My question has always been ‘why do we color and approach curly hair the same as straight hair’, in my opinion it’s because hairdressers were basically never taught differently. Years ago I worked with a stylist that I consider to this day a master at cutting curly hair, I would sit and watch him not cut but chisel away on dry hair (the dry cut), he would say it made more sense to cut curly hair dry, he could see how it naturally behaved and as well always took enough off without it shrinking up after it was dried.I began following his lead and developed my own curly hair color techniques, which I apply till now and teach, never disrupt the curls, this means no hands going through the hair, no combs or brushes until you and the client have decided what route you both want to go with coloring .
The best kind of coloring when the desire is to change the natural hair color base is to use non-debilitating products , quality hair color products that have built in conditioning agents, then seal it with a gloss or glaze this prevents fading and gives curly hair the shine it deserves.
If highlighting, pick up pieces of curl’s randomly throughout the hair, or make the weaves larger, keep the tones as close to the natural color maybe 2 to 4 shades lighter this way the lighter bits will reflect light and give a great 3-D effect, remember curly hair is 3 dimensional we see through it, beside it and behind it unlike straight hair which is 1 dimension. Another trick I recommend to my curly haired clients is to deep condition their hair 2 days before coloring, this prevents uneven color strands due to curly hair has many different porosities naturally.
If highlighting, pick up pieces of curl’s randomly throughout the hair, or make the weaves larger, keep the tones as close to the natural color maybe 2 to 4 shades lighter this way the lighter bits will reflect light and give a great 3-D effect, remember curly hair is 3 dimensional we see through it, beside it and behind it unlike straight hair which is 1 dimension. Another trick I recommend to my curly haired clients is to deep condition their hair 2 days before coloring, this prevents uneven color strands due to curly hair has many different porosities naturally.