Michelle

Gretchen and Michelle, co-founded NaturallyCurly.com 13 years ago this month, and in celebration, are giving you 30 days of curl empowerment giveaways!

When Gretchen and I created NaturallyCurly 13 years ago this month, our main goal was to help people like us learn to love their curly hair. It was truly about empowerment, from the very beginning.

People would send in stories about their own challenges with their curls and kinks, and soon began to realize that they were not alone in their struggles. See, there were other people out there who had fought the same battles, whether it be dealing with name calling or simply with curl-hostile stylists. Through this common bond came a sense of acceptance, and through acceptance, came true power.

What evolved was an amazing community of women and men with waves, curls and kinks, from all corners of the globe. And the power of this very vocal community has helped reshape the curl landscape. When we launched this site, few stylists knew how to work with curls, and few companies had products designed for kinky and curly hair. Today, the curl industry has boomed with hundreds of new curl products, with retail shelves specially designated for this growing category. Stylists are seeking out curl training, and entire salons now focus exclusively on curly haired clients.

Curly hair is not only defining a market, it is taking it over! That is true curl power, and it is this 13-year-old community that got us here!

So, happy 13th anniversary curlies! As a gift to all of you who have made NaturallyCurly what it is, we will be giving away prizes every day during September’s 30 Days of Curl Power. And getting back to our roots, we will feature a different curl story everyday, from men and women across the country. If free products don’t help you to empower your curls, watch what these real people have to say about who they were before they accepted their hair, who they are now, and how their hair has transformed their lives — for the better!

Curl Stories & 30 Days of Curl Power

See how real curlies are empowering their curls!

For Lisa Price, the kitchen has always been a source of inspiration. Price, the founder and president of Carol’s Daughter, has been mixing up her own homemade beauty recipes for nearly 20 years, starting her beauty business with $100 and a homemade lotion recipe in her Brooklyn kitchen.

Today, Carol’s Daughter’s 300 products are still made by hand with natural ingredients, and Price can still be found creating new recipes in the kitchen — this time in a large New York City Office.

To add to her recipe success, Price recently launched Lisa’s Kitchen, a collection of do-it-yourself bath and body kits available on HSN.

NaturallyCurly met up with her and talked about how she became one of the world’s most famous mixtresses and how she has inspired others to make and share their own homemade hair treatments.

NaturallyCurly: How did did it all begin?

Lisa Price:I have loved fragrance since I was a small child, so I found a way to make my own fragrances by blending fragrance oils. Body-care products like Mango Body Butter and Honey Puddin’ grew out of that. At the urging of my mom, Carol (the inspiration for the company’s name), I started selling my products at New York flea markets. Customers asked if I had any products for hair. When I said I had nothing, some would walk away from my table. I didn’t want them to walk away, so I went home and developed Khoret Amen, a hair care oil for dry, damaged or relaxed African-American hair. It was actually pretty easy to develop, and we still sell it today.

When the weather got cold, people came by my apartment to replenish their supply. Soon I wasn’t leaving my house on Saturdays because customers were coming by. By the time I opened my first store in 1999, Carol’s Daughter had sales of $1.7 million.

NC: How did you learn to make homemade beauty recipes?

LP: In the very beginning, I read a lot. I had books on essential oils and herbs and what things were used for what, both in the past and today. Then, I experimented. I was always tweaking things a little bit. If I read a lotion recipe that contained lanoline, I camp up with substitutes for lanolin. I was always reading labels of products on the market, approaching it like you would pasta sauce. Maybe you add a little extra garlic, fresh basil or extra mushrooms and see what happens. I was lucky because I had very willing friends and family to test my recipes. I made changes based on their feedback.

NC: Where do you develop most of your recipes?

LP: Most of the Carol’s Daughter lines have come out of the kitchen. Sometimes, I’ll create something in the kitchen and ask the lab to duplicate it. Other times, I want to work with certain ingredients but I want the texture of a certain conditioner. So, I’ll say “How can I incorporate chocolate? How is it available so I can incorporate its benefits into this product?” I come up with ideas for bodycare products while I’m watching cooking shows.

NC: What inspired you to put a kitchen in your office?

LP: Initially, we talked about putting the kitchen in my office for educational videos or news pieces, but my office is so big and spacious that I’ve been able to move things from home so I don’t have to worry about my 4-year-old taking out a bottle of fragrance. I love having the kitchen to experiment in. It is a working kitchen. There are days when I get an idea, and right then and there I’ll concoct something. When I got into making body splashes, I went into the kitchen and began mixing oils together and put it into the fridge.

NC: How does it feel to have inspired a whole new generation of mixtresses?

LP: It’s really nice to know I’ve had that kind of impact. When I started out, I had a friend who was doing a similar thing. We felt like we were these two crazy ladies in Brooklyn who made things in their kitchens. It’s wonderful to think of people looking at a jar of preserves and daydreaming about how to make it into a scrub.

Women cite numerous reasons for going natural. For Tauri Laws-Phillips, Tigi Haircare’s media and public relations manager, transitioning to natural hair after 16 years of relaxers was prompted by her upcoming wedding.

Her blonde, blue-eyed fiancé looked much different than her, and she realized her children were probably going to have hair that wasn’t like hers. She thought about her own biases about her kinky hair, and how they had come from her mother’s views about her own hair. She wanted her children to grow up with a more positive attitude about their hair, whether it be wavy, curly or kinky.

“I have a family where in which we have the full range of color and texture of hair you have in the African-American culture represented,” Laws-Phillips says. “I remember my family’s negative feelings about their natural hair texture. Such an importance was put on having straighter hair. All of us were relaxed so young—subscribing to what other’s views of beauty was. If I couldn’t embrace who I was, how could I teach my children to accept themselves? If I’m changing things about me, how can I help them accept who they are, exactly how they were made?

“I made the decision I wasn’t going to do another relaxer,” she says. “That’s when I started to fall in love with what it could look like. A lot of CurlyNikki and YouTube brought me to that realization.She started transitioning immediately.

She wore braids and roller sets for a year. Then, for a friend’s wedding, she let her straighten my transitioning hair.

” Afterwards, I was pulling out masses of hair,” she says. “When I got home, I made decision it was all over. After work, I got out the spray bottle and I cut the front first. Then, I cut all of my hair. I took a picture of my now husband as he came through the door.

“It’s beautiful,” he exclaimed.

“I thought ‘I can’t do that,’” she says. “I thought there was no way I could look presentable. I thought I would look terrible.”For most of her life, though, Laws-Phillips thought going natural was something other people did.

Tauri, pre-transitioning

Today, Laws-Phillips is celebrating her 2-year natural hair anniversary, and has no regrets about

Laws-Phillips says transitioning to natural hair is both emotional and physical. It’s about changing your views, confronting your bias and getting up close and personal with the idea of how you’re going to look with natural hair.

“It’s about getting comfortable in your own skin,” Laws-Phillips says. ‘As your hair is growing out, it’s a great time to look at pictures and re-pattern all the thoughts you have about your hair.”

For so many years, she says her natural roots were the “big bad wolf”—signaling another trip to the stylist for a relaxer.

“When you’re transitioning to natural hair, you come to think about the new growth as something exciting,” she says. “It’s exciting to see whether you’re going to be a 3c or a 4a or a 4b. It’s kind of like the birthing process.”

“For the most part, my family is supportive,” she says

Her husband loves her natural hair.

Tauri after her big chop, August 2009

“He knows everything possible about black hair,” she says. “He went to see the movie ‘Good Hair.’ He helped me take out my braids. He can tell anybody what product I’m using on any given day. It was really good for us because he went on the journey with me. It was important for him to understand what I was doing and why it was culturally important. Important especially for him to help understand how to support his children in the same way.”

It took her mother a little longer to get used to her new look. “When I was getting married, my mom asked if I was getting a relaxer for the wedding,” Laws-Phillips says

“Are you getting a straightener?” she asked.

That wasn’t an option for Laws-Phillips, who said she wasn’t about to go back. “For the wedding, I wore it in a twist-out puff,” she says. “It ended up raining the entire day so I though there was no reason to try to fight nature. I looked like me.”

Laws-Phillips joined Tigi in March, and is loving the opportunity to discover new product combinations.

“There’s no better job for a product junkie,” Laws-Phillips says.

Find transitioning trips and product recommendations from this tried and true transitioner on the next page.

It’s no secret that many women rely on hair extensions for longer, thicker hair. But it appears that a growing number of people are willing to break the law to get them.

According to “The New York Times,” theft of real hair extensions and wigs is on the rise. Some robberies have ended in death, while others have perplexed cops completely: it seems thieves would rather walk out with hair than cash.

An article in the “Times” reports that, “during the past two months alone, robbers in quest of human hair have killed a beauty shop supplier in Michigan and carried out heists nationwide in which they have made off with tens of thousands of dollars of hair at a time.”

Once stolen, the real hair extensions are typically sold on the street or on the Internet, including eBay, according to shop owners and police. In recent weeks, packages of hair that may have sold for $80 or $100 retail have sold for as little as $25 out of car trunks in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Houston. Hair can be sold at the same types of beauty salons and supply shops that are being burglarized.

The most expensive hair type—and the one in highest demand by thieves and paying customers alike—is remy hair, which unlike most other varieties, is sold with its outermost cuticle layer intact, according to the “New York Times” article. This allows it to look more natural and to last longer without tangling. Remy hair from Indian women is the most popular. (Remy hair extensions can cost as much as $200 per package, and the average person requires at least two packages.)

“They’re selling it to stylists who work out of their house, they’re selling it on the street, they’re selling it out of the car,” said Lisa Amosu, a Houston salon owner of My Trendy Place. “People who don’t want to pay the prices will buy it from the hustle man. It’s like the bootleg DVDs and the fake purses. But this is a quality product.”

Meet CurlyNikki in Orlando!

CurlyNikki and Mizani are joining forces on June 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Blue Martini Orlando for a celebration of hair in all of its natural textures. This will be CurlyNikki’s first meetup for her readers in the state of Florida. The event will be held during Premiere Orlando, one of the hair industry’s biggest trade shows.

“It’s a great partnership,” says Veronique Morrison, Mizani’s Director of Education. “CurlyNikki has built an amazing network of women who are passionate about natural hair. We’re happy to champion her, and what she’s doing. It coincides with what’s important to us in the beauty industry—a passionate exchange of ideas.”

Mizani, a division of L’Oréal USA, offers a complete line of professional treatments customized to suit the individual needs of each texture, including naturally curly and highly coiled hair types. The event will feature Mizani giftbags for the first 350 guests, and models showcasing some of the hottest natural hairstyles, courtesy of Mizani. Light appetizers will be served.

Blue Martini Orlando is located at 4200 Conroy Road, Suite H-246. RSVP to michelle@naturallycurly.com. Space is limited.

Although Rachel Blistein has a head of tight 3c ringlets, she doesn’t want her new line of natural hair products to be limited to those with curls, kinks and coils.

Rachel Blistein

“It would have been easier to create a line for curly hair, but I believe strongly it is important to address every hair type,” Blistein says. “It grew into Original Moxie.”

3-D Diagnostic System

Original Moxie is a line of paraben- and sulfate-free hair products which can be customized to your hair based on the 3-D Diagnostic System displayed on each product’s label. The system classifies hair according to three characteristics: density (thickness and strand diameter), dryness and degree of curl.

“Most hair-care companies target their products to broad categories like curly or straight, or simply ignore hair type altogether,” Blistein says. “We understand that purchasing hair products can be confusing and want to make sure that our customers are fully engaged partners in the process, and that they have all the tools they need to choose a product that will work for them.”

Learning to Love Her Curls

Like many of NaturallyCurly’s visitors, Blistein had an adversarial relationship with her hair growing up. She was surrounded by friends with straight, feathered ‘dos and was “always searching for a look that was unattainable.” She chemically relaxed her hair, damaging her scalp and turning her hair into straw.

It wasn’t until grad school at Morgan State University, a historically black school, that she truly accepted her tight curls.

“It was an eye-opening experience to see all these beautiful women with hair of all different curl problems,” Blistein says. “Suddenly, my hair wasn’t something to be remarked upon. It was just normal.”

So began her quest to truly embrace her curls—a journey that included Lorraine Massey’s “Curly Girl: The Handbook” and experimentation with every kind of hair product available.

Original Moxie products

Dissatisfied with what was available, she started concocting her own products four years ago, researching ingredients and customizing existing recipes using a variety of ingredients.

“I started figuring out what worked and what didn’t,” Blistein says. “Basic chemistry is something most people can understand. But I think you have to have a good intuitive sense of the properties of ingredients.”

She started off making products for herself and her curly friends, including a deep conditioner, a leave-in conditioner and a no-foam shampoo. Eventually, she came up with products for her straight-haired husbands.

“Those ends of the spectrum grew closer and filled the gaps,” Blistein says.

A Moxie Girl is Born

Blistein originally launched Original Moxie in 2009, getting her products onto the shelves of a local natural-food retailer.

“That was the moment I thought, ‘This is serious and I need to put time into it’,” Blistein says.

She launched her web site in December, and now sells her Original Moxie products at stores and salons around Michigan.

Her product offerings, which all contain natural herbs and botanical oils, have evolved over time with the help of customer requests. One woman, for example, had extensions and asked for a mix between an oil and lotion that would be easier to apply. The result was Scalp Therapy.

“That’s typical for most of the products,” she says. “It’s a personal development process.”

Original Moxie has grown to 18 products. Roughly 80 percent work well on curly hair, Hair Bling High Shine Pomade, Intense Quench Deep Conditioner and Twist Mist Lightweight Shine. The company’s slogan is “be youtiful,” which sums up the company’s philosophy of celebrating differences. Its logo—a curvaceous peacock with tail unfurled, is meant to convey a sense of pride in your own unique style—whether your hair is straight, super coily, or somewhere in-between.

“Curly hair will always be my first love,” she says. “When you’re curly, and you find something that works, it really can change your whole life. But I believe my products for straight hair are just as strong as my curly products. I get misty eyed knowing I’m crossing racial and textural divisions at my company.”

Andre Walker has styled Oprah’s hair for many years.

Developed by Oprah’s personal stylist of 25 years, Andre Walker Hair Products, is offering an exciting chance to win two tickets to one of the very last Oprah Winfrey shows. The sweepstakes is open to the public and free to enter by visiting the Andre Walker Hair Facebook Page or Andre Walker’s web page.

The winner will receive two tickets to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” round-trip airfare for two to Chicago, two nights at a Chicago luxe hotel and a meet and greet with Andre Walker. Rules and regulations apply.

One winner will be randomly chosen for the winner and a guest to attend “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Subsequently, the winner will be announced on HSN during the next Andre Walker segment. Entrants must be legal U.S .residents and 18 years old to enter. Tickets must be redeemed by the deadline listed in the rules and regulations for travel before May 25, 2011, or the last “Oprah Winfrey Show.” For more information on the Andre Walker Hair/HSN Sweepstakes, please visit their web site.

Andre Walker’s hair typing system from his book “Andre Talks Hair” was the foundation for the system of hair types that has evolved at NaturallyCurly.

Andre Walker Hair, launched in November 2010 by seven time Emmy winning stylist to Oprah Winfrey, offers a line of hair care products developed by the finest raw ingredients to nurture all hair types.

A Derby reveler shows his style.

This Kentucky Derby attendee is a vision in pink.

A stunning Derby hat stands out in the crowd.

Earl Spencer’s daughters show a variety of hat styles at William and Kate’s wedding.

Queen Elizabeth wore a lovely yellow hat to her grandson’s wedding..

Justine Thornton, partner of Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband sports a lively hat.

If you didn’t get the hint from the Royal Wedding, than Sunday’s Kentucky Derby left no question. The hottest accessory of the moment is the hat—the bigger and more flamboyant, the better.

This year’s Kentucky Derby hats showcased America’s talent for taking something another country is doing and trying to do it bigger and better. Feathers? Of course! A brim that flops down to the ground? Why not? Strange shape? The stranger the better!

Hats and Curls?

Although hats may not seem curl friendly, curls actually are perfectly suited for hats if you choose the right hat styles and follow a few simple steps.

“Curly hair is actually better suited for hats than straight hair,” says Jonathan Torch of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute and creator of the Curly Hair Solutions line of products. “One of the greatest joys of curly hair is you can get away with a greater variety of hats.”

Curls provide ideal support for a hat, Torch says. “You can tilt it any way, and it stays. The hat becomes an accessory rather than covering the head.”

Lorraine Massey, author of “Curly Girl” and co-founder of DevaConcepts, loves hats of all kinds — “some with crown space, some close to the head.”

Find the Right Fit

Look for hats that fit the proportion of your hair. If it’s too tight on top, the hair can look clownish (think Bozo!). In some cases, it may mean buying a larger hat than your head size in order to accommodate the volume of your hair.

Christo of curl salon Christo Fifth Avenue suggests opting for soft fabrics that are breathable and easy to remove, without changing the shape of the curl. Some women with curls and kinks like looser-fitting hats such as berets, tams and sock hats.

Quick Tips

When wearing a hat, make sure your hair is completely dry. Otherwise, it will leave a strong demarcation line that is hard to correct.

To make a hat look its best, put your head upside down to get as much lift and support at the root area as possible. Then put the hat lightly on your hair.

“Gravity will allow the hat to settle on its own,” Torch says.

When Massey does wear hats, she makes sure to keep clips in her curls at the crown to keep it lifted. “It actually aids in frizz prevention because the frizz can’t rise up,” she says.

Torch stresses that the hair exposed should be frizz-free and defined. “Otherwise, tuck it underneath.”

Hat Head Fixes

On the days you wear hats, carry along some pomade or a curl rejuvenator to combat “hat head.” Some good ones to try include Curly Hair Solutions Tweek and Jessicurl Awe Inspiraling Spray.

“When you want to fix hat head, it’s about fixing from the roots,” Torch says. “Take some Tweek and start rubbing it around the crown. It creates volume. The more you play with the demarcation area, the more you can correct the indentation.”

Embrace your natural texture at Ulta’s event.

During May, ULTA’s “Love Your Hair” event aims to help women who spend hours trying to straighten their curly locks or curl their stick-straight hair.

The event will be held in 400 ULTA stores May 8 through May 28.

Love Your Hair focuses on the products, tools and cuts that make the most of a woman’s hair, with easy suggestions to help her embrace her natural hair tendencies. Each week focuses on a particular hair type with live demonstrations by the experts at the Salon at ULTA.

Special live demonstrations take place twice weekly. Attendance is free, and no reservations are needed!

May 8 – May 14

The focus is on naturally curly hair all week with tricks on how to make the most of natural fullness. Curly hair live demonstrations will be held on Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.

HINT: Have the curly hair, blow dryer blues? Try showering at night before bed and while hair is wet, apply a curl creme. Section off hair, twirl each section around fingers and use a bobby pin to secure to scalp. By the time the sun rises, you are sure to have luxurious frizz-free curls!

May 15 – May 21

AVY hair is the star all week with tips on how to define waves and add shine. Wavy hair live demonstrations will be held on Wednesday, May 18, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 21, 12 p.m. – 3p.m.

HINT: Define those waves! Finish off a wavy look with a non-aerosol fixing spray for long-lasting humidity resistance and all-day frizz control. Twirl hair around your fingers to shape curls in front of face for a more polished look.

May 22 – May 28

Explore the many options of styling straight hair all week. Straight hair live demonstrations will be held on Wednesday, May 25 and Thursday, May 26 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.

HINT: Dry shampoo adds volume and spares you shampoo time leaving hair smelling and feeling fresh. Whether you use a powder or spray-on product, the oil-absorbing dry shampoo will keep your blowout looking beautiful for an extra day.

Details can be found a Ulta.com.

As I Am Smoothing Gel

When the As I Am brand for natural hair was launched earlier this year, Joy became the official face of the brand. Joy represents the collective know-how of a number of real life natural-textured women who are highly knowledgeable and experienced in the care and styling of hair. Her mission is to help others embrace their natural hair.

NaturallyCurly wanted to learn more about Joy, and her own hair journey. She was thrilled to share her story in the hopes she could help others accept their coily, kinky texture.

NaturallyCurly: How old are you?

Joy: Joy doesn’t tell her age. I just like to say I’m fully grown, but young at heart.

NC: Have you always embraced your natural texture?

Joy: As a young girl, I did not. Like many African American women, I somehow got the notion in early childhood that certain hairstyles and hair textures are “pretty” and my natural tight-coily texture was not. It would take teams of psychologists and sociologists to unravel all of the reasons why these notions are so entrenched in our culture; however, I am certain that the media and social norms play a major part. At the age of six, my hair was straightened (pressed) for the first time, and at age 13 or so, I got my first relaxer. Over the years, I attempted to “go natural” a number of times, only to go back to either chemically- or thermal- straightened hair when I could not seem to style it or get a look I was happy with. It’s been a little over two years since I made the decision to be forever natural… to joyously embrace the texture that nature provided.

NC: How would you describe your hair?

Joy: My hair is type 4b, a very typical texture among African descent people. It has a definite coil pattern, configured much like the small springs in retractable ink pens.

NC: What advice would you give women who want to transition?

Joy: I would first say to practice patience. As you grow in your natural texture, the new growth can make styling your hair in its usual style a virtual nightmare. You may be tempted to use a lot of heat to blend the coily with the straight. This is not the best approach because high heat styling can straighten natural coils permanently. Additionally, I have three main things to suggest: (1) As you transition, It’s a good idea to switch to styles that better match your natural texture, like those created with rod sets, straw sets and braids (that are not too tight). In this way, you are coaxing your chemically-treated hair to behave more like your natural texture and not the other way around, (2) trim your hair gradually if you are not one to go straight to the “big chop.” When you have only 2-3 inches of straight hair left, then go for it! Cut all of the straight portions off, and (3) begin to “baby” your hair during the transition, just like you will want to do once your hair is fully natural. Use only the gentlest, most hydrating sulfate-free cleansers, deep condition often with a great conditioner, avoiding high-protein conditioners, except perhaps on the relaxed part of your hair (animal protein can harden the hair). Avoid styling products that contain alcohol and keep your hair well moisturized with rich emollients.

In my case, I wore weaves for two years as my hair grew out. My stylist would go easy on the underneath cornrows so that my hair would not thin out. I got my weave redone fairly often – every 6 to 8 weeks – and made sure to deep condition my hair well before the next one was sewn in. And I think this is very important… begin to visualize yourself wearing your natural texture – starting now. If you do weave your hair, select textured hair and have it styled attractively so that you can begin to see yourself natural. Weaving is not for everyone. Some would say that wearing weaves defeats the purpose of going natural, in the sense that they fall short of accepting yourself as you are. This, however, is an emotional thing for many women and we’ve got to cut each other a break. Some women will continue to blow dry their hair straight, even after going all natural… others will not. Some will wear weaves and braid extensions as they move away from chemical straighteners… others won’t. Some brave ladies go for the big chop and look and feel absolutely beautiful in a matter of a few minutes… others can’t fathom this idea.