Ready, Set, SHOP

Holy Curmoly, the number of sales today is dizzying. I'm going to try to group them all in one post for your spending convenience:

Curl Junkie: Five (!) new products being released today! Woo hoo! And to top it off, on Black Friday only, they are offering 10% off your order of $50 or more (use the Code “NEWSTUFF” at checkout). They are putting a few products on 50% off sale!

Komaza Care: They're giving 15% off everything you buy between November 26 and 29! Just be sure to enter the word Thanksgiving as the coupon code during checkout to take advantage of your 15% discount.

Curl Mart: They're cleaning house over there to make room for new products. So grab your favorites while you can! Get 30% off 26 brands they carry -- for example, Wen, AG and Curl Junkie-- only while supplies last.

Sally Beauty Supply: They are offering a number of promotions for the holiday season that give you two products for the price of one, including free dryers, curling irons and flat irons. (This means one for you, one for somebody else. See how that works?)

Donna Marie: Get 20% off everything -- but only on Black Friday. The secret code is DMBLACKFRIDAY.

Have fun!

I heart Perry Romanowski

No, he's not famous (although see what you get when you Google "most famous cosmetic chemist") but I just love Perry Romanowski. He's been part of a few roundtables here at No-Poo Jillipoo not only because he knows his stuff but because he is a quirky, funny, smart, and gracious person (for instance, he always participates in my roundtables rather than saying something like "Who the heck are you, No-Poo? I work with dimethicone, dammit, and I have no time for your foolishness!"). He contributes to several blogs (Beauty Brains and Chemists Corner and perhaps others with equally alliterative names) and recently, he gave a presentation on "Skepticism and the Cosmetics Industry" in Chicago at the Midwest Society of Cosmetic Chemists.

In this presentation, he addressed what he calls the five most popular beauty myths. And here they are:

- Natural is safer
- Cosmetics are toxic
- More expensive is better
- Cosmetic woo works
- Pantene is plastic

Could a perspective be any simpler? Or for that matter, funnier? (And no, I'm not entirely sure what "cosmetic woo" is, either, but I'm sure that if I'd been at the event rather than ogling his PowerPoint presentation online, I'd have been utterly titillated by his definition.)

I guess another reason I love Perry is because his observations about the beauty industry are not influenced by his "feelings" or superficial evidence or anything other than straight-up science. I adore the no-bullshit insights. He's my kinda beauty blogger. And as long as he is willing, I'm going to keep on including him in my roundtables. Mwah, Perry!

Always learning

On Saturday, I was part of a group of curlies who paid to fly Tiffany Anderson Taylor out to San Francisco (well, Fremont, actually) so she could cut out hair. I've gotten to know Tiffany through various means for the past year or two, and even helped copyedit her e-book, Live Curly Live Free. (If you don't have the book, by the way, I strongly urge you to purchase it. It provides more help and information than any book ever written on the topic of curls. And I am not exaggerating.) Here is a photo of Tiffany that I took at the event and as always happens with my stupid iPhone camera, you cannot see curls!

Tiffany cut hair all day Saturday and all day Sunday. It's clear that she thoroughly enjoys her work! Everybody left looking better than when they arrived. Except, strangely enough, me!

I am fortunate to have an outstanding hair stylist here in San Francisco: Bebe of Sassy Salon. She does not cut my hair according to the Deva method. She gives me a traditional, layered cut that takes my curls into account. I have never had a bad haircut from her. When I arrived at my appointment with Tiffany, I knew my hair already looked ... well ... fabulous. (I've been using Mop Top Daily Conditioner, Karen's Body Beautiful Hair Nectar as leave-in, and a combination of KCCC and Fuzzy Duck gel as my styler -- this combo has yet to let me down!)

Tiffany asked me why I wanted anything done to my hair. She said she didn't think she could improve on it. And really, I kind of agreed but thought I kind of needed a trim so why not let her do it?

So, Tiffany sat me down and inquired about what products I used, what my routine was, and what I wanted from the haircut she would give me. All very good questions and ones that every stylist ought to ask their clients.

She cut very little, which is what I wanted. She gave me a tip or two to relay to my stylist, but insisted that my cut was already just great. (I can't wait to tell Bebe that her work was so appreciated!) Now that a few days have passed, I don't see much difference in the way my hair falls, and actually, that's fine by me.

Then came the wet-down and product application. And this is where I started to learn one major lesson: not everybody follows the same routine! Tiffany used Aquage conditioner and gel on me (I preferred that to the Deva products she had available). Both the conditioner and gel contained protein, so that was good by me. But from this point forward, I think things started to go awry for me.

Through no fault of Tiffany's, my styling and drying sequence contrasted fairly sharply with what I do at home. But I wanted to stay open to new techniques, so I went along.

1. She applied the gel to sopping wet hair. I don't do this. I squeeze out as much moisture as possible and then apply gel. If I don't do this, my hair is weighed down by the water, takes forever to dry, and does not encourage curl.
2. She clipped my hair with metal clips. My experience with metal clips has been abysmal, but the ones she used were of better quality and they actually did work well. (I use these plastic ones and love them because they hold better and don't get tangled in my hair like the metal ones generally do.)
3. She put me out to air-dry before diffusing. I generally diffuse right away to get some volume and then I air dry.
4. She used the Deva Fuser dryer. She likes it but I can honestly say that for all the curlies I saw that day, all of them had their curls broken up and slightly frizzed because of this dryer. It is just god-awful and I must be honest about that. At least two of us who had terrific clumpy curls when we arrived, left with no clumps after the Deva Fuser was used on us. Maybe it's a case of operator error with this thing, because Tiffany did not personally blow-dry most of us -- a curly "helper" did. In my case, I used it on myself and hated it so much that I asked the person whose home we were at if I could use her blow-dryer and diffuser. Marginally better.

After two hours, I couldn't take it anymore and scrunched out the crunch. It looked terrible. Tiffany saw my disappointment and offered to do me all over again. We did that and this time, we followed a routine that more closely resembled my own. Although my results were better, they were still not great.

I really want to emphasize that none of this is Tiffany's fault. She didn't do anything wrong, and she even asked all of us to bring our favorite products if we wanted her to use them. I should have brought my KCCC!

I learned that there is simply no right or wrong way to care for curly hair. Everybody's hair is different, and more important, everybody's preferences for the end result are different. Some people don't want clumpy curls. I do, and I want them by the truckload! Some people don't want volume. I do. Some people can't stand a really wet head and I am one of them. My routine has been adapted to my preferences. And it works for me, but it may not work for everyone. Tiffany's routine may work for some clients but it did not work for me.

So, next time you're trying to follow a routine that's been posted somewhere on the Internet yet you aren't getting the results you want ... TRY SOMETHING ELSE. Pay attention to your hair and don't be afraid to alter your routine or your products to honor your instincts.

The right way to care for curly hair is whatever way works for you.

Are you doing CG correctly?

Once upon a time, a hair stylist wrote a book about how to care for curly hair. The information and guidance in the book were based mostly on her experiences with her own as well as her clients' hair. The book helped a lot of curlies, including me, and I'm forever grateful to have found it.

But let's be clear, people. It is a very big mistake to regard this book as some kind of bible.

I say this because it seems that a lot of people go to great pains to "get CG right." They agonize over whether a product is CG, ask as many CG followers as they can about the "correct" way to apply product, and they think that if they make a mistake, it's like being an alcoholic who takes a drink--and that they must "start over" again.

My view is that it's time to relax about being CG.

What is the CG method?

If you were to distill the Curly Girl book down into a few sentences (and believe me, you can), here are its tenets:
1. Avoid sulfates
2. Avoid silicones
3. Treat curly hair gently (no brushes, no rough towels, no blow-dryers)
4. Gel is your friend
5. A good conditioner contains a blend of moisturizers, protein, emollients, and humectants
5. Don't touch your hair before it's completely dry

There's also a bunch of silliness about "typing" one's hair, none of which is terribly helpful but a delightful little exercise that helps give the book some substance and allows the author to use celebrity photos to demonstrate her points. People love celebrities. So do publishers. Celebrities help make everything sell better.

The book asserts that silicones coat the hair and starve it of moisture. It goes on to say that shampoo (at least the kind that contains sulfates, which is pretty much all that existed when the author wrote the book) is what's needed to remove the silicones, but the sulfates strip hair of its natural moisture, thereby forcing us all to reach for silicones to give us the shine we crave. And hence, a heinous cycle of interdependency ensues.

And that, along with the hair typing and a plethora of curly confessions, is the sum total of the book.

Points of confusion

Sulfates. Not all of these are created equal. What's more, not all shampoos have the same amount of them. And finally, there's not a single silicone in existence that requires the use of sulfates to remove it. Surfactants, no sulfates, are what's required to remove silicones (and most products in general). (So-called harsher sulfates include sodium laurel sulfate, sodium, laureth sulfate, and ammonium laurel sulfate. Milder surfactants that will do the job for you include sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, and sodium cocoyl isethionate. Still milder are non-sulfate anionic surfactants, including sodium laurel sulfate, sodium, laureth sulfate, and ammonium laurel sulfate. Least harsh are the amphoteric surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, and sodium cocoyl isethionate.)

Silicones. These come in many guises and have many names. Some adhere to hair (dimethicone), some evaporate in a few hours (cyclomethicone), and others are extremely mild (dimethicone copolyol). Not all of them evil. In fact, many would argue that none of them are. In 2009, we have many more cleansing options than were available in 2002 when Curly Girl was written. There is no reason to be draconian in your avoidance of any ingredient ending in "cone" unless you have discovered that your hair really despises all silicones. And even if it does hate silicones, maybe if you found a way to remove them that your hair doesn't hate, that peaceful coexistence of cleansing and silicone could work for you. You never know unless you try.

Gel. Have you ever tried using the amount of gel recommended in the book? Fuggedabowdit. I use about five times as much gel as the book would have me using. It took me a few months to figure out that the quantities (of conditioner as well as gel) Curly Girl suggests simply are too skimpy for me. And in case you haven't noticed, amazing advances have been made in the formulation of gels, and now you also need to watch for certain polyquats. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security about a gel just because it doesn't contain any 'cones. What's more, some people's hair doesn't respond at all well to some of the most common (and seemingly harmless) gel ingredients such as propylene glycol, PVP, acrylates, and others. Just because something is technically CG doesn't mean your hair will thrive with it.

Conditioner. Another aspect of CG that required trial and error for me was conditioner selection. First, not everybody likes protein. (The author has done a rather abrupt about-face on this point herself: her products no longer contain protein and she preaches an anti-protein approach to her followers.) I adore protein and need more of it than I ever would have expected, but coarser haired curlies don't need and don't want protein. Humectants are good in theory, too, but depending on your hair's porosity and the climate you live in, you may not need humectants in the same quantities that somebody else would. Excess humectants result in frizz for some of us. So, when you read that a good conditioner must contain all these ingredients, proceed with caution because your hair may not want them all and it may not want them all in equal proportions.

How much conditioner you leave in your hair is also a huge variable among curly-headed people. Some people like to just not rinse it all out. Others like to rinse it all out and then add a bit more so they have more control. Still others use a curl creme instead of a conditioner. Some like no conditioner left in at all. You are the best judge of what your hair likes. The guidance in the book should only be used as a general suggestion about the need for curly hair to have some moisture left on it somehow. You can figure out for yourself what that moisture should look like for your hair. (And yes, figuring that out can take a while. But it's better to experiment than to blindly follow the advice of one stylist who has never seen your hair.)

Touching and being gentle. This is some of the best advice ever. Make sure your hair is totally dry before you scrunch out your crunch. It does make a world of difference! I have also found that towels with no nap make the best choices (I avoid terrycloth and even microfiber towels, which act like velcro on my hair, even when it's wet).

The Curly Girl book is a great introduction to the needs of curly hair. After you read it, loiter at the naturallycurly.com discussion boards (do NOT believe everything that's posted there, however!) to get some new insights, and read some of the blogs I've got listed in my favorites. Acquire information.

If there were one right way to handle curly hair, everybody's curly hair would be perfect and beautiful. But the sad truth is that there is no surefire way that applies to everyone's hair. All you can do is learn what you can, talk to people, and experiment. And when you experiment, you may discover a trick or two that will help someone else.

CurlyNikki has a forum!

Once upon a time, there was no place for curly-headed people to go to talk about their hair. The world was a dark place, full of frizz and useless hair products.

Then came NaturallyCurly.com. And there was light!

A few months ago, we were treated to the LiveCurlyLiveFree discussion board (especially for curlies with somewhat "advanced" knowledge). Some nice brainy discussions go on there.

And now.... CurlyNikki has launched a forum, too. Headings include: Products, Henna, Stylin' and Profilin', Transitioning, and more! Go have a visit and see what you think!

Products I Love

Curly Nikki just posted about her Holy Grail products, and that prompted me to disclose mine here. What's interesting is how few I really have. I've been CG for more than two years now and this list -- a finely honed assortment that doesn't reveal any inkling of how many products I went through to find them -- is all I've got. Maybe some of yours are on this list, too?

Shampoo(s): never touch the stuff (well, okay, sometimes I reach for Jessicurl's Hair Cleansing Cream, but normally I just scrub with a palmful of Suave Naturals Coconut Conditioner)

Conditioner(s): I'm on my last bottle of Activate Hydrating Conditioner (pictured here among some companion products as a kind of memorial), which has yet to be replaced by anything else as my No. 1 favorite. The company no longer makes the stuff (or maybe the company is out of business; I don't know) and I will have to turn instead to any of these very nice conditioners: Mop Top Daily Conditioner, Aloeba, Aubrey Organics Island Naturals as well as GPB Conditioner, Karen's Body Beautiful Hair Nectar and the old version of EO's Rose and Chamomile (of which I have only two more bottles left).

Leave-in/Styler (s):I always use my regular conditioners as leave-ins and you already know what those are, so I'll just list stylers: Kinky-Curly Curling Custard is my absolute Holy Grail product, and yet I cannot use it by itself. In rainy weather, I mix it with Biosilk Rock Hard Gelee and for nice, normal dew points (35 to 55), I mix the KCCC with Max Green Alchemy Sculpting Gel. Sometimes Aubrey's B5 Design Gel alone or mixed with Mandarin Magic is nice. I've also been discovering Joico JoiWhip mousse lately -- it's not consistently great but when it's good, it's very very good.

Deep Conditioner (s): Several months ago, I decided that these are just silly. For me, anyway. My hair (3a, fine) doesn't need deep conditioning as much as it needs protein, so I combine the two in my daily conditioners and my hair is much happier.

When imaginations curl

My curls inspire some dark thoughts. The kind that should never see the light of day.

Like, every morning, when I step carefully into my shower, I think about how I should have cleaned the tub better. I think about how the tile's slick surface is an amalgam of conditioners gone before. And I think about slipping, and falling, and breaking my neck in the pursuit of curls.

When I lean forward to scrunch out all the water and my back creaks its objections, I think about how I easily I tolerate this pain. I wonder how old I will be before it becomes impossible to assume this position for very long, and I think about what on earth I will do if I cannot scrunch water out and product in when I am in my seventies.

Stooped over to allow my hair to fall neatly into my diffuser, I'm aware of my neck's distaste for this position. I think about a woman I worked with who suffered from a pinched nerve and I think about what a foul mood she was always in. She didn't have curls, though, I reason, so no wonder she was bitchy.

On the train to work, I imagine myself slugging the idiot behind me who can't control his newspaper. Each time it disturbs the damp curls on the back of my head, I think about another way to make him resort to a Kindle in the future.

All of this before I even get to work.