(Beauty)

Read This Before Coloring Your Curly Hair

by Andrea Marie

For us curly girls, hair coloring is no easy task. Oftentimes in order to keep our ringlets intact, we feel the need to forgo fun color trends that our straight-haired counterparts get to try. Until now! We’ve found an under-the-radar, curl-safe way to get the hues and highlights we crave, and we’re happy to share it.

The method is called pintura, which means “to paint” in Portuguese and it’s been around since 1996. It was developed by the wave wizards at Devachan and originally practiced there. Shari Harbinger, vice president of education at DevaCurl, explains to us why the pintura technique is safe for curls and keeps them healthy.

“The no-foil pintura technique allows the colorist to create multi-dimensional highlights for all textures with precision, accuracy and speed,” she says. Because the technique takes into account the movement of the hair, curl by curl, it allows for customization. “Pintura gives the option of choosing color or lightener to deliver subtle, moderate or high-contrast results,” says Shari.

So what exactly makes it safer than other coloring methods? “Painting instead of using foils helps maintain the integrity of the hair,” Shari explains. “Chemicals can negatively affect the hair inside the foil during processing. Pintura gives stylists more room to use gentler formulas, and the stylist can see exactly where the color lands, so he or she can avoid previously treated curls,” she says.

So if you’re thinking of dyeing your curls but feeling hesitant about potential damage, ask your stylist to give pintura a try, and let us know what you think in the comments below. If you’re based in Los Angeles or New York, be sure to visit a Devachan salon and get some tips from the pros who started it all.

Protect Your Dyed Strands