“I was born in Dajabon, a little town on the border of Dominican Republic and Haiti. I never lived there, but always felt a special connection with that town and visited every year for three months until my grandmother died when I was 15. I have only been there two times ever since.
I am a full time blogger and a full time mom. I came to the U.S. with a travel visa which pretty much means I couldn’t work or study. What’s the saying? Make your plan and God will laugh about it. Blogging was a wonderful “accident” and has saved my life. Working as a blogger gives me the opportunity to share, learn and be home for my kids, and that is pretty amazing.
I have always been a makeup lover. I used to play makeup in front of the mirror and then just wash my face and go to bed. I don’t do that anymore since I am a busy mom, but anytime I have the chance to, I really enjoy playing in my makeup. I’m always making silly faces when I do it too. My makeup bag is overflowing and is never full enough but really I only use a few products. I have a few things from MAC, but I am a very smart shopper. You will only see expensive primers, foundations and powders, and a the rest is a mix of drug store brands. Mascara is that one product that I will always buy and never go out without. I love Benefit They’re Real! Mascara. For my face I use MAC Foundation and Urban Decay All Nighter to set my makeup. I don’t do a lot of skin stuff, but right now I’m using Olay Total Effects Tone Correcting Moisturizer.
Once I decided to go back to being natural, I transitioned for a few months and then chopped off all of my hair. Of course as a new natural, I started to post a lot of pictures on my personal Facebook page and one friends said (in a very Dominican way) “Ayyy Daily! All you do is talk about your pajon. I should unfriend you!” He got a a lot of likes on his comment, but that same night I opened my own fan page and one month after that someone suggested to open a blog and I did. That was two years ago.
It is hard to explain, but in the Dominican Republic I am not considered “black.” Growing up, I never thought of myself as black. I have a lot of black friends, but I was not black. After I’d moved to the U.S., one day this guy – a very handsome one by the way – asked me, “Why do you speak Spanish if you are darker than I am?” I was in shock and it was eye opening for me. There is no such thing as “mixed” in the Dominican Republic. We are Dominican period, but of course a few people don’t understand that many Dominicans are more black than Spanish. Even though we read it in history books, some of us don’t quite get it. When I first started blogging, I was afraid to say that I was Latina because I didn’t know how my followers would react to the fact that I am black and also Latina, but I must say that I have never felt more welcome and more love than in the natural hair community.
One of the reasons I stopped relaxing my hair was my daughter. She used to hate her hair. Once I went back to my curly hair, I changed my eating habits and started working out and then she totally changed. There is no better way to teach a kid than by example. How can I tell my daughter that curly hair is pretty when mine is always chemically treated? How I can teach my kids that we all are beautiful when I am constantly complaining about this or that part of my body? Words are powerful and we have to use them wisely.
For me, natural hair equals blogging, working out and just a healthier me. You could say I’ve always worked out if we count the fact that when I was a kid up until college, I had to walk a lot. Before I started back working out, I think because my childhood was so rough I didn’t want to walk or sweat. I was going to the hair salon two times a week, because in Dominican Republic hair salons are affordable and basically everybody knows how to do your hair. When I moved to the U.S. life happened, natural hair happened and in that process, a whole world opened to my eyes. My way of seeing beauty changed and of course fitness came organically in my life. I used to go the gym for a few hours Monday through Friday, but lately I am falling in love with running. Not only is it free, but is one of the best workouts you can do and I can do it anytime and anywhere.
I like to mix up my special juice before I run and sometimes after I come from a run. It’s just chia seeds, water and lime juice but it tastes really good. Chia seeds are really good for you too.
I started mixing up my own hair oil with some ideas I got from growing up in the Dominican Republic, my grandmother and some research on what works better for our hair. After I started using it, my hair was doing great and growing so friends and family wanted to try a bottle. After a while, one day I was selling so many bottles that I had to make it official. The oil is great because it’s full of a variety of oils and it moisturizes your scalp with oils like linseed, coconut and jojoba, but it also protect your hair from dryness and brittleness.
I like a lot of products and as a beauty blogger I fall in love constantly. I also do a lot of homemade treatments like with the Aztec Indian Healing Clay and of course I use my hair oil. Right now I’m currently using L’Oreal EverCurl Hydracharge Cleansing Conditioner and Aztec Indian Healing Clay to wash my hair. I also like the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Restorative Shampoo. For conditioner, I like TRESemme Luxurious Moisture Conditioner and the Karen’s Body Beautiful Luscious Locks Hair Mask. I am also trying out the Le’Moka Natural Chocolate Deep Conditioning Hair Mask. It smells so good – exactly like chocolate. Of course I use my Daily Baez hair oil on my hair. It’s really helped my hair a lot.
I heard someone say once that hair is just the icing on the cake. Women are a whole cake. When it comes to our hair and careers and what the “outside world” thinks or what our men think, don’t put so much pressure on yourself about your hair. You don’t need straight hair to style your hair in a bun or a professional updo. When it all comes down to it, a woman has to chose what makes her happy not her partner. If that means leaving her job, fine. If that means leaving the partner, that is also fine.
At the end of the day, you really have to be yourself because everybody else is taken.” – Daily
Find Daily on her blog and YouTube.
[…] Photos © KisforKinky.com. […]