NaturallyCurly : Please introduce yourself!

Sarah Odon: My name is Sarah. I am 23 years old, and I am from Reunion Island which is a small French island near Madagascar. I have been traveling a lot for the past few years and I am currently working in Dubai!

NC: How and when did you start embracing your curls?

SO: I actually had my hair straight for 3 years doing all sort of permanent treatments such as the Japanese straightening and the Brazilian blowout. Needless to say that these treatments are expensive on the long term and hard to keep up with. So in 2012 I decided to go natural, I cut the remaining straight ends (about 5 inches!!”> and tried to “embrace” my curls even though I truly wanted to go back to straight sometimes.

NC: What’s your current routine?

SO: My routine remains the same but the products change very often as I love to try new products. I usually wash my hair once to twice a week (the night prior I would apply pure coconut oil to all over my hair and sleep with it”>.

I dry it with a synthetic towel. If you want to reduce frizz invest in a synthetic towel, your hair will thank you and surprisingly it’s very affordable.

After that I detangle with a wide comb brush (but if I am feeling lazy I would use a normal brush”> and then it usually goes in this order:

1. Cream or leave-in : because I put a good quantity of leave-in I always look for products that have good quality/price ratio. The ones I found good are:

• Fructis Sleek & Shine Leave-in
• One ‘n Only Argan Oil Curl Cream
• Curls Goddess Curl Gel

2. Mousse : I put a small quantity of mousse because it usually contains alcohol and can really dry your hair, but I find that it can also give a nice definition to the curl when you “crunch” it to your hair.

3. Serum: the final touch that makes all the difference in my opinion. The serum will leave my hair shiny and with no frizz (which I hate so much by the way!”>. One or two pumps and you are good to go!

After that I let it air dry, I never never never use a blow dryer and even in winter (call me crazy!”> I also used to let it air dry.

NC: From start to finish, on a curly day, what’s your process?

SO: On a working day my job requires that I tie back my hair in low bun so I don’t have to worry about 2nd nor 3rd hair day. Otherwise I just co-wash my hair with conditioner and repeat the routine above.

NC: What are your favorite hairstyles to wear?

SO: High buns definitely ! it’s so easy to make and very versatile. Messy for a beach day, very high for a sweaty work out at the gym or a clean version for a diner out. In warm countries such as here in Dubai, it’s very convenient as temperatures can reach the 110 degrees.

NC: What are your must-have products and tools?

SO: I could survive without all the products I have been using, but without a leave-in conditioner it would be very difficult!

NC: What about your hair stylist?

SO: As I travel often I’ve never had a fix hairdresser that I go all the time to. Actually I only go to hairdressers 2 or 3 times a year for trimming my hair or for a blow dry when I have a special event.

As I don’t do anything complicated to my hair I always try to look for school hairdresser in the city I am in, that’s my tip for girls on budget!

NC: What do you do at nighttime for your hair?

SO: I used to do the pineapple routine but I think my hair is too long for that now so I just sleep with a very high bun or braid it. My next purchase will be a satin pillow case to keep the hair frizz free.

NC: What reaction did you get when you first decided to go natural?

SO: Only positive! Most of the people like my hair curly rather than straight. They think it suits my personality and my mixed origins better. So my change was very well accepted and encouraged. It’s great to receive compliments because every time I am thinking of going back to straight I try to remember all the positive comments I received.

NC: What is the best thing about being curly?

SO: I think having a big curly head makes me stand out more and people tend to remember me more easily. Now that I think of it, I realize that I have almost never received a compliment about my hair when it was straight and now that it’s curly there is always someone asking whether it is my natural hair or telling me how they love it!

NC: How do you think having curly hair has impacted your everyday life?

SO: I used to not like my curly hair at all but I think that when trying to embrace it and live with it, and you receive positive feedback, it makes you realize that sometimes you put yourself down for nothing. It actually gave me back a bit of self confidence and taught me to turn a challenge into an advantage. And this can be applied to everything about us, not only hair !

NC: What would you tell others to encourage them to embrace their curls?

SO: I might not be the right person to speak about embracing your curls because it took me a while to do so, but what worked for me was to find a good routine that my hair responded well too and as I said before, I always kept in the back of my mind all the positive comments that I received from people (especially strangers because they have no reason to lie to me”> and tell myself that my curls are not that bad and somewhere in the world, some people wish they had it.

NC: Tell us about your current and upcoming projects.

SO: In terms of hairstyle, I would like to go for a lighter color such as caramel or golden brown, maybe even highlights but I am fearing the dye damage so maybe I would wait a little bit before that.

NC: Where can we find you on the web?

SO: You can follow me on Instagram, there is not much hair picture but from time to time you can sneak peak on how my hair is doing! Sarah97435