Your Choice. Your Hair. Your Rules.
Join Hair Rules as team up with Patrick Carrick Brunson of OWN’s “LoveTown, USA” to present a special presentation of Amanda Seales‘ “It’s Complicated: Hilarical Answers to Serious Questions about Love.”
This Tuesday, August 20th at 7:45pm at THE STAND NYC
Check out the trailer below!
Great Laughs and Giveaways!
Hurry and get you ticket! –> Ticket INFO
It’s Fearless Friday!
This week’s fearless feature features television personality, culture critic, host, & DJ, Amanda Seales.
#fearlessfriday Hair by Hair Rules Salon
This woman is opinionated, fearless, and HILARIOUS. A one of a kind renaissance woman, with a Master’s in African American studies from Columbia University and years of experience, Amanda has built a global following. Speaking on politics, pop culture and everything between she has become a respected voice providing commentary for major outlets such as VH1, HLN, CNN, MTV, AOL, Huffington Post, and more.
This past Wednesday, Seales previewed her latest one-woman work, It’s Complicated: Hilarical Answers to Serious Questions About Love. After a few musical selections from indie vocalist, Shyvonne and a short set from stand-up comedian, Chloé A. Hilliard, Amanda Seals graced the stage for standing-room-only audience.
It’s Complicated staged a refreshingly fun discussion on common relationship fork-in-the-road questions that encourage and include audience participation. Seales brings us comedy while taping our conscience on the shoulder and telling us to “get yo self in check!”
Everyone one in the building, woman and men, were caught up in laughter and some good ole reminiscing.
It’s Complicated will playing throughout the month of August.
Hair Rules will be giving away a few goodies at the August 20th show with special guest… Taren Guy
Click here–> It’s Complicated for ticket information.
#fearlessfriday
If you would like to share your #fearless photos and stories, send them to david@hairrules.com.
Also check out The Look Back
The ladies at BlackGirlLongHair.com wrote interesting take on how to respond to the pressures of whether or not you should take the leap and do the “big chop.” Below is an excerpt from the post.
“Girl your hair is gorgeous! Just cut those ends off!”
“Are you chopping soon?”
“You should chop your hair, I did and I love it!”
While I do realize the consequences of a public transition, I still maintain that this is my head of hair, and nobody has to wear it but me. When confronted with this commentary, I politely inform that I am not ready to cut my hair (often citing my being accustomed to having longer hair, or that my head is too big for short hair), and that when I’m ready to chop it will be just as public as my transition. Don’t get me wrong — there are some fierce looking TWA’s, neck, and shoulder length natural hair icons out there. Their courage to forge ahead and chop away something perceived as so aesthetically vital is to be applauded. By no means is this writing intended to diminish those that choose to chop their hair and start over. I am simply utilizing my own experience in transitioning to support and encourage those ladies who may be battling the same pressure – externally and internally.
Here are a few tips for navigating those choppy waters:
1. Don’t let someone else’s agenda dictate what YOU do with YOUR hair.
NOTHING rubs me the wrong way as much as someone trying to get you to do something as a part of their agenda. Not just when it comes to my hair, but in everyday life. If I’m busy pushing your agenda, who’s moving mine forward? But I digress. Whenever you come upon someone more eager for you to chop your hair than you are, kindly tell them to dial it back and have a few seats. Don’t get into debates and arguments with folks about what you should do with your hair…because it’s YOUR hair. You have to wear it, care for it, style it, and everything in between; so why would you let them pressure you into doing something they won’t be responsible for maintaining? They’ll tell you that you will feel so free when you cut it, or that those scraggly ends are holding you back from reaching your full potential. Thank them for their opinions, and keep it moving.
2. Skip the Big Chop vs Transition Drama
In the natural hair community, there are several areas of contention: from hair typing, to if x, y, z manipulated hair is still considered natural, and of course big choppers versus transitioners. Do not by any means become consumed with this drama…or any natural hair drama, for that matter. As each side makes their case for and against, all you will do is become more uncertain, unsure, and uncomfortable. Transitioning is already hard enough. Don’t make it more difficult on yourself by allowing other’s opinions to dictate how you feel about your decisions… and your hair.
3. Stop Internalizing
Following the myriad of natural hair products and accounts on Instagram and Pinterest is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s beautiful to see women of color affirming themselves, embracing their hair, and just generally rocking some kick-ass styles. On the other hand, it can be hard to constantly digest those pictures when your hair isn’t quite on that page. I’ve had to catch myself several times from saying “Gosh I wish my hair looked like…”Yes, their hair is beautiful — those kinks, coils, and curls are envied by everyone. But I had to stop gushing over their tresses while simultaneously hating mine. In due time, your hair will look like everyone else’s; full, fro-licious, and kinky/curly to the max. But in the meantime, we will have to patiently wait and love every part of this process and what it is teaching us.
Here’s what Hair Rules Founder, Dickey, has to say on the so-called “big chop”
When you take a break from the BBQ, while you’re at the beach or when you’re checking out the fire works…share your #hairfreedom with @hairrules on Twitter & Instagram
Thanks to Miss Merli for a nice post event wrap up on her blog. She has some great images from the night and a one on one talk with Taren Guy.
Up Close and Personal With Taren Guy.
Where you at the event? Let us know what you thought of it.
We always love hearing from Cassidy at Natural Selection Blog. She has been a big supporter of ours and we can’t thank her enough! She was kind enough to share this link with us highlighting her natural journey. We are proud to have had a hand in it (well Dickey’s hands!). Hope her story provides some hair inspiration to you all.
While on a visit to New York, Dickey of Hair Rules wrangled me into his seat for a haircut (and let’s be honest, I’ve always wanted him to do my hair). Using a method where he first straightens the hair, he gave me an awesomely exaggerated shape that kept my length in the front and cropped my hair short on the sides. Because my roots were grown out, the color faded in this reverse ombre that inspired me to call this cut “The Flame.”
Check out Cassidy’s hair journey in full here:
Curly Commentary: My Natural Hair Journey in Pictures: Onto the Ombre: Page 7 : Essence.com.
Question: I have been without a relaxer since 2006, but I have been blow drying, pressing and flat ironing my hair from then until 4 weeks ago. I want to go back to curly and natural. When wet, my curls and hair look great, but when it air dries it looks like straw. It is still curly at the roots but half way down it is totally straight. What can I do to get my curls back?
Dickey’s Answer: What’s happening is that the majority of styles that you are wearing are straight, and at some point you are going to have to depart from the damage that is occurring from your straight styling. Your hair does have a lot of versatility it’s just your primary styling is straight and if you style natural hair too much away from what it is, which is curly, you get heat damage. Being curly or being natural is, you’re actually living in a moisturizing world, because the idea of being natural is that you’re incorporating your whole haircare and styling routine into your shower routine. I suspect that your hair in its natural state as it is now is not getting styled in that manner and probably doesn’t see water until the end of the week or two weeks when you shampoo probably with a shampoo that strips your hair. Then you go in and use a full on country press that hard press where the only objective is to get it straight and wear it straight. At this point you have heat damage. The only way to get back to your natural curl is to depart from the straight stuff. I’m not sure you really want to do that today or you want to do that in the summertime. It’s entirely up to you, but at some point you are going to have to refrain from using so much heat on it. Please stop using shampoos that have suds they were never designed for your hair. Use the Daily Cleansing Cream Non Sudsing Shampoo that we have at Hair Rules . It’s a cream non sudsing shampoo that has incredible moisturizing properties which gently cleans your scalp, it’s like skin care for your hair and it doesn’t strip your hair. The idea is that if the hair is left softer then it’s going to be more pliable. That should help to stop the damage that’s occurring by your heat styling. I don’t know if you want to do straw sets but it sounds like you really want to get back to your natural curl pattern. The only way to do that is is get off the fence and depart from that straight stuff that is on the ends of your beautiful curly hair and start to wear your hair curly three to four days a week and then you can do straight styling on the other days. There’s no way to get curl back on a texture that has been permanently straightened via heat damage. The only thing I can tell you is to avoid shampoos that have suds, use the daily cleansing cream, and a comb attachment. You’re in a cold season you won’t have to deal with humidity and negative effects of trying to wear a straight style in the humidity. You shouldn’t have to use so much heat on your hair. Only use a flat iron once a week when you do your blow dry and press if you don’t feel like departing with the straight stuff on the end maybe you should just do it in the spring or the summer so that you can continue to wear it straight. Avoid excessive heat on the new hair that is not permanently straight. I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions I’m here to answer them.
This is a good one because I find that a lot of women once you go natural I think the challenge has been that is difficult to find out methods that have been suitable to your texture, so you end up doing alternative things like twist outs, or other styles that are not necessarily the easiest ones. The great thing about being natural and having a curl pattern when it’s wet is that those are just small indicators. Whenever you have conditioner in your hair and it’s wet, or you have shampoo in your hair, you see curls. The problem is that you can never capture those curls or know what to do, so that’s kind of the missing link in going natural. How do I capture this great curl pattern that I see when my hair is super wet with either shampoo or conditioner.? That’s always exciting to me because the answer is simple…it simply means that you capture that curl pattern with your favorite styling product.
Hopefully all you naturals are avoiding shampoos that have suds because they are so damaging for your hair. I am talking about the sulfate free ones as well. Hair Rules has a sulfate free shampoo with Aloe Grapefruit or a Volumizing Shampoo. They’re both sulfate free, but we don’t suggest them to any of our clients or textures who have textures 3 or 4, unless it’s for removing buildup every few months or so. Because those textures are naturally drier, they will never need anything that has suds be it sulfate free or not. What was missing from your arsenal were these new cream shampoos, non-sudsing cream shampoos, that are the missing link to textures that are naturally dry to getting great versatility through proper hair care. These non-sudsing cream shampoos of course Hair Rules Daily Cleansing Cream Moisturizing No Suds Shampoo is just the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to natural hair. It’s a cream shampoo that allows you to de-tangle while you are shampooing and it doesn’t dry out your hair, so your hair is left soft, and de-tangled, and freshly cleansed. That’s your go to weekly shampoo and that of course helps to bring out the curl pattern.
Once you’re finished you have your Hair Rules Quench Ultra Rich Conditioner for textures that are naturally drier or kinkier or curlier textures. Conditioners are there to help further soften the hair and to help you recognize your curl pattern. Once you put your conditioner in you should be able to see a great curl pattern because soft hair is the only hair that wants to curl up which is why you only see curls when you have conditioner on. The great thing about the quench conditioner is that it will allow you to see the curl pattern that you have, and it also preps your hair for your styling products. So after shampooing with your cream shampoo you want to use your quench conditioner or if you’re co-washing you’ll use your quench conditioner daily to simply rinse and condition and use your quench conditioner to co-wash. That method of co-washing and wash and wear styling helps to transform your texture to one that is soft and elongated and curlier, it will just get curlier and curlier. Of course you are looking to find out how you capture that curl pattern. These are small indicators, when you see a curl pattern when the hair is wet and has conditioner on it that’s just a small indicator that’s where you are going to apply your styling products. Again, your conditioner helps to prep your hair which softens it and de-tangles and elongates.
The moment you rinse out your conditioner, the instant you rinse it out, that instant while you are conditioning the hair and your fingers are feeling your texture and you’re feeling these curls that are so prevalent as you’re rinsing your conditioner. That active rinsing the conditioner helps you become more familiar with the texture that you will learn to love. The moment you feel these great curls that you have as you’re rinsing out your conditioner you’ll then stop rinsing. The moment you rinse out the conditioner the hair is super wet and super soft and still curly reapply your styling product, your favorite styling product. Be it the Kinky Curling Cream or the Curly Whip. Hair Rules has a number of different styling products for different textures a lot of them can cross over to other textures. A lot of women that we know that have kinky hair also use the Curly Whip and a lot of women with curlier hair use Kinky Curling Cream so a lot of times it’s just a matter of your preference. They both work similar but remember you want to use as much of your styling product to re-saturate your hair.
I don’t know if any of you remember getting a roller set or wet set in your hair when you had a relaxer or your hair was straight. What’s a roller set? You’re not going to put a towel dry section around a roller you’re going to saturate it and put it on the sections which are going to be very wet. You are going to set it and you’re not going to disturb it until it is dry. Setting your natural curl pattern is essentially the same concept you’re wet setting your natural curl pattern. You’re going to condition, get the hair soft, rinse it so it is super wet, and you’re going to saturate your hair with your favorite styling product that should also act as the conditioning agent. The Hair Rules Kinky Curling Cream and the Curly Whip also will condition the hair. Make sure you use enough. You can’t overuse these products. Make sure to saturate the hair with it. You might use a handful of it or a golf-ball size amount depending on your thickness of hair. You might use more if your hair is longer. Use your product as a tool. Use your styling product to saturate your hair. Once you’ve worked that product through in a manner de-tangles and stretches out, I like to add a little water sometime so the hair really hangs and then set it. Whether you want it defused, sit under a portable hood dryer and if you don’t want to do it in the morning than do it at night and stretch it out afterward. You’ve got to work it into your lifestyle. The wash and wear styling, the more frequently you do it, the softer and easier it will be to capture your curl pattern and your curls will get better and better by doing this. Wash and wear styling also allows you to go forward with a lot of versatility styling ,whether you’re going to do twist outs, braid outs or straight styling – you don’t get heat damage because you’re doing a lot of wash and wear on top of hair that is thoroughly moisturized through the method of wash and wear styling.
I hope this helps. Go to hairrules.com also has a how-to section with how-to videos and it has application videos on how to achieve all of this looks. By all means go to hairrules.com and look to see in the how-to video section will show you how to apply the product and step by step methods so you can see for yourself.
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