Heading off the Straight and Narrow

Curly and wavy girls often wonder why their strands aren’t as shiny as their straight-haired friends. In general, it’s because curly and wavy hair is drier and because many curly and wavy girls do things that disrupt their natural hair and leave it dull. So how do you keep frizz at bay but also get great curly hair shine? It’s easy. Read on!

Don’t ruffle your hair

Each strand of hair has tiny scales covering it like overlapping tiles on a roof. “When the tiles lie flat, they reflect light and your hair shines,” explains Lorraine Massey, co-owner of Devachan Salons and Spa and author of Curly Girl: The Handbook. “When they’re ruffled, your hair won’t shine because light needs to be reflected off a smooth surface.” Things that rough up the cuticle include heat from blow dryers and flat irons, chemical treatments, terry cloth towels and hair brushes. Skip the heat and chemical products (if you must use a hair dryer, use a hair diffuser), toss the hair brush and combs and use a micro-fiber towel or old t-shirt to dry your hair.

Skip detergent shampoos

“Traditional shampoos contain detergents that erase shine from hair,” says Massey. “Hair is like fabric and we never look for shine in our clothes after we wash them so why would you expect your hair to shine after?” Instead, look for cleansers that are 100% sulfate-free and contain botanicals or cleanse hair with conditioner rather than shampoo. It actually works just as well because it’s the movement of your fingers on the scalp that cleanses hair. Simply apply conditioner to finger tips and gently massage scalp to release dirt and oils.

Steer clear of silicone

Silicone is another hair shine eraser, but it’s ironically also in a lot of shine products. “At first, silicone seems to give hair shine, but eventually that shine turns into an unhealthy, heavy, dull, greasy look,” says Massey.  Alcohol also gives hair a dull cast because it dries it out – and curly hair is naturally dry enough on its own. Instead, read product labels and look for styling products that are silicone-free and alcohol-free.

1. Type 2 (Wavy): Wavy and swavy hair tends to be shinier than tighter curl types. But you should still say sayonara to shampoo to keep this shine and enhance it. You can also give hair extra body and luster by combining a little alcohol-free, silicone-free gel with your sulfate-free shampoo. Use this to cleanse hair and rinse completely. Follow with conditioner.
2. Type 3 (Curly): Eat your way to gleaming strands! Foods that contain healthy fats help moisturize hair from the inside out leaving it shinier and thicker. In fact, women who go on crash diets or suffer from anorexia often have dull, lifeless, thinning hair because they lack these nutrients. These fats include omega-3 fatty acids which are easy to find in foods like avocado, salmon, flax seed oil, egg yolks, sardines or in fish oil supplements.
3. Type 4 (Kinky): Every strand of hair has a follicle that produces natural oils and it’s these oils that help give your hair shine. But because curly girls have only 100,000 hairs on their head in contrast to other hair types with around 120,000, there aren’t as many hair follicles and thus not as much shine-inducing oil. Also, thanks to curly hair’s twists and turns, it’s harder for that oil to travel to the ends of the hair to moisturize it. And the curlier the hair type, the harder it is for that oil to travel. To make kinky hair glisten, deep condition it regularly and leave a lot of conditioner in your hair every time you shower to add slip for the oils.

Final Thoughts

How do you get and keep your curls shiny? Give us the deets!

Curly hair does seem to have a mind of its own. But all it takes to love your waves, ringlets or kinky curls and make them look gorgeous is a few simple curly hair tips and tricks. None of them take much time or energy, but all of them promise that you’ll fall head over heels with your hair!

Feed your curls

Despite its larger than life presence, curly hair tends to be more fragile than other hair types and it’s definitely drier. Healthy fats like omega-3 help make hair shiny and prevent a dry scalp. To hydrate from within, eat foods that contain these fats like avocados, ground flax seeds, flax seed oil, coconut oil, sardines, salmon, egg yolks and spinach.

Throw in the towel

A terry-cloth towel and your hair should never meet. “That’s because its harsh, bobbly fabric creates friction on curls that ruffle the cuticle of the hair and the result is frizz,” explains Lorraine Massey, co-owner of Devachan Salons and Spa and author of “Curly Girl: The Handbook.” Plus, terry-cloth tends to soak up too much moisture and conditioner from the hair – something your curls need to stay frizz free and healthy. Good alternatives for blotting hair dry include an old, cotton t-shirt, burp cloth or a micro-fiber towel.

Rinse the right way

Conditioner is a curly girl’s best weapon against frizz since it provides the hydration your curls are thirsty for. Leaving some conditioner in the hair is also key — especially if you tend to get a dry, frizzy halo on top of your head. To rinse hair without sending all your conditioner down the drain, do what Massey calls a “trickle rinse.” “After cleansing and then conditioning, stand away from the shower stream and cup your hands together under the water.”says Massey. ”Then splash the water backwards over your hair a couple of times. This ensures that the top layer of hair, which tends to be very dry, can have the right amount of conditioner to keep it from being dry and, as a result, frizzing.”

1. Type 2 (Wavy) Wavy hair can get flat at the crown area – especially if hair is long. Give this area lift with a few metal clips (duckbill clips). On wet hair, lift a small section of hair from the crown and hold it perpendicular to your scalp (rather than forward or back). Next, open the clip and slide it onto the hair so it’s close to the scalp. Do this on a few others sections of hair that tend to get flat and remove clips carefully (using two hands) when hair is completely dry. “Clipping the hair while it’s wet releases the hair from it’s own weight during the drying process thus allowing it to dry with more body,” says Massey.
2. Type 3 (Curly) You’ve probably noticed that the curls hidden at the nape of your neck tend to tangle and knot easily. “This is caused by the natural movement of your head throughout the day,” says Massey. After cleansing hair, apply a dollop of conditioner about the size of a quarter to the hair near the nape of your neck. Then, use your fingers to gently unsnarl knots and tangles. “Just be patient and gentle since the hair here breaks easily,” says Massey. “Remove knots from the hair with the same care you would a tangled necklace.”
3. Type 4 (Kinky) This hair type is often extremely dense and tends to be dryer and thirstier for moisture. It will soak up as much conditioner as you will feed it, so be generous! A few nights a week, slather your dry hair with a deep conditioner starting at the ends and working it through your whole head. Then cover your pillow case with a towel and hit the sack. Talk about sleeping beauty! In the morning, you can rinse the conditioner out, though your hair may drink it up and you won’t need to. Decide then if you need a trickle rinse or not.

Final Thoughts

Always, always always sleep on a satin pillowcase, curlies! This applies for all hair types. Cotton pillow cases pull at curls and can disturb the curl pattern creating frizz. Satin doesn’t pull at curls, nor suck the moisture out of them, so your next-day hair is bound to be an awesome second day style!

Wavy hair seems simple, but can be confusing to care for. Why? Because sometimes things like weather, friction, fabrics that you wear and what you do to it can disrupt wavy hair’s natural shape and body leaving it looking flat and straight.

The good news is that you don’t have to do much to get your locks looking gorgeous.

“A lot of caring for wavy and s’wavy hair is about what you’re not going to do, rather than what you do,” explains Lorraine Massey, co-owner of Devachan Salons and Spa and author of “Curly Girl: The Handbook.”

Here, simple ways to give your hair some body.

Getting Too Many Regular Haircuts

“If hair is short, the wave of your hair my not be visible,” says Massey. “Often your hair has to grow perhaps even past your shoulders before your waves appear, and then begin to twist and turn.”

But many of us have been programmed to think that we need to cut our hair every few months, or sooner. To coax your waves out of hiding, put a halt to those salon appointments so that you can let your hair grow enough to show its true curl! (Bonus: You’ll save money too!)

Keep in mind that you should head to the salon for a very small trim about every six weeks. But avoid large cuts until your waves have grown out!

Brushing and Blow-drying

Like frequent haircuts, brushing and blow-drying are two things we’ve been raised to think we should do to our hair. But both can be harsh on the hair and can make a wavy girl believe that her strands are straight. The high heat from a blow dryer or flat iron can damage and dry out your hair. A brush can also disturb the natural shape of your waves so much so that they disappear, look unhealthy and lay flat!

Instead, comb your hair in the shower only when it’s saturated in conditioner using just your fingers, and then scrunch hair gently upward toward the scalp. Do this with your head tilted forward and standing away from the water stream. Repeat this in small sections around your head.

“This introduces more movement to your waves even during the cleansing routine,” explains Massey.

How You Shower

Wavy hair is a sensitive type and many things can disrupt its natural shape.

“When you step under the running water in your shower, cup your hair with your hands so the water pressure does not leave your waves limp and lethargic,” says Massey.

Also, cup your hair in your hands when you rinse out your cleanser and conditioner. Another option is to slip a hairnet on before going under the shower’s running water.

“This allows water to flow through your hair and lets you cleanse it with your fingers, but it helps contain your hair’s natural wave structure,” explains Massey.

How You Condition

Only apply conditioner from the midsection of your hair downward, rather than starting at the roots or you’ll end up with flat hair. That said, if you tend to get a halo of frizz at the roots you can apply a tiny bit of conditioner to that area.

If your hair doesn’t get frizzy or is baby fine, conditioning too often can zap any body and volume from your locks, so experiment with how many days per week you need to do so. Lastly, rinse all conditioner out of your hair since any residue can weigh down your waves leaving hair flat.

Drying Your Hair Standing Up

If your waves are really loose and lazy, gravity can pull the hair down if you dry it standing up and thus straighten out your waves. Instead, lie on the floor on a yoga mat with a towel placed over the mat. Spread your wet hair out on the floor all around you (sort of like a veil) and dry your hair with a dryer and hair diffuser. You can also do the same thing with your head at the edge of the bed and hair hanging over the side of your bed.

Just make sure the dryer is on a low setting. This weightless way of drying creates lift at the scalp and waves that are full and defined.

If laying down while drying your hair seems weird, grab some duck bill clips and clip them in around the roots of your hair to hold the curls up while they dry. This will help to build volume and allow you to stay sitting or standing up as your dry your hair.

Final Thoughts

Be sure that you are sleeping on a satin pillowcase at night, too! Cotton pillow cases can pull your hair and mess with your wave pattern. Sleeping on satin will preserve your curls and help to promote second day hair!

Last November I had my straight ends cut off and was a curly girl from scalp to shoulders. But to me, the real test of how much I loved my new hair was going to come in the summer. In other words, what would my curly hair be like in the humidity?

Sure, I liked my hair in the winter when the dry air made my curls bouncier, and in the spring when my curls got a little tighter as they blew in the April breeze. But summer has always been the worst season for my strands. In fact, this is one reason I loved my chemically straightened hair. It looked the same year round. In retrospect, however, and after perusing lots of old, straight-haired photos, I realize this wasn’t such a good look for me.

So I started this summer wondering if I’d really love my curly hair when the humidity got a hold of them. Would I have to make curly product concoctions in the bathroom to hold my hair down and keep it from growing that halo of frizz that taunted me in my former curly days?  Or would I spend the summer hiding my hair under a collection of hats and have a wrist full of ponytail holders?

With the last days of summer are behind me, I can honestly say that summer and curly hair do go together! Now that I know that frizz is just my hair screaming for moisture, I gave it what it wanted in these warmer months: more conditioner. I deep conditioned more often, about three times a week, and used a drop more gel. I also spritzed it with a product called Set it Free.

Not only did I like what the weather did to my curls, I loved it! My curls seemed thicker and shinier. And that halo of frizz? A mere distant memory!

Fall is the ideal season for curly hair with its crisp air and light breezes. Once November comes, I’ll be able to say that I’ve gone through all four seasons as a curly girl and, though my hair changes with each one, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So to slightly tweak the famous James Taylor song: winter, spring, summer or fall, all you have to do is curl! Curl is all you need!

And moisture, of course!

Final Thoughts

How did your curls fare this past summer and what curly girl regimen did you use?

Curly Girl: The Handbook

The response to “Curly Girl: The Handbook” since it came out in January has been amazing. We’ve gotten lots of press, have been the number one best-selling beauty/fashion book on Amazon for weeks and weeks and Lorraine is currently on a 15-city book tour tending to the waves, corkscrews and ringlets of curly girls across the country. I love hearing the stories about these events and seeing the photos. And I love the posts on our Facebook page where women have realized how beautiful their hair is after meeting Lorraine or reading the book—or both.

What I love most is the response we’ve gotten from the youngest girls in the curly set, telling us how the book has truly changed their hair and as a result their lives. This really touches me because I, like many of us curlies, spent so much of my childhood and teen years feeling less than and ugly thanks to my strands. I was teased and felt different for years—well into adulthood.

One 13-year-old girl wrote telling us that she’s been overweight and lacked confidence her whole life. She’s been teased and taunted at school for years. But since reading the book, her curls look amazing. She said girls who used to tease her about her weight and “Brillo hair” now stop her at school asking if they can touch her hair. They want to know how she got it that way. As a result, this inspired her to exercise and join a weight loss program and she’s lost ten pounds!

She said she has confidence for the first time EVER. I also got an email from a third-grade curly girl whose mother has straight hair. “My mom finally knows how to make my hair look good. She didn’t understand before, but now she does because of the book. Thank you,” she wrote. Weeks later, I got a second email, this time from the girl’s mother, who said that a girl at school told her daughter, “Your hair would be pretty if it were straight.” The little girl came home and told her mom how funny this was because now she loves her curls. I only wish I could have felt that way growing up. At least things are starting to change for the latest generation of curly girls—one wave, corkscrew and ringlet at a time!

Read more about Curl Girl: The New Handbook.

Curly Girl: The Handbook

Happy New Year! I’m not only excited that it’s a new year full of endless possibilities, but this month means that “Curly Girl: The Handbook” is now available in stores and at CurlMart. And Lorraine Massey and I are so excited that the latest curly info is now out there for all the curly world to see. So in honor of the book’s release, I thought I’d write a little bit about what it was like to work so closely with this curly guru.

First, I can honestly say I’ve never met anyone like Lorraine. She is not about selling products; she is truly about changing the world one curl at a time. I admit that this didn’t make sense to me when I first signed on to work with her on her book. At the time, I was a chemically straight-haired writer starting my next assignment. I approached it the same way I did an article on heart disease or a book by a celebrity on anti-aging: it was a topic of interest, but it wasn’t a book about me. So at first I thought Lorraine’s message of curl love was a tad gimmicky. Little did I know that it would truly change my hair along with my life.

When we first started the book, my strands were as chemically flattened as they could be. Amazingly, Lorraine never ONCE said a thing about my hair knowing that I would get to that curly place only when I was ready. The day I told her I was going back to curly, I expected her to say, “I told you so” but she didn’t. And that’s because her goal isn’t to “tell you so.” It’s not to convince you. She believes that women have to learn to accept themselves and it’s not a message she’s going to force down anyone’s throat. That’s when I realized that Lorraine’s goal is to help women live better lives and accepting their hair’s natural texture–be it curly, wavy, kinky or straight–is just the beginning. Though curls are her business, her passion goes way beyond a day job. This is her life. She may be quirky, peppering all her emails with words of curl love, but she is genuine, passionate and truly cares about making a difference. What more can you ask for in anyone? Working with Lorraine was a gift. I learned so much about myself and about embracing, not fighting, what nature has given me. I realized that curly hair is a metaphor for life and if you just accept what you’ve been given and learn to handle its challenges, every day will be so much more rewarding.

Before

I just got the haircut I’ve been waiting for. The one I couldn’t imagine eighteen months ago when I consciously decided to go curly. The one where the last of my straight hair—which were literally dead ends—got snipped away. I was just going to Lorraine for a little trim, neither of us realizing this trim was “it’! But once she started snipping she realized that the straight ends could go. Sure, my hair is a little shorter than I’d like and I loved the length before, but it looks a lot healthier, and most of all, it’s free from the shackles of the straight hair, hair that was just dragging it down. ( I swear the ends—which were a curl with a long straight stem attached—looked like question marks, as if my hair was asking me, “Why? Why did you do this?) I liked those straight strands because they gave my hair length, but I saw a few recent photos myself and was stunned at how bizarre it looked to have a few inches of straight hair hanging from long strands of curls. And those strands were so chemically straightened, so lifeless, that I couldn’t even curl them with my finger and gel to make them remotely match the rest of my hair.

So it was a choice between going a few inches shorter than I’d like (though as a curly girl we know every inch counts because our curls tend to spring up) or a weird ‘do. One thing that pushed me over the edge was being approached by a mother at my son’s soccer game who said she’d been watching my curls grow out for the last year. (I didn’t even know who she was, but she was watching my curls?) But then she said, “And now what a funky hairdo you have! Straight on the bottom and then curled on top.”

After

At this point, I am not going for a funky hairdo. I just want my good, old curls back. So there you have it. Lorraine says it’s still not the shape it will be because how she cut it was dictated by the straight hair, but she thinks it will be there in January just as “Curly Girl,” the book we co-authored, is released. (The hair gods work in mysterious ways!) As Lorraine was cutting she said, “You’re going to really see how your hair changes, how much you love your curls and how freeing it was.” And that’s when it hit me that, like most things in life, going curly is a journey, not a destination. Because although I thought I had arrived at that destination with the snipping of those straight strands, I’m actually just starting, today in fact, to live life as a curly girl again. In some ways it feels new and strange to be part of the clan of curly girls; in others it feels like I never left.

I just got back from The Women’s Conference in Long Beach, California. This is the amazing conference organized by Maria Shriver as part of her job as First Lady of California. It was amazing, inspiring and empowering. I can’t even put it into words. But there was something that captured my attention along with wonderful speakers like Michelle Obama, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Laura Bush, Oprah, Dr. Susan Love and more. It was Maria Shriver’s hair!

Naturally curly, gorgeous hair. I’ve only seen photos of Maria over the years and in every one her hair is stick straight (as it is on the conference web site) or has the kind of curls that are obtained by straightening the hair and then curling it. So when I saw her at The Women’s Conference, I was blown away by her naturally curly, long beautiful hair. It was light and free looking with curls of different shapes and sizes and I swear she looked ten years younger – at least ten years!

Over the two days, I heard Maria speak a handful of times and though her words were powerful and moving, I often found myself thinking about her hair. (And I wasn’t the only one; several friends and women at the conference said the same thing.) I know this sounds superficial, but it goes beyond the surface. One of her best speeches was about how after seven years she’s grown into her role as First Lady (one she apparently wasn’t excited about when her husband became governor). She talked about how she now feels comfortable in her skin and like she’s grown into herself. Is it a coincidence that she’s gotten to that place and is now wearing her hair naturally curly? I think not. I think going curly is part of accepting who you are and growing into the real you.

When I interviewed women for the new edition “Curly Girl,” most of them told me that they felt more like themselves once they tossed their flat irons and blow dryers and embraced their natural hair texture. I honestly had no clue what they meant. That was until a few months ago when my hair became more curly than straight. It’s not there yet, but I agree I feel more like myself and more comfortable with myself. Maria Shriver talked about not knowing what she’d do after her role as First Lady ends in January and admitted that she was afraid of this unknown. How about being an ambassador for naturally curly girls?

I’ve always loved “Sesame Street.” The show taught me my numbers and letters as a child and did the same for my two children just a few years ago. It’s also instilled a lot of important lessons in all of us. And even though my kids are now 5 years old and 8 years old, it can still entertain them enough to give me a few minutes to make a phone call or send a few emails.

And now I love “Sesame Street” even more, thanks to a recently aired segment about loving your hair. It features a little girl puppet singing “I love my hair. There’s nothing else that can compare with my hair. It’s a part of me.” I think about all the curly girls I spoke to for “Curly Girl,” and the horrible hair-related traumas they suffered as kids and think that a segment like this could have saved some of them from a lot of pain. Myself included!

I hated my hair growing up and spent so much time despising it and wondering why it wasn’t golden, long and bouncy like the women and girls I saw on TV. It made me feel like I was different and strange. After all, if I wasn’t why wasn’t there a girl with messy brown curls on “The Brady Bunch,” “Partridge Family” or any other of my favorite shows? Thanks to “Sesame Street,” little girls today don’t have to think that way. To see a curly role model dancing away and loving her wild curls will probably change many little curls the world over—or at least it’s a start. Imagine learning your 123’s, ABC’s and how to love your hair? Now that’s an educational show!

Read more and see the video here.

A segment on “Good Morning America” today really hit a nerve in me. It was a piece on Brazilian hair straightening, questioning whether these treatments are safe or not. A few things got me: the segment showed that even the Brazilian treatments that claim to be formaldehyde-free contained this potentially cancer-causing chemical. Chemists at the Oregon Occupation Heath and Safety Administration and the Oregon Health and Science University’s Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology tested samples of straightening products labeled “formaldehyde-free” and found that some had a whopping 8-10 percent of this carcinogen! So even though companies that have more than .1% have to put this on their labels, these companies were NOT doing that. They also found other chemicals in the samples that were not quantified in the lab, including methanol and ethanol. These experts also talked about the fact that even small amounts of formaldehyde can cause difficulty breathing, nose bleeds and eye irritation (something stylists have complained about). In fact, even one of the women having her hair straightened in the segment admitted that her eyes were burning.

But I really saw myself when they showed both women after they had their hair done. Despite the fact that there were potential health risks in the chemicals that had just been applied to their hair —one being cancer—and that one woman’s eyes were watering as she got it done, they didn’t care. Their smooth, straight strands were more important than their health! I remember feeling this way when I got my hair straightened. Though the treatment I did wasn’t the Brazilian, I still remember thinking that I didn’t care what it contained. I didn’t care that the chemicals stung my nose and eyes. I didn’t care that the flat iron was burning my scalp (and that I’d have a few scabs on it for days after). It got my hair straight and that’s all that mattered. Now I realize how dumb that was. Plus, in my opinion, neither one of the women looked better when their hair was straight! Even their slightly frizzy curls in the “before” photos looked more flattering than the poker-straight hair that looked so obviously NOT natural. (One of them actually looked beautiful and years younger in her “before” photo). Their best bet would be to figure out how to make their hair’s natural texture look its best. I’m not saying these women MUST live with frizz or out of control curls—they don’t. But as I learned from Lorraine Massey, co-owner of Devachan Salons and Deva Spa and my co-author for the upcoming book “Curly Girl: The Handbook,” just figuring out how much conditioner and gel your hair needs and letting it dry without touching it (a challenge, I know) can change how it looks without all the time, money and most of all health risks! (“Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts said she asked her hair stylist about it and the stylist said she would NEVER do these treatments because of their potential risks.)

I’m not putting either of the women in the segment down. I’ve been in their shoes before (or more aptly their chemically straightened hair) thinking that my flat, straight strands looked better than my natural hair. And because my hair is still growing out from its dead, straight state, I don’t love it every day. I’m still learning to work with it, to make it look its best. But even on my worst hair day, I’d rather know I’m not risking my health for my hair! And here’s something funny: a few segments later they were interviewing actress Sally Field about her TV show. She was talking about the awful, stormy, rainy weather in NYC and how having to run through the rain to the set had ruined the hair she’d recently had blown out. Her hair did not look good, but again, had she embraced her natural texture and made it look her best, she would have had more time to promote her TV show during her few brief moments on air rather than lament her hair! This whole thing reminds me of one of my favorite quotes of Lorraine’s: “Straighten your hair, and you might be happy for a day (unless it rains). Learn to love and care for your curls, and you’ll be happy for life!”