You know this woman. Actress Keke Palmer is always candid and open, so it should come as no surprise that she's happy to talk about the ups and downs in her hair journey.
"When I was younger, I was very fond of my hair," Palmer told ELLE.com. But after years of over-styling her hair, "it just reached a certain point where I started to feel like I didn't know my hair as well as I had used to. I didn't feel even as comfortable with my natural hair. That's when I started to feel like, okay, there was something that I needed to do. I needed to reconnect myself to my hair."
Palmer did the only thing she knew would force her to restart her hair journey: "I just shaved my head entirely." The fresh chop worked immediately. "I felt so free and beautiful. My identity was not so heavily weighted on my hair. I became so much, feeling freer and more relaxed. I was excited to give my hair just a fresh start, to grow and be its very best."
Relearning what her hair needed and how to care for it became the new priority. "After that, it was a lot of just time of really getting to know my hair, learning what kind of natural products I could put into it, learning how to manipulate it without heat and give different styles, and just falling in love with it again."
Part of that journey was finding products that would help Palmer achieve her newfound hair goals. "I'm so about my fro," she says. "I want just to continue to give it proper things to get nourished and continue to grow, and just get as loud and proud as it possibly can." When it comes to products, personalized is what Palmer wants. "I'm looking for excellent clean products and things that are made for me."
So it should come as no surprise that Function of Beauty's new Custom Co-Wash appealed to her immediately. "I'm a strong believer in co-washes," says Palmer. "They rejuvenate your hair without taking all of the positive oils out of it." The other benefit of Function of Beauty's product? "When I did the whole questionnaire, I was able to be very specific. When I got the product, I used it all up probably too quickly because it felt so good on my hair."
The Co-Wash also lets Palmer still play around with her styles, but sans damage this time. "Depending on how I want to do it, sometimes I'll do a Flexi rod set, where I'll actually keep the co-wash in and then wrap it around. Other times, I keep the co-wash in, take a little bit of moisture foam wrap, twirl it with my fingers, and let it air dry. It works with everything." Then, when Palmer doesn't feel like styling, "I can wear it really as a wash and go."
The growing availability of products for natural hair and appreciation for someone's texture is a positive step. "Now, people are encouraging one another to do the natural thing and just not to feel pressured to have a very Eurocentric look," Palmer says. "Especially with people putting things in place such as the CROWN Act and advocating for hairstyles that haven't always been put to the forefront, or deemed as professional or respectable. I think so many of us are doing the best we can to change that ideology."
