Poking around the new CurlStylist.com site recently reminded me that I haven’t gotten a hair cut in a while. I think it’s awesome that stylists with an interest in curlyheads have their own site. For those of us with curly hair, a good stylist can totally transform our look.
The first time I went to a curl-friendly stylist was when I was in seventh grade. Up until that point, I went to the barbershop with my dad. I always got my hair cut by the same aging Italian gentleman who cut my father’s hair. He would sit me in the chair, spray my hair with some water, cut straight across the bottom, give me my choice of those cute and tiny Dum Dum lollypops and then off I’d go. My hair was generally a frizzy mess, but I didn’t know enough to care. My idea of a “style” was a matronly coil bun. This changed in the fall of seventh grade, when my mother made me an appointment at a local hair salon. Not only did the stylist give me my first good haircut, she also taught me how to bring out the best in my curls. I wasn’t surprised that she transformed my hair from an unruly mess to well-defined curls, but I was surprised to learn how easy it was to replicate the style myself. That haircut was a breakthrough.
Since then, I’ve had stylists move away or switch careers, and I’ve had to look for a new stylist more than once. While bouncing around from stylist to stylist, I’ve had some pretty unfortunate haircuts. At one point I had these heavy, rounded layers on either side of my face that looked exactly like floppy puppy dog ears. Cute look for a canine, not so much for a high school student. I’m currently looking for a new stylist, and picking a good one is especially important as I consider going shorter than shoulder length for the first time. I read this site’s article “Top Ten Clues to Finding a Savvy Stylist” which offers a lot of good advice, from good questions to ask to ways to determine how curl friendly a salon is. The first step in the article is “find a matchmaker” and I definitely think word-of-mouth is a curly girl’s secret weapon, whether she’s looking for a new hairdresser or the perfect styling product! Getting good advice is especially easy on NaturallyCurly.com, where the web brings thousands of curly girls together every day.
As I experienced in middle school, a good stylist can really transform your look. When you find one that really understands your hair, let them know how much you appreciate their expertise with kind words, generous tips and frequent referrals!
Stay Curly,
Julia
