I have two sisters, and all three of us have completely different hair textures. My hair is kinky yet cotton-candy soft and very fragile. My sister Tuwana's hair is even finer than my hair. So fine, that she can't take any chemical at all but she didn't truly realize this for years because we grew up when the rule of thumb for "all" black hair was that it had to be relaxed or pressed period.
This is our youngest sister Charrell, a grad student (she's going for a doctor of physical therapy degree), brand new New Yorker and my lone friend on Facebook for many years until I discovered some of my blogging buddies! Even though Charrell had been wearing her hair relaxed since she was a teenager, I always thought it was kind of ridiculous because I thought she could get away with using a blowdryer and a curling iron to straighten it - and that turned out to be true even though conventional "wisdom" had her relaxing her hair well into her college years. She grew her relaxer out two years ago and in the first picture, she is wearing her natural hair straightened with a flat iron. In the second picture, she is wearing a twist out look that she had been wearing for the last few weeks.
I remember doing her hair when she was a toddler very well. Do you see the model's "before" picture above? Imagine that head of hair on a three-year-old. Not fun! Of course, in the 1980s, we didn't know anything about sulfate-free shampoos (more on that tomorrow) and assumed baby shampoos were for all babies.
When Charrell arrived at Dickey's, she looked like this. Like me, she was also trying out some colors from MAC Fall 2008 Color Collections because I can't try all of them (and yes, she's always glad to help). She really loved that mink & sable eye shadow she's wearing (it's a frosty olive green from the new Starflash collection) and since I didn't, it was hers along with MAC's new Lustre Twins lipgloss duo in Pink Air and White Top.
I snapped this picture of Dickey and his assistant Dailey working on Charrell's hair while I was under the dryer. Yes, they were having that much fun! And I was so jealous of Dickey's orange Obama hat. He said that he picked it up in Times Square.
Dailey shampooed Charrell's hair with Hair Rules Daily Cleansing Cream Moisture-Rich No-Suds Shampoo and followed with the Quench Ultra Rich Conditioner
Next, she combed Charrell's hair through carefully while the conditioner was still in her hair and then rinsed it out after about five minutes. Then she used the Nourishment Leave-In Conditioner and Kinky Curling Cream while Charrell's hair was still wet, working with the curls carefully with her hands.
At this point, it was time for her to join me under the dryer so the curls would set.
Here is Charrell's "After" shot from Friday (left) minutes after she emerged from the dryer and her "After" shot from Monday after Dickey's assistant Dailey gave her a cut. The goal was to get rid of uneven ends and allow Charrell to grow out her hair minus the "awkward" stage. She told me that she was very pleased with her hair and glad that she won't have to spend an excessive amount of time doing it in the morning!
I will follow up in the next few months on our progress. In the meantime, click here if you missed my "kinky hair" experience and check back tomorrow for my full interview with Dickey.
Wow! All of you have gorgeous hair!
Posted by: NaturallyCurly | 12/08/2008 at 09:01