00:02Dominicans can be very blunt.
00:04We know that they do it out of love.
00:06What do you think of my hair now?
00:08I love it.
00:09But you didn't love it when I first got it.
00:12No, because you cut too much of it.
00:22Hi, guys. I'm Tatiana Diaz, beauty writer at Refinery29,
00:26and I'm taking a month-long challenge to achieve my best hair yet.
00:30For the challenge this month, I'm looking forward to gaining more confidence in my natural hair.
00:34I got my hair cut, and I started my natural hair journey a couple of months ago.
00:39So these curls are brand new to me. They're something that I am getting used to.
00:44I'm Dominican-American. I was born and raised in New York,
00:47and my parents are from the Dominican Republic.
00:49Growing up, I went to the salon religiously every single Sunday to straighten my hair for the week.
00:55My mom just wanted me to more so fit in with my classmates.
00:58It's kind of an assimilation.
01:00Your parents don't want you to kind of stand out with your curly hair.
01:03And it was something that was kind of embedded in my head because of the way that I grew up.
01:07There was once that I even rescheduled a job interview because I didn't have the opportunity to book a salon
01:12visit beforehand.
01:13And you would not catch me dead going to a job interview with curly hair or anything that was frizzy.
01:19And you would spend hours there just under rollers for two hours and then straightening your hair for another hour.
01:25And that does a lot of damage to your hair over the years.
01:28But also, you know, it saves parents time.
01:32Don't get it wrong. Don't ever get it twisted.
01:34When you have curls, it is a lot more work.
01:36And people think that just because you go on your natural hair journey that you're gaining more time in a
01:40sense.
01:40But you're not.
01:42It's day one.
01:43It's here.
01:43I'm ready to take on this challenge.
01:45Are you guys ready?
01:46Let's do this.
01:47This is definitely what I consider a bad curl day.
01:51There's a term that the Latinx community uses and it's called pahong.
01:55It has a negative connotation to it.
01:56But for me this year, I'm taking that term back.
01:59And I see so many other Latina women who are doing that too.
02:02And we're using the word pahong as in I love my pahong so I love my curls.
02:06We're taking back that term.
02:12My family from Florida is coming into town.
02:15They've always seen me with my curly hair on vacation mode but never in my regular lifestyle.
02:20So I'm excited to have them see me living out my life in New York City with my curly hair.
02:27I didn't hear any negative comments, thankfully.
02:29But my cousin has natural curly hair like myself.
02:32And she was one day brushing it out.
02:34And I was like, girl, I've never seen your curls.
02:37Why don't you like wear them?
02:38And she was like, grandma would never want to see me in these curls.
02:42And she FaceTimed her as like a joke to show her the hair.
02:45And my grandma was like, what is that?
02:49Please brush your hair.
02:50And I know it was love at the end of the day.
02:52But I felt what she probably feels with her curly hair and not wanting to rock it naturally.
02:57She never put it down once during her time here in New York City.
03:01And I pushed her.
03:02I was like, you know, when you get back home, try your hardest.
03:05Get a curly cut.
03:06She said she was gonna do it.
03:07So hopefully she does.
03:09Look a little happy.
03:13So I have a huge, huge, huge challenge, which is a wedding out of all things.
03:19I have never gone to a wedding with my curly natural hair.
03:23It's a Dominican wedding at that, which is like, you'll see everyone fresh out of the salon.
03:28Nobody with curls.
03:29And I would be the only one in there probably with my natural curls.
03:31And that's nerve wracking for me.
03:34When I first entered the wedding, I was really nervous to walk in and see everyone's reaction.
03:39I eventually gained this sense of confidence I never had and had the time of my life.
03:43I walked out into the ceremony, went into the reception.
03:47There were so many women that were like, oh my God, I wanted to wear my curly hair and I
03:50didn't.
03:50And I chickened out.
03:51And I was like, oh.
03:52It just made me feel even greater that I had that confidence to be able to do that.
03:57And I had the time of my life.
03:59And looking back, I'm actually really happy that I found that confidence to walk in there and enjoy my curls
04:04the way that I did.
04:06It's the end of the challenge.
04:08We are here and my hair feels so healthy.
04:11I feel great.
04:12I feel like my hair health has changed so much.
04:16I've definitely seen a big difference in the definition of my curls.
04:20And other people are also seeing it.
04:22It's incredible the confidence that I've gained in just having healthier hair.
04:27Using the Dyson Supersonic has been life-changing.
04:30It saves me time in getting ready.
04:32It's comfortable to hold.
04:33And it's so easy to travel around with.
04:35It's been a very busy month.
04:36So to be able to throw it in my bag so easily and also have the attachments that are easy
04:39to carry.
04:40It's been just what I needed.
04:42Plus, it has my curls looking great.
04:45Now taking care of my hair feels like a long-term investment.
04:48I've seen so many Latinas now embrace their natural hair.
04:52It's our time.
04:53It's our movement.
04:54It's amazing to see that we're all getting there.
04:57Even my own mother is like, I'm going to start embracing my natural hair slowly but surely.
05:02She's not quite there yet, but I know that for her to even have that thought is incredible because she
05:10was the one that was taking me to the salon every Sunday to straighten my hair.
05:13But for her to see my hair now and love it and feel inspired to now rock her curls and
05:18see what her hair can do is just wow to me.
05:23So it's about time because we have such beautiful hair.
05:26It's really part of our identity and we shouldn't be afraid to rock our curls because we feel like we
05:32need to assimilate.
05:35I'm Tatiana Diaz and that is a wrap on our Dyson 30 Day Challenge and I can't wait to see
05:39you guys next time.
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