Too much emphasis on curl definition
Written by Samara on June 29, 2009I love the hair companies out here that are focused on the health of African American hair, but in a vast majority of these black hair companies I find that their is too much emphasis on curl definition. For instance, Kinky-Curly is a great product, but their Curly Custard is a product that works to define the curl pattern. If your hair isn’t already class 3a-4a(softer looser curls), then you may not see a lot of definition similar to the pictures on the Kinky-curly.com. Women must keep in mind that these products will only define your hair on the level of your actual curl pattern. Your hair will not magically become 3b/c hair with Kinky-Curly or any similar product if you have 4b/c(tightly coiled dry curls) hair. The only product that will achieve this is a texturizer or silkener, which to me, the two is actually the same thing.
It’s ok to use these products for curl definition, but do you do this because you haven’t accepted that your hair is actually kinky, woolly, tightly coiled hair? Do you wish you had hair like a multi ethnic woman? Do you only wear twist outs and load your hair with curl defining creams and gels for that curly look instead of wearing a natural afro? If so you have yet to embrace the beauty of your own natural hair.
We must learn to love ourselves, including our hair 100%. If you want to be natural, then be it. Love your natural hair. Every kink, coil, and nap that it has. Our hair is beautiful in it’s natural state. Try wearing a afro and apply some curl gloss to it(CURLS Euphoria Elixir) from added shine, instead of piling your hair with Kinky-Curly, CURLS Gel-es’c, or Blended Beauty Happy Nappy. Remember Pam Grier? Her afro was gorgeous and she didn’t wear any curl definition gels or creams in her hair.
This is why I love Karen’s Body Beautiful products so much. Karen is a natural 4b/c and her products don’t focus on curl definiton, but maintaining a healthy moisture balance with the use of natural products. I also love CURLS and Kinky-Curly too, but I use their products for the health of my natural hair more than for the curl definition. I can wear a natural afro one day, followed by a defined one the next and love both styles just the same because no matter what’s in my hair, it’s my hair and I’m in love with it.
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3 Responses to Too much emphasis on curl definition
Thanks for this. I am transitioning right now and can’t wait until my hair is at a length that I can feel comfortable with without the relaxed ends. I have been so focused on this very thing and wondering what products would give me a curl definition that would not look like naps.:-) Happy to see that this has been addressed and now I have something to think about as I approach my new natural hair life.
If you got it flaunt it. Whether your a 4a-4z, defined to not defined curls. Afros are not for everyone. I for one associate the afro with men. Curls with the women.
Kinky, woolly, tightly coiled hair- I can accept it and still rock the curls. The afro is one big curl definition.
What a wonderful editorial. So helpful! I recently tried Kinky Curly on the four heads of hair in my household. I received very nice results with my youngest daughter’s hair, and my husband’s hair. The product produced ridiculous results in my oldest daughter’s hair– and I gave it two tries. The teeny tiny, tightly packed coils that were produced made her hair look like a poorly kept, sticky thicket or hedge. She definitely looks better with her Afro Puffs, braids, or twists. She’d even look nice with locs. I tried the product on my mom’s twa. The back curled up like little lamb ringlets. The sides got a little, tight curl definition. The middle revealed thinning hair! :O Needless to say, my mother didn’t like the results.
Personally, my hair hair is relaxed. My natural hair texture is 4b, Z-shaped strand type hair. There is no curl definition to be found in my hair- not in it’s natural state, and certainly not in it’s relaxed state. As far as I’m concerned, my hair does not coil, in the true definition of “coil.” It zigs and zags. When I read that it will “work” on any type of hair, I question the idea that you can produce a curl out of z-patterned hair. It only seems natural to me that you can’t get a curl out of something that has no natural curl in it, without altering it’s nature with chemicals or heat. This is one of the reason I really love your article. It points out the essence of “keeping it real.” You can’t make something become something it isn’t, and claim you are accepting or embracing the natural truth and nature of that thing. All this emphasis on getting “curl definition” isn’t any more supportive or healthy for SOME of us, than was the push to go straight, wear wigs, jerri curl or weave our hair. In the end, it can still result in a peculiar lack of self-acceptance, and eternal frustration. (And surely, trying over and over again, to make your hair do things it wasn’t meant to do, leaves your wallet a little lighter, as well.)