Life After DevaCurl

    Every summer I go through the motions of wanting to do something different with my hair. This past summer I decided to finally try the beloved DevaCurl. I spontaneously decided to take up the one open slot before I went back to college and got the Deva Transformation. The Deva Transformation consists of a dry curly haircut, wash & condition, styling, and diffusing all using their products. My experience at the Broome St. salon in NYC was phenomenal! The cut, styling, and everything was great! My hair felt so healthy, cute, and even though I didn't change the color at all it made my 6 month old box dye job look more vibrant.

    Immediately after I bought all the products they recommended for my hair type which was the low-poo shampoo/conditioner, B-Leave in, Arc anGel gel, and heaven in hair deep conditioner. I used these products for about 6 months and had no complaints besides occasional dryness. However; if you have curly hair and used DevaCurl products you definitely know about the disastrous accusations, complaints, and even class action lawsuit they are facing from many previously devoted users saying they were experiencing severe hair loss amongst a plethora of other things. This then prompted many people to stop using their products, including myself.

    I had straightened my hair for the first time in 10 months before I had officially decided to quit DevaCurl. I noticed the front of my hair feeling very thin and panicked. That night I  couldn't sleep thinking about all the accusations. I couldn't help but revisit the amount of hair I had previously written off as routine shedding and wonder if it was just normal or actual hair loss. Hence, why as soon as my local CVS opened at 6 a.m. I ran in frantically searching for products to replace the ones I was sadly giving up. I settled on the As I Am co-wash, Maui moisture curl quench conditioner and curl smoothie, and Not your Mother Curl Talk gel. 

    While these products put me more at ease and did the job, I can't say I have found my perfect product combination yet especially post DevaCurl. I am still on the hunt for products that give my hair the same kind of curl definition and volume without the hair loss. So if any of you curly, kinky, coily haired girls have any products that you've really loved so far please sound off in the comments! I always love to hear other people's curly hair routines.

The Time COVID-19 Pulled Up & Wrecked

    As a college senior things already seem out of your control. You've only known school your entire life and this is the first time there is no set next. You can go to grad school...or you can not, you can get a job...or you can not, you can move across the world...or you can not. The world is quite literally your oyster, but for some (aka me) the limitless options gave me an overwhelming sense of anxiety rather than freedom.

I was in the midst of my quarter life crisis while attempting to balance savoring the last few moments of college with figuring out wtf I was going to do with my life, when the highly anticipated soon quickly dreaded month of March hit.

Anyone that has not been living under a rock knows March is when shit REALLY began to hit the fan. I went from (fortunately) celebrating my 22nd birthday in the beginning of the month to being evicted from my university and being forced to return to my childhood home within a few days like thousands of other college students in the same position .

I think it's safe to say things went 0 to 100 real quick.

My friends and I went from planning spring break and anticipating spring fling, senior week, commencements, and any other minutely relevant milestones to saying extremely premature goodbyes, moving hundreds of miles away from each other, losing prospective and even seemingly secured jobs, and transitioning to online Zoom classes.

Frat parties, clubbing, going out to eat, and even being any closer than six feet apart was quickly replaced with Zoom birthday parties, absurd amounts of screen time (@Apple i'm over these weekly reports let me rock!!), sourdough starters, and succumbing to making TikToks even though you previously told yourself...or everyone else you would never.

However; these inconveniences are just scratching the surface of what many people have been experiencing during this time. This time will forever be memorialized as a time of significant hardship, mourning, mental health issues, sickness, and so much more.

Living through this weird, unpredictable, and anxiety ridden historical event to be is difficult and there's no right way to do it(unless you're still unnecessarily out and about and if so stay home). This "new normal" (debatable if this is even normal yet) is different and while corona, "miss rona," "rona," or whatever nickname you've choose as your coping mechanism may have suddenly pulled up & wrecked your upcoming plans in the very least you have a phenomenal answer when you finally get a job interview & they ask you to tell them about a time you faced a challenge or conflict!

So be gentle with yourselves, take things day by day, & stay healthy!