00:00Hi, Naturally Curly World. I'm Gerilyn, and today I'm here with Risa B. Luster.
00:05She is the brand manager at large for Luster Products, and I am so excited that she's here with me today
00:12because we're going to start talking about curly hair being straightened.
00:17You know, there's a lot of people out there in the community that say if your hair is straightened,
00:22you're not a part of the natural community anymore.
00:25You can still have curls, you can have waves, you can have coils, but as soon as you take heat to it
00:32or do anything to straighten it, you're out of there.
00:35I'm not opposed to women straightening their hair or me straightening my hair.
00:39I still consider myself to be natural when my hair is straightened.
00:43The only thing is, is when you straighten your hair too much and you're naturally curly,
00:47you can get heat damage, and then it will give you the look of having straight hair
00:53and you're not perceived as being natural.
00:55So, yeah, I'm okay with it.
00:57I think it's cool.
00:58Do what you want to do.
00:58It's your hair.
00:59So, what advice do you have for people that, you know, they want to go platinum blonde just
01:04like you, and then on top of that, they want to straighten, like, how can they do one or
01:10the other or both in a very safe way?
01:12First of all, do not go to the salon with extremely dark hair and tell them to lift you this light.
01:17You're going to just, you know, get up and your hair's going to fall out on the ground.
01:20It's a process.
01:21It took me about two years to get to the platinum blonde phase, but it's very important that
01:26you keep your hair moisturized and hydrated and do not abuse the heating tools, like the
01:31heat tools.
01:32Do not abuse them.
01:33Straighten your hair once a week with it and shampoo.
01:35Do not pick up that flat iron or that curling iron.
01:38Just, you know, it is what it is.
01:39If it puffs up, oh well, wash it or rock a puffy kind of, you know, fun look.
01:44So the straight look, if your hair, when you blow dry it out and flat iron it out, is bone
01:48straight, you could do a couple things.
01:50You could throw some braids in your hair and sleep in them overnight and, you know, unravel
01:54them the next day and you'll have a wavy kind of look.
01:56You could grab a flexi rod.
01:58You could always do corn rolls and then you'll have even more, like, crinkly, wavy hair and
02:02have that look going on.
02:04If you're not used to straightening your hair, I wouldn't suggest you try it on yourself.
02:08I would suggest that you find a hairstylist who understands the importance of your curly
02:14hair and that you want it to come back after you've straightened it for, like, one time.
02:19And just making sure that they are using the proper products to make sure that your hair
02:24is protected and well hydrated and your curls will pop right back.
02:27So once again, I'd recommend our Pink Sheppard Coconut Oil Moisturizing Shampoo, which is
02:32sulfate-free.
02:33I would also recommend our Moisturizing and Smoothing Conditioner as well.
02:38And I would have to say you need that leave-in conditioner to serve as, like, your hair
02:43protector from the heat.
02:45So it'll be a thermal protector.
02:46Once we've gone to the salon, we've gotten it straightened and it looks awesome, but it's
02:51like maybe day four or five and it seems like it's not as straight as we would like.
02:56How can we get that look either to be straight or maybe we can have a gentle transition back
03:03into the curl?
03:05Okay, so there's two things I would recommend.
03:07For the straight look, wrap your hair at night.
03:09Make sure you're wrapping it at night.
03:10You're using a satin scarf.
03:13Make sure you're sleeping on a satin pillowcase because my scarf always comes off at night.
03:17Mine too.
03:18So just make sure you wrap it and that should help, you know, alleviate some of the puffiness
03:22from your hair.
03:23And how often should people straighten their curls?
03:26If they want to kind of keep this look consistent for maybe a month or two, how often should they
03:31go back to the salon?
03:32Well, there's a lot you have to take into consideration.
03:35First of all, if you're not familiar with straightening your hair, I would suggest that
03:40you find a hairstylist to do that for you.
03:42And once you find that hairstylist, make sure that she understands the importance of your
03:46curl integrity and that you don't want to lose your curls in the process of thermal straightening.
03:50If curly is your preference, I would take a break from straightening your hair.
03:54I wouldn't turn this into a weekly kind of thing because you don't want to keep thermal
03:57straightening your hair and you see that your curls are becoming looser and looser and looser
04:01because eventually you'll just have straight hair.
04:03All right.
04:04So tell me about your platinum blonde hair.
04:09It's gorgeous.
04:10And I know a lot of people, you know, they're kind of like, oh, I would love to rock that.
04:15But if they really do want to do it, if they want to follow in your footsteps, how can they
04:20do that?
04:21It took me about a couple of years to get this color.
04:26Really?
04:26It's a process.
04:27Yeah.
04:27So do we have time to go into what happens?
04:29Yeah, let's do it.
04:30Okay.
04:31So I started after I graduated college and my hair was like a very dark brown, if not black,
04:37because I wore black hair for a very long time.
04:40I dyed my hair black for a very long time.
04:41And so from there, I kept going lighter and lighter at my root.
04:46Oh my goodness.
04:47Yeah.
04:47So I would have like black hair down here and then like a chocolate brown at the root.
04:53And so you're clipping your ends as you go.
04:56You don't want to just go into it like, you know, in one step.
05:00It's a gradual process.
05:01Okay.
05:02And now I'm at the point where I am platinum.
05:04So I have to go every three weeks to have my hair bleached.
05:07Mm-hmm.
05:07You know, and it's just a process.
05:10It's fun, but you have to know what you're doing.
05:13You really need to have great products like we have in our Pink Shared Butter Coconut Oil
05:17collection and you just have to be, you know, you have to understand that it's work.
05:21Right.
05:21Yeah.
05:22It's not something you could slick into a ponytail or, you know, rinse shampoo and conditioner
05:26through.
05:27When you condition your hair, you really need to, you could get, you could do a rinse out
05:31shampoo, but you need to deep condition your hair as well with it.
05:35So that means you need to keep that conditioner on your hair for about 15 to 20 minutes weekly.
05:40Okay.
05:40Yeah.
05:41So really it's like, it's not just about dyeing your hair.
05:44It's not just about lifting.
05:46This is a relationship that you have with your hair.
05:48It is a relationship and you have to be dedicated.
05:50Absolutely.
05:50Or your hair will be on the floor.
05:52And I get stopped by a lot of people, all different types of races, you know, men and
05:57women that ask how I still have my curl integrity.
06:00And I obviously tell them it's because of Luster's Pink, especially this new collection.
06:05I love the hair milk in this collection.
06:07It's so moisturizing.
06:08I really believe that the leave-in conditioner and the hair lotion are the reason why I have
06:13my curl integrity to this day.
06:15And I am bleaching my hair every three weeks, religiously.
06:17Platinum hair, you can't use a rinse out or you shouldn't?
06:21You could use a rinse out, but you need to deep condition weekly.
06:25Right.
06:25Okay.
06:26Like you're taking everything out of your hair.
06:28Um, so when you do that, that's naturally, I mean, we're African-American, so our hair
06:33is naturally dry.
06:35Right.
06:35So we don't create as much, you know, natural oils at our scalp than other races do, you
06:40know?
06:41So it's really important to deep condition your hair because, you know, you've already
06:45stripped your hair out of everything.
06:46You got to keep building back that curl integrity.
06:48Right.
06:49And, you know, just over our health of your hair.
06:51Mm-hmm.
06:51Well, now you know that you can't just sit there with platinum blonde hair and not deep
06:55condition it every single week.
06:57You've heard it here first from Risa, so you better get your life.
06:59You have to.
07:00Well, thank you so much, Risa, for being here.
07:02Thanks for having me.
07:03If you like this video, go ahead and give it a like, share, and follow us.
07:08We make these videos all the time, so we'll see you soon.
07:11Bye-bye.
07:12Bye.
07:12Bye.
07:12Bye.
