Zoe Foster Blake FINALLY reveals how she gets her curls to behave
If you’re a curly dame, you need to read this
If you’re a curly dame, you need to read this
Zoe Foster Blake’s hair is a thing of absolute magic. Ever since she chopped it into a short bob/fringe combo and embraced her natural curls, we’ve wanted to know ALL her secrets. How the heck does she make those curls stay in place? Not drop? Not look like a flopped tangled mess? HOW?!
And unsurprisingly we aren’t the only ones who want to raid her whole hair cupboard. In the most droolworthy of Instagram posts, Zoe finally delivered the goods – giving us frizzy-mopped mortals some stellar curly hair tips (and rules) to sink our teeth into. #Blessed.
She wrote, “Lotta curly girls been asking me what I use on my hair since I let my natural curl off the leash earlier this year. I haven’t written a full, boring blog on it yet cos I am still not 100% on my prods or techniques. (Also my hair is still a bit lank and bitchy cos of breastfeeding.) But what I will say is: I use all of the above curl products interchangeably, and they all work fine.”
The products she speaks of include Oribe Curl Gloss Hydration Hold, R+Co Twister Curl Primer, KMS CURLUP Control Creme, Evo Liquid Rollers Curl Balm, ELEVEN Keep My Curl Defining Cream and John Frieda Frizz-Ease Dream Curls Curl-Perfecting Spray. Hey, if they’re good enough for Zoe!
According to the beauty guru, apparently the secret isn’t in the whole styling shebang – it’s actually in the cut, wash and dry stage. And although Zoe believes she has not yet perfected the latter (we beg to differ), she offered some handy tips on her *complete* hair routine.
“I don’t think the styling stage matters much; I think it all happens at the A) cut (thanks @hairbyjasminekara!) and B) the wash and dry stage, and THAT'S the bit I can’t nail,” she says. “I need nourishment, so the curls, uh, curl, but even a SNIFF of conditioner or silicone and it’s a droop party, cos my hair is fine. As in, ‘thin', not the sassy compliment way.”
Zoe goes on to explain that she washes her hair twice with a gentle shampoo (she currently likes Playa Every Day Shampoo), and completely skips the conditioner in order to avoid her curls dropping. She then wraps her hair up in a quick-dry turban (she uses Aquis Lisse Luxe Hair Turban). Note: She doesn’t comb OR brush her hair and apparently there’s no need to go nuts on the blow-drying front.
“I just spray in some leave-in conditioner on the mid-lengths to ends (I’ve used a bunch and so long as they're lightweight I don’t care - currently using Kevin Murphy) and then I diffuse on low air/low heat, for a few minutes. (I use the Dyson, and it’s outstanding.) Not til the hair is dry, or it fluffs. Just til it’s, say, 70% dry.”
A top tip for those jetsetters out there: While a diffuser is the bomb at allowing you to dry your hair without disturbing your curls or creating frizz, it can be a bit of a pain in the butt to cart around while you’re travelling. But don’t stress – our gal has an answer for this, too. In another recent Instagram share, she praised the Y.S. Park Universal Mesh Diffuser for its travel-friendly ways, writing “My hair stylist mates go mad for this universal sock diffuser that fits on any hairdryer. SO I bought him, and HE will be my travel friend.”
Now you’ve got your whole diffuser/blow-drying situation sorted, it’s as simple as the ol’ spray, scrunch and go, “Some curl balm/spray/whatever, some scrunching, and I’m done. I wash in the mornings, cos if I sleep on the curls, they suck the next day. (I reactivate them with a water spray bottle.)”
So, to recap: shampoo twice (and remember, skip the conditioner!), apply some leave-in conditioner, diffuse on low heat, apply a curl-loving product and scrunch. Well. Look at you.
Zoe says, “I am friggen loving my curls, and I think the fringe is why. Without a fringe, my curls are just, meh. With it, it's a LEWK. And, bonus: it’s the easiest hair I’ve had since I was about 11, just before Napro and Sun-In came to party.”
Want more hairstyling advice from Zoe? Then check out her top tips for managing thick hair.
Do you have a curly hairstyling routine of your own? Share it with us in the comments section below.
Main image credit: @zotheysay
Erin Docherty is a Beauty Writer for BEAUTYcrew, Beauty Editor for Women's Health magazine and a Grooming Writer for Men's Health magazine. She has a keen interest in cosmeceutical skin care and is currently working on minimising her 9-step skin care routine – because ain’t nobody got time for that. When she’s not writing about the latest beauty news, or applying copious amounts of serum, you can find her spending all her money in Sephora.
