Search Results: Jenell Stewart

By Jenell Stewart · Published April 19, 2012

One of the most common complaints by women with hair type 4a, 4b and 4c coils is frizz. I mean, dang, we have to accept that our hair is coarse, gets really dry, has almost no natural curl definition, and to top it off, we have to deal with frizz when we try to create that curl definition? Ugh.

Because my hair type (4b”> has little to no curl definition, like most naturals, I style my hair in twists and/or braids and then loosen them to create a curly look, better known as a twist out or braid out. Frizz is always ready to hijack a style, so we have to learn to be creative when preparing our hair. It can take 40 to 60 minutes to properly prepare my hair for a curly style, only to wake up the next morning with a head full of frizz!

Guess what? There are things that can be done to help keep frizz at bay, but none of these are completely guaranteed to work. Try them all to see what gives you the best results. Something is bound to work because I am proof that is possible to get great curl definition with low frizz. I’ll say it again, it IS possible!

Evaluate Your Technique

Twisting is very simple, but not all techniques are effective in giving good, smooth definition. When you twist your hair, you start off with two sections. You twist these two sections around each other repeatedly, until you get to the ends.

I suggest, keeping your two sections of hair completely separate all the way to the very end. It’s very tempting to “borrow” some hair from the longer piece and add it to the shorter piece when you get to the bottom, but keeping the sections completely separated ensures that the hairs aren’t weaving together. This results in clean and smooth separations when it is time to separate the twists, thus low manipulation and low frizz.

Is it Time For a New Product?

Not all styling products are created equally. What may be a great moisturizer, may do a poor job at giving good hold. If you want good curl definition for your twist outs you need a styling product with hold. This means you may have to get a brand new product or reach in the back of your cabinet and pull out that product that made your hair hard the first time you used it and deemed it unfit for your hair.

Products that give your hair hold tend to make it feel hard, but if you moisturize properly before applying this product, your hair will feel softer then using the product alone. Products with hold freeze the hair into place and helps to hold your curl definition in place. The stronger the hold, the less the frizz.

Wet Styling vs. Dry Styling

In addition to figuring out which products help fight frizz, try styling your hair on soaking wet hair, damp hair and dry hair. For textured like mine, styling my hair wet gives me the best curl definition, at a price though: good curl definition also means lots of shrinkage.

On the other hand, when I style my hair when it’s dry, I get elongated curls that are looseer. Testing this out could help you discover many things about your hair, most importantly your frizz levels.

Time for a Trim

If you’ve tried everything and your ends seem to be the main area where you have frizz, it may be time to trim. I know we don’t like the sound of that, and it seems counter productive if you have goals of growing your hair to BSL, but rough, dry, brittle, split ends will harm you more in the long run if you don’t end the relationship with them now. Any efforts you make in achieving perfect curl definition for that banging twist out will be done in vain.

In the end, you can get a great twist out with little frizz. You just have to keep at it. Practice makes perfect, curlies. Practice makes perfect.

How do you do your twist-outs?

By Jenell Stewart · Published March 23, 2012

Monica “Queen” Carruthers

It goes without saying that we’re product junkies over here at NaturallyCurly. When we hear about a new product line, we jump at the chance to test it out and talk to the creators behind it.

So when U R Curly launched earlier this year, we couldn’t help but sit down with one of the natural women who helped develop the line that promotes growth, education and helping you “own it!”

Check out Monica “Queen” Carruthers’ natural hair journey and see how she ended up helping to create a product line that, in her 21 years of hair care expertise, she wholeheartedly stands behind.

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got started in the hair care business?

I’ve been in the hair care business around 21 years. I started when I was about 13 when I developed an interest for hair. I spent a lot of time in the salon because my mom was a stylist. She still is to this day, 40 plus years! You know, just being around, catching on to the different techniques, I developed a big interest in it and started to do it. It has basically been my life and career since about the age of 16.

Are you natural yourself?

I am. I have been natural at right around 10 years.

Wow! Can you tell me about your natural hair journey?

I grew up on the permanent waves to the relaxed hair and wearing braids as a child. As an adult, I always wore relaxers. I always had an issue with color, though, and with wearing two chemicals: the color and the relaxer at the same time. I was one of those people who just could not do both. My love for color encouraged me to learn more about natural hair and letting my relaxer go. I just decided that color was greater to me than wearing straight hair, and I decided to go for it.

I was probably with the natural afro look for about two years. After that, I decided to go ahead and loc. That is where it started. I was able to wear my color treated hair along with my natural hair and locs without having to worrying about the things that come along with wearing two chemicals: color and relaxer.

Are you currently loc’d?

I am.

How do you maintain them?

I maintain my locs pretty much the same way that I maintain my hair. There are a lot of similarities since hair is kind of general when you step away from the chemicals.

I do a lot of hydrating. Hydration plays a big part in having healthy hair. Period. I always seek out shampoo and conditioners that keep my hair hydrated. Then I follow-up with an oil. I maintain that pretty much once a week, applying the oil, just to keep it hydrated.

I use U R Curly Soya Shampoo and Quinoa Conditioner because I love the ingredients in the products. That is basically how I maintain my locs.

Are you sulfate-free and all natural in the products that you use?

Oh, yes! Definitely. U R Curly is sulfate-free, with no parabens, alcohols or things that cause irritation. We stay away from those ingredients. We have an all natural, soy based shampoo, our conditioner is enriched with quinoa, and our enhancers, which I don’t use because I have locs and I don’t need the enhancer, are sulfate-free with no parabens or alcohols as well. I do use the enhancer on my natural clients and on clients with relaxed hair too.

What hair type is the enhancer best for?

I would use the curl enhancer with any type of hair with any type of pattern, be it a wave, a curl, tight or loose. It doesn’t matter about the ethnicity of the person as long as you have a pattern.

When they purchase the product, I tell people to use the enhancer as liberally as they like because it dries with the hair. It is enriched with oil, which acts as a protector and a buffer for the hair between the different natural elements or over processing.

You mentioned that you use the products on your clients as well. Could you talk to me a little bit about your experience in cutting and styling natural hair as a stylist yourself?

Well, if I had a client that came in who was in the beginning stages of transitioning and we were going to do the big chop, I would actually use the U R Curly shampoo and conditioner and then create a nice cut that framed her face. Cutting for me, I guess, it comes easily. I’ve been cutting a long time.

Since you were 13?

Yeah! There are a lot of similarities in all hair types. There are, of course, a lot of different techniques, but to me, natural hair is a lot easier to cut.

Really? That is a first for me to hear! How so?

Because I started out being a chemical stylist first, by the time I started getting more into the natural side, cutting different textures of hair was just second nature. I have not run into any problems with cutting natural hair.

I’m basically clipping ends, looking for straight or weak areas and mostly promoting growth. I recommend to a person who is natural to keep the ends trimmed. Sometimes, you may need to blow the hair with a blow drier to straighten it a bit to get an accurate cut. Again, I don’t see natural hair as being complicated to cut or style.

How often should naturals get their hair trimmed?

If you are wearing flat iron styles a lot, you will probably need to trim at least every eight weeks. If you are a person who is just wearing twist outs, two-strand twists or braided styles and you are not applying a lot of heat, you could probably be trimmed about every three months. It really just depends on the person and how active they are with their hair.

I’m big on explaining to my clients how to comb their hair out to make it softer and what products to use, so that there isn’t a whole lot of unnecessary tugging and pulling to avoid excessive split ends. Once you master those things, you can kind of get away with three months or even longer.

What about your AskQueen website. Can you tell me a little more about that?

My AskQueen site basically burst out of phone calls. I would get countless phone calls from people with different hair questions. They would come from stylists, college students, people from my church or just people that knew me. So I said, “Hey, I might as well make this a little bigger and go for it on a professional level.”

My thing is that I never hold back on giving people hair advice. If they value my opinion and my professionalism and value what I say, then I offer it. AskQueen is a site designed for stylists or clients who are having hair issues and don’t know what to do and want advice. It is free of charge. You just log in and post something in the forum, and within 24 hours, I will reply.

People have always poured out to me, so I felt a need to make myself available to others. If they are willing to ask, then I am willing to answer.

That’s great! So tell me about you and U R Curly.

I helped to create U R Curly, and I was one of the lead people to help test the product.

It was something that I was saying for a long time, that there needed to be a natural line. These ingredients were the ones that I felt like the product needed. When U R Curly was presented to me, it was on a trial basis. It was not out or known to anyone. We were just in the testing stage.

Once we really got the product where we wanted it, it was time to launch it. It was a great success!

Let’s talk a bit about the line. I’ve been looking at a lot of the ingredients in the U R Curly products, and this quinoa conditioner seems to be very unique to the line. Can you tell me about it?

Quinoa is a grain. It is high in protein, calcium and iron. It is a good source of vitamin E as well. It contains a balance of amino acids, which is needed for protein, and protein strengthens hair. We were very adamant about finding the best ingredients to promote healthy hair growth, whether your hair is natural or relaxed. That is why the quinoa conditioner is so unique. There aren’t a lot of products out there that have the ingredients that U R Curly products have.

That’s great! You are speaking right to the heart of the community in promoting growth.

I think that is most people’s objective. I haven’t had too many people say that they don’t care about their hair growing! [Laughter]

Our thing is to continue to promote growth by teaching, training and just educating people on the most vital things that you need as far as your hair. People often don’t include hair as part of the body, but it is and you can’t take that away from who you are. You want it to be healthy no matter what style you choose, be you natural or not.

Do you have any tips for women who are considering going natural or who are newly natural?

Yes! U R Curly believes that natural is a lifestyle, and we work to make your natural lifestyle a whole lot easier. We believe that our ingredients work to your advantage to enhance your natural curl. U R Curly is very versatile since it softens, moisturizes and adds shine to the hair.

My tip for anyone considering going natural is that I first ask them, “Do you know where you are trying to go?” It’s a journey. When you are putting something into your GPS you need an address.

Whatever your destination is, know that from the beginning. Then, along the way, learn as much as you can and take in as much as you can because it is not an easy transition. Most of us have been relaxed our entire lives and so we are just now learning how to properly take care of our hair. It is new and you need help along the way. And that is why we are here, to help people along their way and along their journey. If they have any questions or need any hands on help, we are here. That is my thing.

Own you! Accept your uniqueness.

Anything else you would like to add?

We look forward to hearing from everyone! The line is new, but we are hitting the ground running with it. We are just trying to get it out there and let people know that we have a product we really believe in. We stand behind it.

Connect with U R Curly:

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By Jenell Stewart · Published February 7, 2012

Have you ever been to a fashion textured fashion show? No, not wool and cotton textures, I’m mean curls, kinks and waves!  There will be lots of textured hairstyles on the modes this year thanks to a movement led by TextureMedia and NaturallyCurly.com.

I’m ecstatic about my role at the “Texture on the Runway” event this Feb 11, 2012.  Sorry, I won’t be a textured model, but I will be involved in the event as a textured media influencer allowing me an inside role at all the action! I’ll take pictures and video interviews directly from my phone, and I’ll be giving live tweets from my Twitter handle. Millions of people around the world will be tuned into this event via TextureOnTheRunway.com, so that means I have to make sure my hair looks FAB because all of you will be updated within moments of all the action!

Goodbye straight and boring, and hello kinky, curly and coily! This moment will go down in history and will change the conversation on both industry and consumer levels. From now on, women with hair like yours and mine will be represented on the runway in the season’s latest trends and fashions!

What curly styles do you hope to see? I hope to see a wide variety of gorgeous kinky, curly, and coily twist outs up and down the runway, in various colors, lengths, cuts and frizziness. But to be more specific, I want to see a BIG kinky afro!

Is it just me, or does textured hair make a bold statement and add flair to any look?  Think about how trendy an off the shoulder top looks with a big curly afro. Or how sexy a bathing suit looks with a teased curly bun!

I know “Texture on the Runway” will make a statement to designers and stylist from here on out to incorporate texture on the runway because once you go curly—you never go back!