A great philosopher once said, “a D.I.V.A. is a female version of a hustler”. And that’s exactly what Annisa LiMara is. Equal parts hustler and diva extraordinaire, her Instagram feed wows us with her great sense of style and her Youtube channel is full of awesome hair tutorials. Read on to learn more about Annisa’s journey as a natural, social media maven and vlogger-to-watch…
1. Why did you go natural? How long have you been natural?
I have been natural since 2005 and began my journey because of major hair breakage and thinning from too many relaxers and frequent permanent colors from my senior year in high school. In other words, thinking I was grown and doing the most!
In retrospect, I had no idea it was “going natural”, I just stopped getting relaxers because my hair had always been thick and medium to long length so the fact it severely damaged was heartbreaking and I knew I needed a change.
I remembered that I didn’t need relaxers frequently growing up so the transition wasn’t scary because going natural wasn’t a thing back then so I had zero expectations aside from my hair going back to normal. Little did I know my hair was curly so it was a pleasant surprise.
2. Can you summarize your current hair regimen?
I’m so busy so my regimen has changed quite a bit over the last few years. I shampoo, condition and deep condition twice a month (sometimes more or less) because I find that less is more. Unless I’m going to an event or have new content to create, I try to do as little to my hair as possible if I can avoid it because I know my hair flourishes best that way.
Wash and gos are still my go to hairstyle when everything else fails but I’ve definitely experimented a lot more with different styles then I have in the past (thanks to being a influencer lol)
3. What are your staple hair products? Which could you not live without and why?!
This is a hard one but I’ve definitely developed a few new staples alongside products that I always use such as grapeseed oil, shea butter and coconut oil. Product wise, Jane Carter Solutions, Aveda and Tropic Isle Living are some of my favs hands down! I also love Made Beautiful’s Inspire Leave In Conditioner and love Eden Body Works Edge Control as key staples.
I’ve found that I’m flexible with my styling products but very particular about my shampoos and conditioners because they are the foundation of a good style!
SHOP THE PRODUCTS
4. As a blogger/YouTuber do you feel pressure to always have your hair perfect?!
Absolutely! I tend to do what I want for the most part but if I could go a whole month with just doing one style or leaving my hair in a protective style for long periods of time I would – with YouTube (especially if your focus is hair) it’s important to give fresh content which is sometimes hard to do while maintaining the integrity of my hair but thankfully I’ve never had an issue with comparing my hair journey with other Youtubers and love my hair to the fullest – bad hair day and all!
5. What are your hair goals for the rest of 2017? Are you on track to reaching them?
I’m rocking my tapered cut right now but I definitely want it to grow another two to three inches before the year is out. My goal is to not cut it anymore but just to trim and make sure I maintain my regimen so that it’s healthy over all.
6. Who is your celeb curl crush?
I absolutely love Solange’s and Sza’s hair! Sza isn’t “curly” per se but her hair is wild and big! It’s exactly what mine used to look like when it was blown out or relaxed but still frizzy which is why a lot of the wigs I create are similar to how their hair looks!
7. For many naturals it’s a journey to fully understand their hair. It’s a process of trial and error. What was your “Curls Understood” moment (the moment you felt like, “I’ve got this!” or any essential advice you wish you had known at the beginning of your hair journey)?
I think I understood my curls the year prior to starting my YouTube channel (the 8th or 9th year of being natural) because I had a whole year of experimenting with what works and without the pressure of social media and comparing myself with other naturals – it was much simpler then. I honestly want to go back to what I did then versus taking advice from now because my hair loves simplicity and as I get older, I’m learning that so do I.
See more of Annisa LiMara…
Instagram: @annisalimara
YouTube: AnnisaLiMara
Twitter: @Ilovealimara
