Curly hair has an undeniable charm, for sure, but when it comes to styling and caring for it, often both hairdressers and curly-haired people feel a little lost. But, worry no more. Vidhi Arya from Professional Beauty India notes down the go-to rules for managing curly hair through a candid conversation with Agnes Chen, National Technical Head, Olaplex & Kevin Murphy.
Curly hair is specifically technical to deal with. What is the golden rule that must be followed with curly hair?
Curly hair is a very technical, classified kind of hair and it is one of my favourite types of hair to wear and to suggest to people. But, having said that, curly hair is something that not a lot of hairdressers or even the end consumer understand. Not many know how to look after curly hair. Especially now we are in the midst of monsoons and we are battling with a high level of humidity, which makes the curly hair go very frizzy.
For people who have curly hair or for hairdressers who have clients with curly hair, the bottom line and the golden rule is never to brush the hair. Don’t comb the hair, don’t run fingers through the hair when the hair is dry. They can only brush or comb the hair when the hair is washed and towel-dried.
People with curly hair need to use a leave-in product in their curls or towel-dried hair. So, styling products or a frizz-fixing kind of creme is a lifeline for people who have curly hair.
What do you suggest artists should do when they are styling curly hair?
When styling curly hair, you should go with the natural flow. We should not try to bend the curly hair and make it straight or make it into a voluminous blowout. We should ideally just put in a leave-in cream and a curl-styling creme into the hair and just twist it, twirl it, and scrunch it. Then we can let it dry naturally.
When hairdressers are doing a haircut for curly hair, do you think too much experimentation is a good idea? What do you usually suggest?
Curly hair is hair that is very difficult to cut and it is very challenging for many hairdressers. People who have curly hair have their own set of very fixed hairdressers that they would go to. All this is because there is a certain way of cutting curly hair. It is definitely is an art. So, the suggestion is layers. Curly hair should be cut in layers. It is the best-suited cut for curls.
There are so many hairdressers who would suggest procedures like smoothening and keratin for curly hair, what’s your take on that?
These procedures are good for our hair, in all. But, many times because of a lack of knowledge, they would suggest these for curly hair. In my opinion, it is the wrong approach. It is basically the shortcut approach that is going against the grail. If God has blessed you with curly hair, you need to understand, love, and embrace that hair and learn the basics of managing curly hair.