A Conversation with
Jessica Irvin
People often ask me how I got into doing curly hair, if I’ve always been drawn to it. Oddly enough I got my start by chance!
Like so many wavy/curlies through my early childhood I had smooth hair! When I hit puberty my hair started changing and I continued to treat it the same. My mom has curly hair, but always blew it straight and styled it on orange juice cans or toilet paper rolls. I was not that interested in going to those lengths to get smooth, so I wore a lot of pony tails. As I grew into a teen I wore my hair so long it pulled out most of the curl into a nice wave. Bed head was just getting to be a style, so I fit right in!
As an adult I discovered a flat iron and learned to blow my hair dry then iron it to get it super glassy smooth. When I did try to wear it wavy I had no idea how to style it so it turned out messy every time. I straightened it and wore it long so it was always either frizzy or almost smooth but never quite right.
When I started my career as a stylist and learned a bit more how to style curly hair I tried several different ways and since I couldn’t commit to the curls I went back to the blow dryer. What I didn’t know then was that to wear your hair curly means that most of us have to do that 100% of the time. Blowing it out or straightening could set you back on having nice curls!
After school and my apprenticeship I was given the opportunity to go to a DevaCurl Curllaboration workshop. At that time I was not interested! Having just completed my apprenticeship I was ready to use the knowledge I had just compiled and did NOT want to add on more! I was left with little choice as non of the other stylists wanted to go either. Since I was the newest team member I was told I was going and so I did.
The class was interesting and as much as I loved the way they worked with the curls I had a tough time wrapping my head around the concept. Traditional hair cutting is based on shapes; square, round, triangle. DevaCurl cutting is based on balance. And since there is no exact shape and since I was a novice and had just started with shapes I couldn’t conceptualize how this whole creating balance worked.
I tried a handful of times halfheartedly to do these cuts on guests. The styling was challenging and since it wasn’t coming easy to me I wasn’t interested in doing it. I honestly didn’t see the value in it, mostly because I didn’t wear my hair curly at that time either!
Then one guest turned it all around. She sat down and told me how she had never felt pretty, always looked different, never knew what to do with her curls. This was the recurring conversation with curlies that no one knew what to do with the curls! Neither the stylist nor the guest had a clear idea of how to handle them. Then she told me how her sister had gone to Devachan in NYC, how she had left feeling beautiful for the first time in her life and how she too wanted that feeling! I recognized in that moment the great opportunity and responsibility I have to curls and how I could actually help the person and not just do the hair. I explained to her that I was a beginner level and that her result was likely not going to mirror her sister, and that I’d like to try to help her. And it worked. It worked wonderfully! I did the cut and I did the styling and although it wasn’t perfect it was SO much better than when she arrived I knew I was on to something.
From that moment on I gave it my all. I began understanding how the cut worked in each curl type, and how to style the curls catering to the curls AND the guests needs. I’ve gone all in and am always seeking out the newest information and newest techniques. I ask everyone their styling routine so that I can incorporate as much of what’s working into what I’m doing. I’m able to share with my guests and really make a difference in how they’re able to manage their own hair care, AND I LOVE IT!
