Julia Rizzo

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

Julia Rizzo

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

Email your questions/comments to Julia.

Julia Rizzo

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

Walking through Target yesterday, I was struck by the truly incredible amount of hair products they carry — six aisles full! And even though there are products for every hair type and texture imaginable, it seems like each year more and more curl-specific products appear on the shelves.

While admiring all my options for new shampoo, I counted 37 curl-specific products before the guy who was stocking the shelves started to look at me funny. And those 37 products don’t count the ones that treat the “symptoms” of curly hair! Tons of products say they’ll increase moisture, reduce frizz, and even “weather proof” your hair.

To the dismay of my hairdresser, who swears I’d have better hold if I just added some hairspray and a diffuser to the mix, I’m completely attached to the styling product I use. (I’m at college so the fewer products I have to schlep to my floor’s shared bathroom, the better.) While I refuse to relinquish my favorite styling product, I change my shampoo and conditioner almost every time I finish a bottle.

And that’s what had brought me to Target. I was fresh out of conditioner, which is up there with “out of deodorant” for reasons to head to the store ASAP. Since I fit the stereotypical “broke teenager/college student” mold, I want to get good quality hair products without spending an arm and a leg. So how do I know I know that what I’m spending my money on is “the good stuff?” When I got home I decided to explore this site and see what I can find to help me out.

I decided to start by picking up my empty bottle of conditioner, flipping it over and taking a good long look at the ingredients. Wow, they have some weird names: Cylopentasiloxane, hydroexythylcellulose. Some ingredients sound weird but really are pretty mundane. Tocopheryl Acetate is a scientific term for Vitamin E, and Aloe Berbadensis is Aloe Vera.

The CurlChemist column on this site is a great place to start when you’re wondering about a particular ingredient in your shampoo or conditioner. Tonya’s columns can be found by searching the name of her column in “search” box in the upper right hand corner of the webpage. Most of the top 10 ingredients in my conditioner were addressed in one of Tonya’s columns. Reading her columns, I learned that Propylene Glycol (the seventh ingredient in my conditioner) is a humectant, which means it promotes the retention of moisture in your hair. This lead me to investigate her article about humectants, where I learned that they are especially effective in protecting your hair in very low humidity. But allowing too much moisture into your hair in high humidity makes it look rough.

As curly girls, we’re taught to “condition, condition, condition,” but depending on where you live there may be such a thing as too much moisture! I really enjoyed delving into the chemistry behind the products I use every day. The CurlChemist column is a great resource for those who want to know how to best care for their hair.

I’m familiar with the ingredients that are in my food, so why should the ingredients in my conditioner be a mystery?

Stay Curly,

Julia

Julia Rizzo

Most of the curly girls that I know have been asked at one point or another “Why don’t you straighten your hair more often?”

When I’m asked, I generally deflect the question with a smile and a polite “I just prefer my curls.” While “I prefer my curls” is the theme of this column, there are several other reasons I forgo the straightening iron. While no casual inquirer would want me to list them, we’re devoted curly girls here and you’ll agree that there are all sorts of reasons why we don’t “straighten our hair more often.”

In contrast to my usual reasons for keeping my curls (mostly centered around self-confidence and self-acceptance), here are some of the other reasons (perhaps a bit shallow, perhaps a bit silly) for shunning the straightening iron.

1. I’d rather sleep in!: When I started writing this column, I was a sophomore in high school and I loved staying up late. Now, I’m a sophomore in college and going to bed at eleven is a luxury, not a pain. Every chance I get to hit the snooze button is appreciated, and if I miraculously find myself with an extra 45 minutes in the morning, I’m going to walk to my favorite dining hall and order an omelet. Standing in front of a mirror with a burning hot object next to my scalp and neck for an hour is not high on the list of pre-class priorities.

2. My curls hide my cowlick: I have this absolutely ridiculous cowlick right in the middle of my forehead, perfectly aligned with my widow’s peak. When my hair is curly, this quirk is fairly well disguised. When I straighten my hair, however, my hair veers up and away from my widow’s peak, making me look like I have an “M” protruding from my forehead. Lovely.

3. My breakage: I’ll admit it. I’ve spent one too many days with my hair in a bun, and I have a bit of breakage to show for it. My curls usually disguise the breakage around the crown of my head. But when my hair is straight, the smallest bit of damage is glaringly obvious. Suddenly, a piece of hair that once demurely curled at my temple sticks straight up like some sort of alien feeler. Not attractive.

4. Who likes the smell of burning hair?: This one goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway. The smell of hair being straightened makes me all sorts of unhappy. I feel like it’s olfactory proof that I’m damaging my hair. And I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the steam — or smoke — that rises off the straightener.

5. I refuse to fear the rain: Ithaca, NY is not known for its number of sunny days. Rain, sleet, snow, hail, if it falls from the sky it will hit Ithaca at some point during the month of March. The weather, in addition to being generally damp and gray, is also unpredictable. It’s common to walk into a building in the sunshine and walk out an hour later into a downpour. I refuse to become of those girls cowering under her copy of the campus newspaper because she knows that the rain will destroy her straightening efforts. Although wind will always be my worst weather enemy (it reduces even the most well-styled curls into a head of frizz), I will never fear the rain. The absolute worst thing the rain can do to my curls is make them look a little soggy!

So there you have it, some of the not-so-deep reasons why I “don’t straighten my hair more often.” From my love of the snooze button to my fearless acceptance of Ithaca’s weather, my day just goes smoother when I rock my curls!

Stay Curly,

Julia

Julia Rizzo

“Controls Frizz”, “Fights Flyaways”, “Battles Breakage”.

Sometimes the descriptions on the back of hair products sound like they’re trying to prepare us for war. While many of these products help us keep our hair looking and feeling healthy, the words we use to describe them make it sound like we’re entering into some sort of epic battle. When thinking about managing our hair, it’s easy to get sucked into this attitude of “girl versus her appearance,” where we primp and prep and try to eradicate our flaws with the latest and greatest beauty products.

While I was home over break, a family friend told me how, in her 30s, she stopped processing her hair. Cutting it short, she let it grow out naturally. Her story reminded me why I love to rock my curls. One thing that brings us all to this site is that we think our curly hair is pretty awesome, and we want to give it the best care we can.

However, there is an ever-present pressure to fit the current mold of what is attractive. When I was in middle school in 2001 and 2002, the trend was to have absolutely straight hair. During seventh and eighth grade, just as I was beginning to develop my own sense of style, the girls around me who were “trendsetters” all had pin-straight hair.

This experience makes me appreciate the incredible diversity of style and appearance that’s present on my college campus. I live in Risley, the creative and performing arts dorm, and several of the people I live with have brightly colored hair. In contrast to the long fuchsia hair of my hallmate, my curls look sedate on even the craziest hair days. After several years of high school — where conformity was the norm — I’ve gained confidence from living in a place where acceptance has replaced conformity.

When we seek to conform to some artificial standard, it’s easy to view our appearance as laden with imperfections that must be fixed. Perfection is impossible, and its pursuit can be exhausting. I’m not advocating abandoning any hair products with conflict-laden copy on the back; many of them lead to stronger, healthier hair. And that is a far more fulfilling goal than perfection.

Stay Curly,

Julia

Julia Rizzo

The Jonas Brothers. Will Ferrell. John Mayer. Justin Timberlake. Justin Guarini. Adrien Grenier. Sasha Baron Cohen.

While the women in Hollywood seem to struggle with the idea of rocking their natural curls, there seems to be no shortage of curly guys roaming the red carpet.

I won’t claim that male celebrities are completely immune from the lure of straight hair, however. Shia LeBouf and Jonas brother Joe have both sported straightened or slicked-back hairstyles. As a fan of Shia back when he was in the Disney Channel show “Even Stevens,” I was disappointed to see him hitting the red carpet for Transformers with his pomade-heavy, slicked back ‘do. Even Justin Timberlake has been spotted recently sporting a short buzz cut rather than the honey-colored curls we all remember from his boy-band days.

Regardless of whether they’re walking the red carpet or walking to class, I’m a big fan of guys with curly hair. At the private school I attended for a couple years all the boys had to keep their hair quite short. Now that I’m in college, it’s a treat to spot guys on campus who don’t have a dress code dictating how they cut their hair.

I can’t write a column exposing the merits of curly guys without mentioning my boyfriend, Josh. Josh’s hair is epic: not only is it curly, but it’s also long. With hair falling past his shoulder blades, he’s definitely easy to spot from across the room. I’ve never quite figured out how he manages to spend less time on his hair then I do while simultaneously keeping it looking healthier, but somehow that’s always the case. I’m still trying to discover his secret. He wears his hair down every day, so perhaps it’s relatively sedate because he avoids the wear and tear that hairties can inflict.

I was curious to know what prompted him to rock such a long style, so I asked him. He told me that he let his hair grow out while attempting to decide how to cut it, and then decided to keep it long. I maintain that it’s his admiration for a particular long-haired metal guitarist that inspired his mid-back locks. After reading the first paragraph of this column over my shoulder, he immediately rattled off a list of rock and metal musicians. Apparently if you want to find men with long curly hair, go no farther than the first metal band that comes to mind. (Seriously, do an image search for “metal guitarist” and you’ll see exactly what I mean.)

Now that I have such a handy comment section below my column, tell me your opinion of curly guys! Any favorite curly celebs that you’d like to mention? Leave a comment and let me know!

Stay Curly,

Julia

Julia Rizzo

YouTube, Facebook, MySpace. It’s hard to believe that all three of these sites are less than five years old, since they’ve quickly become part of many teenagers’ daily routines. This is the Curly College Scene column, after all, and no one uses the Internet more than people our age. In this column I’m going to take you on a tour of what curly girls and guys are up to on the Internet, and how you can connect to the curl community right from your trusty computer.

Let’s start with Facebook. While I had an active MySpace account a couple years ago, and I surf over to YouTube once or twice a week, I can’t help but check my Facebook everyday. One of the first Facebook groups I joined was “Curly Girls — It’s not just hair, it’s a way of life!” The group’s picture alone never fails to make me smile; it’s Frieda from the comic Peanuts, with a speech bubble over her head that reads “Are you jealous of my naturally curly hair, Rick?” With more than 11,000 members and 165 discussion board topics, this group is a great place to rant, vent, or just post an encouraging message on the wall.

Marie vlogs for NaturallyCurly.com

While you’re on Facebook, be sure to friend NaturallyCurly! Through NaturallyCurly’s profile, I discovered oodles of new groups in support of all different kinds of curly heads. A sampling of some of my favorite groups includes “My Curly Hair is the Source of my Super Powers” and “People always expect more from you when you have naturally curly hair.”

If for no other reason, you should friend NaturallyCurly so you get updates when they post new videos on YouTube. Marie’s regular vlogs detail the products and styling techniques she uses and how they affect her hair. You can find the vlogs at the site’s YouTube account, “Naturallycurlydotcom.” There are 12 up currently, with more sure to come!

YouTube is replete with videos that encourage curly girls; my favorites are the various news stories that have been done about the emerging movement of men and women learning to love their curls! YouTube is also a great place to turn if you’re looking for new ways to style your hair; I learned how to use hair sticks and how to create an Edwardian twist by watching video clips online.

Sometimes it seems like the majority of our classmates have straight hair or don’t have the confidence to rock their curls. Contributing to the forums on this web site, joining a curl-themed Facebook group or catching up on Marie’s vlogs are just some of the ways you can connect with a vibrant and knowledgeable community that embraces all types of curly hair. If you’re having a bad hair day, don’t reach for your straight iron. Reach for your computer and take advantage of the wisdom and encouragement of the online curl community!

Stay Curly,
Julia

Julia Rizzo

Today I had a wonderful hair day. I credit my hairdresser for my particularly shiny curls: during my recent haircut, she urged me to acquire a diffuser and reinforced the fact that “product is your friend; don’t be afraid of product!” Her advice worked, and she gets props for never once suggesting that I let her blow my hair straight. She did mention, however, that when she was growing up she had no idea how to style her long curls. After losing a few battles with frizz, she said, it was easier for her to straighten her hair every morning

f you’ve read my past columns, you may notice that I’ve expressed some pretty strong opinions about straightening. You might even get the impression that I’m against it all together. Not so. However, I will admit that it makes me a bit sad when curly girls straighten their hair because they haven’t had a chance to learn the tips, tricks, and strategies that could help their curls look their very best.

Thanks in part to the new tricks my hairdresser taught me this week, I’m pretty pumped about my curls these days. While I fully plan on continuing to evangelize the beauty of naturally curly hair, I do recognize that even the proudest of curly girls can use a change once in a while; shaking things up now and then can be wonderfully refreshing!

If you’re looking for something different and plan on flat-ironing your lovely locks, I have two suggestions. First, practice safe straightening! Last year I routinely saw my roommate take a flat iron to her damp curls: I could smell burning hair across the room, and the steam it produced was vaguely unsettling. It doesn’t take an expert to know that can’t be good.

On the site this month you’ll find tons of suggestions that can help you minimize the damage straightening (or any other type of heat styling) can cause. Check out some of these tips before you straighten your hair; your curls will thank you for it later.

My second bit of advice is to remember your curly pride! If you’re like me, your friends are accustomed to seeing you with a fairly routine range of hairstyles. If they rarely or never see you with straightened hair, prepare to get a reaction! I used to think my hair looked better straight because of all the extra attention it garnered. But in reality, my friends were just responding to the change.

Change can be fun, and rocking a novel new style is a great way to mix it up. Before you reach for the flat iron however, make sure you know how to make your hair look its best! Once you’re happy with your natural curls, straight styles will be nothing more than a fun diversion from your normal style.

Stay Curly,
Julia