Adding another twist, Massey soon will be taking her Curly Girl philosophy on the road to reach out to curlies in New York and beyond.
“We have a DevaTruck and we’re hoping to drive around to different cities in the spring and stop, like in malls, to get people,” Massey says. “This curl movement is nothing but fun, because curly girls are so much fun. There’s nothing worse than a miserable curly girl, who doesn’t know her hair. But once she does, there’s nothing stopping her.”
Diane DaCosta, curl expert and author of “Textured Tresses,” agrees. Five years ago, DaCosta says her book was a tough sell to publishing executives.
“Now I don’t have to work for it,” says DaCosta, who is currently working on another beauty and style book, this one for teens with textured tresses.
“It’s accepted and it’s not a hard sell anymore because the advertising and commercial business is actually leading me,” she says. “These companies want to capture that market now. The target is the curly, wavy and afro girl.”
And after several years of seminars on textured tresses, DaCosta is also launching an American Beauty Tour starting in early fall in Dallas, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
“The tour is presenting complete fashion, beauty and hair trends of all types of textures with a multicultural audience and then a beauty expert forum to answer all of their questions,” DaCosta says. “Although I knew this would happen one day, it was really hard to believe because it has taken so long. This is the time we can take a stand so it won’t go away.”
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Christo transformed this model’s frizzy mess, above, into gorgeous curls, below.
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Curl expert Christo of New York’s Christo Fifth Avenue Salon is counting on it. In October, he launched free monthly seminars for curlies, which continue to pack his salon.
“This is about education,” Christo says. “We wanted to create more awareness about curly hair because people are trying to decide what kind of texture they have versus going to the salon and waiting for the stylist to tell them. We show them the different types of wavy and curly hair so it makes it easier for them to make choices. We always say it’s your hair, but it’s our passion.”
Curlies also receive one-on-one consultations after the seminar to offer more specifics on what they need to nurture their locks.
Other curl-centric salons like New York’s Ouidad have presented seminars for curly girls as well. This year, however, Ouidad launched a series of events targeting curlies, such as a Curls’ Night Out on Valentine’s Day.
The Curly Hair Institute of Toronto regularly hosts Curly Hair Clinics, a two-hour crash course in curls to help women learn how to care for their curls and kinks. The salon also offers private sessions.
“With our help, we want to help people achieve the salon look all the time,” says Steve Torch, vice president of marketing for the Curly Hair Institute and Curly Hair Solutions. “They become experts on how to work with their hair.”
Curls are even capturing the heart of women who aren’t curly, but want the curly look.
“Digital perms are now the hottest treatment in Asia, where women want to be curly, and Asian hair is not easy to curl,” says Calvet of the new high-tech perm process. “It doesn’t damage the hair, doesn’t smell bad and, more importantly, it leaves a very natural, soft type of wave. We also see that trend now in Paris, London, Vancouver, and it’s slowly coming to the U.S. So, clearly, not only are women embracing the fact that they have curly hair, they want to be curly.”
“I honestly believe curly girls are beyond just a trend because once we do have the answers we won’t go back,” adds Massey. “Curly hair is not here today and gone tomorrow. This is the real deal!”
