Hi,

I am Rhian (@rhiandoddtovey). I have curly hair that I suppressed for years.  I straightened my hair for over 10 years, pretty much every day!

Whenever I attempted to leave my hair without styling it straight, it was a frizzy mess! I had no idea this was because of the silicones and heat damage. I thought my hair was frizzy; Wavy at best. People would make comments about the mess and I hated not looking put together or tidy.  I can’t believe I even thought it looked unprofessional!

But, I knew what I was doing was bad for my hair. It was always flat, lifeless and it would get greasy quickly. I kept it short as it was a struggle to grow any length without it looking very scraggly. We live in a humid climate and as soon as I would go outside it would frizz up and all my time styling was wasted. 

Still, I continued as I didn’t know what else to do. I thought it was just the hair I had and how I had to handle it.

 I have followed a paleo diet for 5+ years and try to use natural products wherever possible. None of this fitted with how I was treating my hair.

Then, I had a baby girl and started my own business – Which sound like two completely different times but they are very closely linked.

My baby girl (now 2.5) has the curliest of curly hair. She is always getting comments about it and I want her to be able to embrace the beauty of it. My worst fear in life is for her to grow up with people telling her she isn’t beautiful or that curly hair is ugly. I have been told this and I refuse to accept it for her. Well managed curls are undeniably gorgeous, and I realize that now.  

At the same time as realizing that I had to do something for her, I also started a business.

One of my biggest realizations with going it alone was that not everyone will want your services, not everyone will care and the most important thing is to be true to yourself and who you are. This was another lightbulb moment for me! Part of being me is being natural and healthy and embracing my natural self – my curly hair self! Regardless of what others think.

After a serious amount of research, I came across the curly girl method. I was completely daunted, there was so much information online about it. Acronyms, no-no’s, application methods so many completely new things to me. I felt lost but determined to start so I did my final wash and decided to start simple with just one product to see what happened. I was pleasantly surprised.

From my first wash,  I could see my hair was in better condition and it was actually curling, not frizzing.

And each wash it got better and better. It feels conditioned, volumized and has movement.  It took time to find the right method, applications and products for me but I actually had fun trying to figure it out and I was excited for the next wash day to see how it would turn out.

My daughter now talks about having curly hair and loves when people comment on it. I am so pleased I found this method and that we are able to embrace our curls together.

It has not been 8 months for me and I am finally ready to share my curls with the world. I am forever thankful to all the other curly girls who helped and inspired me.

Rhian pictured before and after her curly transition: