The Challenges of Kinky Hair With Chizi Duru

Chizi Duru joined YouTube in May 2008 to fill the gap of underrepresented 4c hair (kinky hair; tightly coiled with no defined curl pattern in its natural state). Back then, she was a college student by day and hair and beauty blogger by night. (She actually started vlogging while in high school and she’s now wondering what to do with her post-grad life but decided not to pursue medicine at the moment.)

Chizi has 4c hair-related content on her channel you can possibly think of. From straightening her Afro to frustrations with her natural hair, to blowdrying and dealing with heat damage, thinning and sore scalp, to styling her hair in various African knots or contemporised braids and twistouts, to hair product reviews and her wash day routine, Chizi has put out in the open the daily challenges faced by those with naturally kinky hair.

Chizi’s content branched out to make up tutorials and beauty tips as her YouTube channel grew. She also gave a peek into her college life and shares self-love tips. More recently, after she visited her family in Nigeria post-graduation, a trip she documented in a series of ‘Naija Vlogs,’ she began an “I tried following” series where she puts her own spin on various make up and hairstyle tutorials by other top YouTube influencers, sometimes with hilarious results.

Today, while Chizi may be unsure of pursuing her medical career, her YouTube channel enjoys more than 211,000 subscribers and 16 million views.