in His eyes. It feels so regal, I wear it like a crown. It’s unique to me and identifies me. I don’t know how I was natural my whole life! I love the feeling of being distinctive. It is also fun! You get to play with it, love it, nourish, grow it, lol it’s like a child haha. Natural hair makes women beautiful :o)

Check out Lauren's blog @: www.lacocobella.com
Twitter: @LaCocoBellaBlog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaCocoBellaBlog
Instagram id: @lacocobella

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