How We Began Helping Curly Clients and Got Droopy Yoga Curls in the Process...

When we first opened in 2012, I had no idea that people with curly hair were having such problems! I've been a Hairstylist since 1982 and like most stylists, have a regular clientele.

Working with natural textures of hair, natural growth patterns and discovering the uniqueness of each client's hair has always been my way of helping clients. I get new clients by referral, and we always work naturally but wasn't aware of the extent that curly folk in general and hairstylists hadn't been properly educated to work with, no just curls, but to understand that each and every head of hair is totally unique!

Because we have a big front window and a very lively neighbourhood, the very week we were open, gals with curly hair started streaming in because they saw that I carried curly products.

And then the phone calls started, then I was voted by Blog TO as one of Toronto's Top Ten Curly Salons, and had no idea! One of my clients had to send me the link to the article and I was flattered and shocked. I am a Colour Technician by trade and in our GTA there are over 3.5 million people. What about the huge salons downtown? What are they doing?? Answer: BLOWOUTS!

So it seems the world in which I stepped was either Straightening/Blowout-based, or Sales-Based products and courses, filled with incorrect information, treating each and every client with curly hair like they were all the same. What!?!

I took the courses, bought the books, researched, tried it 'their' way, used the products, and in general, tried to drink the Kool Aid, but it just didn't work.

And (this is the Big one), the education out there was product based, method based, sales based (and incorrect) while spreading the 'word' through social networks that are cult-like with their own 'rules'. 

Because of this sale-based approach so many folks with curls had bad results but were blaming their hair, getting bad information through the cults and going down the rabbit hole of products, build-up, and lower self-esteem.

I have 'Yoga Curls' and after 1 1/2 years of the No Lather thing, they were pretty droopy no matter what from build-up!

Back to square one. 

As a Colour Technician, we approach hair in a very different way, understanding that each head of hair is completely different than the next.

One major thing we always look at is the dreaded 'build-up' because that will make or break your colour service. Every colour tech also looks and asks about chemicals in the hair including Hard Water minerals and metals, products used at home, how the products are used, frequency of trims, home treatments, swimming in the lake, chlorine etc etc. In short, we need to know everything that touches your hair and know how it will affect your chemical service.

And in doing my consultations with new clients, I had to take everyone back to square one, giving new clients the third degree (and I'm sure it is very annoying  at times) starting with 'a clean canvas', removing build-up and rehydrating the proper way and teaching how to cleanse, rehydrating and apply styling products the right way.  With that alone, we saw miracles  

Because part of my job is also making sure that even clients who come in, get the best use out of the products they buy, I always make sure that they know the right way to use them. Again, with so much sales-based incorrect information out there, I wrote up a quick little booklet to hand out free to anyone who came in the door, just to make sure they get the best hair they can at home.

It isn't only about products, it also has to be the right Techniques!

All the while I was trying every product I could network and get my hands on, importing little-know professional brands from the USA, emailing, messaging with limited success. I got so frustrated that I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for my clients, that I started researching how to do my own. Basically this was a full time job, up until 3 am Saturday nights and all day Sundays, every spare moment was spent on this. After hundreds of e-mails, tons of samples, I finally found, quite by mistake, our chemist who was willing to take on a little guy.

And thus, our i.m. [curly] was born in 2018 in our little salon, Gossips Hairstylists in The Junction, Toronto, Ontario.