It won't be hard to spot England-born, New-York Based author and salon guru Lorraine Massey when she comes to Changing Hands on Monday: She'll be giving straight talk to curly-haired women (and men) about embracing their hair, . She'll also have the best hair in the whole bookstore.
Massey's owns Devachan salons, currently in New York and Los Angeles, a hair product line called Deva (yep, like diva) Curl, and just released her second Curly Girl, a guide for mop- and Medusa-heads alike.
"It's incredible to me that we as people have taken people to the moon, and we've figured out how to clone animals," says Massey, " ... but the majority of us still can't figure out how to manage natural curls."
Massey came to the US 20 years ago with a huge head of curls and a good sense of humor. And after some serious curly research and experimentation, she says she was finally starting to figure out how her hair wanted to be treated (translation: no dying, no shampooing, and never, ever blow drying).
She had a few stints in the traditional salon world, which she now calls the practice of "glorified laundry," and eventually landed in New York, where she started her own blowfry- (she doesn't even use the term blowdryer anymore) straightener-free zone that encourages women and men to stop pretending like they have straight hair, to stop using products that have more chemicals than they'd ever want to know, and to start working with their curls instead of against them.
"I know this isn't rocket science, and I'm no revolutionary," says Massey. "But I will make you love your hair."
Massey will be at Changing Hands 6428 S McClintock Dr. in Tempe to talk curly hair over book signings and curltinis at 7 p.m. on March 7.
Event vouchers are free when you purchase The Curly Girl Handbook from Changing Hands, and Vouchers good for one "curl-tini" or Shirley Temple. For more information, check out the Changing Hands website.
