The Wedding Dress and the ‘Do

by Teri Evans on Saturday, May 30th, 2009

What makes a picture-perfect bride? The curly coif should match the style of the wedding gown, says curl expert Christo of New York’s Christo Fifth Avenue salon.

It’s a critical step in creating the overall look on your wedding day. In fact, Christo says he always asks to see a bride’s dress before even considering how to style her hair.

Here we provide several sensational style options to match the five most-popular dream dresses. Whether your client envisions a wedding day steeped in elegant tradition or dazzling drama, here are some ideas that should suit every bride.

Empire

STYLE: A Renaissance dress with a raised waistline placed just below the bust, while the rest of the gown flows freely to the hem.

BEST SUITED FOR: Curly

This captivating gown is reminiscent of the Victorian era. (Think of Ang Lee’s movie “Sense & Sensibility.”)

“This is my favorite dress for naturally curly hair, because you can leave a lot of curls showing,” Christo says. “Curls can either tied back or loose, and it’s very romantic.”

If she chooses to wear her hair half-up, half-down, Christo suggests taking small sections of curls — starting from the temples and then ear to ear — and tie them into small knots (as you would a rope). To sprinkle in more romance and innocence, adorn the ‘do with baby’s breath or miniature roses.

“You can also add extensions for a more dramatic look, as long as they match your hair texture,” Christo says.

Ball gown

STYLE: A traditional, fairy-tale dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt. Think Cinderella!

BEST SUITED FOR: Curly

This enchanting gown also offers several style options for curly brides, especially those with long, textured tresses, according to Christo.

“The ball gown is more dramatic, so you can create more drama with your curls,” Christo says. “You can go with big hair because the gown is full on the bottom. If the dress is over the shoulders and you’re showing the back a bit, leave the hair down, and you can even add extensions. If she chooses a high neckline, put some of the hair up and create big, glamorous curls.”

Or, opt for a modern French twist, allowing some curls to peek out from the back and around the face.

Mermaid

STYLE: A dramatic dress that hugs curves from the bust to the knee, then flares out to the hem.

BEST SUITED FOR: Wavy to Curly

This alluring gown looks best with hair in beautiful waves, letting them flow like the sea’s cascading currents.

“This dress is very romantic, allowing for a lot of movement,” says Christo, noting that brides with tighter curls may want to consider softening the spirals into waves.

His style suggestion? Create a little height at the crown, gather one side of your loose curls or waves and sweep them back with a flower, then let it be!

Consider a richly fragrant, beautiful bloom like a wild gardenia, calla lily, magnolia, or the ever-romantic rose.

A-Line

STYLE: A classic dress that is fitted around the bust and flows out to the hem, resembling the shape of an uppercase A.

BEST SUITED FOR: Straight to Wavy

This dress can be worn with curly hair, but you will want to simplify the texture, Christo says.

“This dress always looks best when the hair is pulled up,” he says. “If you leave your curly hair down, you’re taking a style that’s very simple and you’re making it very busy. If you have tight curls, loosen them up a bit with a curling iron.”

Christo suggests positioning the hair off the face into a side-swept, loose ponytail or pulling it back into a bun (with a few curls peeking out) and accessorize! If you have wavy hair or loose curls, use a curling iron all around and then tuck small groupings of curls away from the face.

Another option? Create a ponytail at the crown, then loop the hair in a chignon around the ponytail. Add a simple, beautiful flower, and you’re done!

Sheath

STYLE: An elegant sheath dress that hugs the body from the neckline to the hem.

BEST SUITED FOR: Straight to Wavy

If she chooses this body-contouring style, remember that less is more when it comes to creating a magnificent mane.

“This is another simple style so the hair shouldn’t be busy,” Christo says. “It should be completely off the face. If you show too many curls, it will look enormous compared to the dress!”

Instead, he suggests gently pulling back your textured tresses with a side or off-center part, then create a twist, a simple ponytail or a low bun. Add a touch of elegance with natural flowers — or a little glitter to spice it up a bit.

Planning tips for curly brides:

The Mane Manual for Curl Philosophies

by Teri Evans on Saturday, May 30th, 2009

The options seem endless. Do you shampoo your clients using a sulfate-free cleanser? Should you cut curls wet or dry? Should you forego the flat iron forever? Confused yet?

There are a growing number of philosophies to consider when caring for clients’ curls.

Rest easy — we cut through the clutter and gathered the top experts in the curly world for their bottom-line stance on cutting, cleansing and styling.

These curl experts have invested decades in studying and styling curly hair. Their life’s mission revolves around curls! Although their approaches may differ, their goal is the same: creating gorgeous, healthy curls for their clients.

CURL EXPERT:

Shari Harbinger, partner of Lorraine Massey of New York’s Devachan Salon

CUT: When stylists at Devachan Salon prep for a curly cut, they know to trust their intuitive eye and their visual eye.

“You can’t really understand that if the hair is wet because you’re not seeing the hair as you wear it, in its natural form, which is dry,” says Shari Harbinger, who emphasizes that curls should be cut only when the hair is dry.

When curlies make an appointment at Devachan, they’re asked to stop shampooing their curly locks one to two weeks before their cut, although daily conditioning is recommended. When they step into the stylist’s chair, clients are required to arrive with their hair dry and in its natural state, uncombed and without any products in it at all.

“We look at the face shape, the hair, the curl type, the hydration level, and all those factors will determine where we cut, and how much we cut,” Harbinger adds.

The only tools in a Devachan curly cut are scissors and the stylist’s hands — no combs or brushes.

“Combs aren’t necessary because you’re then stretching the curl out of its natural form, which defeats the whole purpose of cutting curly hair in its natural order,” she says.

CLEANSE & CONDITION: Curly hair can’t get enough moisture, and Harbinger says sulfates in shampoos add to the dehydration of curly locks.

“The philosophy is to remove the sulfates from the product, which are the harsh, lathering and dehydrating ingredients found in 99 percent of the conventional shampoo on the market,” says Harbinger, noting DevaCurl’s product line includes No-Poo, a sulfate-free botanical cleanser. “Just by virtue of eliminating those sulfates and replacing them with botanically derived ingredients, the hair responds immediately.”

If curls are extremely dehydrated, she recommends conditioning every day. For a deeper treatment, Harbinger recommends leaving in the daily conditioner for a half hour to intensify the hydration.

“But you can cleanse every other day because our styling products have nothing synthetic in them to cause buildup or to make the hair feel dirty,” Harbinger says.

STYLE: The styling process begins the moment you’ve stepped out of the shower, Harbinger says.

“Gently tilt your head over, in an upside down position, and squeeze the excess water out of the hair with paper towels or a cotton t-shirt in an upward scrunching motion,” Harbinger says. “Regular towels cause friction and cause the cuticle of curly hair to fray and appear frizzy. They also absorb too much water out of the hair. For the best curl definition, you want to remove just enough water to release the curl of its own water weight and that’s best done by using a paper towel.”

Once you’ve applied a leave-in conditioner and/or gel, then gently bring your head and hair to an upright position and gently shake the curls.

“Wherever they lay, they shall stay,” says Harbinger, who recommends adding clips to the crown for additional lift. “Do not touch the curls when they’re drying because that can create frizz and cause the curl to lose its formation.”

As for flat irons, Harbinger views them as a “death sentence for all hair.”

“Every time you flat iron or ‘blow fry’ the hair, you’re one step further away from your curls being the best they can be,” Harbinger explains. “You’re compromising the elasticity of the curl. The curls will never be as authentic as they can be if they’re in a push-me, pull-me cycle or back and forth.”

Harbinger emphasizes that curly hair is not a trend, it’s a lifestyle.

“If we understand what we have and how to work with it, we can learn to embrace and love our curls,” she says.

CURL EXPERT:

Christo, Artistic Director of New York’s Christo Fifth Avenue Salon

CUT: Christo has always believed curly hair should be cut wet.

“Curly hair, when you cut it dry, won’t have the freedom of style,” Christo says. “You may wear your hair curly 90 percent of the time, but maybe the other 10 percent, you want to wear your hair in glamorous waves or you want to blow it straight. I think you should have that option.”

Your textured mane should only be combed (wide-tooth comb only!) when it’s wet and then allowed to bounce back, according to Christo. “That way you can see how the curl is going to bounce, and then you cut accordingly,” he explains. “If the hair is dry, how is it going to bounce? It doesn’t.”

Since there may be many textures on one curly head, Christo may choose to texturize tresses using regular scissors, channel scissors or a double-blade razor on wavy, coarse hair.

“Some people have wavy hair on the bottom, while it’s curly on the top, so you can texturize the bottom in long angle layers, but you have to know to know what you’re doing,” Christo says. “You want the waves to lock into each other — not become bushy and frizzy.”

After the hair is cut and then dried with a diffuser, Christo may make a few touch-up snips on a dry mane, but without combing the hair or disturbing the curl.

CLEANSE & CONDITION: Christo emphasizes that life is about balance — and he applies that philosophy to curly hair. As an advocate of shampoo, Christo views sulfates in shampoo as simply one cleansing component, balanced with other nourishing ingredients, such as proteins and amino acids.

“I think your hair needs shampoo once or twice a week,” Christo says. “The reason is this: It’s not only to remove the buildup that you get from products, etc. There’s also the buildup you get from the environment, which is so dirty.”

He’s also a firm believer in deep conditioners, and recommends feeding your curls with a conditioning treatment or mask once a week — or twice a week, if you color your curls.

STYLE: To style curly locks, Christo divides the hair in four or five sections.

“If you want to make it easy, clip each section so it’s not in your way,” he says. “Then, take one section at a time, and apply the lotion or gel according to your texture. Then, run your fingers through your hair, shake it a little bit or scrunch it to get the curl to bounce back.”

If you want to smooth it with a flat iron for a different look, Christo warns curlies not to overdo it.

“Use it with balance, once in a while,” he says. “If you use the flat iron once a month it will not damage your hair, but if you use it two or three times a week, that doesn’t work.”

And if you have a daily addiction to the iron, Christo says there’s no way to avoid damaging your hair, no matter how much you condition it.

CURL EXPERT:

Jonathan Torch, of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute

CUT: Jonathan Torch studies curly hair when it’s dry to look at the direction the hair grows, but he always cuts hair when it’s wet.

“That way I can see the grouping of the curls and the way the curls bounce,” Torch says. “We look at the individual curls and choose the size of the curl. In order to make a ringlet, the hair has to rotate 2.5 times, otherwise you get wings.”

Since every curly head has more than one curl pattern, Torch recommends against traditional layers for curly hair.

“Even layers do not work in curly hair,” Torch says. “We have developed a technique called curly layers, and it’s all about creating unevenness, breaking it up.”

If you’re looking for height, volume or bounce, Torch suggests telling your stylist exactly that.

“You have to change your terminology. If you want volume, say you want volume. Don’t say you want layers because you’re going to be upset with the result,” Torch warns.

CLEANSE & CONDITION: Cleansing your curls with shampoo is an important step to maintaining healthy hair, according to Torch, whose shampoos contain sulfates, along with silk amino acids.

“We chose silk amino acids as our moisturizing protein because it has the tiniest molecule,” Torch says. “The size of the molecule is essential, because the smaller the molecule the deeper the penetration of absorption. The most important thing is getting that moisture molecule inside the hair.”

When conditioning your curls, he says it’s not as simple as “laying it on thick.”

“Just because a conditioner is thicker in consistency doesn’t make it a better-performing product,” Torch explains. “People like the heaviness because they feel it’s actually going to be doing something, but in reality, it may be only cosmetic.”

How a conditioner performs depends on its ability to penetrate and help the hair hold onto the moisture, according to Torch.

“Naturally curly hair repels moisture, so how do you condition hair that is repelling moisture? Our conditioners have pH levels of 3.5 to 4 — that’s extremely low. The lower the pH, the more you’re going to close the cuticle,” Torch says. “Our products deposit generous amounts of silk amino acids and panthenol.”

STYLE: Even if you have healthy hair and a great curly cut, you won’t truly embrace your curls until you master the styling process. The key to achieving a successful style, Torch says, is not how well you dry your hair. It’s how well you prepare your hair before it dries.

“You have to start off with tangle-free hair, and the more hair you group in an individual ringlet the looser the curls,” Torch explains. “If you want your hair off your face, you have to get it back off your face from the roots. If you can get the roots going in a certain direction then you can get successful hair. Allowing the cuticle to dry on its own will guarantee frizz-free hairstyles.”

CURL EXPERT:

Ouidad, author of CurlTalk, owner of New York’s Ouidad Salon, the Curl Education Center

CUT: Using her “Carve-and-Slice” method, Ouidad always cuts curly hair when it’s wet.

“Curly hair doesn’t dry the same, so it’s very difficult to cut it dry. You need to know the curvature of the curl in its natural state,” Ouidad says.

The Carve-and-Slice cut is a process that follows the curvature of the curl, and Ouidad says it allows the curls to puzzle into each other so they don’t expand.

“I section the pieces and shake the curls between my fingers so I can see the wave pattern and the curvature of the curl,” she explains.

CLEANSE & CONDITION: Ouidad believes shampoo (including sulfates) is “essential” for healthy hair.

“It’s very important to shampoo twice a week and apply conditioner daily, starting about two inches from the root so you’re not blocking the pores of the scalp,” she says.

Although Ouidad warns against shampooing too frequently, she emphasizes the importance of cleansing the oils from the scalp to allow the hair follicle to breathe.

“My philosophy is to work from the inside out — not topically” Ouidad says. “The idea is to rebuild the internal layer by connecting your internal molecular layer with protein, amino acid and sulfur — that’s what my deep treatments are made of. The idea is to feed the curls by using deep treatments on a regular basis. They’re essential to have successful curly hair. Curly hair can’t live without deep treatments, it just doesn’t work.”

And don’t forget that leave-in conditioner before you start styling, she adds.

STYLE: When it comes to styling, Ouidad believes that less is more.

“The less you handle and manipulate your curl, the more successful you’ll be with your hair,” she explains.

Use only water-soluble styling products, and skip the oils, waxes and silicones that boost buildup, Ouidad says.

When applying gel or styling lotion, she follows her “shake and rake” technique, which uses your fingers to “rake” through the hair, and then “shake” the curl pattern back into place.

“Section the hair starting in the nape area and use a quarter-size of gel, rubbing the palms together,” Ouidad explains. “Separate the fingers and run them through the hair. The more hair between your fingers, the looser the curl will be. Then, hold it at the bottom and just shake it.”

To add some lift to the crown, she suggests sliding a few duckbill clips at the roots, allowing the curls to cascade down freely and dry naturally.

To Poo or Not to Poo - That is the Question

by Teri Evans on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

The downside of “squeaky clean” hair

Your client has tossed her flat-iron, finally found the right curly cut, and learned how to style her spirals. So why are her locks still frizzy, dull and dehydrated? And why has her freshly colored tresses turned brassy in a matter of days?

Curl-centric stylists say the answer may be found on the back of the shampoo bottle.

“You have to turn the bottle around and look for sodium laurel — or laureth — sulfate; it’s in the ingredient list,” says curl guru Lorraine Massey, who started her own line of sulfate-free cleansers in 1999. “If you see that in there, then put it down. That’s one is the harshest [detergents] of them all and just strips the hair of any vitality.”

Although many traditional shampoos contain sulfates (which are a classification of foaming agents also known as surfactants), curl experts say these harsh detergents steal the moisture that your tresses so desperately need.

“We’ve been addicted to lather, but you don’t need synthetic substances to cleanse your hair or wash your body, for that matter,” Massey says. “Sulfates harden the hair. They irritate the hair cuticle and dry it out. It’s like washing your hair with salt.”

Originally, soap and shampoo were similar products in that they both contained surfactants. The first commercial shampoo, Breck, was introduced in 1930 with thick, billowy lather. Over the decades, more sudsy shampoos emerged, as did the advice to make your hair “squeaky clean.”

Sodium laurel sulfate is quite irritating and can be rather drying to the skin, but companies have come up with milder versions like Sodium Laureth Sulfate, says Jim Hammer, a cosmetics chemist and product development manager at Pharmasol Corp. in Easton, Mass. But with any detergent cleanser, the flip side of removing oils you don’t want is that you also remove oils you do want, Hammer says.

“Squeaky clean is a myth,” says Chaz Dean, celebrity stylist and founder of Wen Hair & Body Care products and Chaz Dean Studio in Hollywood, Calif. “People thought squeaky clean meant clean hair, but squeaky clean really equals stripped and dried-out hair.”

How does this happen? Sulfates create a dense lather that strips away sebum, the oily substance secreted by the sebaceous glands that prevent your hair from drying out. You’ll find sulfates in countless cleaning products — ranging from car cleaners to laundry and dishwashing detergents to shower gels and toothpaste. And, of course, shampoo.

“By cleansing your scalp [with sulfates] you’re robbing it of all the natural, essential oils and beneficial bacteria; you killed them and washed them down the drain,” says Dean, who launched zero-lather cleansing conditioners in the mid-1990s. “The bad and harmful bacteria replenish at a much more rapid pace than the beneficial ones. So, you open yourself up to a dry, flaky and sensitive scalp and psoriasis because you stripped the beneficial bacteria and left a minefield open for the bad bacteria to have a field day.”

Dean began to realize the harshness of sulfates nearly two decades ago when he was in the early stages of his career, starting out as a colorist.

“At the time, I started putting vegetable color in my clients’ shampoos and sending them home with it,” Dean recalls. “That would help a little, but their hair still looked brassy. I then started to put it in the conditioner. But then the shampoo would strip the color back out. It was a vicious cycle. That’s when I knew I had to eliminate the lathering factor. The No. 1 reason the color was fading was because anything that lathers is going to strip.”

While shampoos contain about 8 to 10 percent detergents — a fraction of that being sulfates — Hammer says cleansing conditioners use cationic surfactants, which contain softening and anti-static properties. They are technically surfactants and will cleanse the hair, but they’re not a detergent in the classical sense — you won’t see the foam as you would with shampoos. Cationic surfactants are more related to a conditioning agent, so they don’t have the stripping effect of a normal shampoo.

A handful of hair-care companies and curl-centric stylists, like Massey and Dean, have been touting the benefits of sulfate-free cleansers for more than a decade. But many people have only just started to embrace them after the recent, intensified focus on the environment.

“People are becoming more responsible now, with global warming,” Dean says. “They are becoming more aware of what we’re doing to the environment and ourselves, and how we can change.”

But change can be uncomfortable. While curl experts see a shift toward sulfate-free products, they also still see plenty of resistance.

“Every person I encounter, even if they have interest, still has to be convinced about why and how this works,” Dean says. “They have to hear it over and over, until they’re finally ready to take the plunge and try it. People are afraid of change and shampoo has been around for so long that it’s just what people know.”

Although sulfates are still widely used, Hammer says a lot of companies are interested in moving away from them.

The marketing mantra of “wash, rinse, repeat” was firmly embedded in the mind of Kelly Foreman, until she realized how sulfates were stripping her color-treated, curly locks. Two years ago, she launched her own sulfate-free product line called Mop Top.

“Curly hair, by its nature, is dry anyway, and you have to be very careful with the chemicals you put on it,” says Foreman. “The lack of moisture is the direct result of using a surfactant too frequently.”

Forman’s Gentle Shampoo does contain coconut-derived surfactants, which she says are much more gentle than sulfates. Her basic recommendation is to start with a sulfate-free shampoo every seven to 10 days — and then adjust based on how your tresses respond.

“I personally shampoo once every three to four weeks,” Foreman says, “The rest of the time I just use conditioner.”

Based on customer feedback, Foreman is now reducing the amount of surfactants in the shampoo even further — cutting them in half. She also plans to launch a zero-lather cleanser this fall because of customer demand.

“It’s an exciting time to be in this industry,” notes Inga Tritt, who launched The Original Little Sprout in 2003 as a sulfate-free hair and skin-care line for children.

The idea for her own product line emerged after a frustrating search for sulfate-free products that actually worked on her young daughter, Maya’s, curly locks.

“I used to use products I found in the health-food store because I didn’t want to use anything I had to worry about on Maya,” Tritt says. “But they didn’t perform. They left her hair fuzzy and dry.”

Tritt’s sulfate-free shampoos do contain some foaming agents, but they’re derived from beets, coconuts, almonds and sunflowers.

“For curly hair, a sulfate-free shampoo is a win-win because not only is your hair going to look much better, but your frizz is going to be considerably reduced, also” says Tritt, who is introducing a sulfate-free shampoo for adults this fall.

“A lot of times, with traditional shampoos, they will add extra mineral oil, petroleum oil derivatives or by-products to help counteract the drying effect of sulfates,” Tritt says. “But you don’t want to feel that residue. People are starting to get it. They’re becoming more savvy consumers and educating themselves.”

Take Jessicurl’s Jessica — yet another example of an educated curly whose relentless research resulted in her own line of sulfate-free products.

“I was spending all kinds of money and doing my hair over and over again. and trying to get it to look right and not understanding why it didn’t,” says McGuinty, who launched Jessicurl four years ago. “Well, there’s no way it could look right when I was stripping it with sulfates, then loading it with silicones to calm the frizz that sulfates cause.”

The Jessicurl line includes two sulfate-free cleansers that contain more gentle surfactants derived mostly from sugar and coconut . The Hair Cleansing Cream has a minimal amount of lather for dry, coarse, or color-treated hair, and the Gentle Lathering Shampoo provides a bit more lather for fine hair that tends to easily become weighed down.

As the demand for sulfate-free products has encouraged the growth of small, independent companies like Jessicurl, the giants in the beauty industry also have begun paying attention.

“Businesses that are responding and going green are making the money,” Tritt says. “The ones that are still old school are going to fall behind really fast.”

“It’s not political at this point, it’s moral,” adds Massey. “It’s about getting real and if something doesn’t feel good, it isn’t. Since when was it acceptable to have mediocre blow-fried, dehydrated hair? At what point did you look in the mirror and say, ‘This is okay?’ It’s not acceptable. There are solutions now, and it’s really going to make a difference when you really want to make a difference. It’s up to you.”

In Defense of Shampoo

Curl expert Christo of New York’s Christo Fifth Avenue has built his entire career — and his Curlisto product — around helping curlies maintain healthy hair. That is why he is very frustrated by what he calls the unfair “attack” on shampoos.

“I would never do anything to harm curly hair,” says Christo. “Sulfates are just one small ingredient along with many other good ingredients, like proteins and amino acids, etc. You need them to cleanse your hair properly, remove the buildup and maintain the hygiene of the hair.

“There’s not one ingredient that harms the hair or is good for your hair. It’s the combination in a formula.”

Sulfates are a common detergent in shampoos, dating back to when the first bottle appeared on store shelves in the 1930s. Although a number of hair-care companies are opting not to include these detergents in their products today, some curl experts say the shift away from sulfates is nothing more than a gimmick.

Only a small fraction of the ingredients in shampoo are detergents, including sulfates, according to Jim Hammer, a cosmetics chemist and product development manager at Pharmasol Corp. in Easton, Mass. He says many shampoos also contain a combination of nurturing ingredients that will provide enhanced mildness, even in the presence of a sulfate.

“The word ’sulfate’ has become part of a marketing scare, and there’s a lot of propaganda,” adds Jonathan Torch of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute.

“You can’t just look at that one ingredient. I would never use anything that would irritate the scalp. When people say they have an itchy scalp, they’re not rinsing out the shampoo properly. You have to spend a lot of time getting the water all the way down to the root. I haven’t found anything better or that remotely comes close to [sulfates].”

Torch’s product line includes a Treatment Shampoo and a Silk Shampoo, both of which contain ammonium laurel sulfate.

“There may be a product with one drop of sulfate and 20 drops of silk amino acids to counteract anything that could happen from that one drop.” Torch says. “Concentration is important. Quality is important. All these things play into it. So, it’s an art and it’s a science.”

Rather than skipping shampoo altogether, Christo emphasizes the importance of continuously feeding curly hair the moisture it needs.

“You’re going to gain a lot more by focusing on treating your hair with deep conditioners,” Christo says. “If you think you shouldn’t shampoo your hair at all, then you’re going to end up with no shine to your hair, and it will eventually cause damage to your hair.”

Shampoo is critical to cleansing the pores of the scalp and allowing the roots of your hair to breathe, according to Ouidad, author of CurlTalk and owner of New York’s Ouidad Salon, the Curl Education Center.

“If you don’t use shampoo to get rid of your own natural oils, not only does the hair become dull but the hair root starts dehydrating, and it starts shrinking,” Ouidad says. “The hair becomes weak.”

The key is moderation, say the curl experts. Shampoo once or twice a week rather then every day.

“It’s not going to damage your hair,” Christo adds. “It will bring the luster back to your hair that a no-sulfate shampoo cannot do, unfortunately.”

Day in the Life:

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue

by Teri Evans on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

A Day in the Life

This is the first in an ongoing series of features about some of the top curl stylists. We take you behind the chair to experience a day in their life. This month, we get up close and personal with Christo, global artistic director at New York’s posh Christo Fifth Avenue, a salon catering to the world’s curlies, including a long list of celeb clients.

“Half businessman, half artist.” That’s how Christo describes himself. To his clients, though, he’s all charm.

Christo is “half businessman and half artist.”

“Christo rocks!” one long-time client blurted out with a smile on a recent wintry day at Christo Fifth Avenue Salon in New York. She is one of a dozen curly clients Christo will style, cut or color on any given day. Working nonstop for hours on his feet is far from easy, but Christo makes it seem as welcoming as a tropical breeze.

So, how does he do it?

To find out, I spent a day shadowing the curl expert. Despite his veteran status, he not only continues to take clients, but also runs his salon with a crew of 10 stylists, manages his own product lines (with new ones in the works) and designs one-of-a-kind, lavishly upscale (read: $300 to $4,800) cuff links.

Christo is somewhat of a walking showcase for his jeweled baubles (and for the latest fashions) and he wouldn’t have it any other way. During my visit, he wore a custom-made Italian designer suit, Ferragamo belt, and perfectly polished Bruno Magli shoes.

“My wardrobe is fierce,” he acknowledges. “I like to wear designers’ [clothing] and I’m a designer.”

In fact, outside the salon, Christo often collaborates with fashion designers to create hairstyles for the Fashion Week runways. He also takes private bookings for celebrities and the political elite. (Whew! Just rattling off his list of to-dos seems exhausting.) Before noon on this biting-cold Friday in early December, Christo has already gently ushered a few clients in and out of his chair.

He effortlessly flits from brief chats with his marketing executive (”Do you need me?” she asks) back to his chair (”If you have time we should do a Deep Therapy Masque,” he suggests to a client with dehydrated curls) to even supervising the assistants in charge of shampooing. Christo doesn’t assume assistants will choose the right shampoo and conditioner for each client. “I tell them specifically what to use,” Christo says. He monitors it all, but without too much hovering.

12:00 p.m.

With his customary kiss on each cheek (mwah-mwah!) and a hug, he welcomes in his next client with shoulder-length raven curls. Within minutes, this long-time client is in his chair, chatting on her cellphone. He’s already getting started, scissors in hand. She doesn’t flinch.

“Are you going to talk to her about what she wants?” I ask.

“I already know what she wants, and sometimes I don’t let them choose,” he says with a chuckle and a smile.

In the midst of the trim, Christo’s personal assistant quietly steps in to ask him to confirm a time for his upcoming trip to Washington. (He signed on as the stylist for a few dozen celebrities arriving in the nation’s capitol for inauguration parties in honor of President-elect Barack Obama.)

He confirms and goes back to his scissors for a few more finishing snips. Then, he’s off again. “Excuse me for a second,” Christo says, as he makes his way to welcome the next curly client, a twenty-something redhead whose thick, fiery curls seem to float down her back.

With another mwah-mwah welcome, he starts to send her to the back for a wash, but she stops him to quietly ask if he can blow it straight today. “Well, that’s an extra charge,” Christo says, encouraging her to keep her curls intact. “Your curls are beautiful.” She skips the blowout.

Back to the raven-haired client. “Would you like some coffee, tea?” he asks, then sends her under the dryer.

12:50 p.m.

The fiery redhead is cleansed and seated in Christo’s chair for a trim. They chat and laugh, with the familiarity of dear friends. “You need an updated picture of your daughter,” she teases. “It’s at least six months old!”

After cleaning up the ends of her mane, she’s off to be styled and set under the dryer.

Christo continues to shuttle back and forth between clients, skips lunch (which he says is common) but doesn’t complain.

1:35 p.m.

The curly redhead is back in his chair for a final style check. “It looks great,” he says, reassuringly. She then turns to me: “He tells me you have to make your hair happy.” She smiles and out the door she goes.

Christo focuses his attention now to mixing color for his next client, Karen Goldstein, who lives in California but only colors her curls when she is able to make a trip to New York to see Christo. Today it’s low-lights.

“Make sure you cover the gray,” she says.

“Well, we can do a glaze between the foils, but I don’t think you need it yet,” he says.

“Okay, I trust you,” she responds, then turns to me: “He’s been doing my hair for 10 years. My relationship with Christo lasted longer than my marriage!”

As the day goes on, Christo is finally able to relish a few free moments after learning that one of his appointments cancelled. An assistant immediately steps out to retrieve one of his favorite treats: an extra-strong, extra-hot chai latte from Starbucks. While sipping his only nourishment for the day, he briefly meets with his publicist to make corrections to his regular column he’ll submit to Cyprus Mail, an English-language newspaper in Greece.

3:00 p.m.

Another three clients have been moving through the salon, from the sinks to Christo’s chair and then the dryer. Not all are exactly chatty, so Christo morphs into a chameleon and adjusts to their more subdued temperaments.

“Everyone has their special needs and I try to accommodate them as best I can,” he says.

One restless client tells him she’s in a rush, but it appears she may simply want a bit of extra attention.

“Sometimes, clients don’t want to share you,” Christo says.

3:45 p.m.

Fielding a few more questions from his publicist, Christo answers a quick call and then confirms his attendance at a party to be thrown by an ambassador to Qatar. It seems Christo is in demand almost as much as the high-profile clients he styles. Still, he says he always manages to find balance in his charmed life. Sundays are always reserved for his family and, to stay even more centered, he practices Tae Kwon Do (he has a black belt) a few times a week in the evenings. Aside from martial arts, his passions are watches (he owns more than two dozen, including a Rolex), fashionable clothing, fast cars and, of course, styling curly hair.

“I don’t see this as work,” he says. “I see this as coming to a place, doing what I love and getting paid for it.”

Why Do Products Stop Working?

by Michelle Breyer on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

You’ve probably heard it dozens of times from clients. They finally find their Holy Grail styling product or conditioner. It gives us the shiny, defined ringlets we’ve longed for. Then, overnight, it stops working. Their curls turn to frizz. Their hair feels like straw. They want you to tell them why?

Has their hair become immune to the product?

The unanimous answer is no. If a product isn’t giving the same results it once did, the culprits could be product buildup, hormonal changes, environmental damage and even the weather.

“There are many reasons why products can seem to stop working,” says curl expert Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue.

A major culprit is product buildup, and improper cleansing.

“You can have too much of a good thing, especially with products designed to control and give weight to curls,” says Ethan Shaw, a curly hair specialist at Ann Kelso Salon + CitySpa in Austin, Texas. “Eventually they can leave a substantial film on the hair.”

A clarifying shampoo. or a vinegar rinse, should be used once or twice a month to remove buildup from products. Products that contain oil, silicones and waxes are especially susceptible to buildup, creating a barrier that can prevent products from doing what they are supposed to do.

Jonathan Torch of the Curly Hair Institute in Toronto, Canada, says protein can also affect how products work over time.

“Some proteins can cause the hair to become brittle, and can cause breakage if they build up,” Torch says. “The smaller the protein molecule, the deeper the penetration into the hair. The larger the molecule, the easier it is for it to buildup as the protein adheres to the outside of the hair shaft.”

Seasonal changes can have a major impact on the effectiveness of products.

“The weather does have a huge effect on how your looks, and how products seem to work,” Shaw says. “Humidity, or lack thereof, can give or take away curls.”

Many times, people may not realize their hair texture has changed over time. It may become coarser, curlier or thinner. Hair tends to change every seven years.

In some cases, the length or style of the hair may change over time, requiring different types of products. A light gel that may have worked perfectly in a short curly style may not be heavy enough for longer ringlets.

“Just think of how different your hair was compared to when you were a kid,” Shaw says. “It’s natural for your hair to get more or less curly, and more or less coarse, especially with gray hair.”

Because of that , the formula of a person’s styling products will have to change as well as the way she uses them, Christo says.

If you’ve been using the same products for several years, and have noticed a change in how they work, consult with your stylist. There may be different products better suited to the changing needs of your hair.

Ouidad, of the New York curl salon Ouidad, believes it’s a fallacy that people need to change their products over time — a creative marketing strategy perpetuated by product manufacturers trying to sell more products. She said she constantly tests her products on her clients and on herself, and she believes good products continue to perform over time.

“When there is a change in the way it works, it is most likely from an extenuating circumstance, such as a medical condition or a chemical process such as color or straightening,” Ouidad says.

The Kindest Cut

Wet, Dry or a Combo?

by Michelle Breyer on Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Some stylists prefer to cut wet hair; others like dry.

Christo believes cutting the hair wet gives his clients more options. Austin stylist Georgia Bramhall of Pink Salon cuts all of her curly clients’ hair dry.

“It shows me their real hair and what it naturally wants to do,” Bramhall says. “When it’s wet, it totally changes into something different. If it’s wet, it’s practically straight.”

Mia Fanali of D. Sabrina Salon in Westport, Conn. never cuts hair dry.

“When you comb out the curl and you try to cut it dry, it won’t fall that way again.,” Fanali says. “I also like to get all the dead ends off — from the perimeter to the layers. When you cut the hair dry, it doesn’t give you that opportunity.”

Scottsdale, Ariz. stylist Victor Sabino always starts off his curly cuts on dry hair to get a basic shape. Then he shampoos it and cleans it up when it’s wet.

“Then I dry it and finish up the cut from there,” Sabino says.

Three stylists. Three different philosophies about whether curls should be cut wet or dry. It’s no wonder curlies are confused.

Curl experts all are passionate about their techniques, whether they cut the hair wet, dry, wet into dry, dry into wet, or some other variation on the theme.

Cutting hair dry is not a new concept. Many hairstylists over the years have used variations of dry haircutting techniques. The late John Sahag is generally considered to be the pioneer in the the dry-cut technique. Sahag, who advocated the shift to dry cutting in the late 1970s, believed that when the hair is cut dry, it creates a natural shape according to the way the hair grows, enabling the stylist to remove bulk and weight to create movement and dimension. Wet hair, he believed, did not allow for natural inconsistencies.

In recent times, one of the biggest proponents of cutting curls dry is “Curly Girl” author Lorraine Massey of Devachan Salon in New York. All stylists at Devachan Salon cut curls dry.

All stylists at Devachan Salon, including Lorraine Massey, cut curls dry.

“Unless a stylist can see how much spring there is in your curls, he won’t understand your hair and he’s likely to cut too much when it’s wet, only to discover that fact after your hair dries,” Massey writes in her book “Curly Girl.”

Rosie Da Silva of Devachan Salon likes to cut her client’s hair curl by curl.

“I can’t do that with dry hair,” Da Silva says. “You have to feel the texture. When you cut curly hair wet, you’re not really seeing how it’s going to look.”

New York stylist Jose Valdez has been cutting hair dry for the past 15 years. He believes it enables him to sculpt the hair, chiseling away to create shapes with dimension and balance.

“Why not cut hair dry?” Valdez says. “You do, after all, wear your hair dry. Cutting the hair dry lets me see exactly how your hair will fall as you’re wearing it. I can create perfect angles that not only accentuate your best features, but that suit your personality as well.”

Stylists who cut curly hair wet also have valid reasons why they prefer to do it that way.

Jonathan Torch of the Curly Hair Institute in Toronto says he prefers to cut curly hair wet because he can manipulate the curls and read the ringlets.

“When I work with dry hair, the more I play with it, the bigger it gets,” Torch says.

If a person has a combination of loose and tight curls, Torch said he might cut the looser curls dry to help them blend it with the rest of the hair.

“Then I wash the hair and do the full design,” Torch says.

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue believes cutting the hair wet gives his clients more options.

“You can wear it curly, wavy or straight,” Christo says. “I may make adjustments when the hair is dry, but I never cut a full haircut on dry hair.”

Dustin David of the Dustin David Salon in Los Gatos, Calif. takes a customized approach to his clients. For clients with tight curls, he cuts it dry, shampoos and styles it and then cuts it again. For clients with looser, wavier curls who wear their hair both curly and straight, he irons it straight and cuts it flat ironed. If the curls are looser and the client always wears her hair curly, David cuts it wet.

“To me, each person is an individual,” David says. “No matter how similar their hair seems, the cut needs to be customized to take into account their texture, density, length and lifestyle.”

All stylists stressed the importance of having the client come in with their dry and styled so they get a realistic look at the the curl pattern.

“Before I do the haircut, I analyze the curl, analyze the volume, touch the hair to see how much it expands,” Torch says. “But I couldn’t even imagine cutting curly hair dry.”

The Art of Highlighting Curls

by Michelle Breyer on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue used his Smart Lights technique on Luiza.

Although curl specialists have perfected their own unique techniques for highlighting curls, on one thing they agree: Highlighting curls and kinks is much different than highlighting straight hair.

When done poorly, highlights can make the hair look dull and frizzy. But when done well, highlights can add drama and definition to curls, making those ringlets pop. It is an art as well as a science.

Highlights have a reason and must be placed according to the style and texture of the hair,” says Shai Amiel, a curly hair expert at Capella Salon in Studio City, Calif. “When highlighting curly hair, you have to consider the way the curl falls. You must place the highlights just like your curls grow out of your head.

For Amiel, the technique that works best with curls is by hand painting each curl that needs accent. He feels that the basic foil pattern may not look as natural with curls.

When you hand paint the desired curls, you can pick and choose where you want the color,” he says. “You can also see how the whole thing looks and add or deduct certain pieces. Curly hair looks better with highlights that mimic what the sun would do to your hair.

Amiel’s technique is similar to the technique created by Devachan Salon — Pintura.

Pintura captures, defines and highlights the movement and dynamism of each curl,” says Shari Harbinger, color director for Devachan. “It gives the stylist the technical know-how and the opportunity to trust their own artistic eye to create the perfect harmony and balance between tone, shape, light and shadow.

”Using a painted comb brush, highlights are painted onto the hair. While foiling is horizontal, Harbinger says Pintura is vertical. “This automatically gives more contrast to the melody of tones in the hair,” she says.

She says Pintura also is more predictable than foiling. “What you paint is what you get with Pintura,” she says.

Pintura was the brainchild of Devachan co-founder Denis DaSilva, who came up with it 11 years ago when he became frustrated with the effects of conventional foiling on curly hair.

“He felt it looked like on solid color, and this drove him to find a solution,” Harbinger says. “The whole purpose of highlighting curly hair is to define the curls rather than change it. Highlighting should be about texture and contrast.”

Last fall, Da Silva created a unique at-home highlighting system, HC Color Fantasies, that clients can use at home to achieve these same results. It features a unique application tool that’s designed with space to insert color and precisely apply it to sections of hair.

“If you’re going to do highlights at home, you actually have to be able to do it,” Da Silva says.

New York Curl expert Ouidad has created a technique she calls “Sparkle Highlights,” which uses up to four different shades of pigment and color.

“This way I’m able to pick up the exact curl and place the color of my choice on each strand,” Ouidad says. “This generates a full palette of colors that makes curls sparkle and jump out.”

The delicate coloring of the seashell was the inspiration for Jonathan Torch of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute.

“When you add bands of color to hair, you add dimension and definition,” Torch says. “By breaking the mass with different colors and highlights, you start to see the ringlets individually throughout the curls.

When highlighting, Torch likes to use three tones to create richness, brightness and depth. “It’s almost like shadowing to break out the solid look of the curly hair,” Torch says.

Stylists are trained on Devachan Salon’s Pintura technique.

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue wants highlights to be low maintenance for his clients. That’s why he created Smart Lights. “I don’t go to the outer line, so my clients don’t get bad roots,” Christo says.

Highlight shades should be selected based on the base color and the skin tone.

“If you’re a brunette, you want to stay a brunette,” he says. “So we just spice up your color. We might throw in some cappuccino, caramel or chestnut tones — shades two to three tones lighter. This spices up your style and accentuates the curls.”

An absolute no-no, say curl experts, is using strong bleach on curly hair. It can dehydrate and damage the hair.

“I prefer the more delicate approach,” says Amiel. “I prefer to use color if I can avoid bleach. Strong bleach will blast open the cuticle and create damage and more frizz.”

Amiel uses a glossing treatment after he highlights because it adds shine and seals the cuticle, reducing frizz.

Highlighted tresses also should be deep-conditioned. Curly hair tends to be dry, and color services can make it drier.

“I believe healthy hair just looks better, especially the ever-so-delicate curl,” Amiel says.

More Curly Salons Springing Up

by Michelle Breyer on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Curltopia salon

Last May, Curltopia opened in Smyrna, Ga. as a salon where “it’s all about making peace with your hair.”

“It’s a curl revolution led by girls who have fought our curls forever,” says Curltopia co-owner Tricia Joyner. “We specialize in very awesome product and color/cutting/styling technique for ALL hair — whether you’ve always embraced your twists and coils, you’re just now transitioning, you’d like to transform your kinks to curls, or if you like to keep your curlies straight.”

Thanks to salons like Curltopia — and the growing market for stylists who specialize in texture — the number of salons focusing on curls and kinks is on the rise.

“The vast majority of the population doesn’t have straight hair,” says Titi Branch of Miss Jessies’s Salon in Brooklyn, which specializes in curly hair. “I don’t know how we’ve gotten along this long without more people specializing in curly hair.”

Although New York has several salons focusing on curly hair, curly headed men and women in other parts of the country often found it more difficult to find a stylist versed in the ways of ringlets and coils.

In some cases, it may be one stylist within a salon who specializes in curly hair. In others, the salon may choose to be trained and certified by well-known curl establishments like Ouidad, Devachan Salon or Christo, and to carry their product lines. A growing number of large brands, including Bumble and bumble and Redken, also are providing more intensive training and new products for the curly market. And in some cases, stylists are opening their own curl-centric salons, using their own experience and techniques and carrying a range of curly hair products.

Spirals salon

These include salons like Spirals in Arizona, Batia & Aleeza in Beverly Hills, Calif., Frontenac Salon in St. Louis, Mo. and Curl Jam in Bethesda, Md. Toronto, Ont. alone has such salons as Curl Ambassadors, Jonathan Torch’s Curly Hair Institute and Chiggy’s Touch, which all specialize in curls and kinks.

Four years ago, Toronto curl whiz Jonathan Torch decided to concentrate completely on curls, closing his old salon and opening the Curly Hair Institute.

“With this new salon, I’m putting my name on the door and saying “This is who I am.” says Torch, creator of Curly Hair Solutions. “I’m a curly hair hairdresser and I’m going for it.”

Tonja Chagaris always specialized in cutting curly hair. But the Arizona stylist saw a real void in her market for a salon that specialized in working with all types of curly hair.

“With all the different cultures here, there was no place to go if you had curly hair,” says Chagaris, who four years ago opened Spirals Salon in Tucson, a salon dedicated to curly hair.

“Having naturally curly hair myself, I know it’s so hard to find someone who understands it — how to touch it, how to style it, how to cut it. It is very much an untapped market.”

Frontenac Salon

Kim Wicks of Frontenac Salon opened her salon 10 years ago, but began focusing on curly hair four years ago. Wicks, a curly herself, became interest in focusing on curls when she saw a Robert Cromeans CD that encouraged stylists to focus on a specialty they have for in the hair business. Around the same time, she discovered the Devacurl line of products.

Now she has four curl specialists with another getting training in New York from Devachan. She says it was a great decision for her — both from a business standpoint and from their ability to help people love their hair.

“There’s a salon on every street, but if you specialize, you set yourself apart,” Wicks says. “Our salon chose to specialize in naturally curly hair. It’s been huge. It’s really helped us through this recession.”

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue in New York said he is getting a growing number of requests for training and his Curlisto product line from salons around the country interested in growing their curly clientele.

“The reason all these salons are specializing in curly hair is because of demand from their clients,” Christo said. “In the past, people were paranoid to wear their hair curly because they thought it was out of fashion or unprofessional.”

But these days, with more curls in magazines and the movies, curls have gained popularity. People want to work with their natural texture.

“Over the past five to 10 years, there’s been a movement toward texture,” says Branch. “People are letting their hair do what it wants to do. Before it was all about getting your hair to look stick straight. Now, it’s all about encouraging the curl.”

It was Joyner’s curls that inspired sister/stylist Kristen James to become a curly-hair specialist.

“It was a necessity,” Joyner jokes. “She had to learn how to cut curls because of me, and now her forte is cutting hers. It’s turned into a great niche for her.”

James worked at a salon in Buckhead, Ga., before Joyner, James and Flavia Medina decided to open their own salon, Curltopia, in Smyrna.

“The nicest thing about the salon is it’s very mixed,” Joyner says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, whether you have wavy or super kinky hair.”

Salon owners also can see the success that curly salons have had in New York, and the popularity of curly product lines. And with a large population of people with curly or wavy hair — people willing to spend money to make their hair look its best — many see huge market potential.

Jacqueline Early of J. Earleys Salon on Beacon Street in Boston got training from Ouidad and Christo, and says 50 percent of her clients have curly hair. Her business cards say “Curl Specialist.”

“I am so grateful I’ve had the opportunity to look at another dimension of hair,” she says. “It’s definitely been worth it to invest in a specialty area. I have clients that come from all over, and I don’t have to spend money on advertising.”

Early believes curlyheaded clients are very loyal clients when they’re happy with a hairdresser. Her clients come from all around New England and the New York area.

Titi Branch

“Cutting curly hair is a different animal than cutting straight hair,” Branch says.

Titi, who is half black and half Japanese, opened the salon in 1997 with her sister, Miko, because of their own traumatic experiences with their curly, kinky hair.

“Going to a Japanese salon was not an option,” Branch says. “And black salons wanted to weigh it down with grease. There were no choices. Most people with curly hair just got what they could get. They’d throw a dart and hope for the best. It was always an ordeal.”

She considers Miss Jessie’s to be a place where people can talk to people who truly understand their hair and can help provide solutions to help it look its best and offer options.

In many cases, curly clients may be leery of hairdresser. They may have shunned salons altogether because of bad experiences.

Some have been fighting their hair most of their life and may need to be educated in how to wear it curly. Californian Barbra Taber, who has clients who travel to her from around the country because of her reputation with curls, recalled getting a call form a 75-year-old woman who had worn her hair in a bun most of her life. She was able to give her a curly style that worked with her hair’s texture.

These salons and stylists are in it for the long term. Diane Bailey of Tendrils Salon, a natural hair salon in Brooklyn, says people initially thought she was crazy when she decided not to use chemicals any longer in her salon since most black women wanted to straighten their hair. But as more people became aware of the options, she says her business has continued to grow. Twenty-two years later, business is booming.

“This isn’t a trend,” Bailey says. “Trends come and go. This is a life choice — an option people are choosing. We’re transforming people.”

Christo believes this proliferation of curly stylists and salons is good for everyone.

“These salons help maintain the trends of curly hair,” he says. “They help people accept their hair.”

Avoiding the Pyramid

by Staff on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Pyramid head is not our friend.

It’s the most common complaint among curlies — the dreaded pyramid head.

“Most of the time it’s because the hair is one length with no angles around the face, so the curls stack on top of each other, creating a pyramid,” says Christo, global artistic director of New York’s Christo Fifth Avenue salon.

When Christo presents educational seminars for curlies (he calls them “psycho-hairapy” sessions), he sees those much-feared tress triangles in nearly 80 percent of his curly-haired audience. Curl experts agree it’s a preventable, albeit widespread, problem.

“If you leave your hair one length, it’s inevitable,” adds Ouidad, author of “CurlTalk” and owner of New York’s Ouidad Salon, the Curl Education Center.

Without strategic layers, experts say the weight of your textured tresses creates a flatness at the crown leaving no place for your curls to move — except out!

“It’s usually thicker, corkscrew or Botticelli curls that have this issue,” says Shari Harbinger, director of education for New York’s Devachan Salon.

But it doesn’t have to be. Here, experts from three of the leading curly salons in New York share advice on how to avoid the puffy pyramid by focusing on the cut, style and condition of your curly locks.

1. CUT

Don’t run from scissors! If a haphazard haircut from the past still makes you fearful of sitting in a stylist’s chair, experts say think again.

Christo

Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue: “You may think layers don’t work so you grow your hair out to one length to be safe. It may be safe but your hair will end up looking like a pyramid with no movement to the hair. Add long, diagonal layers that frame the face so the curls sit into each other. And by cutting the hair wet, you also have the option of texturizing. If you try to do that on dry hair, you’ll be shredding the hair.”

Shari Harbinger of Devachan Salon: “Layering the hair on the surface will release some of the weight of the hair, giving you more volume on the crown area. Cutting the hair dry — with minimal or no tension — and a layering and sculpting of the curls will give you the volume you want on the surface of the hair and more length on the bottom, resulting in a more north-south effect instead of east-west.”

Ouidad of Ouidad Salon, the Curl Education Center: “If you cut at the curvature of the curls, they will sit into each other, eliminating the pyramid. Another way is to lightly slice the outer layer of the hair around the face or crown area, to create movement. The slicing and carving, or puzzling of the curls, is strategically designed for specific areas, depending on the thickness and tightness of the curls.”

2. STYLE

You wouldn’t skip your daily shower, so why skip your daily styling routine? Even if your pressed for time, experts say investing just a few minutes to properly style your curly locks will make all the difference in your ‘do.

Shari Harbinger

Harbinger: “Clipping at the roots creates lift, keeping the hair from weighing down on itself. At the top of the scalp, take two fingers and lift one family of curls and place the clip as close to — or on — the scalp, east to west. Use a minimum of six clips, and for best results use 10. If you see other curls that need lift, trust your eye. And don’t touch the hair during the drying process.”

Ouidad: “Style it from the bottom, with our ‘shake and rake’ method. With gel in your palm, rub your hands together and grab your hair in sections from the root, sliding your fingers through the end to recreate the curl pattern. If you do that in steps all the way to the top, you’re setting your curl pattern. Then, take duck clips, put them on their side, and slide them on your scalp to lift the root up and allow the curls to cascade down.”

Christo: “The bottom layer of your hair will expand, even with a good haircut, if you’re not styling it properly. Invest the five to 10 minutes it takes to section the hair and apply your products correctly, so you won’t have to worry about frizz or pyramids. If you have a bad haircut and don’t have time to fix it, make sure you’re hair is styled well, then you can pin some of your curls back with bobby pins. It will add lift to the root area so you can fake a haircut.”

3. CONDITION

Just as it takes consistent effort to stay fit, experts say getting your curls in shape is not an option. It’s a must.

Ouidad

Ouidad: “When curls become dehydrated, they’re feather-light so it’s easy for the hair to lift and take off. You can apply all the daily conditioners that you want, but your hair will still expand a little bit. It’s important to do deep treatments every two weeks. It will help rebuild the internal structure of the hair, so it stays down by itself, which eliminates the pyramid.”

Harbinger: “Dehydrated curls tend to stand horizontally. Adding the appropriate amount of moisture actually contracts that triangle at the bottom, bringing it back in. You can also use a spritz (that contains the appropriate hair oil) to add moisture and control the expansion of the curl. You can even use olive oil in a pinch. Rub it in your hands and very gently press it into your curls from the mid-length to the ends of the hair. It will soak in, adding moisture and controlling the curl.”

Christo: “Besides the cut and style, that missing element is healthy hair. Use a deep therapy masque on your hair on a regular basis. Keeping your hair in good condition is very important.”