Mizani: shifting the shape and perception of curly hair

Elyse Glickman is US west coast editor of Lucire.

You’ve seen it on television, online, in magazines and in the streets. Change is in the air when it comes to the standards applied to what makes hair “good”, “beautiful” and wearable. After decades of people coming from all backgrounds (and their well intentioned stylists) pushing and pulling hair into submission to make the “it” cuts of the day work, many of us are frankly ready to unplug our old habits and let it all hang out as nature intended, especially with the arrival of summer and humidity. After all, 65 per cent of the US population has naturally textured hair, and frankly, we’re craving a better a way to go with the flow.

Mizani, a premium salon hair care brand created to address the needs and wants of black salons and their customers back in 1991, likewise, is moving in a more diversified direction as the ‘professional authority for texture’ to include anybody whose crowning glory needs special attention to look its best whether worn natural, straight, curly, wavy, and up or down. While the brand has made many style statements through its Style Shifter Society (i.e. brand ambassadors taking hair fashion into their own hands—literally—using Mizani’s stylers, salon techniques, shampoos and conditioners) in recent years, hair professionals agree rethinking the term textured to include more hair types and, well, more people, will make everybody look good from a personal and professional standpoint.

This past February, the brand unveiled three new Style Shifter Society collection products (Wonder Crown Scalp Foaming Pre-Cleanser, Heat Screen Heat Protectant Spray, and Coco Dew Pre-Styling and Restyling Spray) intended to help its everyday users expand upon the options they have in creating different looks while providing strands with added nutrition, moisturization and smoothness. However, there’s more to inclusion than expanding variety of hair care products and marketing services to new customers.

To take hair optimization to the next level, Tippi Shorter, global artistic director for Mizani, put her years of experience into innovating the Mizani AirCut. Shorter’s revolutionary cutting method ensures girls with curls, waves or coils the perfect cut on any client with cut coil, curls, and waves. In contrast to the ‘texturizing haircut’, Shorter’s technique is a very precise approach that ensures consistent results at the salon, less breakage, better shape and greater ease of styling.

‘The Mizani AirCut is re-creatable, allowing clients to have consistent results in the chair at every appointment,’ Shorter says. ‘Through this, we’re also empowering the salons where they work to open their doors to all men and women, and as an industry, assure nobody with a curl texture has to accept compromise!’

The stylist starts with the client’s hair in its natural state, primarily using fingers to section the hair as combs or other tools can disrupt the natural curl pattern and texture. To create the air pockets that allows the stylist to cut hair where it lives, the stylist should separate the client’s hair into front and back sections before dividing it into seven zones (or, up to 14 for clients with more dense hair textures). As this is being done, the stylist should separate larger curl pieces into smaller, individual curls for ease and precision. When clipping the sections, hair should be gathered loosely to ensure curls and strands will not be over-stretched to further ensure a more curl-defined end result and flowing volume.

For more information regarding the complete product line and salons, please visit www.mizani.com. •