Natural curls don't frame the face well?

Her natural hair framed her face beautifully. I definitely liked the before picture better.

I completely disagree !!! All you need is a GOOD haircut from the hairdresser’s and you’re set. There are all kinds of haircuts for natural hair that CAN frame your face beautifully. I refuse to believe that looks/cuts for natural hair aren’t versatile enough.

they made her look generic, what her curls needed was some layers and maybe a darker color

I like them both! Her hair straightens very well for it to be dyed blond. I’d expect crazy split ends. I think the second pic looks like a wig b/c of the poor quality. In the first pic, the straight style looks healthy, light and bouncy.

I have a long face and cut own hair to frame my face better when it’s curly. Instead of layering in a line (like you do to short hair), I took my hair and cut two layers on the sides (one of top of the other). I think it looks great!

Great post! I disagree with the “natural curls ride or die” mentality, so I’m glad to see that face shape is being addressed in the styling process. This beautiful woman looks great either way, but they really should have shaped her curly hair to give her some bangs or a side part. Her curls are gorgeous! Of course, the hairdresser took the easy way out and straightened it. Very frustrating. The reality is that natural curls shrink up and not everyone looks good with volume around their cheeks. As we all know around here, that doesn’t mean you have to… Read more »

I think the cut was pretty good…now she’ll have different options when it’s curly as far as different ways to part/style it..especially with a bang.

I absolutely love the hair color!

She looks great in both pics, IMO.

I think she looks good in both pictures – I can’t believe she does the color herself it’s beautiful! It would have been nice if they’d shown a second ‘after’ photo with she could use on her hair when it’s not straightened.

@luvs – I say that look on her face during the flat ironing too!

Women have a special ability to give ourselves issues when there isn’t one. What is the big deal about her face?

The hair to me before and after is fine. I think she will have a nightmare of a time trying to wear the straight hair curly. The thinning, bangs and layering are designed for straight hair not a curly look.

I think she looked good both ways. I have the “long face” thing going on too. I have many people express I look better with straight hair and a bang. I sort of agree, but not enough to chemical straighten my hair or fry my hair daily with a flat iron. I am training for a 5K right now. I would have to do this everyday and that is SO not happening. I think the stylist could have tried to work with her hair curly. ~~sighs~~

I thought she was beautiful with curly and straight hair. She looks like another beautiful black woman on street. Her curls are unique to her, but having straight hair makes her generic. I like to wear straight hair sometimes, but I truly enjoy my kinky coils better.

I think the cut looks good, but my one reservation was the stylist’s complete lack of concern for how the client wore her hair daily. Even if a client comes in looking for a ‘change’, a stylist should be aware of what the client is willing to do to maintain the new hairstyle in addition to things the client does that may affect their hair (will she be wiling to straighten often enough to upkeep the straight look? does she work out often, making a straight look a bit impractical? does she even own a flat iron, and if so,… Read more »

i agree. i’ve seen these articles before. when a white woman with curly hair gets the makeover, they deal with her curly hair. when it’s a black woman with curly hair, they straighten it for the makeover. hmm. methinks they assume black women would rather have straight hair then to rock out their own.

Honestly, I think most black women look unattractive with straight hair. Flat/limp hair just doesn’t mesh well with our (general of course) features. Straight hair suits most people with Caucasoid bone structure. Not so for those of us (including Ms Gena) with different (African) ancestry. My opinion.

I can see how she might have needed a cut (some well-placed layers) to better frame her face, but like Jc and others have said I’m afraid of what the cut will look like curly. As far as I know, thinning is designed for straight hair, and, when done on curly hair, can create lots of frizz and stringiness. Maybe the client intends to wear her hair straight most of the time. You never know…

I think she looks good both ways. I agree with those who don’t see anything wrong with a change every now and then. My only objection is the hair color.

I gave it two thumbs down. I agree with everyone who said wet it and now let’s see the REAL results. lolz. She’s gonna have heat damage for a while. Major flop. She just needed to shape her curls.

I like both styles (sometimes, it’s nice to switch things up for quick minute) BUT I luv her curls the best AND the straight style makes her look older, IMO.

I think she is a BEAUTIFUL girl, but to be honest (but respectful), I don’t like her hair color. It’s too similar to the color of her skin and I think it washes her out, especially when her hair is straight. I think hair color is just as important as cut & style. And in this scenario, her hair “blends” in with her skin, IMO. This also makes certain features stand out which shouldn’t. I say this bc the stylist kept commenting about how long her face was. Her face look average to me,lol. I think it was the color… Read more »

Maybe if they didn’t make the straight style look like a flattened wig. They redid a natural woman on What Not To Wear, and her hair was also straightened – but that stylist merely shaped her hair, rather than cut it into a set style like this one. She was able to wear her hair natural AND straight.

I’m all for naturals wanting to temporarily straighten just to change things up a bit, but I prefer a job well done. Sorry; this one missed me.

IMO she looks great with both styles. My preference is the curly style!! Of course it doesnt frame her face (not surprised)… Underlying message: if it ain’t straight it ain’t right!!! Stating that it doesn’t frame the face was a mild way of saying that straight is better!!!! I can appreciate a good cut but I cringed as I saw the steam coming from the flat iron… I hope her curl pattern is not damaged because of the heat from the dryer and flat irons. I may press my hair once a year but I notice a difference and how… Read more »

i think the stylist did a good job with the cut. maybe its my personal preferance but i don’t like putting heat on my hair so i wouldn’t have agreed to te heat. i am one of those people that move when the iron comes out and i get burns all over myself. but the cut came out nicely. i like the curls more but i think she could have styled her curls in such a way that hides her forehead. she can style her curls and gotten the same new vibe. for me i would have tried to jazz… Read more »

That before/after shot prompted me to write a blog post, check it out if you’d like http://www.nesheaholic.com/2010/08/natural-hair-makes-you-unique.html

Uh…no. The before (especially in the video) looked a 100 times better! Even the flat iron before the cut looked better. What messed her look up was the way the stylist “cut” (and I use that term loosely because that looked more like a hack job than a haircut) her hair. I’ll be surprised if she’s able to wear it curly and have it look decent! It’s very obvious that the stylist has no training in natural hair. Why a feather cut? And razoring the ends? Bad idea. I kinda feel sorry for the client but after all, it was… Read more »

The bangs are a nice change. I don’t understand why they couldn’t cut a bang curly though. Most importantly, I don’t think she’s happy with her hair based solely on these photos. Her smile is smaller and not reaching her eyes in the After photo.

When the humidty hits her flat ironed hair she is going to be so upset. I would have been afraid to get my hair done from a stylist with a bad wig/weave etc. That should had been the first hint that she was not going to the best hair style. Also, I don’t think there was anything wrong with her “long” face. Her curly hair was cute and her hair didn’t look coarse just really curly and a lacking volume. It would be had been nice to cut her curly hair into a cut shape and have done something funky… Read more »

I like both the curly and straight look. The curly look moreso. What really got to me was the way, the method, or non method the stylist used to cut her hair. It seemed more like she was creating damage than giving a style that would still leave the clients hair healthy. I have seen several stylist at work and I can’t recall them hacking anyone’s hair like this.

She really is going to be upset when she goes back to her curl.. The stylist hacked a ton off.. Curly hair specialist stylists cut hair curly and do touch-ups after they straighten. She clearly doesn’t work with curly/kinky hair frequently.

I don’t like the new style. Two thumbs down.

Yea…it looks like a weave. lol And I am wondering how she colored her hair before. That’s even more damage if she used a peroxide agent.

Ok so first off the stylist sounds like an idiot. “With your forehead showing all the time it makes your face appear a little longer.” She’s gonna “help take the long look away.” WTF? Thats her f*cking face! There’s nothing wrong with having a long face. It fits her! Gosh what an idiot. And yes her face still looks long because again I say thats her f*cking face. It’s long! Damn what in the world is wrong with that?

I think a fringe was the only thing needed to ‘frame’ her face and make it look wider. The stylist clearly did what they only know how to do. Shame.

That stylist is wearing a wig! SO…

i feel sorry for her she fell into the trap of letting the stylist tell her she was ugly before the makeover so she could tell her she was beautiful afterward i think she is beautiful either way and im not gon hate on the end product jus cuz im a natural cuz tht press was fly but for real tho ur curls mkee ur face look too long wth p.s. lol she looked mad wen ol girl was cuttin off all her lenghth

yea. theres nothing wrong with wearing a press every now and again. but the cut is the problem. you def shouldnt cut her hair straight. i was mortified at how she was cutting her hair…and then the heat 3 times….sad

I’m not sure I liked either look… Her remarks were not kind or professional, talking about her forehead and her long face and her long look. Smh. Your bad weave! Anyway, I defintely liked the original flat iron. I don’t think she should’ve cut much or curled it afterwards. Her original length allowed her to wear dead straight hair. She should’ve cut an asymmetrical bob. Homegirls hair was already damaged from whatever she’s using to lighten her hair like that. She obviously never straightens her hair so I would’ve chosen to give her a different curly option.

Wait a minute, She said she was going to give her some volume and then proceeded to flat iron her hair?

Then, there’s that obvious wig she’s wearing. It was clear she had no idea what she was doing. Now, I’m not a hair stylist but it’s obvious that if you’re going to cut hair that is curly that you should NOT straighten it first. She must be used to doing relaxed hair only.

All I can say is she will be horrified at the damage from all that heat and that butchered haircut.

WELL. I wouldn’t have done it, but it’s her hair. She looked prettier and younger with her curls IMO.

I disagree with the stylist. Her curly hair looked great. I think the curls could have been even fuller and that would have made her look even better. What problem is there with the shape of her face?! She should be rocking that curly look with confidence. That’s what’s wrong with our society, we place too much control in these self-proclaimed stylists and designers/ manufacturers, and so on to tell us what is beautiful. We should listen to them while still forming our own ideas of beauty.

I honestly found no problem with both styles. Her hair looks great in both pictures!! I prefer the curly hairstyle more as I’m no longer a fan of flat irons nor relaxers. I however appreciate the need to change up your hairstyles cause I do wear wigs and/or weaves when I feel for the straight look. However the “stylist” (I use inverted commas as I feel a styler of hair should be able to deal with ALL types of hair and not just look for the easiest way out – which was flat ironing her hair. She shouul of been… Read more »

I think had they layered her natural hair a bit more (like tons of other naturals choose to do), the same “framing of the face” effect would’ve been accomplished as well. -__-

I love her naturally curly hair, actually more than the after photo.
I wonder how the cut is going to look when her hair goes back to her natural state.

The problem is that her hair will not revert back from that agression; look at her fine hair!
Why the stylist didn’t use a non-direct heat technique ?

I’m laughing my face off at some of these comments. Boreeyah: “In the words of antoinne maryweather on in living color . . . HATED IT!” Mojo [Referencing the stylist talking about Gena’s long face and big forehead]: “Smh. Your bad weave!” LOL! I couldn’t agree more. That stylist is biased against curly naturals. She is accustomed to styling straight hair. I bet you two to one the stylist’s hair under that abominable wig/weave is damaged. Also some of you commented that when this girl, Gena, washes her hair to get it curly again, she’s going to be upset. After… Read more »

I personally don’t like straight hair on my head but it does frame her face better.

However, her curls looked gorgeous. I hope she doesn’t get any heat damage. I have tons of it due to people dragging me to the salon.
Never letting happening again to my poor curls.

My hair texture is similar to the ladies’ in the video.

I straighten my hair when I’m going on interviews because I have a particularly young face and I feel that straighter hair always makes me look more my age. I’m not sure if it’s because it “frames my face” better, but I just feel that I look older with straighter hair.

I have been wearing my hair natural since graduating from high school and going to college. Back in the day (high school 90’s) I spent tons of money killing my hair flat ironing it so I could look like SWV. When I went away to school it was very humid and muggy. Not like the Cali sunshine I was used to. Flat ironing and pressing was a complete waste of time. Plus, I didn’t have my parents there to foot the bill anymore. So I started wearing my hair in its natural curly state. I have learned to love my… Read more »

Not to be biased. But her face looked fine with curlier hair versus the straight. She has a face for it. She could have done an up do and it would have looked better than with the straight. Long faces are beautiful and there doesn’t have to be any framing to take away from the fact that the person has a long face.Her curly hair could have been styled to fit her face.

I think her hair looks good either way but they could have tried to have her curls frame her face. I dont think I heard them ask her how she normally wears her hair each day because they need to do a cut that can we born both ways. I dont like the fact that the go to for black women with curly hair is to straighten it….