Welcome to our latest Gordon Salon Q&A session where we are about to get wrapped up in the twists and turns of curly hair care. Whether you have spirals, curls, or waves, understanding and nurturing your natural texture is an empowering path to self-love and hair health. This time, Tony Gordon is excited to welcome Aveda Purefesional Michelle Jens specializes in curls, and is here to share expert insights on how to cherish those luscious locks.
With the trend spotlight firmly on curls, and Aveda's innovation leading the charge with their Be Curly Advanced line, it’s clear that curls are not just a fashion statement but a way of life. Today's discussion will diffuse the myth of the 'unmanageable curl' and replace it with a celebration of the unique beauty that curly hair brings. We'll uncover the latest products designed to tame frizz with high shine and flexibility and look at how natural peptides are changing the game for curl care.
We're also taking a deep dive into hair care trends—will we witness a return of the perm? How do bond builders factor into modern hair care? Our curly hair maven will unravel these questions and more.
T.G - Hi - I'm Tony Gordon and this is Michelle Jens.
M.J - Hi.
T.G. - An Aveda Purefessional.
T.G. - We want to talk today about curly hair. Aveda is going through a lot of changes with curly hair and amazing products are coming out, but the trend has been moving towards curl. So Michelle - talk to us about curly hair and what's happening in the curly hair world right now.
M.J. - The biggest thing is just accepting and loving the curls that you have! So many women for years and years have been relaxing them or straightening them or complaining about frizz. And, Aveda with the new Be Curly line, which they're launching, which is now called Be Curly Advanced, is really about controlling frizz in the sense of a high-shine product. Something that's going to moisturize but take care of those curls in a new manner with peptides that are through vegetables, and there's just a nicer beautiful curl that doesn't have
to be so crunchy if you're using the new enhancer. But if you do need that
crunch, or we like to call it a cast, to the hair because your texture might have
more frizz, that it's also softer, it will end up where you
can break it up, and you won't feel like you've got those old hard crunchy curls.
So it's a much more flexible product than in the past.
T.G. - And the hair will be shinier. Is that what you're saying?
M.J. - Yes.
T.G. - Okay, this comes about because of the peptides that are naturally derived that are in the new product line.
M.J. - The new product line is the first one ever.
T.G. - Coming in April?
M.J. - Yes exactly! So the peptides are all new. No other product, at least not in the Aveda world or that we know of, really has these kinds of peptides. This is a new, whole kind of way of
thinking, and through the Laboratories at Aveda and Blain that is what they came up with within the last four years. And they were very particular when they were working on this, that they wanted to cover all hair types that are textured of some type of texture whether you're down from waves to up to coily hair. There are four categories. You know, straight, obviously is 1, 2 is waves, 3 is curls, and 4 is coils.
T.G. - Is there a way now to categorize this?
M.J. - Yes, by looking at the hair type, you can see how it moves, and the
shapes that it moves, the size that it is, and that's how you know whether it is
A 1,2,3, or 4, and then the A, B, and C part falls into how soft to strong your curls are. So each one of them is wave, curl, or coil; there are three categories so you can have a mix of them. And that's kind of where I think some people make the mistake of curly hair that they read hair and they're just like everybody is or your head is X! So if you could be like a 3B, and that's what I am, but actually, I'm a 3B in most of my hair. So like on the top, I'm a 3B, but on the bottom, I'm, because of my weight and the way it falls, more of a 3A because it's a little bit more relaxed
so it's a little softer. That's what most people really are, they're multiple types.
T.G. - Can you use the product? If you want it to be perfectly even, like the same?
M.J. - No there's never going to be 100% perfect. Unless you're curling and ironing every piece of hair to make it or styling it with a rod set.
T.G. - Is that what people are doing now? Are they going to continue to iron their hair?
M.J. - There's always going to be people that want Perfection and not Livable Hair. Let's put it that way. Livable Hair is where we really want to fall into, and that's really where the curls are and the company headed within natural curly hair is going. It's getting clients to accept and understand - hair is Livable. You do not have to have high-maintenance styling. You can do it yourself. But you have to also accept that you're going to have a little bit
of frizz, like natural frizz is good, like mine. Like when you look at my hair, if there are still little flyaways, it's livable. It's liable frizz. That's pretty because then tomorrow I can reset it and go again.
T.G. - So it looks natural?
M.J. - It is natural. But if you wanted every piece to be perfectly coiled in the same
pattern, those are always set.
T.G. - Those are always set, right? And those sets are done with irons or they're done on some sort of surface like a roller?
M.J. - They could be a perm rod, they can be the boomerangs, they can do anything.
T.G. - Yeah. Now are people going to be doing perms? Because there are maybe going to be straight-haired women who are going to want this so badly. Are we going to see a Perm boom again?
M.J. - There are always going to be those people. I don't know if there is going to be a big rush or anything like that because I think, inevitably, people want easy, low-maintenance hair. Anytime you put in or change texture, it's not... it looks beautiful at the beginning ... but it grows out. So there's always going to be that little play there ... of how easy is it? I think there are always going to be those people that are going to relax their hair. If they're coily people, they don't want that style, and they just want to wash and wake up, and have straight hair; they're going to relax it. Then there's going to be people that have waves, that want curls, and they're going to curl it, and those are going to be different perm sets that people will do.
T.G. - Are Bond Builders going to help this? Now there is a new category, a product
that's been around for a few years, now called Bond Builders which help
hair be healthy?
M.J. - I think for clients that are doing color treatments they're 100% necessary. You need that because, again, textured hair is more fragile. You have to be more delicate, as we like to say it. Because of the way that textured hair is made, and the way it's the bonds are
done, they just are more delicate. It's just when you start changing things and that hair is
just needed you have to treat it more gently. So Bond Builders and all those
things, those things are always going to be great for that, especially if you're doing chemical
Treatments.
T.G. - Thank you, Michelle!
M.J. - You're welcome!