Curly Teen Scene/Julia Rizzo

Poking around the new CurlStylist.com site recently reminded me that I haven’t gotten a hair cut in a while. I think it’s awesome that stylists with an interest in curlyheads have their own site. For those of us with curly hair, a good stylist can totally transform our look.

The first time I went to a curl-friendly stylist was when I was in seventh grade. Up until that point, I went to the barbershop with my dad. I always got my hair cut by the same aging Italian gentleman who cut my father’s hair. He would sit me in the chair, spray my hair with some water, cut straight across the bottom, give me my choice of those cute and tiny Dum Dum lollypops and then off I’d go. My hair was generally a frizzy mess, but I didn’t know enough to care. My idea of a “style” was a matronly coil bun. This changed in the fall of seventh grade, when my mother made me an appointment at a local hair salon. Not only did the stylist give me my first good haircut, she also taught me how to bring out the best in my curls. I wasn’t surprised that she transformed my hair from an unruly mess to well-defined curls, but I was surprised to learn how easy it was to replicate the style myself. That haircut was a breakthrough.

Since then, I’ve had stylists move away or switch careers, and I’ve had to look for a new stylist more than once. While bouncing around from stylist to stylist, I’ve had some pretty unfortunate haircuts. At one point I had these heavy, rounded layers on either side of my face that looked exactly like floppy puppy dog ears. Cute look for a canine, not so much for a high school student. I’m currently looking for a new stylist, and picking a good one is especially important as I consider going shorter than shoulder length for the first time. I read this site’s article “Top Ten Clues to Finding a Savvy Stylist” which offers a lot of good advice, from good questions to ask to ways to determine how curl friendly a salon is. The first step in the article is “find a matchmaker” and I definitely think word-of-mouth is a curly girl’s secret weapon, whether she’s looking for a new hairdresser or the perfect styling product! Getting good advice is especially easy on NaturallyCurly.com, where the web brings thousands of curly girls together every day.

As I experienced in middle school, a good stylist can really transform your look. When you find one that really understands your hair, let them know how much you appreciate their expertise with kind words, generous tips and frequent referrals!

Stay Curly,

Julia

I’ve always gone back and forth on how much time to devote to my appearance. On one hand, I like to look attractive and put together. On the other, I try to resist the somewhat ridiculous beauty standards that advertising and beauty magazines set. For example, one magazine I borrowed for a friend recommended seven different types of makeup to help you “Be a Natural Beauty.” Personally, I feel naturally beautiful when I eat nutritious food, sleep well and get enough exercise. In contrast, this magazine suggested (among other things) Dolce and Gabbana mascara and something called “airbrush spray” as the ticket to natural beauty.

For many women, the majority of their beauty routine is spent on their hair. A CBS article from July 10 says that women spend, on average, 23 minutes a day “drying and styling” their hair, almost ten minutes more than they spend on their makeup. I feel like this study may be overstating the numbers a little bit; for example, they claim that the average women spends seven minutes a day “moisturizing” (I barely spend seven minutes eating my morning bowl of Cheerios).

These numbers, however, are just an average. Each woman’s routine is going to be a little different. I know my routine even varies from one day to the next. While I generally scrunch product through my hair and let it air dry, in the winter I may take the extra fifteen minutes to diffuse it. Straightening my hair, however, is an hour-long process involving at least three styling tools, at least that many products and another person. I generally just “scrunch and go” because it’s quick and easy, and it works well with my hair type. There’s always the curly girl’s mainstay—the messy bun—to fall back on if I hit snooze one to many times.

Spending a lot of time on your hair (or spending no time at all) isn’t inherently good or bad. Context is important too; heading to the library may not require a careful coif but a Friday night date generally encourages me to whip out the hairspray. Whether I’m headed to favorite study spot or out for a night on the town, I try to maintain a routine that makes me feel beautiful while not letting the beauty standards I’m exposed to every day hold too much sway. I’ve discovered that beauty isn’t defined by the amount of time it takes or the number of products I employ, but by what gives me the most confidence as I go through my day!

Stay Curly,

Julia

This month, in honor of the site’s “Best of the Best” survey, I’ve decided to write about some of my personal curly hair bests. From hair products to hair ties, here some of my favorite curl-related things:

The Best Product: Bead Head Curls Rock

Somewhere between a gel and cream, this fruity-smelling product is the only one in my arsenal that I’m fiercely loyal to. Before discovering it, I used to use a combination of a cream (for shape) and a gel (for hold). With this product I don’t have to use multiple finishing products in my hair; a couple pumps of Curls Rock and I’m good to go. Not to mention its name totally “gels” with what I think of curls!

The Best Kept Secret: Frizz Ease Secret Weapon

So I say that Curls Rock is the only product I’m fiercely loyal too, but I have to admit that Frizz Ease Secret Weapon finishing cream has gotten me through more bad hair days that I care to count. This is exactly the kind of product that curly girls love: it’s a heavy cream that combats frizz when smoothed over dry hair. It’s perfect for second or third day touch-ups and it contains sunscreen, which just adds to the awesome factor. This is the only defrizz product I use that doesn’t require wet hair or leave my dry hair damp, and a little goes a long way!

Best Hair Innovation: Ouchless Hair Ties

Unless I’m dressed for a formal occasion, I’m never seen without a brown Ouchless hair tie around my wrist. My affection for these hair ties is largely due to one extremely simply innovation. Instead of using little grommets to attach the two ends of the elastic to create a circle, they used strong adhesive to create one smooth, continuous band. The metal pieces seemed to magically invite tangles and contributed to a lot of breakage, but the improved design means I can indulge my fondness for wearing my hair up and without subjecting it to the wear and tear of the older types.

Best Low-tech Solution: Cool Water Rinse

This summer some of my friends and I are living in a big old house in the college town adjacent to our university. Not only does rinsing my hair in cool water at the end of a shower feel fantastic when the temperature climbs, but it also makes my hair shinier. Hot water makes the cuticle of your individual hairs expand, contributing to a rough, frizzy appearance. The cool water makes your hair contract, sealing the cuticle. While this isn’t my “go-to” solution during the winter (brrr), it’s a great low-tech trick for a extra boost of shine when the weather’s warm.

Best Hair Advice

I learned this from you, the NaturallyCurly.com readers. If you wrap your hair to absorb the excess water, don’t use a towel! The loopy terrycloth catches the individual hairs and promotes frizz. Instead, use an old t-shirt or pillowcase. I read on the site that the smoother fabric leads to smoother curls and it’s definitely true. Just be prepared for a few odd looks around the dorm or at the breakfast table when your friends or family realize you’re wearing your favorite Dave Matthews Band t-shirt around your head!

Now, this list is undeniably incomplete and totally subjective. Some categories I just don’t have bests for. I can’t seem to settle on a favorite shampoo or conditioner, and there is a whole host of products and tools just I don’t use. This is probably because I’m a total sucker for simple. All I need is a bottle of conditioner and a thing of product and I’m good to go. What are your favorite products? Can you abandon all else as long as you have your favorite leave-in? Is your diffuser or wide-tooth comb essential? Let me know!

Inspired by the “Girl Girls — It’s not just hair, it’s a way of life” group on Facebook, I thought I would put together a “You know you’re a curly girl if … ” list. Although curly girls are a totally diverse group, perhaps you’ve had a few of these experiences along the way.

You know you’re a curly girl if…

You laugh when a friend asks you if you have a hairbrush

As curly girls, we can’t get our fingers through our hair, much less a brush packed with closely spaced bristles. Brushing wet hair does nothing but cause breakage, and brushing it dry is a recipe for disaster. The last time I brushed my hair on a regular basis (seventh grade), the result looked more like a Christmas tree or an equilateral triangle than anything that would be considered a “style”. So no, I’m sorry, I don’t have a hairbrush.

… but you always have a hair tie.

Whether the culprit is humidity, wind, or just that one friend who sits behind you in class and likes to play with your hair, you always have a hair tie around your wrist and are never without one “on hand.” When straight hair gets messy, a few swipes of a brush will solve everything, but when curls gets unruly you have two choices: douse it with water or stick it in a bun.

You avoid products that say “Won’t weight hair down!”

While ideal curls are bouncy and light, if you’re like me you avoid any product that claims it will “create volume!” like the plague. My hair has enough volume for me and two or three other people, thank you very much.

You have buy two bottles of conditioner for every bottle of shampoo.

Somehow I always end up standing in the shower, staring woefully at my half-full bottle of shampoo while trying to get at the last bit of conditioner. You’ve been there; banging the bottle against your hand, unscrewing the top and sticking your finger in the bottle, trying to get enough conditioner out for one … more … shower …

Elderly ladies are your biggest fans.

Whether you’re at the grocery store, at church or at the library, it never fails; elderly people love your hair. If someone who looks like she could be five times your age stops you in the produce section to ask you if your hair is natural and tell you how lucky you are, you’re probably a curly girl.

You don’t think its weird to ask someone about the products they use.

I don’t think I’ve ever asked a straight-haired friend what type of gel she uses or whether or not she shampoos. However, if you have a couple friends with awesome curly hair, comments like “Oh my goodness, what do you use in it?” are just bound to happen. Our products are often central to our style. Whether they’re fiercely loyal to your product and want everyone to know how awesome it is or they are continuously looking for the latest and greatest way to define your curls, curly girls love to talk about the products they use.

Email your questions/comments to Julia.

Julia Rizzo

For my column this month, I set out to learn something about the science behind curly hair. Just what makes it curly? Why is my hair soft and frizzy while my sister’s is kinky and coarse? The first place I looked was Google Scholar, which rarely lets me down. After a good fifteen minutes of searching all I could find was an incredibly racist, sexist article written in the 1920s about how to classify different hair textures. Not my ideal source material. Further searching revealed that there is a fluid dynamics researcher named R. F. Curl who was responsible with filling my search results with pages and pages of physics-related journal articles.

I did find one gem, however; a LiveScience article titled “Curly Hair Tangles Less Than Straight Hair” (Charles Q. Choi, 2007). This article relayed the findings of French biophysicist Jean-Baptiste Masson. Masson had hairdressers count the snarls in the hair of more than 200 people every afternoon for a week. (Imagine being a participant in that study … ) According to the article, Massons’ math “suggests that when straight hairs rub against each other, they often do so at steep angles that cause tangles.” Talk about debunking a straight hair stereotype! What I found especially memorable about this article is that it was published in the American Journal of Physics. I really enjoy the mental image of a bunch of physicists and professors sitting around and reading about the number of tangles in curly hair and discussing the potential these findings have in improving Velcro design. Congrats ladies, we’re contributing to science!

Finally, I switched my search parameters from “science of curly hair” and “genetics of curly hair” to simply “what makes curly hair curly?” and I got significantly more results. (Sometimes simplicity is best on the Internet after all, I guess.) Apparently there isn’t one quick and easy answer to this question. The shape of your hair follicles, the number of twists in your hair as it grows, the location of the hair bulb in your hair follicle and even the chemical composition of your hair can determine whether it’s straight or curly.

The only scientific article I could fine was a journal published by the American Academy of Dermatology. The author (Bruno A. Bernard) was working for L’Oreal Research; at least we know the people making our hair products are doing their home work! While I had high hopes for this article, it was impenetrable for this particular communication major. While I did learn that humans have an estimated five million hair follicles on our bodies, I came across many sentences like this one: “{Hair} is a self-renewing organ that seems to be a true paradigm of epithelial and mesenchymal interactions.” Oh, now I get it!

So, although my search didn’t turn up any clear answers, I did find some interesting factoids along the way. Although my search for a good answer as to why curly hair is curly continues, I don’t need science to tell me that being a curly girl is something to be proud of!

Stay Curly,

Julia

Julia Rizzo