Dodai Stewart!!

Dodai Stewart is a Senior Editor at the wildly successful Jezebel.com. She is one of NaturallyCurly’s Top 10 in 10 Bloggers, and also has a head full of GORGEOUS, bouncy curls!

I think I have been naturally curly since the mid 90s — I definitely was curly as a kid, then relaxed for a while on and off in junior high, high school/college… but it would be safe to say since 1990 or so, I have been natural…

My “regimen” is to condition, condition, condition.my hair tends to be dry and I use gobs and gobs of pantene pro-v moisture renewal. NO SHAMPOO. Almost every day I rinse and condition, then comb through and use Tightly Wound by L’oreal. I just spray all around and finger-comb through, and spray in my hand and rub my hands together to get underneath in the back. then: no touching! and air dry. even in the winter. If it’s SUPER SUPER COLD then I’ll use a blowdyrer with a diffuser, but blowdrying really dries out my hair and scalp so I’d rather just go around with dirty hair. I just spray some more tightly wound in it and add a flower or headband or a hat. who cares. also, it’s time consuming and I’m a wash & go girl!

The one thing I’d tell a newbie — or anyone — is don’t fight your hair. It’s so much happier when it does what it wants to do. But also, if you see someone with similar hair that looks great, ask them what they use or who cuts it. I honestly think a good cut makes all the difference. I spent years with long, unwieldy hard-to-control hair; a lot of people around me — you know these people! — said oh my God your hair is so long DO NOT CUT YOUR HAIR. And ever since I cut it, it has been amazingly healthy and bouncy and the curls “behave” because they’re not being weighed down or forced to conform. It’s not for everyone, but it worked for me.

As for maintaining length, I cut every 6-9 months. And I have a guy, an Italian guy who loves curly hair. He is the only person I will allow to cut my hair. He uses thinning shears to take out some of the volume and weight, and also he cuts it in a way that makes the ringlets stick together instead of frizzing apart. he’s a genius. It’s very expensive, but it’s so worth it. He was the one who took me from long hair to short hair about 10 years ago, and I never stopped seeing him. I went long to short for a magazine “makeover” and he was the stylist the magazine hired, I just continued to see him at the salon. His name is Nunzio. But I have no doubt that wherever you are, whoever you are, you can find someone who loves and understands curly hair.

The best part about being naturally glamorous???
haha being flattered! thank you!

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