NaturallyCurly: Please introduce yourself!
Petra Lovric: Hi, my name is Petra. I’m Croatian and in my final year as a Marketing and International Business student. I feel like I was born to travel—I can never get enough of seeing new places and meeting new people. I play the violin and the piano, and I’ve been a diehard fan of music for as long as I can remember. I’m also eager to learn new languages, I adore Mexican food, and I love visiting old antique shops. Last but not least, I’m very into hairdressing…and I have had a lot of practice!
NC: How and when did you start embracing your curls
PL: I was born with frizzy hair. It was so thick that I couldn’t even put it in a ponytail! My mom took me to the hairdresser to thin out my hair a little…I still kind of regret it, but we didn’t know the first thing about taking care of my hair!
My mom has big, heavy curls that were bigger and looser than mine are today—I inherited my dad and my grandparents’ different curl types too, so I have a mix. I’ve always loved my curly hair…I never wanted it to be straight. The only thing that I’ve never loved is frizz and occasional tangling. All the women in my family have taught me to be proud of and to cherish my curly hair as something beautiful and unique! All of us were teased in school for having it, told that curly hair was a physical “disorder.” That made us hold on to wearing it natural and curly even more, in spite of those evil, jealous, straight-haired people who secretly keep curling products hidden in their closets!
NC: What is your current routine?
PL: I tend to use products which don’t contain harmful ingredients, although it’s hard to find them as I don’t do much online shopping. I use shampoo mostly on the top of my head—the curls and ends are the conditioner area. You don’t want to fill your already dehydrated hair with too much soap! The conditioner goes first, because it helps me to detangle some parts of my curls. I only use a brush if it is impossible to detangle using my fingers. After rinsing, I use shampoo and then condition again. After I wash everything out, I gently squeeze excess water out of my hair and then hold my head down and scrunch my curls. Next, I put the whole bunch of my curls in a microfiber towel and wrap it tightly, like a turban. When it soaks the rest of the water out of my hair, I remove it, hold my head down, put in leave-in conditioner, and then dry my curls with a diffuser. After a minute of drying, I put in hair cream or some mousse, but not too much of it! I don’t want my curls to be too shiny or sticky! Finally, I finish the drying process, still holding my head down while scrunching the curls with my hands.
NC: So from start to finish, on a curly day, what’s your process?
PL: I never use brushes or combs. I don’t use anything other than a big hair clip during the day—I usually wear my curls in a side ponytail held with a big plastic hair clip. And at night, I put it in a snood so it doesn’t get tangled.
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