Meet Geraldine Cupido. I started following Gerry on twitter a few years back but ironically, we have never met in person. She is a graphic designer, make up artist and fashion and beauty editor. I have a serious hair crush whenever I see Gerry’s curls, the adaptability of her hair is AMAZING!! I asked her to tell us her hair story and thankfully she agreed to share:
From the age of six my mom used to have a standing appointment at the hairdresser for my sister and I.
Every Saturday morning we’d be the first two at the hairdresser to have our hair washed, set in rollers, sit under the dryers and then have our hair swirled first one way, then the other.
She never had our hair relaxed or straightened though.
Having grown up in Paarl this was no fun at all. When you got back home in the middle of summer, we couldn’t swim in the pool in your very own backyard.
During summer holidays we’d spend all day in the pool only to have to suffer the evenings when the brushes came out. That was the only time I really cursed my hair. Especially since my Mom’s hair was the complete opposite of ours, so she didn’t really know how to handle our hair- hence the standing hairdressers appointment every Saturday morning.
When I was 14 years old my Mom entered me into The Fair Lady Face of South Africa competition without me even knowing. It came as huge surprise when I received this letter telling me that I had been selected as one of 12 girls in all of South Africa to be part of this campaign. Off I went into the city, hair all nicely blown out, ready for two days of shooting.
Only to get there and receive instruction that my hair needs to washed the night before and clean when I arrive on set. I nearly died. I did as instructed and arrived there with this bush of tight curls. When I walk into the studio everybody was blown away. Never in my life had I ever heard people raving about my hair in it’s natural state. I couldn’t believe the responses. When they did the write up in the magazine they even made mention of my “corkscrew curls”. When I looked at those pictures, that’s when I saw myself in a whole new light. My hair became my signature. A part of my identity.
Back then you rarely saw girls wearing their hair naturally, so I stood out where ever I went. In my late teens I went through some weird phase where I started feeling like I was only being noticed for my hair and that people weren’t taking me seriously, so I shaved it all off. These days I get asked if it’s my own hair or a weave. Sigh!!!
I do love my hair. I love the versatility of it. Especially when it’s long.
When I’m in the mood for a bit of change I simply blow dry it straight. Sometimes I even flat iron it. I don’t really have time to fuss with my hair.So I don’t really have anything special that I do or use on my hair. People always ask me how do I get my curls like that. Or what do I leave in my hair.
I simply wash my hair once a week with a mild shampoo ( and I’m not even brand loyal) and use a rich conditioner which I leave in for ten minutes before rinsing.
I don’t like leaving conditioner in my hair or using any products on my curls because it makes my hair feel heavy and I hate product buildup. ♥ Gerry Cupido
I believe the moral of Geraldine’s story is no matter what our hair type, we are all on a journey to learn to love our OWN hair. Thanks for sharing your journey with us Gerry.
, I’m Amanda.