I\u2019m not the only one who has left a curly salon less than happy with the way my hair was styled. A few curly influencers I follow get dry curly cuts and walk out of the salon every time without styling, only to wash, style and share the pic to IG the following morning. A few curly girls in my life have expressed the same frustration and confusion.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cTypically when I go to a curly salon, I never really walk out feeling confident,\u201d says Marissa Pina, a producer and co-creator of the documentary Black Girl Church<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s that I\u2019m not used to the products they use or the way they apply it. Some salons the way they have you dry underneath the heat lamps, just makes my curls come out looser and that\u2019s just not how I usually like to wear it.\u201d Pina believes the trick is to work together with the stylist to achieve a look close to what you\u2019d do at home. \u201cI really feel like curly stylists should consider asking exactly what we use to style our hair and try to find a comparable product that they use in their salon. Maybe make it even a bit more hands on where you have the client show you how they usually style their hair and apply the product, and work together in that way. As curly haired girls we develop our own rituals and own routines and we know that if I apply a product this way, if I rake my hair this way, if I section my hair that way when I\u2019m adding the product in it, I know I\u2019m going to like what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Why are curly experts so great at coloring and cutting our curls but don\u2019t always necessarily deliver when it comes to the styling? My theory is because every head of curly hair is completely different. Even if two clients both have a\u00a0 3B curl pattern, one could have super fine and another could have super thick or coarse hair. It\u2019s also hard to tell how to style someone\u2019s curls best just based off of doing their hair once. So in a quest to finally leave a curly salon getting my curls to look as bouncy and defined as I always get them, here are a few things I plan to do at my next visit:<\/p>\n\n If you can get away with it, try bringing your own products\u2014styling products especially. Depending on the salon, I\u2019ve gotten away with at least bringing my own curl cream (or leave-in conditioner) along with my styling finisher which is usually a light-weight foam mousse. But if you\u2019re going to a curly salon that\u2019s affiliated with or part of a brand, chances are you might have some pushback. The trick is to look into the products they have and see what formulations could actually work for your curls.<\/p>\n\n If you normally use a light-weight curl cream, ask your stylist and see if they have one that would have a similar effect on your hair. Try to explain to them your hair needs and how you like your hair to look after styling. I have a lot of hair\u2014but my individual hairs are thin\u2014so I have to go for products that are very hydrating (because curls are prone to dryness) but still light-weight enough to not weigh my curls down. In terms of styling products, heavy gels and thick mousses dry my curls out and leave them looking wavy. Instead, I\u2019d ask if they have a light-weight foam mousse and if they don\u2019t, I would request they only style my hair with a very hydrating curl cream that works to create definition. The trick here is to be specific. Explain everything from your type (ex: 3B), hair texture (fine, thin, medium, coarse), and if it\u2019s dry, medium, or oily. Lastly, I like to explain how I like my curls to look and in the future I plan on showing a picture of how my hair looks after I style it myself.<\/p>\n\n I\u2019ve gone to quite a few curly hair salons that literally have you leave the sink with hair so soaked and wet, it leaves puddles all over the floor. This works for certain hair types, especially those who need more moisture, but for me it actually weighs my hair down significantly. I actually prefer a gentle squeeze in the sink. At home I remove excess water in the shower. Then I come out and rake leave-in conditioner in with my fingers, I mist my hair with water using a spray bottle before scrunching in my light-weight foam, and then scrunch curls with a microfiber towel before air-drying or diffusing and I always get the results I want. Now I just have to cough up the courage to ask a stylist to do this.<\/p>\n\n I\u2019m all for air-drying my hair but that\u2019s when I\u2019m home and actually have the time for it. A lot of salons try to replicate air drying with a hooded dryer. And with traditional hooded dryers, trust me it actually does work. But a lot of the more modern and fancier hooded dryers that are designed to replicate air-drying for some reason, just never leave me with the same results. They take much longer to dry and I wind up leaving with what looks like a \u201cwet look.\u201d All curly salons have hair dryers with diffuser attachments, so don\u2019t feel afraid to ask your stylist if they can just diffuse your hair from the jump.<\/p>\n\n I have two ways I like to part my curly hair. Either right down the middle or a deep side part to my left side. I make sure to let them know how I prefer my hair parted while my hair is still wet and before they start adding in products. I also make it clear that as much as I love bounce and definition, softness and volume are also very important to me. I would much rather have some volume (even a little bit of frizz) then come out with super shiny, and \u201cperfect looking\u201d curls.<\/p>\n\n I\u2019ve noticed that in certain curly salons they literally take every little section of hair and saturate it with products before twisting it into curls. This works for a lot of curl types especially those in the 4s but for my 3B fine curls, this isn\u2019t ideal. I prefer having a small amount of products scrunched into my hair to get my natural curl shape to show. I also like to have my hair combed out either with a wide-tooth comb or a Denman brush rather than with someone\u2019s fingers \u2014 that\u2019s just me.<\/p>\n\n If even after trying to express to your curly stylist how you prefer your hair styled, you still find that you\u2019re not getting the same results you get at home, don\u2019t feel bad about skipping out on styling all together. There are a lot of curly salons that cut curls dry and I know a lot of curly girls\u2014including influencers\u2014 that go for the cut and walk out without their hair styled so that they have the flexibility of washing and styling when they get home. You don\u2019t have a lot of choice when you\u2019re going in for color, but for curl cuts you almost always have to. You might even have the option of negotiating a cheaper rate since the overall cost usually consists of both cut and styling. It certainly doesn\u2019t hurt to ask.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You got this! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":12246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,382],"tags":[266,268,479,267,265],"class_list":["post-12239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-expert-advice","category-expert-tips","tag-curly","tag-frizzy","tag-new","tag-very-curly","tag-wavy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nConsider bringing your own products<\/h2>\n\n
Explain to them the kind of products you use<\/h2>\n\n
Styling hair soaking wet doesn\u2019t work for everyone<\/h2>\n\n
Request a diffuser<\/h2>\n\n
Be honest about how you like your hair parted<\/h2>\n\n
Tell them how to put products in<\/h2>\n\n
If all else fails<\/h2>\n\n