Jada Burden showing off her curly hair.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Jada Burden

Finding the right stylist for the perfect haircut can be a struggle, especially if you have curly or coily hair.

With different techniques used to cut each hair type, finding a stylist who can cater to your hair can be a challenge, especially in the Okanagan and Kamloops where there aren't many salons that specialize in cutting curly hair.

“It’'s not the social norm to have curly hair. I know it's gotten better but I feel like there's that sort of unspoken part of it,” Jada Burden of Kelowna said. “People don't really talk about how to treat curly hair.”

Burden has felt the struggle to find someone who understands the special attention her curly hair cuts require.

“My brother and I are the only two in my family that have curly hair, so neither one of my parents really knew what to do with it, like we didn't know what was going on,” she said. “When you get your hair cut straight, it doesn't curl the same, so your curl pattern totally changes.”

Andre Henry in his salon

(BAILEY ZIMMER / iNFOnews.ca)

She primarily sees products for straight hair, or items to straighten hair. There isn’t as big of a representation for curly hair products and curly hair stylists.

With an obvious lack of salons Andre Henry, owner of Dre’s Hair Salon in Kelowna, saw a need for a salon catering to cutting African and curly hair types and decided to take on the challenge himself 10 years ago.

Now with years of cutting curly hair under his belt, Henry feels comfortable and confident with cutting all hair types, from pin straight to tight and coily.

“We do pretty much every type of hair. We specialize in African American type of hair to Caucasian, we do it all,” Henry said.

Henry has had trouble staffing his salon, as it is difficult to find individuals who have the skills to cut curly hair since the technique is so unique. He has also had customers with curly hair come to him to fix their hair after salon mishaps, typically when the hairdresser doesn’t cut curly hair correctly.

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George White, a barber at Dre's Hair Salon in Kelowna, cutting a customer's hair.

(BAILEY ZIMMER / iNFOnews.ca)

The spectrum of hair types ranged from 1A being the straightest to 4C being the curliest.

Curly hair doesn't behave like straight hair when it's cut. If the hair is wet during the cut, the curls won't curl, shape or sit correctly. This makes it challenging to find the right stylist who knows what they're doing.

Since a single head of hair can have a range of curl patterns throughout, each curl has to be cut individually in accordance to the pattern.

“Every curl is different,” Kamloops certified stylist Maleah Adele said. “They’re not the same to each other, they like to have different places they sit in.

“For some of those with combination hair — curly in front, straighter in the back — sometimes you need different products for different areas. Cutting technique needs to be a little different on the straighter pieces than it is on the curlier pieces."

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