In the past, coping with curls meant using a gel that dried like super glue, a shellac-like mousse or a silicone serum that greased curls senseless. But with civilians and stars like Beyoncé and Lorde embracing their natural textures, hair care companies are racing to create wavemakers that deliver free-flowing curls that actually move when you do.
“The industry has more knowledge about curls than ever before,” says Ouidad, founder of her eponymous curly hair care line and namesake curl-centric salons. “It’s now using breathable and water-soluble ingredients to work with the natural curl, rather than heavy or drying ones that coat it and try to control it. Many products are also geared to specific curl patterns.”
Nourishing ringlets gives them back their spring, since curly hair has low internal hydration and a cuticle structure that makes it vulnerable to moisture loss. And the tighter the curl, the more fragile the hair and the more dehydrated it can become. To that end, Ouidad will introduce the Curl Immersion range for coily hair in June, infused with ultra-hydrating grapeseed, rosemary, sage and coconut oils. Meanwhile, Rene Furterer’s new four product Karinga line for curls or straightened hair is enriched with intensely moisturizing shea butter and argan oil.
Rose and flaxseed oils are among the star ingredients in L’Oréal’s Extraordinary Oil collection for curls. The brand’s celebrity hairstylist Mara Roszak used the shampoo and conditioner on Olivia Wilde before fashioning her low, tousled Golden Globes ponytail.
Curl specialist DevaCurl is unveiling Low-Poo Delight and One Condition Delight this month, made to reduce frizz and increase definition in wavy hair. Botanicals and rice protein are in the mix; silicone, waxes, sulfates, parabens and mineral oil are not.
“Hair, like fashion, evolves, and the look of curly hair now is touchable, soft and natural — it’s no longer about crunchy ringlets,’’ says Matt Fugate, a Kérastase consulting hairstylist who works at NYC’s Serge Normant salon. “So there’s a need for products that deliver naturally defined curl patterns.”
Kérastase crafted a so-called Move Hair Machine, an innovative perpetual-motion simulator, to study those patterns. That research led to the development of Discipline Curl Idéal, the pro-keratin and hydrolyzed elastin-laced regime for curly hair.
But good products can only take curls so far; some other TLC is required, Fugate notes. “The less you heat-style, color and straighten curls, the better. Let them be free and do their own thing.”
