Michelle Breyer

Community member blueroses79 shows off her wurly locks

Ever feel like you can’t be categorized? Your hair isn’t quite curly. But it’s not wavy either.

Now there’s a word for you: Wurly! And you’ve created it right here on NaturallyCurly!

On CurlTalk, one reader identifies herself as a “first-week wurly.” Another says “By the way, the way you describe your hair - 2C-F-iii - is probably accurate for my hair too, since I also seem to have a fine, ‘wurly’ and thick hair thing going on.”

So what is the definition of wurly? It varies, but the general consensus seems to be that it’s:

• Between curly and wavy
• A 2c+ or a 3a-
• Wavy Curls
• Not exactly spirals, and definitely not straight

Just fyi: The official definition is an Australian indigenous shelter made from small branches with leaves still attached.

“I didn’t realize the term “wurly” had really caught on,” says CurlTalker WavyCurly40+. “I hope it has. It’s a very useful word, and I think there’s also a bit of wordplay—it sounds like “whirl,” which to me implies the sort of wacky, inconsistent, changing-shape-and-direction tendencies of this curl pattern.”

“There are a bunch of us in the sometimes-frustrating category,” she adds. “Perhaps we are finally learning to embrace it!”

Wurl Power!

Listen to a group of curly girls talk about their hair and you might think you’re in the middle of a support group.

“I requested to have my hair look curly and messy, and instead had my hair chopped to two inches in length,” said one writer on NaturallyCurly.com’s CurlTalk forum.

“I had full breakage on my crown while I stupidly had my curls straightened by my stylist who insisted my ‘horrible’ hair needed taming!” recalled another. “It was such a horrible experience that I didn’t go into a salon again for two years.”

In addition to a slew of nightmarish salon experiences, many have endured childhoods filled with nicknames like Bozo and Frizzball. It’s no wonder that many curly women have a difficult time embracing their curls.

Many women have grown up in families where curlphobia is prevalent. Children may receive negative messages early on about their curls and kinks from aunts, grandmothers and other relatives. Curly or kinky hair in its natural state may be considered “bad hair,” while looser curls or straight hair are praised—a cultural phenomenon that comic Chris Rock addressed in his film “Good Hair.”

“I tell my stylists that when a woman walks in with a head of curly hair, you have a head of hair with a soul,” says New York City stylist Ouidad, known as the “Queen of Curls.” “A woman with straight hair is a body with a head of hair.”

A stylist can play a key role in helping curly clients embrace their texture.

The first thing any stylist should do is to reassure her clients about her hair, and help her see its beauty. Often, someone with curly hair doesn’t even know they have a natural curl pattern until the stylist tells her.

After a consultation to make sure you and your stylist have similar expectations—something especially important with a curly client—the next step is for the stylist to give you a curl-enhancing cut.

Products—and training in how to use them—is a key step in learning to love your curls. This includes shampooing, conditioning and styling products. Be sure you know how to replicate your new look at home.

A good stylist can have a life-altering effect on a curly girl.

“For years, I was asked ‘Is that a bad perm?’ or ‘Sorry, we have to wait for the manager to get back because I don’t know what to do with this,’ and I had to sometimes re-cut my own hair after horrible non-curl-respecting cuts,” recalled one NaturallyCurly.com member. “Finally I found a stylist who knows what to do, how to do it, and is always willing (and able!!) to change if need be. Finally!”

“Having someone who understands curly/wavy patterns work with my hair, I actually could see my hair’s pattern in a way I never saw it before,” said another NaturallyCurly.com member.

Do you wish more stylists took an interest in working with waves, curls and kinks? We do too.

That’s why the NaturallyCurly and CurlStylist teams were thrilled to team up with Modern Salon to create the first venture of its kind: Texture! Texture! includes information for the consumer and the professional both online and in a special supplement to provide the latest information on how to work with texture.

Our special collaboration launches with a special supplement in the February issue (it will be on stands the first week of February) of Modern Salon, as well as with continuous content on NaturallyCurly.com, CurlStylist.com and ModernSalon.com. We also are coordinating a live event at America’s Beauty Show on March 28 showcasing some of the top curl experts in the country, including Ouidad, Hair Rules’ Anthony Dickey, Jonathan Torch from Curly Hair Solutions, Titi and Miko Branch from Miss Jessie’s and Mahisha Dellinger from Curls.

The content is rich in tips, insights and inspiration to help stylists best serve clients with curly hair, including innovative products, resources and education to help stylists grow their texture business.

Both Modern Salon and NaturallyCurly believe texture is a trend that’s here to stay.

NaturallyCurly.com recently surveyed our members about stylists’ knowledge in working with curly or textured hair. Then, Modern Salon asked stylists similar questions for comparison. Here’s what “she said” and “you said.”

Expertise

Consumer: Do you consider your stylist a curl expert? 68% yes
Stylist: Do you consider yourself a curl expert? 60% yes

Training

Consumer: Do you know if your stylist has had special curl training? 58% no
Stylist: Do you have special curl training? 66% no

Styling Tips

Consumer: Does your stylist provide training on how to style your hair? 65% yes
Stylist: Do you provide curly hair clients with advice on how to style their hair? 98% yes

Products

Consumer: Do you look to your stylist for product recommendations? 62% yes
Stylist: Do you recommend special products to clients with curly hair? 98% yes

Fast Fact

Consumer: 56% visit the salon every 6-12 weeks (more frequent than national average).
Stylist: The majority report that 20% - 50% of their clientele has curly hair (a significant market share).

Natural Coils Curling Jelly

Darcy’s Botanicals is a hobby turned passion. It was born out of entrepreneur Lysandra Taylor’s desire to live a more natural lifestyle, the inspiration of her sister’s natural coils, and the hope that her daughter would grow up feel better about her hair’s natural texture than she had.

Now celebrating its first anniversary, the Georgia-based company sells 25 hair products, including her best selling Madagascar Vanilla Styling Creme—the first product she created. Other standouts include Natural Coils Curling Jelly, Organic Coconut & Aloe Moisture Pudding and new Curl Detangling Milk.

“I absolutely love, love, love what I do,” Taylor says. “I hope that by providing natural and organic products for naturals, curlies, loc wearers and multi-ethnic curls that work, it will make it much easier for us to choose to love and embrace our natural hair.”

Taylor straightened her hair for 20 years. But as she got older, she noticed her hair began to thin and break. Then, when her daughter. Her sister, Olenda Taylor, had gone natural.

“My perception was that it was easier to straighten it,” Taylor says. “But I began to realize that if others could wear their natural, I could find a way to wear my hair natural.”

Lysandra Taylor

Becoming pregnant with her daughter, Darcy, was the final kick she needed to begin the transition because she didn’t want to use chemicals.

The challenge, she says, was figuring out how to work with her natural texture. She began visiting natural hair sites, including NaturallyCurly.com, mixing up butters and creams in her kitchen and researching ingredients that would work with her newly natural coils. Taylor gave her creations to her sister and friends to try, and soon people were requesting Taylor’s formulas. They encouraged her to sell her products.

She realized her hobby had become a viable business, and she incorporated in 2004. She spent the next few years learning how to run her business, and last December, she officially launched Darcy’s Botanicals.

Taylor says her business grew quickly, thanks to Etsy.com, a web site dedicated to handmade goods.

“It kind of happened by accident,” Taylor says. “My web designer was late in getting my site up, and I was in a tizzy. I wanted to be open before December, and I heard about Etsy, which got my name out there to a large market of people who want handmade products. It was a blessing in disguise.”

Taylor has developed new products based on customer feedback. Her newest additions, launched Black Friday, are Cleansing Cream and Herbal Scalp Butter. Based on customer requests, she plans to come out with more products for finer, wavier hair types as well as larger sizes of existing products.

“My customers are always emailing me and asking me to create things for them,” Taylor says. “They tell me exactly what they want. And I listen to them. If this is what they want, I want to give it to them. I’m taking a lot of notes, and learning as I go.”

Darcy’s Botanicals sends out samples with every order so customers can try something new.

She continues to research new oils and butters, and “can’t wait for my ximenia oil”— a natural alternative to silicone—to come in.

“I’ve got to have it!” she says. “I feel like a kid in a candy store.”

Joseph Lentini, SignaCurls

Known as “The King of Curls,” Joseph Lentini has been a premier hair stylist in the U.S. for more than 30 years. Located in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, this classically trained master cutter carefully manages the line between cutting-edge and classic, depending on each client’s goals.

Lentini, a Redken-certified colorist, was featured in Allure magazine’s August 2009 issue spotlighting “Star hairstylists from Manhattan to Melrose Place.” The article states: “Lentini…cheerfully suggested removing bulk without transforming our texture, and streamlined our coils until they rippled past our shoulders instead of ballooning above them. Clearly, a little TLC goes a long way.”

Lentini took some time away from his busy schedule to give NaturallyCurly some tips for fun holiday looks.

NC: What’s a quick, fun look for the holiday season?

Joseph: I recommend buying a set of jumbo hot rollers. Divide your hair into six sections and wrap your curls from the root out. Take them out and let your hair cool. You will have a smooth, tousled, glamorous look. Finish it off with the Signacurl Curl Balm for shine and hold.

NC: What is the hot hair color for this time of year?

Joseph: Chocolate cherry is hot this year because of the vampire-mania created by “Twilight.” It looks nice with most skin tones, especially with the right makeup. Jazz it up with some Chanel red lipstick and false eyelashes, and everyone will notice you.

NC: What’s a fun, easy updo for curly hair?

Joseph: I love doing rosettes. You wrap small sections of hair into a pin curls, and you pin them on top of your head with a bobby pin. It looks like little roses. It doesn’t need to be perfect to look good. In fact, the more messy, the sexier it looks.

NC: What are some tips to keep my curls looking their best as I go from one party to another?

Joseph: Start off with Signacurl Curl Juice to define your curls, and throughout the night, use Curl Care reactivator to rejuvenate your curls.

Book a cut and color with Joseph during the month of December and get 20% and a free bottle of Signacurl Curl Juice Hair Lotion

SignaCurl
116 S. 19th St.
Philadelphia, PA.
215-567-1456
www.signacurl.com

When many people think about high fashion, they think of models strutting down the runway with their hair pulled back into tight chignons.

Australian-born stylist Rodney Cutler, Redken’s Brand Ambassador, believes texture can be the ultimate glamorous accessory.

This season, Cutler says curlies can draw inspiration from the collections of such designers as Chris Benz, Luca Luca and Twinkle. In many cases, stylists had to go to extreme measures to create the texture that those with wavy and curly hair come by naturally.

Cutler believes those with waves, curls and kinks can easily achieve high-fashion, wearable looks with the right products and styling tips.

In January, Redken will unveil several new styling products for curly hair, including soft spin 05 curl-enhancing gel for fine hair, new and improved ringlet 07 curl perfecting lotion for medium hair and curl wise 14 curl defining cream for coarse hair. Rounding out Redken’s curl line up is curl force 17 texturizing spray-gel for all hair types. Each product is designed to make it easy to achieve the most fashionable looks at home.

“I believe in embracing what you have, but taking it to the next level,” Cutler says.

One of Cutler’s favorite looks is a hippie-chic style with hair parted down in the middle, with the curls concentrated at the ends, while hair is flatter at the roots. This was a style seen at both the Twinkle and Chris Benz’ Spring/Summer 2010 runway shows.

“The look is feminine, but also a little wild and edgy at the same time,” Cutler says.

Another hot look that was seen at the Luca Luca show is hair that’s “deconstructed,” with a variety of textures. This may mean brushing out the curls for a less-defined look that is “not contrived,” Cutler says.

“Some people may think deconstructed hair looks frizzy, but it has an airiness to it,” he says.

“The key is to create dramatic looks that are touchable,” Cutler says. “It’s about using just a little bit of product to create texture, hold and separation.”

Luca Luca

Luca Luca

Prep hair with Redken Extreme Shampoo and Conditioner

• Step 1    Apply Redken soft spin 05 curl-enhancing gel to towel-dried hair and diffuse.
• Step 2    Scrunch wool shake 08 gel-slush texturizer through out hair to achieve a disheveled texture.

Chris Benz

Chris Benz

Prep hair with Redken Fresh Curls Shampoo and Conditioner

• Step 1    Apply Redken ringlet 07 curl perfecting lotion to towel-dried hair and diffuse-dry, making sure to keep the volume on the ends
• Step 2    Apply Redken glass 01 smoothing serum throughout midshafts and ends to reduce frizz and add shine.
• Step 3    Finish with Redken quick dry 18 instant finishing spray for added all-day control.

Twinkle

Twinkle

Prep hair with Redken Fresh Curls Shampoo and Conditioner

• Step 1    Apply Redken curl wise 14 curl defining cream to towel-dried hair and diffuse-dry, making sure to keep the volume on the ends.
• Step 2    Set the midshafts and ends with a medium-size curling iron and mist Redken spray starch 15 versatile ironing spray on each section before curling.
• Step 3    Brush the set with a boar bristle brush and mist Redken curl force 17 texturizing spray-gel through the ends for added texture

Visit your Redken salonfor a customized Redken cocktail.

Kevin Murphy

When Kevin Murphy was creating his line of hair-care products, he was told he needed to include a straightening product in the mix.

“I thought, ‘Why would you want that?’” says the Australian celebrity hair stylist, whose styles have graced such magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

Murphy’s attitude has always been that you should work with the texture you have. It is this philosophy that has earned him his nickname “Texture Master.”

“I’m obsessed with texture, in any shape or form,” Murphy says. “Straight hair is a bit boring, a bit flat. I consider flat irons to be taboo.”

Murphy says his own curls sparked the development of his line, which all started with Easy.Rider. He created the styling cream to work with his own long curls - now cut short.

“I used to use body moisturizer on my hair because I needed the moisture and elasticity,” he says.

He started mixing hairspray and body lotion together to create a setting lotion for his salon, and soon clients were requesting it. They used to mix it in 2-liter jars in the back of the salon, but as demand grew, they had to hire a “proper manufacturer.”

This evolved into Easy.Rider - the first product in the line - which contains hydrolyzed moisture as well as green tea, vitamins and lavender. Easy.Rider provides flexible hold and frizz control to activate curls and keep them hydrated.

Murphy says his desire to create a line of hair-care products always stemmed for his desire to help women feel good about their hair.

“I have a lot of passion for this,” he says. “I don’t like to see women struggle with their hair, and I wanted to help them.”

In terms of texture trends, Murphy says “fizz” is in. Fizz, he says, is a controlled version of frizz.

“The hair has to look healthy,” Murphy says. “It can’t be dry.”

The line, which launched last year in the United States, includes shampoos, conditioners, treatments and styling products, which have all been designed for specific hair types. All of the products are sulfate and paraben free and contain high levels of natural ingredients, with high-grade essential oils and amino acids.

The square plastic packaging also is unique. Murphy says the bottles use 40 percent less plastic, yet hold more product than rounded bottles. They also take up 40 percent less space.

He also has developed a variety of tools that help create and control texture. These include Hair.Curlers and Wave.Clips, which provide ways to “control what you’ve got.”

Murphy says he was unsatisfied with the performance of mainstream hair-care products, especially those for wavy and curly hair. Too often, he says they were too heavy and greasy.

Murphy, who oversees all product development, says all of the products in the line evolved out of looks he wanted to create on a photo shoot or while teaching a class.

“I wanted the hair to look a certain way, so I would mix products together,” he says. “But I wanted it all in one product.”

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Murphy made his mark in the Australian hair-care industry in the early 1990s, and his Chapel Street salon became an institution. Although he hasn’t been in a salon since the mid-1990s, Murphy is an in-demand stylist for editorial and advertising shoots, and has coiffed numerous celebrities.

Murphy believes his own head of curls has helped him better work with others who have textured hair. In fact, he goes so far as to say that stylists with curly hair are better at working with curls because of their intimate understanding of the hair type, such as what can make it frizz and how much it shrinks and how to apply products.

“When you have curly hair, you know curly hair,” Murphy says. “I suggest you look for a stylist who has hair like you.”

Murphy shared some of his top curl tips with NaturallyCurly during a recent visit to Austin.

• To get even product distribution, throw your head over and start by applying the styling product on the back, putting it mainly on the ends and work your way up to the roots.
• When it’s drying, rap a turban around your head. That helps control volume and encourage curl formation.
• For thicker, coarser curls, apply product when the hair is soaking hair. For finer, wavier curls, the hair can be half dry to encourage more volume.

Are you trying to walk every day? Have you quit smoking? Have you taken up flossing?

In October, we are focusing on health and wellness, and we would love to hear how you’re working to live a healthier life. We will be selecting a winner who will receive an outfit from the Beyond Yoga Collection valued at $100.

Beyond Yoga is the brainchild of Jodi Guber, who believes a woman’s wardrobe should be chic and flattering but also liberating. Combining irresistibly soft, wrinkle-resistant fabrics with a flexible, unparalleled fit, the Beyond Yoga collection has reached cult status amongst dozens of Hollywood’s leading ladies, including Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Blake Lively, Kristin Davis and many others. Each piece is created to work with the individual’s lifestyle—separates can be paired with jeans and t-shirts, or dressed up with cashmere. The color palette each season is expansive, offering everyday neutrals as well as fashion-forward colors that make a statement.

Congrats to our Healthy Life Contest Winner Monette Chilson

Here is the winning story:

When my kids went back to school this fall, I took the idea of holistic living and balance into the pages of my calendar. Yes, my calendar still has pages—no electronic gadgets for this book-loving gal. When I open up a new week, I check to make sure I have covered all my bases, and I don’t just mean tackling enough items on the never-ending to-do list. I look for specific items each week that will nourish me physically, mentally and spiritually. A yoga class might do double duty as spiritual and physical sustenance. Time to write is crucial for my mental well-being. Doctors appointments—those annual check-ups and regular dentist visits—are a must for my physical upkeep, but they drain me in other ways, so I make sure that I limit them to one a week—no exceptions unless it’s a medical emergency! That’s where the balance comes into the picture. Too much of even a good thing can throw me out of balance, a lesson I learned when I scheduled numerous lunch and coffee dates with several close friends in one week. I love each of them dearly, but the sheer quantity of the time commitment, which would have otherwise been life-giving, knocked me out of balance, squeezing all the time for writing and introspection right out of my week.

Fran Drescher

If someone told actress Fran Drescher a decade ago that her advocacy efforts to bring down women’s cancer death rates would one day land her on a Top 5 list of Hollywood’s political powerhouses — a list that includes people such as George Clooney, U2’s Bono and Angelina Jolie — her reply would be simple.

“Did you just say I was going to get cancer?” says Drescher, everyone’s favorite nanny. “I always imagined myself getting involved in big things. But I never factored in that I was going to be someone who got cancer. It has been a pivotal, life-changing experience.”

Even though she would have gladly bypassed her uterine cancer diagnosis, Drescher says “some of the best gifts come in the ugliest packages.”

Her personal experience with cancer prompted Drescher to launch the Cancer Schmancer Movement two years ago. The movement is dedicated to lowering cancer mortality rates by educating women about the importance and methods of early detection; transforming women from patients into informed medical consumers and shifting the nation’s priority to prevention and early detection as well as finding a cure. Cancer Schmancer was voted the 2009 runner up for the Cancer Fighters Award.

“At Cancer Schmancer, we believe that stage one is the cure,” Drescher says in her infamous voice.

Her passion comes from her own frustrations. She was misdiagnosed and mistreated for a peri-menopausal condition she didn’t have.

“My doctors told me I was experiencing symptoms because of a long list of reasons,” Drescher says. “My doctors didn’t order the proper diagnostic tests. At the time, I didn’t know to ask why or why not because I was just happy to be told I was too young for something!”

Two years and eight doctors later, her worst fear was confirmed in the summer of 2002. She had cancer. Luckily, she caught it in stage one. But the experience inspired her to write “Cancer Schmancer” to tell her own story.

But she came to realize that the book was not an end but rather a beginning to a life mission to improve women’s healthcare in the United States.

“We need to take control of our bodies, become greater partners with our physicians and galvanize as one to let our legislators know that the collective female vote is louder and more powerful than that of the richest corporate lobbyists,” she says. “I got famous, then I got cancer, and now I live to talk about it.”

In September, Cancer Schmancer and I Heart Inc. joined forces with Inner Images to help the low-income, uninsured women of Los Angeles received women’s cancer screening tests in their neighborhoods

John Paul Mitchell Systems’ John Paul and Eloise DeJoria are among two of Cancer Schmancer’s biggest supporters. The Paul Mitchell Schools have raised money for the movement, and in September and October, the company offered a limited edition pink Express Ion Smooth 1.25 iron to raise money for the organization.

“Paul MItchell is a brand rooted in and praise-worthy for its philanthropy, and there’s no other partner I’d rather team with to communicate my message,” Drescher says.

Drescher knows hair. She is a former hairdresser, with a head of naturally curly hair that she wears both straight and curly.

“When I’m working, I like it a little more controllable,” she says. “But I wouldn’t ever straighten it permanently. I like having the options.”

If you’ve been on CurlTalk recently, you’ve probably heard the buzz about the Flexi-8.

“It doesn’t pull at hair the way the clips and barrettes did,” Windflower said.

I love my Flexi-8s! Every time I wear one I get several compliments that day,” says Magoo.

The Flexi-8 is a unique, flexible barrette that is especially adept at holding thick, curly and coarse hair. It uses an ingenious, patented locking mechanism to secure it in your hair and comes in a seven sizes and wide variety of styles. It is made out of stainless music wire, which creates enough tension to hold the hair and keeps it lightweight.

The Flexi-8 got its start 17 years ago, says creator John Dorsey. Originally, he created and sold beaded chop sticks, and that evolved into the unique figure-eight design with a sliding, locking pin. He launched his web site eight years ago.

“Friends say I created the Wonder Bra for hair,” says Dorsey. “Nobody had ever done anything like it before.”

Although he did infomercials and got his Flexi-8 into the top chain stores in the United States, craft shows have been the key to the Flexi-8’s success, Dorsey says.

“When people see it, they love it,” Dorsey says. “Now we get most of our business through referrals.”

There 275 different Flexi-8 designs available on the site, and Dorsey says he is always coming up with new designs and styles. He gets the beads from around the world.

“We wanted to create a wide variety of designs to appeal to different tastes,” Dorsey says. “You have to design, design, design. You need to give customers a reason to come back.”

The most popular design is the Celtic knot. Other popular designs include hearts, butterflies and dragonflies.

The Flexi-8’s popularity with the curlies of the world comes from the ability to customize it to different textures. Unlike many hair accessories, which have a one-size-fits-all approach, there is a Flexi-8 for every hair type and length, Dorsey says. The site provides information about how to find the right size for your hair type.

“It bends around the hair and is fitted based on the thickness of the hair,” he says. “It’s almost like a pair of shoes. Hair is such a personal thing for women.”

Now for a limited time, when you buy four Flexi-8s, you get one free.”