Reflecting on her failed curly cut, Blay-Tettey unpacks the reality that curly cuts dont work for all curls.
In the past, Ive flinched anytime someone came near my head with scissors.
As a Black woman with4C coilsprone to severe shrinkage, I held tightly onto every inch of my hair.
Ana Jarén
But that aversion to trims often meant wearing twist-outs with straggly ends and an uneven shape.
Dry cutting, in theory, reduces the chance of surprises after youve left the salon.
With all these alluring claims and convincing results from the videos, I booked an appointment.
(Id guess most of them were in the 2C to 4A range.)
These stylists were curly-hair specialists!
I was in good hands!
Ive reported on curly cuts before; I knew they could be transformative.
After six years of wearing my hair natural, I was looking forward to seeing those results.
A standard haircut on blown-out textured hair takes about an hour.
So they coated my hair in copious amounts of gel and mousse before diffusing it.
As I predicted, I was left with a shrunk-up Afro.
My curls were stiff.
My hair with product for the wash-n-go
My hair after being diffused.
Did I mismanage my expectations?
But in the following days, I became convinced that my hair wasnt meant for curly cuts.
The next morning, my curls were dry and coiled together with no bounce or movement.
White flakes of gel residue floated down from my hair every time I moved my head ever so slightly.
More than anything, I was left with a whole lot of confusion.
Why did curly cuts seem to work for the rest of the natural hair community but not for me?
I had Black, curly-haired friends who raved about their curly cuts, so what went wrong with mine?
[For those with tighter curls] its best to have your hair cut stretched.
It allows your stylist to see more clearly what needs to be cut.
But the truth is, some curl types thrive when stretched out with heat.
As this truth sank in, my frustration with being duped by social media began to subside.
For some, the dry-cutting technique really is a game-changer.
There are many beautiful curly-cut results on the internet (the same ones that lured me in).
This isnt a hate letter to curly cuts.
The experience yielded the confidence every woman wants after a hair appointment.
After all, true autonomy means knowing what actually works for your hairregardless of what an algorithm suggests.
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