MEET RENCIA
The Interview
I’m Rencia, I live in Montreal and Iâm a graphic design student! I like art, you might say Iâm artsy and I like everything that’s pretty. I like cool fashion, movies, and music, a lot. And obviously, hair.
MEET RENCIA
The Interview
I’m Rencia, I live in Montreal and Iâm a graphic design student! I like art, you might say Iâm artsy and I like everything that’s pretty. I like cool fashion, movies, and music, a lot. And obviously, hair.
YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEAUTIFUL HAIR AND A GREAT STYLE. CAN YOU SHARE WITH US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAME TO EMBRACE YOUR HAIR?
I grew up with my mom and my sister, whoâve always had pretty hair but when I was around four, I went bald because of a scalp issue. I think this is when I started not really caring about my hair that much. Once my hair grew again, I started the whole process of finding femininity and beauty in my bold little-ness. It kind of crafted a little bit of my tomboy-ish style.Â
I had also always seen my sister and my mom really relax their hair, and I didnât really feel like I should. I wanted to keep it natural but at the same time, I did not want to deal with it and it required more work. And thankfully, my mom was doing it for me⊠till she stopped. That was the real zinger because every Sunday, I would go into her room and she would do my hair for the week so I’d be good.  When she stopped, I realized that maybe, I didnât want the same two little cornrows anymore and I wanted to try something new.Â
That’s when puberty happened and it was like going from a more masculine, tomboy-ish style to âOh! I want to tap more into my femininity!â My sister, when I was younger, used to make those fake bangs and she would clip it to her braids. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I just think back at those moments where she really tapped into her femininity where I didn’t. For me, when I came to embrace it, it was hard. It was so hard. I started with the oily slick back, like everyone else, buying the big ass gallon of Eco Styler gel or the Got to Be gel. And that was my thing for a while.Â
Followed my braids era. I would get my mom to part my hair and I would do the twists myself. That was the best thing that could happen to me because getting my hair braided would usually cost me (my mom) like $200. And I figured, If I could just buy the hair and do it myself, that’d be ideal.
Then the pandemic hit and since I didn’t really go outside, I kept it a lot in an Afro. Before, I always had to do something to my hair before I went out. With lockdown, the freedom of just being⊠just natural in general was like really, really, really fun. So I tried new things and had a lot of phases. I dyed it and I even wanted to lock my hair but my mom said no! And I was like, okay. I mean, it’s a long-term commitment.Â
YOU SAID THAT YOU COLORED YOUR HAIR, SO HOW WAS THE PROCESS? HOW DID IT WORK FOR YOU?Â
Yeah, I did! For context, my sister, she wears a lot of wigs and she gets experimental with it. Sometimes, she would dye them blonde and everything. So I trusted that she could help me with that if needed. Basically, I wanted to have copper hair, like a ginger moment. So, I bought the bleach with a 30 developer and I just did it myself, eyeballing it, watching videos, etc. And⊠I messed it up, it was so bad! Like everything was black but the perimeter of my head was like platinum blonde and I was like âMy hair is gonna fall offâ! After the experience, I cut it and I wore a wig on for a while, mostly styled in two braids. It was easy, like putting a hat on every day and I let my own hair grow naturally. And everybody thought it was my real hair!
A lot of hair masks were used to help also, like some Shea Moisture ones!
Â
NOW, YOUâVE MENTIONED THAT YOU’RE AN ARTSY GIRL AND YOU LOVE ART AND ALL OF THESE AESTHETIC THINGS. SO HOW DOES YOUR HAIR HELP YOU EXPRESS THIS PART OF YOUR PERSONALITY?Â
I really think that hair is like the biggest accessory. If your hair is not done, like, what are you doing? Personally, I like to bedazzle it. I went to a Lana Del Rey listening party. You know, just to channel Lana, I had those two long braids coming down (I use extensions) and I put little white bows in it. I got so many compliments, it was so Lana! And have you seen Harika Baduâs latest headpiece? Thatâs what I like, a strong cultural reference, the essence of beauty and that I want to reflect by bedazzling myself. I really love that!
Â
MAJESTIC! SO AT FIRST GLANCE, I’M GUESSING THAT YOU HAVE 4C TYPE HAIR. WHAT IS WHAT YOUR HAIR ROUTINE LOOKS LIKE?Â
Sure! I wash my hair maybe once a week. I go in with a shampoo (from Hair by Mario, a biotin infused shampoo or a Shea Moisture shampoo) and although Iâm not really big on conditioner, I know that I have to use it so I would use the one from the shampoo set.Â
Then I just detangle everything, towel dry my hair and I separate it in four sections and I grease them one by one with all the oils I can find. I detangle, detangle, detangle and to make sure itâs still wet, I apply a leave-in conditioner. When Iâm done with the prep, I do four big twists. Â And in the day to day, I go in and I slick everything down, that’s my thing!
THIS IS A GREAT ROUTINE AND CLEARLY, WORKING REALLY WELL FOR YOU! NOW, WE LIVE IN CANADA. IT GETS SO COLD AND DRY THAT WE NEED TO MAINTAIN OUR HAIR PROPERLY. DO YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN THE WINTER THAN YOU WOULD DO ANY OTHER SEASONS?Â
It’s all about covering it up, never touching it, finding a way to not touch it, this is the way! I also always keep it moisturized with water because it gets super dry for no reason and it’s super annoying. In winter, I usually go for braids but I think I’m gonna try wigs, it protects your hair from the outside air!
Â
SO I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE SWAYED PLATFORM! IT’S A PLATFORM FOR PEOPLE WITH AFRO HAIR TO FIND OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THEIR HAIR AND FACILITATE THE BOOKING EXPERIENCE. THE LOGISTICS HAPPEN ON THE PLATFORM SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING, ETC. SO, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE DOING YOUR HAIR YOURSELF, HOW DO YOU THINK A PLATFORM LIKE THIS COULD CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF AFRO HAIR IN CANADA?Â
I do! I see a lot of people complaining about hairstylists adding fees on top of their rates to protect themselves against no shows and I disagree with the complaining. They are inconvenienced by the no shows so they should protect themselves. On the other hand, every time I look for a hairstylist, just to see what their pricing is, I find it so tedious, lots of links, itâs a lot! Iâm also always skeptical of the images that they post because I assume theyâre only showing what they want me to see, no validation. So I understand what SWAYED could bring but Iâm still skeptical. It’s a skeptical game.Â
HOST ; I actually love the honesty and accept this answer 100%. Because for me, it means that I need to not only convince you, but I really need to show that SWAYED is really removing a lot of the issues.*Â
Thank you so much for your time Rencia!!
YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE BEAUTIFUL HAIR AND A GREAT STYLE. CAN YOU SHARE WITH US A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAME TO EMBRACE YOUR HAIR?
I grew up with my mom and my sister, whoâve always had pretty hair but when I was around four, I went bald because of a scalp issue. I think this is when I started not really caring about my hair that much. Once my hair grew again, I started the whole process of finding femininity and beauty in my bold little-ness. It kind of crafted a little bit of my tomboy-ish style.Â
I had also always seen my sister and my mom really relax their hair, and I didnât really feel like I should. I wanted to keep it natural but at the same time, I did not want to deal with it and it required more work. And thankfully, my mom was doing it for me⊠till she stopped. That was the real zinger because every Sunday, I would go into her room and she would do my hair for the week so I’d be good.  When she stopped, I realized that maybe, I didnât want the same two little cornrows anymore and I wanted to try something new.Â
That’s when puberty happened and it was like going from a more masculine, tomboy-ish style to âOh! I want to tap more into my femininity!â My sister, when I was younger, used to make those fake bangs and she would clip it to her braids. And I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I just think back at those moments where she really tapped into her femininity where I didn’t. For me, when I came to embrace it, it was hard. It was so hard. I started with the oily slick back, like everyone else, buying the big ass gallon of Eco Styler gel or the Got to Be gel. And that was my thing for a while.Â
Followed my braids era. I would get my mom to part my hair and I would do the twists myself. That was the best thing that could happen to me because getting my hair braided would usually cost me (my mom) like $200. And I figured, If I could just buy the hair and do it myself, that’d be ideal. Then the pandemic hit and since I didn’t really go outside, I kept it a lot in an Afro. Before, I always had to do something to my hair before I went out. With lockdown, the freedom of just being⊠just natural in general was like really, really, really fun. So I tried new things and had a lot of phases. I dyed it and I even wanted to lock my hair but my mom said no! And I was like, okay. I mean, it’s a long-term commitment.Â
YOU SAID THAT YOU COLORED YOUR HAIR, SO HOW WAS THE PROCESS? HOW DID IT WORK FOR YOU?Â
Yeah, I did! For context, my sister, she wears a lot of wigs and she gets experimental with it. Sometimes, she would dye them blonde and everything. So I trusted that she could help me with that if needed. Basically, I wanted to have copper hair, like a ginger moment. So, I bought the bleach with a 30 developer and I just did it myself, eyeballing it, watching videos, etc. And⊠I messed it up, it was so bad! Like everything was black but the perimeter of my head was like platinum blonde and I was like âMy hair is gonna fall offâ! After the experience, I cut it and I wore a wig on for a while, mostly styled in two braids. It was easy, like putting a hat on every day and I let my own hair grow naturally. And everybody thought it was my real hair!
A lot of hair masks were used to help also, like some Shea Moisture ones!
NOW, YOUâVE MENTIONED THAT YOU’RE AN ARTSY GIRL AND YOU LOVE ART AND ALL OF THESE AESTHETIC THINGS. SO HOW DOES YOUR HAIR HELP YOU EXPRESS THIS PART OF YOUR PERSONALITY?Â
I really think that hair is like the biggest accessory. If your hair is not done, like, what are you doing? Personally, I like to bedazzle it. I went to a Lana Del Rey listening party. You know, just to channel Lana, I had those two long braids coming down (I use extensions) and I put little white bows in it. I got so many compliments, it was so Lana! And have you seen Harika Baduâs latest headpiece? Thatâs what I like, a strong cultural reference, the essence of beauty and that I want to reflect by bedazzling myself. I really love that!
MAJESTIC! SO AT FIRST GLANCE, I’M GUESSING THAT YOU HAVE 4C TYPE HAIR. WHAT IS WHAT YOUR HAIR ROUTINE LOOKS LIKE?Â
Sure! I wash my hair maybe once a week. I go in with a shampoo (from Hair by Mario, a biotin infused shampoo or a Shea Moisture shampoo) and although Iâm not really big on conditioner, I know that I have to use it so I would use the one from the shampoo set.Â
Then I just detangle everything, towel dry my hair and I separate it in four sections and I grease them one by one with all the oils I can find. I detangle, detangle, detangle and to make sure itâs still wet, I apply a leave-in conditioner. When Iâm done with the prep, I do four big twists. Â And in the day to day, I go in and I slick everything down, that’s my thing!
THIS IS A GREAT ROUTINE AND CLEARLY, WORKING REALLY WELL FOR YOU! NOW, WE LIVE IN CANADA. IT GETS SO COLD AND DRY THAT WE NEED TO MAINTAIN OUR HAIR PROPERLY. DO YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN THE WINTER THAN YOU WOULD DO ANY OTHER SEASONS?Â
It’s all about covering it up, never touching it, finding a way to not touch it, this is the way! I also always keep it moisturized with water because it gets super dry for no reason and it’s super annoying. In winter, I usually go for braids but I think I’m gonna try wigs, it protects your hair from the outside air!
Â
SO I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE SWAYED PLATFORM! IT’S A PLATFORM FOR PEOPLE WITH AFRO HAIR TO FIND OTHER PEOPLE TO DO THEIR HAIR AND FACILITATE THE BOOKING EXPERIENCE. THE LOGISTICS HAPPEN ON THE PLATFORM SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING, ETC. SO, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE DOING YOUR HAIR YOURSELF, HOW DO YOU THINK A PLATFORM LIKE THIS COULD CHANGE THE LANDSCAPE OF AFRO HAIR IN CANADA?Â
I do! I see a lot of people complaining about hairstylists adding fees on top of their rates to protect themselves against no shows and I disagree with the complaining. They are inconvenienced by the no shows so they should protect themselves. On the other hand, every time I look for a hairstylist, just to see what their pricing is, I find it so tedious, lots of links, itâs a lot! Iâm also always skeptical of the images that they post because I assume theyâre only showing what they want me to see, no validation. So I understand what SWAYED could bring but Iâm still skeptical. It’s a skeptical game.Â
HOST ; I actually love the honesty and accept this answer 100%. Because for me, it means that I need to not only convince you, but I really need to show that SWAYED is really removing a lot of the issues.*Â
Thank you so much for your time Rencia!!
