I haven't always been
a wash-and-go, kind of girl. But a wash-and-go, girl is what I was always meant
to be.
If you've known me long enough, you'd know that at one point
I thought I was going to live forever with my long, very straight, very dark
hair. I spent most of my teenage, then college years, with a flat-iron in one
hand and my flip-phone in the other and would cringe instantly at the sight of
any frizz. Growing up, Sundays, were preserved for the hair salon. Spending
this kind of time with my mom at the salon, is still something that I love to
do. Whenever I go home for a long weekend, I anticipate a Sunday morning at
Mireya's in Brentwood. Back in the day, I would sit in the salon for hours, do
my homework, text my boyfriends, gossip with the stylists about breaking up
with my boyfriends, paint my nails while I waited under the dryer and
admittedly read every latest issue of People magazine. My routine consisted of
a deep conditioning, a wash and set, followed by a blowout, followed by me
leaving the salon, going home and flat-ironing my mane, section by section to
guarantee frizz free pin-straight hair. I still enjoy rocking a straight look
every now and again, it kind of feels like two sides of the same girl. To this
day, some of my best girlfriends will look at me and say, "I can't believe
your hair is curly".
It wasn't until many years later, some time in my
mid-twenties, when I fell deeply into a new love, with someone who often
told me I looked most beautiful in the morning bare-faced and with some sweaty
post-yoga hair. Maybe it took someone I really believed to notice, but soon
after I started to really feel beautiful while being the most natural. Accepting
my curls, really meant accepting my self.
And while I hadn't been ready to brace the world with natural hair for so long,
this type of comfort, is irreversible. It's one thing to feel something, it's
another thing to know it. From then on, the curls haven't been the only thing
I've started to let loose.
I've been on my curly hair journey for almost three years
and what I've figured out is that every curly girl needs to find what works
best for her. For some, it's strictly no heat, oils and silk pillowcases - all of which I can totally get behind! For me, my
routine mainly consists of minimal heat and relying deeply on the right, most
gentle products. Essentially, I wouldn't want to put anything in my hair that I
wouldn't put on my skin and I don't overdo it.
A typical day-to-day style
for me, is the pineapple and a whole lot of curly bang. I start by deep
conditioning my hair as needed, add a drop of Matrix Style Link Grip Definer for hydration hold, because sometimes my curls are thirsty.
Then, I add a touch of Matrix Style Link Rough Me Up Spray evenly throughout for texture and to add a little hold. I
enjoy letting my hair air-dry but typically am rushing and wind up using a
diffuser, with one foot out of the door.
For an alternate vibe and when I want to rekindle my
sleekness or give my curls a break, I'll still wash-and-set then blowout. Now,
however, I will add some Blowout Skinny Queen
by
Matrix, first to help protect my curls and keep they healthy. I'll top it off
with some Style Link Volume Fixer
hairspray
to tame any fly-aways and keep my
hair full and moving.
It should also be mentioned that in my early years, I would
dread the rain and avoid getting my hair wet at all costs. Now, all I want to
do is jump in water and walk back to my apartment from the subway without an
umbrella. My best self, means being my most natural self. And once that idea started to make sense to me, I understood how
silly it seemed to hide from something so beautiful as rain falling from the
sky or going snorkeling in Costa Rica. Okay, maybe snorkeling isn't my thing,
but the point is I jumped in - head, heart, and hair first.
Check out some of my favorite hairstyles from my most recent
collaboration with Matrix! If I could
braid my hair like this everyday, I would. And for the record, I've tried
to.
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