will DevaCurl damage push curly girls to go natural?
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I have no idea how the news about Rio, the non-perm that made everyone’s hair fall out spread before social media, but between Tweets, Instagram Posts, and YouTube videos, the word is spreading between curly girls to toss out their products from DevaCurl. There are threads and Facebook groups full of people complaining that their hair is falling out or their curl patterns have been changed after extended use of the line. I’ll link to one of the latest articles here, but this is totally ironic given that a lot of us go ‘curly’ after wanting to stay away from getting our hair chemically relaxed anymore. However, for many of us who may start paying more attention to products we use in our home or for makeup and skincare . . . hair is usually one of the more overlooked areas. For anyone who has ever looked to start converting to clean hair care brands will tell you it’s one of the harder product categories to switch to and still find products that are performing.
I’m in the middle of my clean/non-toxic journey with products. I don’t consider myself hardcore or someone who will be making my own products any time soon, and appreciate a safe synthetic as much as a natural or organic one. When it comes to skincare, I categorize myself as “Clean Clinical.” For the home, I haven’t tried vinegar and essential oils, but I have preferred brands like Honest and Seventh Generation ever since I was first pregnant because I freaked out thinking about the baby eating something off a floor I just cleaned with 409.
When first looking to start switching out products, I decided that instead of throwing out products and starting from scratch, I was going to look at only purchasing new clean beauty products to try as I finished my alternative. Hair was one of the categories I have been looking forward to the least because it’s already hard for me to find a routine I like so finding a clean line that can also perform sounds like it’s going to be a nightmare. Unfortunately in this case as someone who has a few products from DevaCurl, this is going to be an exception where I’m tossing products out and not waiting for a statement and testing from the brand.
As I’ve been researching clean beauty, one study that I found disturbing is research published by American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology which confirms that women of color are being exposed to higher levels of beauty-product-derived chemicals like mercury, steroids and hormone-disruptors than white women. According to the report, Black, Latina and Asian-American women spend more on beauty products than the national average, yet we still have a long way to go with some personal care items like how “some of the hair lotions and styling gels contain ingredients of concern like parabens, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives and 'fragrance.” As this research came out in 2017, it was right after a report from the Environmental Working Group which found that 1 in 12 beauty products marketed to black women contained harmful ingredients. Yikes.
Finding curly products that I love for natural hair is already so hard that this is the one category I’m not looking forward to hunting down products for. I first started going natural in 2004 when there weren’t many options if you didn’t have a relaxer. Before going to Curves (a curly salon in Brooklyn which was later renamed Miss Jessies which you may recognize from the product line), before Carol’s Daughter opened on 125th street in Harlem, and before hearing about the infamous No Poo by Deva Curl at Ricky’s which was supposed to be the go-to shampoo for curly hair, I had to make my own products like gels from flax seed or creams from different oils and butters. I was actually THRILLED when I could just pick these products up from Target and never cared to inspect what else was in the bottle.
I brought back a ton of Ayurvedic products back from India including hair products so I’m probably going to try a few of those before bothering with the time suck of mixing up a flax seed gel that only lasts a week or two.
I cleared out my products from Deva Curl last night, but here are some things you can do if you wanted to look into switching out items from the line or give the other products you use for your hair a look.
Start reading your product labels. Some chemicals like parabens are clearly labeled so you can skip over products that have them or aren’t listed as “paraben-free” while some things are harder to figure out because labels can hide ingredients under names like “fragrance” which is considered a trade secret in the United States.
Use websites like Skin Deep by the Environmental Working Group or download the Think Dirty app to stay on top of brands and specific products that they have researched to check for known chemicals.
Now…..if I can be honest…. this Deva Curl drama drove me to finally download the Think Dirty app, but I’m really hesitant at looking into what they say about some of my favorite items. 😬
Do you have curly hair and planning on switching any products out or have any products you swear by? DM me @JasminePennamma because I am going to clearly be on a product hunt!!
