DIY Wedding Hair with Beautiful Curls!

Ah, weddings.

The dress.  The decor.  The hair.  (The stress.)

It seems that more and more, brides are seeking simplicity and ease.  Do-it-yourself ideas are popping up everywhere, as brides are beginning to find that they can pinch pennies while adding a personal touch, just by choosing to do a few things themselves, or by allowing friends and family to lend their talents.

I'm by no means a professional stylist, but I do know how to wield a curling iron and how to apply Beautiful Curls products, so when my friend Kimberly came to me with photos of her dream wedding hair, I confidently exclaimed, "I can do this!"

Here is the look our bride wanted to capture for her special day: 

Kim decided on soft, romantic curls, pinned in just a few key places in back.
She opted for a headband and veil rather than rhinestone
pins, as pictured.

Our bride Kimberly is a Wavy to Curly girl, with lovely, loose natural curls.  But for a more polished look on her wedding day, we decided to blow dry her hair straight and use Beautiful Curls Shea Butter Curl Defining Gel to create smooth, lasting ringlets.

Here's the How-To:

I sectioned Kim's dry hair, back combing close to her roots to add height and volume. 
Then it was time to curl!  I worked back through each section,
smoothing the Curl Defining Gel on to Kim's hair before wrapping
pieces around a 1 inch barrel curling iron.

Can you spy the little tub of magic gel in the sea of wedding day products?

The Curl Defining Gel really made all the difference for this style.
Every curl came off the iron defined, yet still soft and natural.
(Hairspray can be drying and doesn't quite qualify as a feel-good, all-natural
hair treatment, but we reached for it to add additional hold for this all-day event.)

Kim's hair after I'd worked all the way through, curling each section.
I then went back through and separated some of the curls to create
the soft look she was after.

After pinning some of her curls back, I used
Shea Butter Sculpting Wax to smooth down those fly-aways that you see!
It worked like a charm.

The beautiful bride and I at the reception.  We both have Beautiful Curls!

For my shea buttery, shiny bridesmaid hair, I lightly spritzed my
dry hair with the Curl Reviving Tonic before wrapping sections
around a 2.5 inch barrel curling iron, protecting my hair from heat while
creating loose waves that lasted all day, even through the wind and rain.
(December weddings are always an adventure!)

Kimberly's curls lasted all day, with just one quick touch up before the reception.  

Beautiful Curls DIY success!  

For your wedding hair, try prepping your tresses with a Beautiful Curls Shampoo & Leave-In Conditioner, followed by the Beautiful Curls styling product for your hair type.  Keep the Curl Reviving Tonic and Shea Butter Sculpting Wax on hand for touch ups, and viola!  You have Beautiful Curls without the crunch, and a lovely, lasting wedding style involving minimal stress and cost. 

-Emily Parnham, Beautiful Curls Enthusiast


 

Emily's Upswept Curls - Beautiful Curls Products for Classic Style

A style of romantic, loose curls, swept up and pinned is a classic look that is fairly simple to achieve.  Several of our Beautiful Curls products are well suited to help you to achieve a lovely updo, adding moisture and shine.

Emily's style began with our Curl Nurturing Shampoo and Leave-In Conditioner.  For Emily's baby fine, just barely wavy hair, the leave-in was used as a rinse-out.

Finer hair types can still benefit from lighter forms of leave-in moisture - while Emily's hair was still damp, our Curl Reviving Tonic was applied from roots to ends, with a bit of Alaffia's Shea & Virgin Coconut Enriching Hair Lotion added to the mix.  These two products provided hydration and prepped her hair for heat styling.

Emily's hair was blown dry straight, using a vented brush.  Then, all over loose curls were added by using a 1/2 inch curling iron.

Curl Sculpting Wax was used to smooth Emily's part line, swoop her bangs to the side, and define the ends of her curls.

Upon washing, prepping, drying, curling, and defining, Emily's curls were ready to be swept up! 



To do this on your own, begin near the top of your right ear, gather hair and twist, pinning as you go.  When you near the left side of your head, begin shaping and pinning curls as desired.  Leave a few curls on the right side of your face for a soft look.

Add final touches with Curl Sculpting Wax, and viola!  You have a soft, simple, all-natural updo.

(Emily keeps her hair happy and hydrated with weekly applications of our Shea Butter Deep Conditioning Treatment, one of her absolute favorite Beautiful Curls products.)

Shea Butter Curl Oils Have Arrived!

Certified Fair Trade Shea Butter Oils for Curly Hair are here, but what does this mean for you and your hair? 

What are the benefits you can expect from adding one of our Shea Butter Curl Oils to your current regime?

• Improved Hair Health: Our Shea Butter Curl Oils restore hair health and help protect against ongoing environmental damage.  

• Improved Scalp Health:  Hand-crafted oils hydrate your scalp, without irritating chemicals.

• Improved Hair Strength: Strengthen hair and improve elasticity, reducing breakage and split ends.

• Increased Softness: Added moisture means added softness and prevention of rough, coarse hair.

• Added Shine: Healthy, moisturized curls are naturally shiny!  Hand-crafted oils moisturize and add an extra boost of brilliance with an infusion of shine enhancing herbs.

There are two ways to use our Shea Butter Curl Oils, you can take advantage of both to maximize the benefits outlined above.

DAILY:  After styling, apply lightly to curls, concentrating on ends.

• Adds brilliance and shine
• Hydrates and protects dry ends
• Suitable for all hair types

WEEKLY: For use as a conditioning oil treatment, apply to scalp and entire length of hair.  Cover and leave oil in for 10-30 minutes.

• Conditions and moisturizes scalp and hair shaft
• Suitable for all hair types

Beautiful Curls has a Shea Butter Curl Oil for every curl type, please use the following chart as a reference to select the :

And for growing curls or curls in transition - going from chemically processed to natural - we recommend our Shea Butter & Neem Nourishing Curl Oil for Babies & Up.

Our Shea Butter Curl Oils are available for purchase on www.beautifulcurls.com, at your local Whole Foods Market, and other natural food stores nationwide.

Our shea butter is handcrafted according to traditional methods at our Alaffia Shea Butter Cooperative in Togo, West Africa.

What we leave out is just as important as what goes in to our formulations. Beautiful Curls products are preservative free, gluten free, mineral oil free, and cruelty free.

Falling into Fashion with DivaGalsDaily

This past week, Beautiful Curls teamed up with DivaGalsDaily for an evening of fall fashion, introducing our Curl Activating and Curl Enhancing products as must-haves for a polished look this season.

Avril Ann Rondon, one of Brooklyn's leading stylists, put her talents to work, impressing guests with the immediate, visible results of Beautiful Curls styling products.

Products from our Curl Enhancing System were used to take this guest's hair from pin straight to this lovely style of full, pinned up curls.

A Beautiful Curls Twist Out

Every guest had the opportunity to experience a hair touch-up using Beautiful Curls products, allowing them to experience our Curl Reviving Tonic, Curl Sculpting Wax, and our new Shea Butter Curl Oils.  Every Beautiful Curls styling product contains a high percentage of Alaffia Fair Trade shea butter.  This means that regardless of the product or style you choose, your hair will be able to take in all of the moisturizing and nourishing benefits of shea butter, improving the health of your hair as you style.

Author and Beautiful Curls enthusiast, Dana Drucker Salono, definitely notices the shea butter difference when she uses our Curl Defining Gel.  She loves how it banishes frizz and defines curls without the crunch. 

Dana and her Beautiful Curls at the DivaGals Event

Written primarily by women of color for women of all colors, DivaGalsDaily.com inspires women to live a savvy, smart and social life.   

Photos by Tracy G.

Tina Opie's Beautiful Curls

Tina Opie, a Beautiful Curls fan, reached out to us recently with an article she wrote for the Washington Post, titled "At war with 'unmanageable' hair".

We loved reading about her childhood quest for "Kelly Garret hair", the burning relaxer that she viewed as her ticket to "manageable", socially acceptable hair, and her ultimate decision to embrace her natural beauty.  As she says, "It’s not necessarily freedom from chemical hair processes or freedom from locs. It’s freedom from societal notions about what is and what isn’t beautiful."

Watch Tina's transformation and hear her take on embracing her natural hair texture:







Dr. Tina Opie is an Assistant Professor at Babson College in the Management Division. She researches and writes about creating workplaces that leverage individual difference and convey respect for individual contributions and the conditions that motivate peripheral members of workgroups to engage. She earned her Ph.D. in Management from the Stern School of Business and her M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Opie was a management consultant at A.T. Kearney.

For more of her musings on identity, hair, culture and societal norms, please follow her on Twitter @DrTina Opie and visit her blog at tropie7189.blogspot.com.

10 Steps to a Beautiful Curls Style

"Will the Beautiful Curls products make my hair curly?"

We at Alaffia hear this question every so often, and while our Curl Enhancing, Curl Activating, and Curl Nurturing products are intended to care for naturally curly hair, it is possible to use some of our products in combination with styling techniques to temporarily take your hair from straight to curly, giving you a Beautiful Curls look.

Our wonderful Cosmetologist and Esthetician, Laura Marshall, has outlined the 10 steps she used to achieve this effect:

Before

After!

1.)  Tiffany, our lovely hair model, enjoyed a soothing, deep conditioning treatment using our new Beautiful Curls Rosemary Shining Curl Oil.  She donned a plastic hair cap and enjoyed a walk in the sunshine to allow the oil to really penetrate her hair. 

2.)  Laura used our Curl Enhancing Shampoo, washing Tiffany's hair twice to remove any oil residue. 

3.)  Curl Enhancing Leave-In Conditioner was applied liberally, rinsed, then reapplied lightly to the ends of Tiffany's hair, and left in. 

4.)  Laura gently squeezed excess moisture from Tiffany's hair with a towel.

5.)  Our Curl Reviving Tonic was applied liberally from roots to ends, and gently combed through.

6.) Our Curl Defining Gel was applied from roots to ends.

7.)  Laura used a hair drier to blow Tiffany's hair dry on a low setting, but hair can also be left to air dry.

8.)  Laura then used a flat iron waving technique to style Tiffany's hair. 

To achieve this style, wrap

hair around a flat iron and crimp from roots to ends.



9.)  To finish the style and add shine, Laura used a very light application of the Beautiful Curls Rosemary Shining Oil.

10.)  Enjoy luxurious shine and long lasting Beautiful Curls!

Tiffany was very happy with her curls the next day as well, all she had to do was spritz her strands with the Reviving Tonic, separate some tangles, and scrunch the life back into her locks.

Tiffany's "Second Day" Beautiful Curls

  

Beautiful Curls, Beautiful Girls!

We were thrilled to find out about a recent event held by one of our newest Canadian Beautiful Curls retailers, HoneyFig, a business based out of Toronto.  HoneyFig strives to bring together the best available skin and hair care products, highlighting the harmony between wellness and beauty.

The event, titled Beautiful Curls, Beautiful Girls, was an evening of fun geared toward mothers and daughters, celebrating hair types of all kinds.

Anya, a Chemical-free Consultant and creator of iheartmyhair.com, attended the event with what she describes as a "crazy hairstyle", with one half of her hair styled, and the other half left un-done.  Anya's hope was to demonstrate that regardless of your hair type or texture, it is always possible to enhance your own natural beauty by becoming educated on how to properly care for your hair.  She emphasized how finding the right product, learning about different styling techniques, and understanding the role that nutrition plays can help young girls embrace their hair types.  Anya hopes that she was able to create a deeper understanding of curl care and self-care, leading to greater self-acceptance.

Anya and her Beautiful Curls!

Anya feels that it is an absolute necessity to teach young girls to embrace the beauty of their naturally curly hair at a young age, and that learning to love their hair "as is" will foster self-confidence in these girls as they grow older.  "I just pray that more and more girls will choose to wear their hair naturally curly, because at the end of the day, they are choosing to love themselves."

Mothers at the event expressed their desire to serve as positive examples of natural beauty to their daughters.  These women felt strongly about going against commonly held standards of beauty that they felt might be destructive to their daughters' sense of self-worth.  The message of the evening was clear: that every little girl needs to know that she is beautiful exactly as she is, and that every woman has the opportunity to model a healthy sense of self and satisfaction in her own naturally beautiful way.

We at Beautiful Curls are always excited to be included in events that recognize beauty in all forms, while educating women and girls about healthy curl care options.  Thank you Anya and HoneyFig for the work you are doing to foster self-confidence in young women and girls!