- So it's raining here in L.A.
I'm wearing a hoodie right now so I don't get my hair wet
because if a speck of rain gets on it,
it's gonna be super curly.
This is my natural hair and I should take care of it.
I struggle with finding perfection in things.
When you do something that you're scared to do,
it opens doors for you to be more confident in other things.
- You need to love yourself.
- None of us are perfect, so why should our hair be?
I'm Sheila and I'm gonna try to embrace my curls for a week.
(energetic music)
I have naturally curly, big wavy hair.
I straighten it almost every day
and it takes me about an hour and a half.
My mom is Peruvian and she has really thick,
coarse, black hair and my dad is Persian
and he has a lot of hair.
I'm just a furball of hair.
So I would see people on t.v. like Beyonce and Taylor Swift
and they would have this silky straight hair.
And to realize that they actually have naturally curly hair,
it made me feel that curly hair wasn't as glamorous.
I just don't wanna be embarrassed
with something that I naturally have.
I don't wanna hide behind straighteners all the time.
Hopefully I don't come out lookin' like a chia pet.
Since I'm gonna wear my hair naturally curly,
I decided to talk to professional Shai,
who is known as the curl doctor
to give me a few tips on how to style my hair.
I had naturally frizzy, curly hair
and I'm really nervous to wear it out.
- They say frizz is a curl waiting to happen.
I wouldn't worry so much, you just have to enjoy it.
Understand that it's beautiful the way it is.
The more you flat iron your hair,
the more you deform your curl pattern
and when a curl pattern is deformed,
it's hard to make it bounce and have the same elasticity.
- Hi everyone I'm Janaye Diggs.
I'm Shai's assistant.
I've been natural for almost four years now.
- How do I get to get my hair looking as great as yours?
(laughing)
- No more straightening it.
(violin music)
- You wanna hydrate the hair,
so water soluble products are a ideal.
Celebrities, in front of the camera have reached out
to me, you know like Zendaya, Tamera Mawry.
These are girls that have beautiful curly hair
but just never had the proper education.
- My curls are trying to come out.
- They're looking for moisture in the air
and that's what makes them frizzy.
- Are they trying to break free?
- They're trying, it's like wearing a straight jacket.
And it grows out of your head curly.
- Yeah.
- So why not enjoy it the way it grows out of your head?
- Oh my God it's so curly.
Wow, this is crazy.
(energetic music)
- I'm beyond excited for her hair journey.
I'm ecstatic for her,
I'm ecstatic for everybody who wants to do this.
We're done with the society standards
that our hair needs to be straight.
None of us are perfect, so why should our hair be?
- Today's day one, so,
we'll see how it goes the rest of the week.
Hopefully it can stay lookin' this fleek.
A lot of my peers have never seen my hair curly,
so some of them might be in for a surprise.
We've been in this bathroom for like,
I think, ten minutes now.
- Yeah, probably, we've been definitely sitting here
and I've been trying to get you give you a pep talk.
What would Beyonce do?
- Yeah what would Beyonce do? - What would Beyonce do?
- This is your natural curl?
- Yeah.
- Like all the curly heads ascend.
- What?
(laughing)
- It's not real, is it?
- It is.
- It's beautiful, don't get me wrong.
If it is your natural hair, power to you sister.
- So many compliments, they're so nice.
(screaming)
- I thought your hair was so straight.
- Why were you hiding this from us?
- Rock it girl, rock it girl.
- I can's stop touching my hair.
The curls feel very intact,
like I keep putting my hands through it
and they're staying in place.
Styling it correctly really makes a difference.
I'm not gonna lie I do miss my straightener
but I don't miss the amount of time
that I spent straightening my hair.
I feel like I really wanna experiment now.
Now that I'm getting a little more comfortable.
So, I'm trying this new updo hairstyle.
It's a bit different from what I normally do.
Trying to be Beyonce with this.
Trying to work it.
I actually like day three hair.
It's definitely loosing some of the curls,
but I'm not mad about it.
It only took me two minutes to do my hair, two minutes.
So I normally am hesitant to wear my hair out in the rain.
I don't have to worry about it being straight
and the more moisture the better.
So today's such an emotional day,
'cause I think for the first time
I don't really miss my straightener.
I'm content with the way my hair is right now.
I'm so grateful for learning how to style it,
'cause there is a routine to curly hair
that I never got the chance to learn.
I just want to be able to not care so much.
- I was you in October.
I never wore my hair curly.
I was really afraid that I didn't think it looked good.
And then I started wearing it curly again
and I've never gotten so many compliments in my life.
- I would see their curly hair
and I would say, it's so beautiful.
But I like, couldn't see that in myself.
- I understand your anxiety about wearing your hair natural,
because it's scary.
I remember Princess Diaries,
they straightened her hair because it was frizzy,
that for me was a big thing that I was like,
oh I should straighten my hair too,
because Mia Thermopolis did it.
- I'm doing it just how it naturally is
and I'm not trying to make it perfect.
So I'm still trying to get used to my curly hair.
One of the ways, that will help me do so, is a photo shoot
and I brought one of my good friends Andrea.
- I've been campaigning for this curly hair for three years.
She's such a confident person and I feel like,
embracing the curl is going to make you just pff, explode.
- I'm ready to do this Andrea. - Let's do it.
(upbeat music)
- I felt so confident and pretty.
Like, I never thought that wearing my hair curly,
I could look like a Pantene commercial.
When you do something that you're scared to do,
it opens doors for you to be more confident in other things.
I look like that?
Like, I don't believe this.
- It's one of those things that she saw it on paper,
so there's evidence, you know.
That the curls can make her feel powerful and sexy,
and vulnerable, and different, and thoroughly her.
- Do things that put you out of your comfort zone.
And I feel like I learned about who I was.
Today I really felt confident.
It was so much more fun and freeing.
And just to touch my curls
and feel the texture during the shoot was really cool.
I embraced who I was and I felt like people saw that
and were so open to it.
My hair has a personality of it's own,
that I wasn't used to seeing on camera.
I'm so used to having like, the perfect sleek look.
And then, now seeing the images, I'm like woah,
my hair is coming to life.
I won't give up straightening my hair completely,
but I will definitely embrace wearing my curls more often.
(energetic music)
- I sleep with my straightener.
- She spends the whole morning,
in the bathroom straightening her hair.
I'll be like knock, knock. - Not the whole morning.
- Can I come in?
She's like, no you can come in tomorrow
because I'm still straightening my hair.