Master Curl Specialist and Founder of the curly specialist salon Rumbie&Co, Rumbie Mutsiwa, gives us her top 10 curly hair commandments to help you embrace curly hair
- Thou shalt simplify curls.
Curly hair is all about understanding anatomy & physiology and then implementing techniques and using product in a targeted way so that for the majority who are not curl enthusiasts, they can spend minimal time and get great curls the same as someone spending hours a day washing, detangling, defining, drying and styling. Curls are simple!
- Hydrate hydrate, hydrate
You will hear me say this all day, everyday. By nature wavy, curly or afro hair tends to be dry which is what can primarily cause the curls to appear looser, frizzy, tangling, “uncontrollable”, “wild”.
Firstly, include water in your styling process and products to complement (most of your curly hair routine products should be hydrating to win with your curls), and styling techniques that encourage water retention in the shaft.
- Don’t dry your hair after shampoo
Don’t towel dry, don’t microfibre towel dry, don’t t-shirt dry (GASP!) – believe me you don’t want to take out what the hair requires primarily ( water = moisture = hydration) to replace it through secondary means. Go to the source.
- Squeeze out excess moisture
After a hydrating shampoo, squeeze out excess moisture and watch your hair absorb the rest in. Try it. In fact you will probably need a
spray bottle to help add more water during styling. Give your hair time to absorb moisture – it’ll love you for it.
- Acknowledge that shrinkage is real
Shrinkage is the shortening or compacting of your hair (with tighter afro/coily hair textures) from wet to dry hair. It can often be an alarming change in state as the hair responds positively to moisture, reflecting a truer depiction of your curls’ length or breadth for tighter curl textures. Shrinkage is actually your hair in its happy hydrated place!
- Speak kindly always
Words are powerful and can make or break a person. Whether curly haired or not, when speaking to curly haired people (or self talk) wherever they are at on their journey remember one thing – they are people. And ask the question “how would I like to be spoken to?” Be constructive in your language, particularly to kids.
- Dry, Painless Detangle
Detangle your hair when it’s dry, rather than when it’s wet. There are bonds that break in your hair temporarily when your hair is wet. Using the right detangling brush that will smooth and detangle without pain before the shampoo will be your friend. The last thing wet fragile hair needs is tension.
- Get silky with it
Silk pillowcases at night will be your best friend. They minimise frizz and you don’t need to wake up with hair that has a mind of its own. It’s almost a case of wake up and go.
- Shampoo Your Hair
As curly haired people, with all the products we put in our hair it’s important to cleanse all the product out of the hair and scalp, leaving a fresh canvas for us to reapply products for yet another few days to a week. Not all shampoos are created equal. Healthy scalp = healthy hair..
- Embrace Every Curl
Self love when overtly or covertly we learnt to not love our hair. This can be a tough journey. Taking the journey towards self love embracing oneself can be so liberating. Find curl specialists that are passionate about curls. Do yourself a favour and find yourself on the journey of embracing every curl on your head because YOU ARE ENOUGH!
