Gina Chong

Food + Travel

Curly Girl

Uncategorized

We started off our Memorial Day weekend at a pretty little lunch spot in Napa Valley called Addendum. It’s another one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants, right behind our favorite one, and is such a pretty spot. Aaaand I’m showing off my natural hair, guys.

I don’t know why it doesn’t appear on my blog more often because most days I have it au naturale. The thing is, my hair is half curly, half just frizzy, and growing up I hated it. Probably I just didn’t know what to do with it. I come from a big family with 7 kids, and every single person in my family has pin-straight Asian hair. So they were no help with my hair conundrum and I always wished I could have just been born with straight hair as well. So for years and years, through both high school and college I would straighten it. Every. Single. Day. And whenever I visited Korea I would get a straight perm.

Well you can imagine where that led me. My hair ended up horribly damaged, especially after I started coloring it, and it wasn’t until a year or so ago that I was able to nurse it completely back to health. Since then I’ve learned to work with my curls, and I’ve found that they give back as much love as I give them. Now I take much better care of my hair, rarely using heat and also washing it less often. And when I want to show off my natural hair, I make sure not to comb it after the shower so that it can retain it’s curls, use some serum, let it air dry, then I fill in the gaps by using a curling iron on any stray frizzies. It works pretty well and I end up blessed with some curly hair with very little effort.

It’s interesting, though, how common my story is. I got a little package from Dove with their Quench Absolute line for curly hair and a book called Love Your Curls. The products are supposed to provide up to 4x more defined, natural curls and I loved them. And I especially loved the message in the book. I’ve really liked the campaigns Dove has been coming out with lately (remember the Dove real beauty sketches one?). In this book they talk about how only 4 in 10 little girls with curly hair actually think that their hair is beautiful (which was so true for me!), and how only 10% of women with curly hair are actually proud of their hair. It’s essentially a collection of poems inspired by true stories from curly girls and talks about loving your curls. You can download an e-book HERE and personalize it to dedicate it to the curly girl in your own life.

Do you guys have any tips for working with natural curls?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Comments

  1. I can't believe that haha! I mean they seriously sell like 2 things there, what are the chances they would run out! And thanks Tania!

    Reply

  2. I tried to go to Addendum once but unfortunately they were out of the fried chicken before I got there! I still need to plan a trip back one day. Anyways your natural hair is totally beautiful. I didn't even suspect that your hair was not naturally straight. But it looks so good with curls! You should definitely leave it like this more often!

    xx freshfizzle

    Reply

  7. Curls are just a bit unruly and tend to frizz easily, but yeah they can be a blessing if you learn how to work with them. Thanks Annie!

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  29. Yeah my Mom's hair is like that, when she first moved to the US, the hair dresser didn't know what to do with her because she wasn't used to Asian hair haha! Thanks June!

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  32. Haha I've been thinking about cutting mine for the first time in years. I love shoulder-length hair that has just a couple big waves in it, I think it's so pretty

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  45. Yeah I'm not sure if mine is as soft as it used to be, it's been so long. But it's so so much better than it was a year or two ago. Glad you can relate Mikela!

    Reply

  47. Oh so true. And yeah my hair is pretty much the same, that's why I have to use a curling iron on the weird not-quite-curly strands ha

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  50. i in the other hand always wanted natural curls i think they make it so much easier to style! but you look stunning in any style gina! such a beauty really 🙂 xo

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  52. Gina, your hair is perfect! I wish I had curls, really!! I've got to use tons of products to have some structure and volume in it! And your hair color is gorgeous too! You look adorable here! What I love about Dove is that they take "real" women for commercials! Great review / post, Gina!!!

    xxx Ira
    JOURNAL OF STYLE / BLOGLOVIN

    Reply

  56. So fun! You look so pretty! I love having curly hair, but I definitely didn't always!! It would get so unruly that I spent most of my childhood with it pulled back super tight into a pony tail. It wasn't until I was a sophomore in HS that a friend told me my natural hair was pretty down. We had just got out of the pool and it was drying. That changed things, I'm so glad she said something! I am currently on the hunt for natural products that are perfect for my hair. I never brush it I just use a comb, and let it dry in a braid a lot. I also find switching my side part lets me go longer between washes. 🙂 XO -Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

    Reply

  57. I feel you there. Growing up, I had curly hair and I wasn't very proud of it. I was wondering what made everybody love it so much while I hated it. It was only when it got so damaged did I realize how much it really meant to have a curly hair. I'm still trying to nurse it now, but I sure wouldn't mind bringing back my old hairstyle! 🙂

    Mimi | The Foxy Heroine

    Reply

  89. Oh my gosh you sound just like me! I've always had half curly and half straight hair and all through highschool I would either re-curl it all or straighten it. My hair ended up damaged too and I'm still trying to repair it. It takes forever, though! I mean, it looks pretty good now. But it just doesn't feel as soft as it did long ago.

    Your hair is gorgeous! 😉

    xo, mikéla / simplydavelyn.com

    Reply

  90. Your curls are GORGEOUS. I think it's so hard to embrace what you have–hair, skin, body type… the grass is always greener, right? My hair is naturally wavy, but not uniformly so, they waves go all over the place. I need to learn to just go with it though! Thanks for showing off your pretty curls!

    Reply

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