Our Hair Rules
5 Questions with Anthony Dickey
 When Anthony Dickey, celebrity hairstylist and author of Hair Rules, the Ultimate Hair-care Guide for Women With Kinky, Curly or Wavy Hair,
speaks, women listen. A veteran of the hair industry for sixteen years,
Dickey has touched the manes of celebrities such as Alicia Keys,
Michael Michele, Naomi Campbell, Gloria Reuben, Andie MacDowell and
more. The reason he's been the go-to mane man for clients at the
renowned Louis Licari salon? He understands your true texture. So when
Dickey released Hair Rules, a sulfate-and Paraben-free shampoo,
conditioner and styling product line specifically for Wavy, Curly and
Kinky hair textures, we had to grab him for a little one-on-one. Here,
he breaks it down, one strand at a time.
1. AMBERmag.com: What made you decide to launch this series of hair care and styling products instead of something else?
AD: I decided to launch Hair Rules because there was a need in
the market for a hair care line that addresses ALL textures. For
decades, women with textured hair (defined as kinky, curly and wavy)
have waged a war with themselves. They've struggled with hair that by
"mainstream" standards is perceived as unfashionable, unprofessional
and unacceptable. Surprisingly, approximately 60 percent of the world’s
population has textured hair, yet, so many of these women lack the
knowledge and tools to enhance its natural beauty. Textured hair is
prone to being dry, brittle and frizzy. As a result, it expands and
separates, diminishing the natural curl pattern, and making it
difficult to tame and style. Hair Rules overcomes extreme dehydration
to yield defined, lustrous, frizz-free curls with an exceptional blend
of softeners and hydrators. Hair Rules is the first and only hair care
line specifically created for ALL TEXTURED hair–across the texture
spectrum.
2. AMBERmag.com: Are all curly textures created equal?
AD: All curly textures are not created equal. It appears that
the beauty industry has recently focused more closely on textured
hair—the big pink elephant in the room that for decades has been
thought of as "problem hair." Well the beast wants out! Here is the
real scoop: Most companies develop a product or product line for one
specific hair texture, curly hair, for example, but that product only
works for that one hair type. What about kinky, wavy, and all the
textures in between? And of course, there are larger companies who are
following trends chasing growing demographics. Those companies may
simply create a line of products, make the bottles bronze and use tag
words that ethnic groups identify with, when it's what inside the
bottle that should really matter.
 3. AMBERmag.com: From washing no more than every two
weeks to avoiding the ocean and swimming pools at all costs, for
decades women of color were taught that water was our hair's mortal
enemy. Which hair texture can shampoo/wet hair more frequently, and how
much does hair that has been chemically treated matter when it comes to
wetting and shampooing?
AD: Unfortunately, in the past this was true—there has never
been a standard of hair care for women with kinkier hair textures.
This has always been compounded by the fact that the only products
offered to kinky textures were relaxers and grease. And if you wanted a
natural texture, then you didn't dare let your hair go near water for
1-2 weeks, depending on the style and styling products. When you did
finally wash your hair, those heavy styling products then needed to be
scrubbed and stripped out, leaving hair harder and dryer than ever,
lending to the myths and negative stereotypes about this hair texture.
But oh contraire! A new standard of hair care and styling
solutions to better reflect a multi-textured world is on the rise.
Brands like Hair Rules focus on wash-and-wear styling, so that every
time you step in the shower, you have the choice to redo your hair as
often as you like, with styling products that are water soluble and
don't have to be stripped out with harsh shampoos (unlike grease and
wax-based products). That means your shampoo can be gentle, like Hair Rules Daily Cleansing Cream Moisture-Rich No-Suds Shampoo,
which cleanses scalp and hair, leaving kinky, curly hair clean and
hydrated, and soft and pliable … which also helps it better form a curl
pattern. Or, it can be blown dry straight—no grease required! What this
approach really does is set up the first rule of this hair type: keep
it stretched out and detangled – simply because it is the most fragile
texture on the texture spectrum, and because one of its characteristics
is to tangle and lock if too many days have gone by. When staying with
a natural style, redo your hair in the shower twice a week. Water
cleanse, clarifies and hydrates. With this type of routine, you can
also expect to see scalp issues decrease tremendously.
4. AMBERmag.com: We've all heard about "sensitive" scalps, but what
are the indications that the scalp is not just sensitive, but allergic
to a harsh chemical like a relaxer?
AD: What a lot of women have come to believe is that relaxing
your hair is second nature. However, it couldn't be further from the
truth! What is forgotten is that your skin is the largest organ, and if
for 20-30 years you have been putting a chemical on it, it's going to
react. We see reactions varying from all kinds of dermatitis problems
all the way to severe balding, and stress spots where an area of the
scalp rejects the chemical, producing hair that won't grow like the
rest. Now that's stress!
5. Ambermag.com: We're often amazed by how much women don't
know about our own hair. What would you say are the top things that
every woman should know about her hair?
AD: Your natural texture is prettiest when wet. So applying
styling product to towel-dried hair is a big mistake. When it's wet,
apply your fixative styling products—so the texture stays that way.
Don't touch until it's dry [because you will disturb the] curl pattern!
Wavy, curly and kinky hair textures have a lot more in common than not.
The major difference is that kinky textures need styling products
considerably heavier in viscosity than wavy textures. With a little
self control, what you see wet is how your curl will set!
Hair Rules is sold in Ricky stores nationwide, and on Hairrules.com. |
