The Curly Hair Bible: On My Hair, My Friends’ Hair, And The Conditioner That's Changed My Life.

Dear Readers, 

Welcome back to On Fashion. Today we are doing a deep-dive into all things curly hair. Once per month I’ll be covering something I love and dedicating the entire newsletter to it. And today it’s all about curly hair! I’ll be getting into my hair journey, my friends’ hair favorites, and the conditioner that's changed my life. Enjoy! 

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Illeisha and I at her salon in SoHo 

On My Hair: I didn’t like, or love, or even appreciate my hair for a long time. I always had it cut short so it looked like my hair had texture but no curls. When I got older, I grew it out a little more. I went blonde twice; I can confirm blondes have more fun. Then I grew my hair out long. I had my hair like Timothee Chalamet, I’ve had my hair like Troye Sivan, it’s safe to say my hair has already been through a lot! Luckily for me, I have a mother and a godmother with curly hair and they can offer me a lifetime's worth of curly hair advice. I now love my curly hair to death. There are 3 products and one hair stylist that have truly changed my life. The products are Nairobi Wrapp-It, Jennifer Aniston's Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 Styling Cream, and a hair spray. (All links are below!) But the person who brought these products into my world is my incredible friend and my mom’s and godmother's hair stylist Illeisha Lussiano. Illeisha is an artist and stylist who owns a hair salon in SoHo that she named The Way (I rep her merch all the time). She has been profiled for Vogue and The Cut. I met her at her salon years ago with my mom and see her around at parties. She is one of the only people that can match my John Galliano freak. When I got my hair cut by her last August, she asked me what energy I wanted to bring when I went to college. I had never thought about hair bringing energy before, and that question has completely changed the way I think about hair. So to all the women who have helped me love my hair and helped my hair look sexy: Love you! Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of curly hair secrets. 

On My Friend’s (and my) Hair: I asked a couple of my friends what curly hair products they love and use! I am obviously obsessed with anyone with curly hair and was interested to see what my friends couldn’t live without. 

Maggie 

Maggie is my incredibly fabulous architect friend, who like so many incredible people at WashU is from Dallas. She has blonde curly hair. Maggie loves This Is A Curl Moisturizing Mousse, Curl Gelée for Shine and Definition, Liquid Spell Reinforcing Bodifying Fluid, and Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream.

Reid 

This is my hair as I’m writing On Fashion. I love Nairobi Wrapp-It, Perfect Hair Day (PhD) 5-in-1 Styling Treatment, and Got2b Glued Blasting Freeze Spray (In tough times when I need my hair NOT to move.)

Ella

Ella is an incredible artist and friend. She has long gorgeous curly hair and put me onto my new favorite curl conditioner. She loves  Fantasy Curls Curl Crème, Air Dry Styler, and No. 3 Hair Perfector Pre-Shampoo Hair Repair Treatment. 

Ashley 

Ashley is a spectacular dancer and has the most beautiful hair! She loves Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Mousse, Aussie 2nd Day Curl Activator - 8.5 fl oz, and Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie. 

On the Conditioner that Changed My Life: Last Sunday Ella and I were chatting about curly hair and she mentioned a line of hair products that changed her life. The line, Andrew Fitzsimons, has a curl conditioner and I thought I'd give it a shot. I am after all an equal opportunity hair care test subject. I ordered the curl conditioner and it promptly arrived on Thursday before my first Valentine’s Day party of the weekend. 

On Thursday evening I did my first curl conditioning. I read the instructions, something that's very hard for me. It said leave the conditioner in for 2-3 minutes before rinsing out. I did that and used Nairobi Wrapp-it to style my curls. The ultimate test is to see if my hair lasts past 2am. For the curly hair people, we know lasting good curls can be very challenging unless you are using gel or hairspray and lock it into place within an inch of its life. But, for science, I used just the conditioner and nairobi. It worked great! Here is the post party hair (usually I look alot worse at 2 am.) 

On Friday I wore my hair curly again. This time adding Perfect Hair Day 5-in-1 hair styling cream and it worked incredibly well! I usually layer Perfect Hair Day and Nairobi wrapp-it until my hair looks exactly how I want it to.  

On Sunday I am back to just the conditioner and Nairobi Wrap-it. And my hair feels incredibly soft. It keeps the style I want and my curls feel locked in and really healthy. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my hair recently so I’m feeling really great about this product. I’ll update everyone again in a couple weeks but right now I am completely obsessed. A great conditioner has been the missing piece to getting my hair consistently curly without getting too frizzy or too big and out of control. I think it's a must buy!    

As always, thanks for tuning into On Fashion! Feel free to DM me  @Reidmcvey on Instagram or put all your fashion questions in the comments. They will be answered and maybe make an appearance on a future newsletter. Until next week, 

Reid McVey

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 Thanks to Sophia Palitti, and Violet Holah, 

Armour Magazine 

Thanks for reading On Fashion! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.