NaturallyCurly: How and when did you start embracing your own curls?
Stephanie: For me it was not until my 20s that I started learning to care for my curls, and even now I’m still learning. At the same time, that age is when I also started embracing myself as I was, and stopped looking to fit in so much, accepting my own unique traits in general. But in my childhood, products for our hair, hair like my twin sister and mine, just didn’t exist. So we either braided it up, used things that were too heavy, greasy, or oily, or cut it short and tried not to get the pyramid look. The cuts were not always successful! Many a school picture can attest to that. One year when we were in our teens we even made a trip to NYC from our home in the Midwest to visit a certain hair salon and guess what: that short hair cut was a disaster. So I didn’t always feel attractive with this hair, until I learned how to make it look beautiful with the right haircare. It didn’t help living in an area where almost nobody had curly hair!! Being the only biracial girls in a white suburban neighborhood/school environment, and trying to use products that the kids around us were using just didn’t work! I mean washing too often with Herbal Essence shampoo wasn’t working. My twin sis and I are writer/performers and did our Curly Monologue performance about this, living curly in a straight and narrow world. So I felt more powerful and curly goddess-like as I grew older and started figuring out how to get rid of the frizzy look, I have to admit.
Suzanne: Definitely not until adulthood as my sister and I hardly ever wore our long curly hair out growing up! Then I started experimenting with short hair—though it had to be cut often or would grow into a shapeless bush. Now, I LOVE all the natural bush/afro styles that people are wearing. I kept experimenting until finding a flattering length, which is definitely longer. Now, even though in the workplace–and in general–sleek, smooth hair is the norm and the standard, I love and wear my hair naturally curly—and long–because it is who I am and how I feel my natural best.
NaturallyCurly: Any Holy Grail products?
Stephanie: I try different ones all the time. I don’t rely on just one brand. After a while, if I see that my hair stops responding to certain products in the way I liked, I try something else. It can be hit or miss. Today I tried Ouidad Moisture Lock Define and Shine cream and my hair actually looks great. I’m loving it today.
Suzanne: The products for curly hair are getting better and better, thankfully!! I LOVE Miss Jesse’s Curly Pudding (it smells good too”>, any type of Moroccan oil, and recently, since working on Project Curly —Ouidad whose products are FANTASTIC. My hair just laps up anything Ouidad now, haha.
