I officially finished my first semester of grad school this past week, and what better way to celebrate than to switch up the hairdo! I wanted to go for something a little shorter and more angular; I also wanted to play with color so I added some medium golden brown highlights to warm things up a bit. This is the first color treatment I've gotten in a long time, but I was ready for a change. My stylist put color throughout my entire head, from the mid-shaft to the ends of my hair. We kept the roots my natural color for an ombre effect. All in all, I'm really liking it!
Hair by Karina from Salon718 in Brooklyn, NY.
My New (Not So Dramatic) Haircut
Check out my Devachan experience!
The Devachan Experience!
On Saturday, I finally went to the Devachan Salon for a trim and a shape up with the eventual goal in mind of growing out the last of my layers to achieve a uniform length. When I first entered the SoHo salon, my eyes were met with a luxurious interior. I was really excited to see what awaited me and my hair.
I met with my stylist Helick and was led to the styling chairs in the back. I told him that I wanted to grow out my hair in one even length, and for a visual I showed him the picture of Amel. Initially, he was really surprised that I wanted to have my hair one length without layers because usually curly heads want the opposite: the more "rounded" look versus the pyramid look. But I stuck to my guns and said that I was going for fullness (and essentially, yes, the pyramid look). And eventually he understood the look I wanted. In his words, I was going for "the retro Diana Ross, Cleopatra look". I replied, "Exactly!"
I was told before arriving to the salon to come with my hair with little to no product, so that the stylist could see my hair in its most natural state. So the night before, I co-washed my hair, added a bit of Vatika Oil, and let it air dry.
I heard through the grapevine that Devachan is notorious for pushing their product line. Overall, I have to say my experience wasn't too bad. Initially, the stylist asked if I had used any of their products before. I used one of their conditioners for a brief period in the past, but not long enough to form a definitive opinion on it. In any case, he highly "recommended" (once) that I use their products to achieve optimum results. And that was it.
Before he began to dry cut my hair, he made sure to go over his every move to make sure it was okay with me. In other words, he was extremely receptive to what I wanted. He also brought to my attention that I have Corkicelli curls.
They do not type curly hair by number (3a, 3b, 3c, etc...), but rather by what seemed to be categories similar to pasta names.
After he finished dry cutting and trimming my hair, I looked in the mirror and found that I was absolutely in love with the shape and how clean the cut looked. Then, I was off to the washing station. The young lady who washed my hair followed Devachan's Curly Girl Method. Basically that consists of washing hair with a sulfate-free gentle cleanser, finger combing, leaving in lots of conditioner and styling while hair is soaking wet. She then finished up by adding in Deva Care Arc AnGEL, which is suppose to provide a firm hold without making hair crunchy.
When I was led to the dryer, I was treated to some iced tea and some reading of Devachan's founder's (Lorraine Massey) book, Curly Girl. I learned more in depth about their styling method, which is a bit similar to what I do in terms of using a sulfate-free cleanser and leaving conditioner in.
When I was done drying, I was surprised to see that my hair looked amazing. It was a lot more tame than how I usually prefer it, but it looked great. The curls were extremely defined and shiny. I can honestly say I've never seen my hair look that good before! Wow!
So how do I feel about their products? Actually, I am quite a fan. My hair truly looked great, and it was even able to stand up against rain and humidity. My hair as I am writing at day 2, still looks amazing -- a bit bigger since I've played around with it, but the curls are still super defined. I am really impressed! I will definitely try their products down the line (once I am finished with some of my current products...). Maybe the product pushing did win me over in the end, but with these results I can totally see why I feel an urge to go out tomorrow and buy their products.
Bottom line:
This was the first time I left a salon loving the way my hair looks! In the past, I've paid so much money for crappy hair cuts and for stylists not knowing what they were doing with my hair. I paid a little under $170 including tip, which I understand is quite expensive, and so for that it may not be worth it for some. But for me, it was totally worth every penny to be happy with a great cut! Overall, Devachan does a great job at cutting curly hair, and it was a truly an awesome hair experience!
