A couple of months back, my sister and I visited The Curl Ambassadors to get their illustrious curly-doo. Now, my general policy is to allow only stylists who have firsthand experience with my hair texture to style my hair. The thing is, my hair is…complicated (for lack of a better word), and for me, the salon is a place of relaxation. However, this salon came highly recommended, and the stylist assured me that she had tons of experience with Afro-textured hair.
The salon is located in the colourful downtown neighbourhood known as the Annex. Upon entering the salon, I immediately felt at ease when I noticed that they stocked Carol’s Daughter; ‘they’re down,’ I jokingly told myself. My sister was not that easily convinced, and I had to persuade her to stay for her appointment by reminding her that it would only cost us $15. I then agreed to go first so my sister would be able to gauge her level of confidence in the stylist.
As I hopped into the chair by the sink, I started quizzing the stylist on her knowledge of black hair care (a bit fresh, but this is my hurrr and I loves it). I was quite impressed with how much she knew about our hair, about my hair. After washing my hair, I was then moved over to the styling station, where she laced my hair with Deva products – a product line that I was unfamiliar with at the time. I was then placed under the dryer for about 40 minutes. To finish off my curly-doo, my stylist applied a liberal amount of Carol’s Daughter hair oil.
The end result was…a hot mess. A crunchy, greasy, hot mess! My fro was greasy and matted, which, in my opinion, was not a good look for me. I can joke about it now, but believe me when I tell you I was seriously not feeling the curly-doo. Having long stalked the picture gallery on Miss Jessie’s website, I was hoping to be hooked up with a two-strand twist or something along those lines. Granted, the Miss Jessie hair doos cost some serious chedda, but my hair had truly seen better days and while in my care.
In contrast, my sister was pleased to know that it was possible to achieve curl definition without having to manipulate her hair too much. At the end of our session we were each provided with a ‘curl map’, which detailed all of the products that were used in our hair. I do not regret this experience as if I had bought these products instead, I would be out of about $80, plus I would have four practically full products to add to my already sizeable product cemetery. Although I will not return for another curly-doo, I certainly will not rule them out when I go on my product hauls. The Curl Ambassadors currently stock Curls, Carol’s Daughter, Deva, JessiCurl, Kinky-Curly, and Mixed Chicks.
