Recently, the popular hair vitamin supplement Hairfinity announced Keshia Knight Pulliam as the new face behind their brand, noted for her thick, healthy, and natural tresses. I had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Pulliam on her new partnership with Hairfinity, her personal experience with using the Hairfinity® vitamins and of course, how she cares for her natural hair both on
and off-screen.
Kiki: Recently, you were named as the very first Brand Ambassador for Hairfinity. Tell me about your partnership with them and why you decided to say yes.
Keshia: Health and Beauty is definitely an industry that a lot of people have had interest in me working with. For me, I’ve been very protective of my brand and very specific with the different things I choose to do. It was important to make sure that it was a product that I believed in, that I would use, and I did use. I used it before becoming a brand ambassador to make sure that I could wholeheartedly put my name, face and everything behind it because I would never promote anything that I would not use myself. I’m always taking vitamins and I’m into organic, whole foods. My non-profit actually just did a really great fundraiser with Whole Foods, so the whole healthy lifestyle and healthy living is very much a part of me.
Behind-the-scenes footage of Keshia’s Hairfinity campaign photo shoot.
How long was it before you started noticing results from using the Hairfinity Vitamins?I tried the Hairfinity vitamins for about 2 months and I definitely saw a difference. Before I tried them, I had girlfriends that were like, “No, you really should try them!” My hair became a little thicker, and I could see a difference in growth because and it had only been two months. I’m really excited to see the difference between now and the next six months. I also noticed less shedding and for me, these are things that are important. Health and beautiful hair, beautiful skin, nails all of it starts on the inside. It’s not just whatever oils and shampoos you use. The products support that but ultimately it starts on the inside, in your body, the vitamins and nutrients you feed your body and how you treat it.
A lot of women consider you one of the many “natural hair icons," what advice do you have for your fellow naturals?
At the end of the day, it’s all about embracing what you have. It’s crazy because natural hair comes in so many varieties and shapes. I’m still learning stuff, and I’m like, “I didn’t know about this curl pattern and that curl pattern," lol! I just know what works for my hair and my lifestyle.
I read somewhere that you've been natural most of your life?
I’ve pretty much always been natural but of course, everyone has that horror story of when they get to college and trying to be grown, get a perm and all their hair falls out and you're like, never again! I have that story but {natural hair} has always been easier for me and I’ve always done my own hair, so I’ve always been self sufficient in that area. It’s all about healthy hair. Same as your body, you want to eat the most minimal, processed food and I feel the same about what you choose to put on your hair.
I know you wear your hair straight often. How do you care for your natural hair to protect it from damage, over-manipulation, etc? Do you follow a specific hair regimen?
I just do what I do. Hair is fun for me, it’s an accessory. I’ll wear it straight, curly, etc. I live in Atlanta, GA and it’s all kind of hot, especially humid in the summer so it’s more a function of ease. It’s harder to fight to keep it straight during the summer than to just let it be. It’s also about caring for my hair from the inside out. I drink tons of water, and eat lots of really great leafy greens and organic foods.
I take my Hairfinity vitamins daily in addition to other vitamins that I take. I shampoo my hair a lot. My hair is kinda greasy, or my scalp rather. It’s a really weird combination. I can’t put a lot of oils and stuff in my hair because it would become so greasy so fast. For my hair to be fresh, and fluffy and nice when I flat iron it, I would have to flat iron probably like, I wash my hair. And that’s another thing.
When I wash my hair, I blow dry and flat iron it but I really don’t put too much heat on it. There is minimal heat on my hair in between the next washing. I feel that it’s important, and I also give my hair a break. Sometimes I’ll wash and flat iron it and other times or if I’m just home by myself, my hair will be curly all over the top of my hair, pulled up in a bun, pulled back however! And it depends if I’m working out that week. I’m one of those girls who naturally sweats in the head so instead of fighting it in trying to keep my hair straight, I just let it curl up and on Thursday when my final workout is in, I’ll get my hair done.
Behind-the-scenes footage of Keshia’s Hairfinity campaign photo shoot.
It’s about being accessible, and going with what works for your lifestyle. Sometimes I just use raw coconut oil and let that sit on my hair. There is so much you can do with your hair. It’s all about trial and error. It’s funny because people say “natural hair”, or “ethnic hair" or black hair but we have the most diverse type of hair type ever. So, what works for me may not necessarily work for you because all of our hair textures are so different. I would encourage women to try different products. It’s really a trial-and-error process. Any natural girl knows she’s probably been through a million and 40 products and they just have to figure out, okay I liked this, I didn’t like this.What type of products are you using in your hair?
I have a hodgepodge of products but I try to keep it simple because my hair gets so greasy. I use everything. I like Pantene shampoo and I really like Miss Jessie's products. She has this super hydrating curl conditioner that I like and her Curly Meringue. Kim Kimble has a wonderful bounce-back product for when I'm wearing my hair curly. I just wash, condition well and then I'll use a little bit of the Aveda Emollient gloss because I try not to use anything that is too oily.
You mentioned your non-profit organization earlier, Kamp Kizzy where you mentor young girls.
My Kamp Kizzy girls are 11-16 and of course, some of them have graduated and aged out but I still keep in contact with all of my girls. This year was the first year we had girls that graduated from the program actually come back and help assist as counselors, so that was really exciting.
Where do you get the idea to start Kamp Kizzy and how did it develop?
Community service has always been something that was really important to me and something that I’ve always just done. My whole life, even when I was at Spelman, I was a Bonner Scholar, which is a community service based scholarship and as a part of that you provide community service. When I was at Spelman… there was Spelman, Morehouse, Clark, Morris Brown, and then around it was the hood, I mean the hood for real. So, a lot of the projects and the work that I did were with the children who came from those communities. I was also a Girl Scout leader for juniors, brownies and daisies. In all of that I realized that my heart and my passion was working with girls. As a Sociology major at Spelman, I recognized that that key graphic and the turning pinpoint of their lives is within that 11-16 year age bracket. That is the important place to get to them to instill the self-esteem, value and to help them learn their own value because I know that a girl who has self-esteem and knows there is nothing outside of her reach, becomes a woman who has those same qualities. I always knew I wanted to do a non-profit and four years ago, I just decided to just do it. It’s been such a blessing and everything has just blossomed and grown astronomically. I’m just so excited and I love, love, love working with my girls.
Whole Foods has always been a supporter of ours, they come and do healthy eating demonstrations. Planned Parenthood also does reproductive health workshops with our girls. We also do things like vision boards and yoga, we do a lot and I'm there the whole time. I pull in all my girlfriends from diverse backgrounds and I develop the programs. It's important also that we don't just bring speakers in but also that we have people coming in to interact with the girls and that organically starts the conversation of the girls being interested and asking, "What is it that you do," and "What did you do to get to where you are?"
I'm also working on a project called the A-list experience, which is basically a party in which all of the proceeds go to charity, so it's like a party with a purpose. It gives you a once in a lifetime experience that you may not normally be able to have. A girlfriend and I were talking while we were in London last summer at the Olympics and we were thinking that we have all this access to all these wonderful life experiences that most people would not be able to enjoy, and we were thinking how we could turn this into something that could also help and benefit people. We're getting our talent together now for the coming months. In the past, we've done projects with K. Michelle during the Grammy awards, Kevin Hart during the Essence festival and I also did a pamper party to benefit Kamp Kizzy here in Atlanta this summer. So, please look out for the A-list experience. We're putting together some really, really fun excursions so you can come out and party with us for a purpose.
Special thanks to Keshia for chatting with me!
Special thanks to Hairfinity and Ms. Mitchell for allowing me to chat with Keshia about Hairfinity and her gorgeous mane.
