A Curly Girl's Guide to Gorgeous Hair
It's hard to miss Brit Watkins and her scroll-stopping curls on Instagram. With each post of her riotous ringlets, this model offers, as her bio suggests, "some curlyfro encouragement." Devising a tried-and-true wash-and-go routine that would yield perfect curls, however, required years of experimentation. "With curly hair you have to be a chemist," Watkins laughed. "You need to have a degree to have curls!"
Growing up as an only child during the "Aaliyah era" when pin-straight strands were in vogue, the model routinely reached for a flat iron. "Just about everyone in my family had relaxers," she explained. "I wanted straight hair to fit in, but people would tell me that my curls were cute-I felt conflicted." Watkins' aunt operated a hair salon out of her grandmother's basement, but her education around natural curl care was limited. "I was using sulfate shampoos and I couldn't understand why my hair was dry," she said. "In junior high, I used to put water in my hair between classes because the only time I liked my curls was when they were wet!" Even after Watkins was discovered at the Supermodel of the World contest in Chicago, her agency (and many clients) wanted her strands "groomed straight," as curls were often seen as "distracting."
About five years ago, however, Watkins moved to New York City and noticed a significant shift, as clients were specifically asking for her curls. "My whole life I've been going back and forth between curly and straight, so I finally got to a point where I wanted to make the curls work," she explained. "I also started to see other girls in the modeling industry embrace their texture, so I said, 'I want to keep mine, too.'" With so much information available on the Internet and social media enabling Watkins to connect with an entire network of curly girls around the world, she finally discovered her go-to products and techniques. Here, Watkins reveals her best tips and step-by-step method for major curls.
The in-Shower System
"I shampoo with some type of mild, sulfate-free shampoo once a week, but I co-wash with a conditioning cleanser as necessary," said Watkins. "For example, if I go to a job and they put hairspray in my hair or I notice there's product build-up and it's dull, my curls are getting a wash." Try L'Oréal Paris EverCurl Hydracharge Shampoo (a formula free of silicones, harsh salts, and parabens) and rotate in L'Oréal Paris' EverCurl Cleansing Balm, a low-lather formula that's gentle enough to use on the regular. "I apply a few pumps of EverCurl Cleansing Balm at the roots and then add more for the mid-shaft and ends," she said. "I was surprised at how moisturizing it was-I didn't even have to use a separate conditioner."
After washing with shampoo, however, Watkins applies a deep conditioner (like the Ouidad Curl Recovery Melt Down Extreme Repair Mask) and pulls her hair up into a loose bun. "I like to transfer it from a tub to a pump bottle to make things easier and avoid bacteria," she said. After shaving and washing her body, she rinses and detangles her hair under running water with a wide-tooth comb. "It just melts my hair and makes the combing process so easy," she explained. "Plus, I get way better results from my wash-and-go routine when I detangle in the shower."
The Out-of-Shower Routine
Watkins uses the large microfiber DevaTowel from DevaCurl to "squeeze" as much water from her curls as possible and then drapes it around her shoulders to prevent any product from coming into contact with her skin. "I'm not trying to have bacne," she laughed. Next, she applies a leave-in conditioner with "good slip" (like Bumble and bumble Bb. Curl Care Custom Conditioner) followed by a styling cream (such as Jane Carter Incredible Curls). For definition and hold minus any crunch, Watkins scrunches in L'Oréal Paris' EverCurl Sculpt and Hold Cream Gel and lets her hair air-dry for 30 minutes. "I also take a few more pumps, rub my hands together, and go around my hairline so I don't have frizzy edges," she added. The secret weapon the model uses to speed up the process: a Lasko room fan with ion technology. "Sometimes I flip my hair in front of it, and while I'm doing my makeup I let the air hit me," she said.
If she's in a rush, Watkins uses a blowdryer with a diffuser attachment to lift and massage her roots while she scrunches the ends. She sets her dryer to low blow "to avoid interrupting the curl pattern," but uses high heat "to quickly lock curls in place" and prevent frizz from forming. Once hair is about 85% dry, the model uses a low temperature on high blast for a final fluffing effect. "It's OK to fluff because the curls have already been frozen in place," she added. For a quick dose of shine, she works an oil or serum (like Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Moisture & Shine Pure Hair Oil) from the ends up.
The last step: pick for volume. Watkins likes the Jumbo Rake Comb from Annie-a tool she discovered thanks to her friend and fellow curl aficionado @FroGirlGinny. "I flip my head upside down and pick just at the roots-I baby the rest of my hair," she noted. For curls at the crown, she uses a standard pick with a short handle from the drugstore for extra lift. "I have a different size pick for each purse!" she laughed, as she never leaves home without one.
All told, Watkins' process is about an hour long. "I try to stretch my curls to day three before I wash," she said. "I could probably stretch to day five, but anything beyond that and my hair starts to get tangled and I have to spend more time trying to repair it."
The Treatment Plan
"I ask Siri to set reminders in my phone so I remember to deep condition once a week," laughed Watkins. "When I use shampoo, I always deep condition. A lot of people don't realize my hair is fine, so my biggest struggle is preventing breakage." After raking through a moisturizing mask (like the one from Ouidad mentioned above) from root to end, Watkins forms two braids and doubles up on plastic conditioning caps to "trap the heat" and help the conditioner penetrate. When she has time, she'll sit under her compact, NYC-apartment-friendly Gold 'N Hot Professional Ionic Soft Bonnet Dryer, but says a knit winter cap is a good alternative.
Once or twice a month, Watkins also phases in a "reconstructor" (such as Joico Deep-Penetrating Reconstructor) or a protein treatment (like the one from Aphogee) to strengthen strands and follows up with a moisturizing mask. She also recently road-tested the L'Oréal Paris EverPure Repair & Defend Mask infused with antioxidants. Though she admitted that she was skeptical of the silicone in the formula, her hair felt stronger and the shine was "unbeatable." For curly girls that color like Watkins, the type of silicone in this mask (amodimethicone) can also help protect your dye job so you can hit the salon less frequently. (If, however, you want to rid your hair of the silicone barrier, Watkins recommends washing once with a shampoo containing sulfates.)
Keeping up with curls requires vigilance, but making them your calling card is undoubtedly worth it. "Curls are always a good opener," Watkins said. "They're a great way to talk to new people and open up a whole community-curls are a bonding thing."
