If you were a child in the ’90s, you probably watched “Sister, Sister,” and you probably wanted one of three things: a twin sister, a huge hat with a flower pinned to it, or bouncy curly hair.
About two weeks ago I was excited to see Tamera Mowry’s tweets and pics. I managed to catch up with her and get her to spill the deets! Can I just say… she is absolutely amazing. A genuine person with a beautiful soul. I’m proud to know her!
Her Hair THEN
I was born with very, very curly hair. And as a kid I didn’t know any different. I was just like, okay, this is my hair. I never noticed that other girls had straight or wavy hair, it was just my hair and I liked it.
My mother did our hair until we hit junior high, and it was always so pretty and smooth. She’d comb it and put it in braids every night, and finally, when at 13, she was like, “Girls, I’m done; you need to learn how to do your own hair.” So that’s when I realized how difficult naturally curly hair could be… getting that balance right is tricky! You can either put too much product in it and weigh it down, or too little and end up with dry hair, and we all know that curly hair needs moisture. It took me a very long time to figure it all out… I’m still trying to figure it all out! But I basically had a pretty solid routine by the time I got to college.
The “Sister, Sister” Days
While filming “Sister, Sister”—which stretched from my high school years through college—my sister, Tia, and I were both completely natural. And then came “The Phase”. Curly hair was associated with ‘cuteness’, while straight, sleek hair was seen as sexy and chic. We bought into this, and started getting blow outs every two weeks. This damaged my hair. Bad. It’s so weird, when I look back on that time and that transition, all I can think is that I should’ve left my hair alone. In the process of straightening it, coloring it, manipulating it… I damaged my curls so bad and now more than anything, all I want is my healthy hair back. I want to be bohemian chic [laughter]. I think naturally curly hair is different… it’s so unique and beautiful in a world where straight hair is king. I really think it helps us stand out.
Her Hair NOW
So blowouts were the staple until 3 years ago when we decided to start wearing weaves to protect our hair from the demands of work. We were doing a lot of filming and weave just made sense. I recently took the weave out and got color and a Brazilian Blowout. The Brazilian keratin treatment was the biggest mistake of my life. I know there are some girls who love it and tout it as ‘life changing’, but it did absolutely nothing for me. My hair fell out and I’ve basically had to start all over again. It thinned out really bad. That, plus the color… complete disaster. I’m currently transitioning and in the process of completely growing my hair back out. I’ll rock the occasional clip-on if I want some versatility, but I’m really pushing toward totally healthy, natural curls.
I love Terax Creama Hair Conditioner and the entire Komenuk Bijin line. These are all sulfate and paraben free products that are helping me pamper my curls.
Her Natural Hair Routine
I wash my hair with the Komenuk shampoo, condition with the Terax and then rake through a little Karite Anti Frizz Therma Active as a leave-in. That’s pretty much it. I’m doing my best to baby it so it can grow. My hair was almost down to my butt… it was so long, all natural. No extensions, no nothing. You know we get sucked in to what is sexy, what is hot and in the process, we ruin our hair. I recently found NaturallyCurly.com through a twitter post, and I must say it is amazing. And with me currently learning about my curls and looking for things to help them grow, this is perfect! So yes, I’ll definitely be lurking.
Final thoughts
Catch Tamera and her sister Tia on their new reality TV series “Tia and Tamera, Take 2” on Style Network, August 10!