How important is deep conditioning? What's the best way to safely color curly hair? Last weekend we hopped on Instagram live with Kyle Huntsberry, a stylist and curly educator with over 15+ years of experience, to answer all these questions and more! Read our top Q and A's below and click here to check out the full live!
You guys posted it the other day [on Instagram], which made me laugh, “stop touching your curls while they're drying.” I mean, that's so huge. Put the product in when your curls are wet, set it, and forget it, whether you diffuse or whether you air dry, don't touch it while it's wet.
How often should we be seeing our stylist for a trim?
There’s no one size fits all. It really depends on your curl texture, your curl style, and how you're wearing your hair. If you're wearing a shorter look, then you probably need to see your stylist a little bit more often (every 6 - 8 weeks) because it will grow out of shape quicker.
If you are somebody that's transitioning to wearing your hair curly, you’ll still want to see your stylist around every 8 weeks because we want to continually remove that heat damage on your ends.
If you're somebody who is fully in their curl hair journey and you have a curl pattern similar to mine or tighter (3B and up), and you like to wear it big and you're not applying a lot of heat to your hair, then you can probably go 3 - 4 months, or longer if you air dry your hair.
How important is deep conditioning?
What are some of the biggest or most common mistakes that you see people making with their curly hair routines?You guys posted it the other day [on Instagram], which made me laugh, “stop touching your curls while they're drying.” I mean, that's so huge. Put the product in when your curls are wet, set it, and forget it, whether you diffuse or whether you air dry, don't touch it while it's wet.
It's really about your texture, climate, the health of your hair, how much heat you're using, or if your [curls are] color-treated, because color, as gentle as we try to make it, can play a number on your hair.
If you are somebody that’s color-treated or uses a lot of heat, and are struggling with a lot of frizz and it's bothering you, then deep conditioning will be huge. Especially if you're blonding, you’ll need to deep condition to help add protein and moisture back into your hair. If you’re on the curlier, kinkier-coily side, your hair naturally tends to be a little bit more dehydrated. It's not a bad idea to do it more often, as well.
But, I really believe if you're using great quality products, like LUS (Love Ur Self), with good quality ingredients, that allow water to get in and out of your hair you don't need to deep condition as often. If you're living that natural, ‘I let it air dry, I'm minimal with heat and color on my hair’ and you're using LUS (Love Ur Self), the shampoo/conditioner is so amazing on its own.
What about clarifying?
It's so personal. I don't personally ever need to clarify my hair but, I'm a stylist and I know about ingredients and I stick to a routine. With LUS (Love Ur Self) being silicone-free, it doesn't build up on your hair like some products can. If you're using products and you feel like you have this coating on your hair, generally it's a silicone.
Is there a way to color/dye hair safely?
Absolutely. Do not do it at home. You need to see a professional and take your time and seek out somebody that really specializes in textured hair.
When you want to go from dark to light, the rule of thumb is low and slow to have the desired end result. With dark hair, if you want to be super blonde it’s not realistic to achieve that in one session, otherwise you probably will have some curl loss and curl damage. So you need to be patient on your journey and do your research on where you're going to get your hair done.
It's also about the techniques and how you do it. A gloss does minimal damage to the hair. So you could juice up your brunette a little bit, or if you're a redhead and you want to make it a bit brighter, going in with a gloss is super gentle and you don't have to worry about damage.
But, yes, there's absolutely a way to color curly hair and keep your curls intact. I wear my hair pretty blonde so it's kind of like that trade off, right? I always say, if you want to do a fun color, but sometimes you like to blow out your hair maybe a little bit too often, I would say choose one.
I wouldn't be able to be this blonde if I did regular blowouts on my hair. My hair couldn’t have both the color and the heat. I really have to choose one. Some people's hair is just insanely strong and it doesn't matter, but that is not the general rule. If you are going to go for a bolder color, something further away from your natural, use minimal heat, wear it curly, deep condition often, and you can absolutely have beautiful color and curls.
Kyle Huntsberry is a LUS (Love Ur Self) Salon Partner and has been a curly stylist and educator for over 15 years. You can find her on Instagram at @milk.honey.hair.
