How North West’s Curly Styles Are Inspiring a Generation of Natural Hair Girls

When Riccardo Tisci sent models with intricately gelled coils on their hairlines down his fall 2015 Givenchy runway, the awe these baby hairs inspired in the fashion world was rivaled by another very famous set of curls: the scraped-back and artfully sculpted tendrils of mini It girl North West, who turns two today.

I’ve been charmed by the sleek styles that Kim and Kanye’s offspring has sported as she sits front row at Fashion Week on her mother’s lap, arriving to ballet class in custom Balmain blazers, or globetrotting to far-flung locales on family trips. Whether a top bun or a comb-over, North’s pint-sized hair styles complement her fashion-forward play clothes, while remaining refreshingly easy and age-appropriate. They’ve established little Nori as a kind of hair icon for a nascent and diverse generation of tots rocking their natural curls with unprecedented flair—among them, my two-year-old niece, Isabel.

Like Nori, Isabel (affectionately known as “Izzy B”) sprouts an enviable festoon of curls that are a reflection of her biracial background: Her mother is of Russian-Jewish descent and her father is African-American. Ever the hands-on “fashion auntie,” I’ve happily assisted Izzy’s mom with styling her little corkscrews, passing along a long familial tradition of black hair care that emphasizes detangling and moisture. When my sister-in-law doubted her ability to skillfully do her daughter’s hair on a daily basis, I offered encouragement: as I wrote here before, she is not alone in wanting to bring out the natural beauty of her mixed-race child.

And so, for some professional insight into how we could easily reproduce a day-to-day curly regimen at home, sans neuroses, I turned to Anthony Dickey, the famed curl whisperer behind the product line Hair Rules. Empowering parents in multiethnic or multicultural relationships to absorb information regarding their child’s natural hair care, rather than being intimidated by it, Dickey espouses: “Really believe your kid’s hair is much more reflective of a diverse world that we live in.”

I sent him four of North’s go-to looks: the top knot, the pom poms, the comb-over, and her free flying coils, as well as a pic of Izzy for reference, and we got to work. Rolling off a concise list of sulfate-, paraben-, and phthalate-free products that would be the bedrock of Izzy’s routine, Dickey sung the praises of a non-sudsing shampoo that won’t strip or dry out curly baby hair (Hair Rules Cleansing Cream Moisturizing No Suds Shampoo), leave-in conditioner for hold (TotLogic Leave-In Conditioning Spray for fine, flyaway curls; Mixed Chicks Leave-In Conditioner for spongier, kinkier textures), water to activate the curl, and clear latex rubber bands to help hold the styles without pulling at the root. A rat-tail comb was essential for making the precise parts, while a soft bristle brush would help smooth the flyways.

The idea was to create fun, carefree hair that brings out Izzy’s effervescent personality and suits her busy schedule of running around the playground with her teeny-tiny squad or pirouetting about ballet class, without imparting an unreasonable beauty standard that ultimately distracts from her all-too-important playtime. After all, even though North West may rule fashion’s most exclusive front rows, something tells me that rolling through the Charles de Gaulle Airport atop her Frozen suitcase was the highlight of her recent trip to Paris for the shows.

Placing Izzy in my lap with one of her favorite movies, Winnie the Pooh, to keep her entertained, I followed Dickey’s guidelines, and here, this proud aunt and moonlighting hairstylist is happy to say, are the four looks, for everywhere from day care to the swing set, that we created together.

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