I was born the curly-headed child of a naturally blonde and silky white lady, and a mysteriously hairy Middle Eastern man. It wasn’t exactly interracial, but it definitely crossed some cultural boundaries (if you’re at all aware of the differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic folks, you’ll understand), and needless to say, my mother never had a clue about what to do with my hair. In fact, I remember screaming and running through my childhood home after bath time in fear that my mother would take a regular hairbrush to my curly locks. Curly girls know this is just about torture. (Mom, sorry, you were good at arts and crafts… just not hair.) And so I grew up, feeling sort of left out of the silky straight white people world, and sort of left out of the dark n’ lovely crowd too. Where did my hair belong? As it turns out, nowhere by Miss Jessie’s.
I headed into the Miss Jessie’s Curl Bar in SoHo a couple weeks ago to try a “curl out” and test out some of their products. For those of you who’ve never been there, a curl out is like a blow out for people with curls. It’s a wash, product application, and a delicate dry. I was greeted by Titi and Miko, the super cute and friendly sisters behind the brand. You’d never know they were hair superstars by their humble and gracious attitudes (seriously, these girls are basically sitting on the throne to the curly hair empire). I was a little skeptical at first, because I’ve been a pro at taming about 2/3 of my curl action for about 2/3 of my life already. I’ve only let a little, casual wave go on the top layers… you know, to keep things in control. Sigh, how wrong I’ve been for so many years! Within a few minutes they washed me up with some magically minty-smelling shampoo and conditioning combo, towel dried me, and had me flip. Wait, flip?
Yes, flip. They started to apply a small glazing of their Curling Meringue to their palms and work it through 2″ sections of my thicker-than-my-dad’s-back-hair mane. It felt like a lot of product was happening, so I was naturally nervous that something a little too New-Jersey-in-the-90’s might be the result, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. After about 5-10 minutes with a diffuser attachment, my hair was soft, curly, not at all frizzy, and ready for action. I left the salon feeling a few pounds thinner (big hair balances out post-baby hips, I say), and got home to a husband that promptly asked to cuddle (um, we all know men never really want to cuddle). All in all, a total win.
I’ve done the curl-out look a few times at home since then, and it’s easier than a blowout and takes significantly less time (nevermind the fact that if you’re a morning shower gal, it takes way less awake-power to do). I recommend nabbing a big jar of the Curly Meringue and a Cricket Finger Diffuser (so cheap, and so worth it!).
I was not in any way compensated for this post. This was a genuine review of a real service, and only the service was provided.
