Search Results: Michelle Breyer

Three years ago, Kelly Foreman set out to create a line of products to make life easier for fellow curlies.

She developed the MopTop and Fuzzy Duck lines, a collection of sulfate-free, alcohol-free, silicone-free shampoos, conditioners and styling products specifically for curly, frizzy hair. The line has amassed loyal fans around the world.

A leave-in conditioner was always something she wanted to include in the line. And this year – after more than a year and a half in the making – she finally has the perfect formula for it.

“We have received so many requests from our customers for a leave-in,” Foreman says.

Although she has the product, Foreman doesn’t have a name.

“I need your help!” says Foreman.

The goal was to produce a product that goes a long way, with many uses – something that met the needs of a budget-conscious mom of three daughters like her. Like the other MopTop products in the line, the new leave-in is full of great ingredients such as aloe barbadensis gel, honey and sea botanicals. It contains water-soluble silcones and is paraben free.

The winner will receive a gift basket of MopTop products. The runner-up will receive a $25 CurlMart gift certificate.

Several customers, who happen to be Naturallycurly.com readers, have tested the product for Foreman, and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive.”

“I tried your Mop-Top Leave-In Conditioner and was amazed at the results!” says Amy, a 3b from Texas. “I used it as a typical leave-in and my frizzies seemed to be reduced and my hair seemed to maintain more definition in its curl pattern. I don’t know what you put in your Leave-In Conditioner but my hair looks healthy and hydrated without looking or feeling heavy. I love it!”

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Send your name ideas to Foreman at kelly@moptophair.com.

In February 2006, Marsha Coulton dove head first into the world of curly hair care, launching Curl Junkie with 23 products out of her Brooklyn house. Over the last three years, Curl Junkie products like Hibiscus and Banana Deep Fix and Coffee Coco Curl Creme have become staples for many curlies.

Using three years of her own experience, as well as customer feedback, Coulton this month has relaunched her line with a whole new look and feel, eliminating some slow sellers and adding new products. The revamped line now includes 11 products, including protein-free and glycerin-free conditioners, a new sulfate-free shampoo and two new gels. The most popular products, such as the curl cremes and the Deep Fix, remain in the line.

“Over the years, I’ve gained knowledge about formulas, and these new products reflect that,” Coulton says. “I’m very happy with these products. They cover a broader range of hair types, and suit different needs.”

For example, she added two new gels to the line — Curl Assurance Aloe Fix Hair Styling Gel and Curl Theory Smoothing Gellie Hair Styling Gel — to fill the needs of people who prefer gels to creams.

In addition to the new products, Curl Junkie products now are produced and bottled by professional laboratories rather than by Coulton in her kitchen. The move took several months and a nationwide search because many labs couldn’t reproduce her formulas.

“There was a lot of arrogance on the part of chemists,” Coulton says. “They thought they could do it better, and they would sub out some of the natural botanical oils with cheaper chemicals. When I got them back, I’d say ‘This isn’t my product.'”

Coulton believes the lab-produced products are actually better than the products she produced herself because they’re creamier and lighter because they’re professionally blended. The packaging also has a more professional look, with waterproof labels, bar codes and batch numbers. The only ingredient change is a move to Phenoxyethanol, a different paraben-free preservative system.

“Now we’re official,” Coulton says.

Coulton has come a long way since she launched the business, armed with an MBA, Wall Street experience and an intense interest in natural hair care.

“I was jumping around to different jobs because I wasn’t particularly happy,” Coulton says. ” I was doing what I thought I should be doing. But since I was 12, I’d known I wanted to do hair.”

One day she was complaining about her own hair to her mother, who asked “Why don’t you go to beauty school?”

Coulton says she always felt like she was expected to pursue a high-powered career. So her mom’s suggestion to go after her dream was a breath of fresh air. The timing was perfect because Coulton was just embarking on her own hair journey after decades of relaxing her hair.

She found NaturallyCurly.com, and was inspired to cut off her long, relaxed locks. But she struggled with how to take care of her newly shorn kinky curls. She found that most newly natural people struggled with the same issues. In 2004, Coulton started beauty school at the Carsten Institute in New York. From the beginning, her whole emphasis was curly hair. But beauty school, she says, was a bit of an eye opener.

“I saw that the push was to straighten out curly hair,” she says. “It wasn’t about working with the curl.”

She graduated and went to work at the Sam Wong Hair Studio in Manhattan. The salon had gained a reputation for its hair treatments using essential oils. Essential oils had long been a hobby of hers, and the job motivated her to learn more. She began studying different ingredients, and she began developing her own hair concoctions. She spent hours each day on research, and her kitchen resembled a chemistry lab.

“I set out to make products for me and my fellow curlies,” Coulton says.

She tested her concoctions on mannequins, herself, her family and friends, and finally her clients. When clients began asking to buy them, she knew she had the makings of a successful line.

After she launched, her business grew steadily until an article in Essence, when “things exploded.” Her dining room was quickly converted into a storage room, filled with over 100 raw materials.

“It looked like a lab,” Couton says.

During this time, she gave birth to a son, Sebastian. With a growing business, and a growing family, Coulton could justify moving production to a manufacturer.

She looked at this change as an ideal opportunity to take a close look at all the products in her line. With the help of a lab, she has developed new products she believes are superior to some of the existing products in the line, including the Curl Theory Moisturizing Hair Conditioner and Curl Assurance Gentle Cleansing Shampoo, which replaces the Hibiscus Bliss Shampoo.

“When I developed (the shampoo”>, I almost felt like my hair was being conditioned as it was being cleansed,” Coulton says. “It’s not stripping, but is strong enough to clean out styling products. It has a different feel, but the results are superior.”

Coulton says she had to make some tough decisions while tweaking the line, and she knows some people will be disappointed with some of the discontinued products, such as the Curl Rehab oils.

“I’m not saying the old products won’t come back, but I think the new products are better and can replace the old products,” she says. “If I dropped something, I made sure there were new products that would fill the gaps.”

Although Coulton will get her dining room back, you’ll still find her in her kitchen working on new concoctions.

“I’m always checking out new ingredients and responding to customer requests” Coulton says. “Tinkering is an ongoing part of life.”

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‘Tis the season to show appreciation for some curlies who have made a difference in the world through their thoughts and actions. We selected inspired individuals from all walks of life, from all around the globe.

1. Willa Shalit, the daughter of film critic Gene Shalit, launched Fair Winds Trading to sell gorgeous, exotic objects while furthering peace and justice. Shalit has collabrated for the past five years with the women of Rwanda, paying them a sustainable wage for their handwoven baskets, jewelry, textile bags and table linens, which she imports to the United States through Fair Winds. She plans to branch out to Tanzania, Cambodia and Indonesia.

2. Malcolm Gladwell has helped us redefine success and achievement through books like “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” (2000″>, “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” (2005″>, and “Outliers: The Story of Success” (2008″>. The British-born Canadian journalist and author has been a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996. His 1999 profile of Ron Popeil won a National Magazine Award, and in 2005 he was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

3. Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. In 1984, Tutu became the second South African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Tutu was elected and ordained the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa”>. Tutu chaired the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and is currently the chairman of The Elders.

4. President-elect Barack Obama, whether he won or lost, changed our perceptions of what is possible. Obama’s biography is an impressive one. He is the biracial son of a father from Kenya and a white mother who had him at 18. He was raised in the dynamic, multi-ethnic cultures of Hawaii and Indonesia. He held positions as president of the Harvard Law Review, a community organizer and a U.S. Senator before, at age 46, he won the highest office in the United States. The French junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade, said it well on Nov. 5: “On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes.”

5. Oprah Winfrey has become a one-woman symbol for ingenuity, hope, success and philanthropy. Born in rural Mississippi to a poor teenage mother, she has gone on to have the highest-rated talk show in the history of television, publish a popular magazine, become an an Academy Award-nominated actress, become a magazine publisher and become one of the most influential woman in the world. She has used her success to help others. Last year, she topped a list of the 30 largest public donations made by celebrities. Her philosophy toward philanthropy is: “Think about what you have to give, not in terms of dollars because I believe that your life is about service. It’s about what you came to give the world, to your children, to your family.”

6. When he co-founded Google Inc. in 1998, Sergey Brin changed the way we navigate the Internet, and created a new verb in the process. Who among us hasn’t “Googled” something or someone? Along with co-founder Larry Page, they together ranked #1 by PC World Magazine (2007″> of the “50 Most Important People on the Web.” His family’s roots and educational barriers in the communist state contributed to his current philosophy that information should be available to everyone without limitations. Brin and Page crammed their dormitory room with inexpensive computers and applied Brin’s data mining system to build a superior search engine. The program became popular at Stanford and they suspended their Ph.D studies to start up Google in a rented garage.

7. Dean Kaman, an American entrepreneur and inventor from New Hampshire, has changed the world with his ingenuity. The “Pied Piper of Technology” holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. While still a college undergraduate, he invented the first wearable infusion pump, which rapidly gained acceptance from diverse medical specialties such as chemotherapy, neonatology and endocrinology. Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 by then-President Clinton for inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide. Other Kaman inventions include the Segway and IBOT. He also has an a profound impact on helping others follow in his footsteps. In 1989, he founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”> for high school students, providing over 1,000 high schools with the tools needed to learn valuable engineering skills.

8. For 40 years, artist Betye Saar has written searing narratives about race and gender. Saar, who is of African, Irish and American Indian ancestry, deals with discomfort by focusing on stereotypical images and language and not allowing her audience to turn away. In the late 1960s Saar began collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo, and other stereotyped African-American figures from folk culture and advertising. She incorporated them into collages and assemblages, transforming them into provocative statements of political and social protest. “You wouldn’t expect the woman who put a gun in Aunt Jemima’s hands to be a shrinking violet. And Betye Saar, who for 40 years has constructed searing narratives about race and gender — including “Ms. Saar and her work can still muster the mojo,” according to a 2006 article in “The New York Times.”

9. Nothing short of gender equality will satisfy Anita Defrantz. In 1986, DeFrantz became the first American woman and first African American to serve on the International Olympic Committee (IOC”>. Her inclusion was considered groundbreaking in an institution that has been dominated by white men and non-athletes. A descendent of slaves, she has received dozens of awards for her work on behalf of athletes and nearly as many medals as an athlete herself. Many have called her the most powerful woman in sports. DeFrantz competed in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal as a rower. She currently serves as president of LA84 Foundation, which was set up to use funds raised by the 1984 L.A. Olympics for youth sports. She once said “Your goal should be out of reach but not out of sight.”

10. Mark Zuckerberg has changed the way we connect with our friends. As a Harvard student, the computer programmer and entrepreneur created the online social website Facebook in 2004 with fellow computer science major students and his roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. He serves as Facebook’s CEO. In 2008, Forbes Magazine declared him “the youngest billionaire on earth and possibly the youngest self-made billionaire ever.” Facebook, a social networking website, is a free-access website that allows users to connect with friends. “The real accomplishment is to make those connections so versatile and different that they create a social network that not only reflects your life but maybe expands it. Mark Zuckerberg… has done just that,” said Time magazine in naming him one of its Top 100 Most Influential People in 2008.

Many women may look with trepidation at a hat, thinking of all the ways it will squash down their curls and kinks.

But you need not be afraid. Curls are perfectly suited for hats, if you choose the right hats and follow a few simple steps.

“Curly hair is actually better suited for hats than straight hair,” says Jonathan Torch of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute and creator of the Curly Hair Solutions line of products. “One of the greatest joys of curly hair is you can get away with a greater variety of hats.”

Curls provide ideal support for a hat, Torch says. “You can tilt it any way, and it stays. The hat becomes an accessory rather than covering the head.”

Lorraine Massey, author of “Curly Girl” and co-founder of Devaconcepts, loves hats of all kinds — “some with crown space, some close to the head.”

Look for hats that fit the proportion of your hair. If it’s too tight on top, the hair can look clownish (think Bozo!”>. In some cases, it may mean buying a larger hat than your head size in order to accommodate the volume of your hair.

On her blog, Shoeism.com, Thèrése dedicated an entire page to curls and hats, trying to prove that curls and chapeaus are incompatible, without success.

The paperboy hat, for example, worked because it was “pouffy in its own right and balances the pouffiness of the hair.”

“The point was going to be that my stupid flouffy curly hair looks stupid with a hat, but it really doesn’t,” Therese says. “Of course, one could argue that even though curly haired folk often look silly in a hat, it is impossible for me to look anything but fabulous.”

Christo of curl salon Christo Fifth Avenue suggests opting for soft fabrics that are breathable and easy to remove, without changing the shape of the curl. Some women with curls and kinks like looser-fitting hats such as berets, tams and sock hats.

NaturallyCurly blogger My-Cherie Haley is a big fan of colorfully wrapped scarves as a decorative accessory. She’s even developed her own “Love Yourself” line of silk scraves.

Colorful hoods and scarves — or hood scarves — are good choices for curly girls. In addition to being decorative, they keep your head warm on cold, wintry days without squashing your tresses.

When wearing a hat, make sure your hair is completely dry. Otherwise, it will leave a strong demarcation line that is hard to correct.

To make a hat look its best, put your head upside down to get as much lift and support at the root area as possible. Then put the hat lightly on your hair.

“Gravity will allow the hat to settle on its own,” Torch says.

When Massey does wear hats, she makes sure to keep clips in her curls at the crown to keep it lifted.

“It actually aids in frizz prevention because the frizz can’t rise up,” Massey says.

Torch stresses that the hair exposed should be frizz-free and defined. “Otherwise, tuck it underneath.”

On the days you wear hats, carry along some pomade or a curl rejuvenator to combat “hat head.” Some good ones to try include Curly Hair Solutions Tweek and Jessicurl Awe Inspiraling Spray.

“When you want to fix hat head, it’s about fixing from the roots,” Torch says. “Take some Tweek and start rubbing it around the crown. It creates volume. The more you play with the demarcation area, the more you can correct the indentation.”

In June 2006, Katie Korein won NaturallyCurly’s Curl Pride contest, a national essay contest that asked kids to tell us why they needed a curly makeover. Her essay was selected from hundreds of entries, and Katie and her family were flown in March to New York, where she received a makeover from “Curly Girl” author Lorraine Massey of Devachan Salon.

Fast forward to a fall fashion spread in the “Ladue News” in Missouri where Katie Korein is rocking her beautiful curls.

“I was picked to do this modeling gig because of my great hair,” Katie says. “I am hoping to do more modeling jobs in the future. I believe my hair will be my selling point.”

Andrea Korein, Katie’s mother, says she has learned to work with her curls, and still relies on Deva products. Every week, she does a deep conditioner overnight, covering it with a plastic cap to soften her curls.

“The experience really did change the way I feel about my hair,” Katie Korein says.

She no longer wishes for different hair, and she relishes the attention she gets every time she wears her curls out rather than back in the ponytail — a style she once relied on all the time.

“She sometimes feels that people like to be around her because of all her curls,” says her mom. “It is hard to put in words, but to sum it up, she loves her curls!”

The only downside, says Andrea Korein says, is that her coach/dad is convinced all those beautiful curls are slowing her down on the soccer field. So to create less of an aerodynamic challenge, she pulls her hair back into braids

“This theory has not been scientifically tested yet,” she says.

Jordan Pacitti, CurlTalker “CurlyBoy,” has always been obsessed with fragrances.

Even at the age of 15, while training at the School of American Ballet in New York, he spent his extra money on cologne. When the professional ballet dancer got injured in November 2006, he began experimenting with his own fragrances. He began making scents and soaps for his fellow dancers at the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, and soon the requests were pouring in.

With the help of his entrepreneur father, he launched Jordan Samuel Fragrances. He sells room fragrance diffusers, bath and body oils and fragrances.

“My mission is to provide the ultimate sensory experience through artfully blended and intoxicating fragrances,” Pacitti says. “People want fragrances that won’t kill you with the scent — scents that are long-lasting but not over powering.”

Jordan Samuel offers three personal fragrances. Inizia, Italian for “to begin,” is a unisex scent that combines green tea, grapefruit, rosemary, sea salt and sandlewood for a fresh, clean scent “with personality.” Pacitti calls his Black Lavender scent “lavender meets the dark side.” It includes notes of leather, myrrh, amber and lavender for a “punch of spice and earthiness.” He created his Vanity Flower scent for a friend in the ballet company who was obsessed with vanilla. He wanted to create a scent with the sweetness of vanilla without being “too cakey.” He describes it as a citrusy, creamy scent.

In addition to the company’s three fragrances, Jordan Samue is offering L’Hiver (winter”> through the holiday season. L’Hiver is made up entirely of essential oils, including eucalyptus and mandarin peel, for a cool, refreshing scent.

Pacitti has made sustainability a focus of his products. All of his labels are corn based, and his fragrances are preservative- and paraben-free. Oils, he said, have a long shelf life without preservatives.

Pacitti said his profession has provided him with the freedom to pursue his second passion. As a corps de ballet member, he has 10 weeks off each year, and he “gets a year’s worth of work done” during that time.

Pacitti works out of his townhouse, with the first floor dedicated to his fragrance business.

NaturallyCurly has played a role in Jordan Samuel, Pacitti says. The curly dancer became a member of the site in 1999, visiting daily to get tips on how to work with his “cotton ball head.” Pacitti, a product junkie, loved researching ingredients on the site and finding out what his hair liked.

“In a way, NaturallyCurly led me to my company,” Pacitti says. “Thanks to the site, I became very savvy and passionate about ingredients.”

His visibility in the community has helped him spread the word about his business, he says. His fragrances are available in several boutiques around Seattle as well as on his web site.

Pacitti plans to expand the company’s offerings over the next year, including soaps, soy-wax candles and a shaving product.

I’ve heard a lot of people say they like to shave with conditioner, so I started playing around in my kitchen and came up with this great product,” Pacitti says. “Every time I make it, it flies off the shelf.”

The product, a mix of water, organic sunflower oil, organic shea butter and organic jojoba oil, will be called “Shea-ving Butter.”

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Take part in the Jordan Samuel Economic Stimulus Sale during the month of December. When you buy a product, you get another one free!

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Hairstyling techniques have been found in every culture in recorded history. With the 19th Century came the development of thermal styling techniques, including heated curling rods, heated combs and flattened irons to change the texture of hair.

Although these techniques were effective, they often led to hair damage.

“In the beginning, the flat iron was very basic,” says Katherine Chen, director of merchandising for Folica.com, creator of the Sedu Revolution Professional Nano Tourmaline Ionic Styler. “Over the past seven years, the technologies have really evolved.”

The Sedu Revolution exemplifies the dramatic technological improvements made in thermal appliances. The Revolution enables people to create any hairstyles imaginable in half the time with no damage.

The Sedu Revolution was in development for more than two years, pulling together the best of the new technologies.

One of the biggest breakthroughs in recent years has been the development of ceramic technology five years ago. This technology enabled heat to be distributed equally onto the hair, eliminating a lot of the damage caused by heat-styling tools.

“People are looking for tools that help them achieve the look they want without damage,” Chen says.

The Sedu Revolution’s ceramic heating element produces gentle moisturizing heat that is less damaging to the hair. It takes this ceramic technology a step further with tourmaline ionic plates, which prevent “hot spots.” When the heat hits the surface of the tourmaline, it produces more negative ions, which help eliminate frizz to close the cuticle to create smooth, shiny hair while far infrared heat penetrates hair from within, resulting in faster styling with less damage.

One of the most important features of the Revolution is its adjustable temperature control, which provides customers the option of choosing the temperature setting that will best suit their hair type and styling needs without damaging the hair.

In addition to preventing heat damage, the Revolution is designed to eliminate the mechanical damage caused by pulling hair through a rough surface, which can snag or break the hair. Its Freestyle Guiding System uses anti-slip edges and ultra-smooth, highly polished plates to capture the hairs within the plates, preventing them from slipping outside the plates. This allows one smooth pass through the hair.

“Imagine if you drag your hair through a rough surface,” Chen says. “It’s almost like sand paper.”

While the No. 1 concern was eliminating damage, Chen says the Revolution also was designed to provide a variety of styling options. Its unique design can help create a straight looks, loose waves as well as curly styles.

Even the best technology is of no value if few can afford it. Professional styling tools can run more than $200, with a 1-year life span. The Sedu Revolution costs $139.95, with a 2-year warranty – a reflection of the company’s confidence in its quality and performance, Chen says.

The Sedu Revolution comes with a Hair Styling Instruction DVD as well as a Sedu Heatproof Iron Pouch.

Folica.com sells hundreds of flat irons. But Chen says the Revolution’s combination of features make the it “one of the best flat irons we’ve seen in years.”

Bloggers have become a major force in the beauty world. These glamour girls and product junkies provide unique insights on a wide variety of topics, from curls to pearls. Most blogs are updated daily, featuring links, pictures and product information. Here are 10 of our favorites, in no particular order — some curly, some not.

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1. Hairaddicted.blogspot.com: This eclectic blog is written by “Malice in Horrorland,” a 29-year-old licensed hairstylist and “part-time retail people watcher with a side of sardonicism,” and Judea Contreras, a Phoenix hairstylist. She provides tips, product info and celebrity hair commentary, among other things.

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Karen

2. Makeupandbeautyblog.com: Beauty addict Karen shares beauty product reviews, makeup tips and news. Recent posts include “The Return of the Pantsuit” and “James the Vampire = Kinda Hawt.”

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3. Lifeofaladybug.typepad.com: Toya provides a steady stream of reviews and observations about beauty, fashion, politics and an assortment of other subjects. On the election of Barack Obama, this was Toya’s comment: “This is our new first family, America. Just let that sink in … I am so proud of you, do you know that? I am so proud of all of you who stood in long lines and made the effort to do your civic duty. Was it good for you? Because it was fabulous for me.”

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4. Curlynikki.com: When it comes to transitioning and natural hair, Nikki’s your blogger. Her blog is a celebration of everything natural, with photos, personal stories, product recommendations — a place “dedicated to helping out my naturally glamorous sisters — whether you’re kinky, curly, or wavy.”

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5. Curlove.blogspot.com: Shannon’s blog chronicles her curly journey, from the hairstyles she’s liking to the products she can’t do without. Her latest post talks about her obsession with Taylor Swift and her sideswept curly bangs.

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6. Jezebel.com: Dodai Stewart, senior editor at celebrity, fashion site Jezebel.com, has developed a following for her insights about pop culture. She also has a beautiful head of curls!

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7. TheBeautyBunny.com: Cailin provides the latest news on makeup, hairstyles and celeb news, as well the hottest beauty deals.

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8. Premiumgradehair.com: The site description says it all. “‘What is premium grade hair’ you ask? Like cars that require premium gas, it’s hair that requires premium lovin’. It’s big, thick, kinky, thick-as-hell hair! This blog is for all my product guzzling, big hair people in the world.” Bloggers Susan and Amanda talk curls, all day, every day.

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9. Jillipoo.blogspot.com: Also known as Boticelli babe, it’s all about curls on this fun blog by Sage. “After discovering the book “Curly Girl,” I began my odyssey into the world of cultivating fabulous curls. I don’t use anything with sulfates or silicones, and like my hair at last! This blog is one way I am indulging my obsession.”

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10. Newlynatural.com: Kdcurly shares her ongoing transition from permed hair to natural kinks. “I learned so much about my hair and learned not to expect it to be something that it would never be. I came to love my hair for what it is. I am learning to style it and pamper it. It was a long road, and I still have a long way to go, but it’s been worth it.”

I’ve received some interesting feedback from readers since perming my hair. I had a chance to chat with my fellow sister, Mosetta, founder of A Nappy Hair Affair. One of her napfirmations is: “My hair my be straight, but I have a nappy mind.”

I love it! I told Mosetta that since her last email to me, I made the decision to relax my hair, despite resistance from the curly community. She gave me some great advice that I will continue to apply whether my hair is kinky or straight:

“It all depends on where your mind is. If you love your black self and don’t want to be anybody else but your black self then you don’t suck. You ROCK!” Thank goodness for Mosetta.

I’ve been out and about for the last couple of months in Austin and other cities with my hair relaxed in a variety of styles. I still get the same positive comments about my hair that I did when it was in an Afro. This affirms to me that it’s not about whether or not I have straight or kinky hair. It’s about the inner qualities that I project that shine on the outside. My hair may be straight, but I have a nappy frame of mind. I am still a strong black woman with Jamaican and Cuban roots. I’m still an ambitious entrepreneur. I still love to model and act. I am still a poet. I am still a sister, an auntie and a friend. I still love myself, and my wonderful husband loves me too.

I look in the mirror every morning and say, “I am beautiful.” You should try it. Not because of the texture of your hair, but because of what dwells inside the curly, straight, kinky or nappy you.

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Email your questions/comments to My-Cherie.

When Jessica McGuinty was a child, she always longed to make a difference in the world. She used to sit in the bathtub and cry because she couldn’t feed starving children in Ethiopia.

“My mother would say ‘You’re just a kid. You can’t do anything about it,” McGuinty recalls. “That always bothered me.”

So when she founded Jessicurl six years ago, she planned to give money to charity as soon as her revenues hit a certain level.

Two years later, she was watching “Oprah” and heard Dr. Katherine Hamlin talking about a cause that really touched her heart — curing women in Ethiopia of fistulas, a horrible condition that can happen as a result of female circumcision. Soon after that, she saw an interview with Michael Franti, lead singer of the band Spearhead, who was speaking out about injustice in the world. He referred to his band as a human rights organization.

“I thought that if a band can be a human rights organization, why can’t my business?” McGuinty recalls. “I thought, ‘What am I waiting for?’ All of a sudden, my business became about a lot more than hair!”

McGuinty put something on her web site allowing her customers to donate money directly to the Fistula Hospital. Since then, Jessicurl — with the help of its customers — has donated more than $10,000 to a long list of organizations, including Smile Train, North Star Quest Camp, Stop the Violence Campaign and Adopt a Mine Field. She regularly gets input from customers about causes they’d like to support.

“Our customers thank us for giving them the opportunity to give,” McGuinty says. “As one person, they don’t feel that they can do much. But $10 and $25 really adds up and makes a difference.”

One of her favorite fund-raising endeavors is her “Jokebox,” a large jukebox she takes to various events. When a customer pays money, she pops out and tells a joke. She charges to $1-$5, depending on whether the joke is a clean one or a dirty one. She calls it a a “totally Jessica thing,” reflecting her offbeat personality while raising money for various charities.

One of her most recent philanthropic efforts was to cut off her long curls for Locks of Love, which makes wigs for children with medical hair loss.”

For McGuinty, it’s always been about helping others. The entire impetus for her company came from her desire to share a recipe she’d created for a curly gel, not to start a business.

McGuinty struggled with her hair since puberty turned her straight locks curly at 14. She was called “Mushroom Head” and “Helmet Head” by her classmates. In her search for information and support, she came across NaturallyCurly.com, immersing herself in CurlTalk and making numerous cyber friends.

Much of what they talk about, however, are products — mostly how they didn’t work. One day, she came across a very basic recipe for a hair gel made out of flax seeds.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, how cool would it be if I could just make my OWN hair gel? I sure would save a lot of money!'” recalls McGuinty, who was working as a personal trainer at the time.

So she tried a basic recipe, with less-than-stellar results. That experiment inspired her to tweak the recipe, adding other natural ingredients she had learned about, such as jojoba oil and glycerin.

“The results were nothing short of miraculous,” she says. ” I was shocked that FINALLY my hair looked like I wanted, and I had made the product on my stove!”

She couldn’t wait to share her recipe with all her CurlTalk friends. But after posting the recipe, she was flooded with emails from curly-headed members asking if they could just buy some of the magic potion rather than making it themselves. In September 2002, Rockin’ Ringlets Styling Potion — and a business — was born.

“It happened so organically,” McGuinty says. “It wasn’t my idea. It was really the people who encouraged me to do it. Pretty crazy, huh?”

The company grew slowly, with McGuinty working out of her 600-square-foot apartment, making labels on her computer. Soon requests came from customers looking for gentle shampoos and moisturizing conditioners.

When customers requested a stronger-holding styling process, she turned to members of NaturallyCurly to help name the product. Annette Gaynes (CurlTalk‘s NetG”> came up with the name Confident Coils, and the product was officially launched in Austin.

The company now sells 11 hair-care products and a body-care line.

“All of our products have been the result of customer input,” McGuinty says. “I only want to do something when there’s a really loud drumbeat for it. We feel that we now have a solid line with something for everyone.”

McGuinty’s company now is a household word for many curlies, and her growing business reflects that.

Since the company’s birth, Jessicurl has moved its operations from the San Francisco Bay area to a 2,000-square-foot factory in Arcata, Calif., where products are tested on actual curls (not animals!”>. She now has eight employees. Her products are shipped to curlies around the world — many who learned about her through word of mouth. She was a guest on The Rachael Ray show in October of 2006, providing curly hair tips.

Looking back over the past six years, McGuinty says it is amazing how quickly time has passed — years in which she has morphed into a successful, confident entrepreneur.

“I’ve really learned that I’m an excellent thinker,” McGuinty says. “We didn’t have a handbook for how to start and grow a curly hair business. All our marketing ideas had to be original and creative.

More important, McGuinty is proud that she’s created a company that truly reflects who she is.

“I’ve learned that being in business can be for more than just a financial gain,” Jessicurl says. “Business can and should be about more than the bottom line, and I’m thrilled that we’re using that as our paradigm for how to run a business.”

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Donna Marie Products is truly a labor of love, born out of Ayanna Marie Henderson’s life-long passion with natural hair and natural ingredients.

“My inspiration came from my mother and my grandmother,” Henderson says.

Henderson’s mother, a holistic chiropractor, had a huge herb room in her basement. She also taught Henderson how to braid hair when she was three years old, and she would practice doing cornrows braids and twists on her dolls.

“I remember braiding my doll baby’s hair over and over again until the braid was perfect,” Henderson says.

By the time she was 13, she was creating natural styles for her friends for a profit.

Although she loved working with other people’s natural hair, she had difficulty styling her own. She had a perm throughout her childhood and teen years because natural hair “wasn’t the ‘in’ thing,” she says. It wasn’t until college that she decided to embrace her natural hair and grow her perm out after years of straightening her hair.

She continued to pursue her natural hair styling gig — braiding, cornrowing, twisting and weaving hair throughout college as a side gig to make extra money while getting her degree in business management from St. John’s University. She never realized she could turn this love of natural hair into a career. But soon, she was working for some of the top natural hair stylists in New York — stylists with their own product lines making a lot of money. She decided to pursue her passion.

She graduated from cosmetology school and became a trained and certified natural hair specialist, with her styles appearing in publications such as “Essence,” “Mahogany” and “Black Hair.” She was inspired her to rock her own natural hair, but was frustrated at how frizzy and brittle it looked.

“I was so frustrated with my hair,” she says. “When it was wet, I had a beautiful, defined, curly ‘fro, but when it dried, it was a frizzy mess. I almost got a perm out of frustration, but was determined to keep my hair natural and work with what I have.”

She spent her childhood watching her mother create natural hair oils and butters for her clients in her herb room. In 2005, she began going down to her mother’s herb room to mix up her own herbal concoctions for her hair. Through trial and error, and help from her mixologist mother and from a chemist, she created a formula in 2006 that worked well for both her and her clients.

“It became a hit,” she says of her Donna Marie Coco Curly Butter (formerly Curl Addict”>— a natural mix of herbs, butters, oils and aloe.

Customer demand prompted her to create other products for natural hair styling, and in February 2008, she relaunched the entire product line under the name Donna Marie, after her grandmother, who believed in using natural ingredients.

The line includes four styling products (Coco Curly Butter, Spiral Smoothie, Ultimate Detangler and Lock and Twist Pudding”>; Sugar Honey Oasis, a sulfate-free cleanser; Mango Butter Smoothie, a moisturizing conditioner; and Goddess Growth Remedy, a growth oil infused with five different herbs.

All Donna Marie products are made by hand and use no less than 98 percent natural and organic ingredients. Most of the products are aloe-based.

Henderson, a 3c/4a, uses the Ultimate Detangler, following with the Coco Curly Butter and some Spiral Smoothie, as needed.

They really enhance curls and make them pop,” Henderson says.

Henderson has her sights set on opening a flagship boutique displaying the best in natural hair and skincare, as well as opening a salon for natural hair care. It would be a logical progression of the personal hair journey that began in childhood.

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T-shirt designer Will Heron is known for his simple designs with a touch of whimsy.

So, creating a design that exemplified the beauty of curls for International Curly Day was a natural.

“I think of kids when I think of curly hair,” says Heron, who grew up with a head of blond curls. “It’s a good match for my drawings.”

Although the Kentucky native always loved to draw — and was a professional illustrator — his evolution into a t-shirt designer was born out of frustration. It was Christmas 2001 and he was out of work, with a lot of free time on his hands and not much cash. He had six nieces and nephews and was tired of them complaining about who got what for Christmas.

“I decided they would all get the same thing. I created a fairy t-shirt for the girls and a dog t-shirt for the boys,” Heron says. “After that, I made them for friends, not thinking the designs would go anywhere. People told me I should sell them.”

But the real catalyst came from a fashion-writer friend who told a boutique owner about his tees, giving him the “kick in the butt” he needed to get them out there. The store has been selling them ever since. They now are sold at a handful of boutiques across the country, as well as on his web site.

Since then, Heron’s designs has been commissioned to make t-shirts for Levi’s and Target as well as for bands, family reunions and other special events. He’s come up with more than 70 designs, many of them inspired by his 4-year-old son.

“He’ll say he wants a shirt with a tiger or a dog or a rocket ship, and I create it,” Heron says.

He says he also owes a creative debt to such children’s book artists as Leo Lionni, Eric Carle and Tomie dePaola, who continue to inspire him.

He’ll take an idea, sketch it out and scan it onto his computer, where he’ll refine and reduce it. Then he’ll make a transparency of the image and place it onto a screen. The process is actually much more complicated. To find out more about it, click here.

“I love to draw,” Heron says. “The shirt is really just the medium through which I can sell my doodles. I feel very lucky that it found me.”

When Karen Piotrowski visited her first curl salon in New York, she was thrilled by the experience. She was especially intrigued by how the salon used paper towels to enhance curl formation, but thought there must be a better way to get the same effect without going through rolls of paper.

So Piotrowski, a veteran hair-care marketing and product development guru, began using old t-shirts instead. But she soon realized that all t-shirts were not created equal, and she wasn’t thrilled at the site of an old t-shirt slung over her shower.

“I thought that there must be a way to come up with a product that achieves the same effect but also looks good,” says Piotrowski, whose once-stick-straight locks turned curly during her teen years.

That’s how she came up with Curls Like Us Curl Cloths. The patent-pending design of the styling cloths was developed to set curls for optimal shine and definition.

“I developed this product because I needed this product,” she says of the curl cloth, which she introduced in January of this year. “I spent a lot of time working with companies to come up with products for them. This time, I developed a product for me.”

Piotrowski, who lives in Sandy, Utah, says she became a textile expert in her quest to come up with the perfect styling cloth. She discovered that t-shirt material comes in different weaves, weights and blends. If the weight was too thick, it didn’t absorb water. The Curl Cloth’s weave is designed to wick away just the right amount of moisture from your hair to set the styling product properly and define curls.

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Using the Curls Like Us^TM Curl Cloth^TM

“It took a lot of trial and error to find the optimal material,” Piotrowski says.

After finding the ideal weight of 100 percent cotton knit, she added a colorful lettuce edge to give it a curl look. She decided to make the towels brown to address concerns from women who color their hair. It’s shaped like a tube so hands can be stuck into both ends, allowing the user to scrunch the hair upward.

She says traditional terry-cloth towels don’t work because they separate the curls and roughen up the cuticle.

“Curls want to cluster and clump together,” she says. “They’re happy together. If you separate them, they look frizzy and flyaway. And when the cuticle is damaged, it causes breakage and split ends.”

After conditioning the hair and applying styling products, gently shake the head to loosen curls, insert your hands into the Curl Cloth^TM and scrunch hair upward toward the roots, blotting excess moisture from the hair. Thicker hair may need two Curl Cloths^TM.

Piotrowski says response to the Curl Clot^TMh has been phenomenal. She initially thought she’d sell them to individuals but has gotten a lot of requests from salons who want to use them and sell them to clients.

“I have tried towels with less texture, micro-fiber towels and paper towels, but nothing works as well as the Curl Cloth^TM to control the frizz and assist in styling the hair,” says Ann Marie Lasater, a stylist at Studio 247 Salon.

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Jonathan Torch didn’t set out to create a revolutionary new hairspray.

“A need arose,” says Torch of Toronto’s Curly Hair Institute and creator of the Curly Hair Solutions line of products.

“I found that most hairsprays didn’t work with curly hairstyles. They stick on the outside, and curly hair needs hold on the inside. With traditional hairspray, curly hair becomes totally untouchable and suddenly you have a helmet.”

To get the effect he wanted, Torch was spraying hairspray into his hands and running it through the hair as quickly as possible before it dried. But it wasn’t really creating the effect he wanted or needed. His challenge became to create a product that could be used on curly hair once you finish a style.

“What if I could come up with a hairspray that goes on the hands and can be manipulated around the root area without ruining the hair.” Torch says.

So began Torch’s quest to create a product that could do exactly what he wanted — a process that took several years, numerous formulations and a lot of hard work. This month, Curly Hair Solutions launches Tweek, a hairspray in a cream form. It is the company’s first new product since Slip, which it introduced four years ago.

The product can be used in a variety of ways. It can be used to lock curls into place once the hair is styled or to fix a style mid-day. It can be used to create volume at the crown or to get curls off the face.

“We’re learning ways to use it that we didn’t know were imaginable,” Torch says.

In developing Tweek, Torch says one of his biggest struggles was to come up with a formula that worked with different curl types — from wavy to super kinky. He also needed to find an ingredient that would provide shine without making the hair greasy.

“I needed something with enough hold that wasn’t sticky; something with the right amount of shine that wasn’t greasy,” Torch says.

He began working with different ingredients that produce shine, but he didn’t want to use silicones. While lecithin works well in some products, it wasn’t right for Tweek. Finally, he discovered jojoba oil. It had the perfect weight and provided a nice sheen. He is so excited about the properties of jojoba oil that he plans to replace the mineral oil in his Conditioner and his Pure Silk Protein in the near future.

Torch says he knew he had hit upon the perfect formula when his clients began begging to buy Tweek.

Torch stresses that using Tweek is different from using other styling products. It should be emulsified with the fingers and worked from the roots to the ends rather than then the ends to the roots. That helps provide support from the inside.

The product should be used strategically. For example, if your goal is to get rid of flyaways — hairs that have broken away from a ringlet group — the product should be worked into individual groupings. If your focus is to get rid of a flat crown, it must be worked through the roots. Torch has created a training video to help people learn how to use Tweek.

“Nothing like it has existed before so you have to learn how to use it,” Torch says. “We’ve reinvented the wheel.”

Growing up multi-ethnic with thick curls, Mahisha Dellinger felt no products were available for people like her.

In the ethnic market, the products were heavy and greasy, designed for women who wanted to fight their kinks and curls. In the traditional haircare market, products were aimed toward finer, looser curls that looked nothing like hers. She was forced to create her own kitchen concoctions, at one point using grease and water to control her mane. She knew others must be dealing with the same frustrations.

“I was extremely frustrated,” Dellinger recalls. “I had a ton of products under my sink, but nothing worked. I didn’t have any options for natural maintenance of hair like mine.”

So she set about to create her own products, hiring a cosmetic chemist and developing the products she always wanted — products designed to meet the unique needs of multi-ethnic women and girls with naturally curly hair.

In 2003, she launched her company with four CURLS and four Curly Q’s products for kids. Now the line has grown to 11 CURLS products, seven Curly Q’s products and three in her new baby line, It’s a Curl!. These include a full range of cleansers, moisturizers, conditioners and styling products. The products contain natural ingredients such as Monoi de Tahiti, green tea extract, pomegranate seed oil and soy protein to hydrate, strengthen and nourish curls and kinks.

“We’re going strong,” Dellinger says. “I’d like CURLS to be the Paul Mitchell of curly hair.”

She’s well on her way. In 2007 and 2008, CURLS was named one of the Top 5 Finalists for “Favorite MultiCultural Company” in Behindthechair.com’s 7th Annual Stylist Choice Awards. The Stylist Choice Awards are among the most coveted awards in the professional salon industry as winners are chosen by salon professionals. Other finalists included some of the giants in the industry, such as Paul Mitchell, Redken and Farouk Systems.

Her products have also become a favorite of celebrities such as Ashanti, Nia Long and Halle Berry.

Much of Dellinger’s success has come from her innovation as well as her ability to listen to what her customers are asking for. In 2006, she teamed up with NaturallyCurly to develop a “Holy Grail” product for her CURLS line.

Her goal was to develop a must-have product for women with a variety of curl types. She received hundreds of applications from NaturallyCurly members who wanted to help. Ten were selected for the CURLS “Dream Team.” Participants represented a wide range of ethnicities and curl types — from kinky curly to looser, fine curls. And they hail from a variety of locations and climates, including Toronto, Canada, Oklahoma City, OK, San Jose, Calif. and China Grove, N.C.

The result was CURLS Whipped Cream, a 4-in-1 product that provides curl definition and frizz protection while providing moisture, sheen and protection from the elements. That project also netted Curly Q’s Custard for kids and Curl Souffle, a lighter version of the Whipped Cream, containing Monoi de Tahiti, pure aloe leaf juice, natural oils (meadowfoam, grapeseed, avocado, soybean”>, rich butters (shea, mango”> and hair-strengthening ingredients (panthenol, lecithin”>.

“The Holy Grail Project was great!” Dellinger says. “I learned at lot from my customers and truly enjoyed the interaction. As a result, CURLS is going to continue to employ virtual product developers/testers for all new product research, development and testing. I am convinced there isn’t a better way!”

Dellinger’s interests extends well beyond growing her hair-care company. She has found an altruistic way to use her products and experience to help others. She works with adoption agencies across the country, donating products and teaching multi-ethnic hair care to parents who adopt across racial lines.

To find out more, go to www.curls.biz.

Check out this video on how to use CURLS products, which are available in CurlMart.

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In early May, Head Designs hosted its first annual Curlabration, a venue to share and gather information about styling tips for curly customers. Clients nibbled on crudités and pastries while they watched Sheila Head showed off cutting and styling techniques.

A month later, a dozen curly girls gathered at Salon Nordine and Day Spa in Reston, Va. for a “Curl Gala” hosted by Nicole Siri, author of “Strictly Curls.”

In mid-June, Shai Amiel of Capella Salon in Studio City, Calif., hosted a “Curls Night Out.” More than 50 people came together for a night of education, fun and curl fellowship.

And the next week, Houston curl expert Gerri Curtis invited people to a Curly Hair Party.

“Wear your best curls down as I teach you how to throw it up,” Curtis said in her Evite. “Bring me your main concerns and together we can figure out how to find your inner curl.”

Curl salons such as Devachan, Ouidad, the Curly Hair Institute and Christo Fifth Avenue in New York and Toronto have regularly hosted training events for consumers and stylists. But a growing number of curl-centric stylists from coast to coast are hosting their own curl events.

“We wanted to help educate people on how to work with frizzy, fuzzy and hard-to-handle hair,” said Foreman, who fought her own golden ringlets for much of her life. “Our goal was to help curlies embrace their hair and to be comfortable in their own skin/hair!”

At Curltopia@Kristen James Hair Studio in Smyrna, Ga., plans are in the works for the salon’s first “Curl’s Night Out” event later this summer. Guests will be introduced to a variety of curl product lines, and will learn how to use them to get the best results for their curls. The salon hopes to repeat the event several times a year.

“We’ll be providing demonstrations, information and color and styling trends to our curly clientele,” Kristen James says. “We’re providing martinis and making it a fun ‘Sex & the City’ atmosphere.”

“Curly girls are hungry for information,” Amiel says. “If I can share what I know, it makes it better for everyone.”

At the Capella event, women sipped champagne and mimosas as they watched haircut and styling demonstrations and had their own curls touched up. Many current clients brought curly friends to the event.

“I have a soft spot for curly hair,” says Amiel, who has a curly sister and has made a reputation for himself for his expertise with curls.

The Gala at Salon Nordine was a night of curly hair education. Siri did demonstrations on models to show off some fun and easy curly styles.

Noelle Smith cut her waist-length hair in to prepare for chemotherapy.

These events all have their own unique twists. Entrepreneur Noelle Smith in April hosted a curly hair demonstration at her Ellenoire boutique in Dundas, Ontario. The event had special meaning for Smith, who was about to start chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Smith’s Ellenoire boutique has offered weekly curly hair demonstrations, where she washes her hair in the store in front of the curly audience and demonstrates how to use the Deva products and care techniques. The April event, however, was bittersweet.

“See my last live curly hair demo until my chemo ends,” said Smith, who was cutting her waist-length curls to donate to Angel Hair for Kids, which provides human or synthetic hair wigs for children from financially disadvantaged families who have lost their hair as a result of cancer treatments.

Meri Scals has spent years as a top stylist, including many as a platform artist, educator and salon owner.

When she became a mother, she struggled to find the time to take care of herself while she was taking care of everyone else and running her salon. She realized there were few beauty resources for pregnant women and mothers.

“Sometimes getting in the shower and doing your own hair can prove to be the hardest task of all when you’re a mom,” Scals says.

Out of this frustration, a business was born.

The New Jersey entrepreneur paired her years as a stylist with her experience and knowledge of being a mother to create Maternity Salon — a web site where women could find simple, easy advice on hair color, styles and beauty products from a veteran of the beauty industry.

“If you look good, you will feel good,” Scals says.

The site includes articles targeted toward expectant moms as well as new moms, such as “Desperate to Get out of the House?,” “Anxiety and Pregnancy” and “What to bring to the Hospital.”

Along with the site, she worked with her sister and business partner, Margaret Fontana, to create a line of professional salon hair products for expectant and new mothers. The product line is made with certified botanical plant extracts, which help soothe, repair and condition hair. The products all are packaged in 100% recycled bottles.

Scals, who has thick, curly hair, wanted the products to be able to manage all types of hair, including hers. The collection includes Curly Creme, a moisture-enriched creme that increases curl and wave definition; Silk Nectar, which smooths and defrizzes curls; Work & Play Spray, a humidity-resistant spray; and Style Straight, a botanically rich leave-in conditioner and softening balm that can controls curls.

“It’s extremely hard to find a great hair product to manage thick, curly and sometimes dry curly hair,” says Fontana, who also has tight curls. “These products are a dream come true for my hair. These professional salon products give you great separated curls, frizz-free and healthy hair.”

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Meri’s Tips for Coping with Pregnancy Skin Changes

Do you have dry patches, rashes, acne or skin discolorations that you never had before? Well, welcome to the maternity skin roller coaster. From the infamous “glow” of pregnancy to the “mask” of pregnancy. Skin goes through an array of hormonal changes during your 9-month journey. Here are some great tips for mommy friendly skin care during pregnancy.

Opt for gentle, hypo-allergenic products that are non-abrasive and mild or odorless. Many regular skin care products may have strong scents or fragrances that can be nauseating during pregnancy.

I loved using baby skin care products during my pregnancy — they were gentle, hypo-allergenic and soothing. The scents are usually appealing to the senses and work great!

A professional facial may sound like a great idea, but here’s my opinion why you may want to avoid a spa facial during pregnancy.

Professional facial products used in a skincare salon vary greatly, many contain an array of ingredients and different acids which may be very irritating to your skin while pregnant.

Many professional facial masks, massage creams and treatments are highly fragranced and sometimes the smell can be hard to take.

Laying on your back during the second or third trimester is not only uncomfortable but may restrict blood flow, especially when it should be a relaxing experience, a facial is not on my top list of things to do.

Opt for a mini-facial where you can sit upright and still enjoy yourself. Avoid harsh alphahydroxy peels microderm abrasion, chemical peels, steroidal creams and potent chemical anti-wrinkle potions.

All chemicals can and may be absorbed into the skin. Gentle, simple, clean skin care is the way to go during pregnancy.

For many children, the thought of summer camp fills them with joy — days filled with meeting new friends, swimming and playing, without the burden of homework.

But for curly kids who spend the year trying to tame their curls and kinks, the joy of camp may be tempered by the fear of tangles and frizz.

“Curly kids cannot bring all their hair accoutrements with them to camp, and they wouldn’t have time to use them even if they did,” says Amber Wylie, spokeswoman for DevaConcepts. “Camp can become a prison in which a curly kid is doomed to day after day of bad-hair-day humiliation.”

So while you’re labeling their clothes and packing up the bug spray, make sure you’ve developed a plan to keep your curly camper looking her best.

First, consider getting a cut before camp, says Risa Barash, creator of the Fairy Tales line of products.

Make sure you talk to your stylist before the cut to communicate what exactly you are looking for — a short wash-and-wear curly cut or a trim that provides different styling options.

“It’s always good for curly kids to keep their curls long during the summer so that they have versatility,” says Christo of Christo Fifth Avenue, a New York salon catering to curls.

Make sure you’re stocked up on the right products to deal with the demands of an active camper. If your child must shampoo every day, make sure the cleanser you choose is gentle. Some good ones to try include Fairy Tales Super-Charge Detangling Shampoo, DevaCare Low-Poo and Little Sprout Children’s Natural Shampoo.

For swimmers, you might want to buy a bathing camp, says Mahisha Dellinger, creator of the Curly Q line of products for curly kids. However, if wearing a swim cap doesn’t fit into their summer fashion style, make sure to drench their hair with water before they enter a pool, lake or ocean, Dellinger says. Then, have them apply a coat of conditioner. She recommends Curly Q Coconut Dream conditioner.

“Applying a conditioner to your hair will fill up the gaps in your hair shaft and act as a barrier to the chlorinated water,” Dellinger says.

Make sure they rinse their hair with water after swimming. You might want to include a clarifying shampoo in the mix that removes chlorine and saltwater, such as Curls Pure Curls Clarifying Shampoo, Fairy Tales Lifeguard Clarifying Shampoo and So Cozy and So Cozy Green Apple Swimmer’s Shampoo. This will prevent the hair from turning green.

A conditioner is a must after a long day of camp activities. Teach your child how to use a comb or brush to run it through her hair and remove tangles.

“The first thing a curly kid should understand is that conditioner is her friend,” Wylie says. “A child should go to camp armed with ultra-creamy conditioner. Lots of it.”

Fine curlies may prefer a spray-in detangler like Curlisto Kids Leave-in Conditioner. Pay special attention to the ends during the summer months. Dellinger suggests mixing a little Curly Q Coconut Dream conditioner with a natural oil, combing it through to the ends and leave it in for extra protection.

The right styles can take the angst out of the camp experience for your curly kiddo. Ponytails and braids are always a cute, easy option. Or pull the hair back with clips or a bandana.

“They will look cute and keep their curls intact,” says Christo.

Dellinger’s favorite curly style for campers are “swinging ponies.” The style can last seven to 10 days with little maintenance. Start with freshly cleansed/conditioned hair and detangle. Then apply Curly Q Milkshake or Curly Q Custard evenly through the hair, from the base to the ends. Part the hair down the center of the hair and use elastics to secure two ponytails. Braid the loose hair in each ponytail, creating up to eight swinging ponies. Secure the ends with elastics.

“You’re ready for camp!” Dellinger says.

Don’t forget the styling products, which can make life easier, keeping the curls defined and frizz-free. Barash stresses that the product should be worked into each layer of hair. Section off the hair and comb through each layer to ensure the product coats each layer of hair. Try Fairy Tales Curly-Q Natural Curl Maker Gel..

Before they head off to camp, help your child learn their new routine. Condition her hair, apply a clear conditioning gel (if needed”> to wet hair and then blot it dry.

“As with anything, preparation is the key, and practice makes perfect,” Wylie says. “And as any reader of Judy Blume can tell you, stop trying to be what you’re not and embrace who you are. If you are curly, be curly!”

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Milk & Honey Hair Smoothie (pre/post swim conditioner”>

1 can of pure coconut milk

1 ripe avocado

2 tablespoons of pure honey

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Mix it up and apply liberally to the hair. Leave on for an hour. This delectable delight will restore moisture and sheen into lifeless summer hair.

— Created by Mahisha Dellinger