Embrace The Curls

 

 When I was growing up straight hair was the rage. Eventually blowouts became popular.  Recently the women's magazines have been including white women who are embracing their hair textures. Women of color have been encouraged more often to embrace their hair texture, but not usually white women. Finally my day has arrived. White women in women's magazines are encouraged to embrace their natural hair texture. I suppose women have gotten sick of trying to manipulate their hair to be something its not . There are also a lot more products for the curly haired than there used to be. I never was one to straighten my hair daily. Its way too time consuming. I also never wanted to be one of those afraid of a rainy day that would ruin my perfectly straightened hair. So boring!  

Its not that curly hair is so simple to take care of, its just that after all these years I have figured out what products to use. Ouidad makes the best curly hair products. Sometimes I put coconut oil on my scalp and hair with a shower cap for a few hours to condition my hair before washing it . I use Tress Effects ( by Ouidad)  for leave in conditioning after I wash my hair. 

  Curls have a life of their own. They often fizzle after a few days or from humidity and just look frizzy. Frizzled curls still look better than a frizzled blowout. I would prefer to embrace my curls rather than try to look like someone I am not.  I'm also too cheap to constantly pay for blowouts. 

Curly Hair Rant

      Curly hair has a mind of its own. The trick to combatting the frizz is the right hair products. I hate how often when curly hair is showcased in a women's magazine its the curly hair of a woman of color instead of a white person with curly hair. I am not saying that they should not show diversity but don't discriminate against showing people who look like me that have curly hair. They also have hair tips for curly haired  people that you can tell were written by straight haired people. My personal favorite dumb tip is when they tell curly haired people to use a curling iron to make their hair look better. EXCUSE ME. My hair is naturally curly. When one has naturally curly hair one does not need a CURLING IRON. I mean really. All a curly haired person needs to make the most of his/her natural texture is the right hair products. Leave in conditioner is a savior. It really perks up naturally curly hair. This is way more effective and much healthier for curly hair. Until fashion editors come to their senses I will continue to skip the hair care sections of every magazine I read. They don't have anything to say to me and my curly haired comrades.

These are my People

 I was so happy to see this Marc Jacobs ad. As a curly haired woman I can tell you that you almost never see this many models with this type of curly hair in a picture. These are my people. The women with the uncontrollable curly hair.Thank you Marc Jacobs. Shana Tova Marc Jacobs.  You made my day.

Who is Ouidad?

   even though i went to jewish schools i was one of the few people who had curly frizzy hair. straight hair ruled. straight hair was always more glamorous.  i always wanted to have smooth , shiny, straight hair like the women in the shampoo commercials on tv. alas that was not meant to be.
i know a lot of closeted curly haired girls. they will never let anyone see them with curly hair and they go weekly to have someone blow their hair straight. they fear rain as much as the wicked witch from the wizard of oz. i have my hair blown straight once in awhile but it is too much work to maintain straight hair when you have hair as curly as mine is. i resolved long ago to embrace my curls. this my friends is what i really like about the message of  ouidad. though she is a business, she strives to empower those of us with curly hair to have pride in our hair.

Ouidad

  i have curly hair. people think that you just wash your hair and voila you have beautiful curls. guess again. it took me until i was 27 to realize that you can only brush curly hair in the shower and perhaps when you are applying leave-in products when you get out of the shower. if you comb or brush your hair once it is dry you will ruin the curls and end up with a frizzy mess.
recently i tried some of the ouidad hair products which were created specifically for curly hair by the curly hair guru ouidad. so far i really like them. they are the only curly hair products that do not leave my hair crunchy or sticky.
so far i have tried the moisture lock leave-in conditioner in tandem with the climate control heat and humidity gel which seem to work well.
ouidad has a salon on fifty-seventh street in nyc. i have never had my hair cut there because it is a bit too expensive for my pocketbook , but i think that the hair products are more reasonably priced and worth the expense.
on ouidad's website she has user friendly instructional videos on how to style curly hair.