Source: Who What Wear | Published: May 2, 2024 | By: Maya Thomas
Curly- and coily-haired beauty lovers, it’s time to fall in love with a haircare line specifically designed with tighter textures in mind. Aveda’s Be Curly Advanced collection launched on April 24, and we couldn’t be more excited to try the high-performing products that are rewriting the rules on what we can expect from professional haircare you can use in the comfort of your own home. We’re already making room in our haircare routines for these new additions.
To celebrate this major launch, we connected with Ginny & Georgia actor and Aveda partner Antonia Gentry as well as Christine Hall, the brand’s vice president of research and development, and Renée Gadar, the brand’s global artistic director of texture, for a closer look at what this line has to offer.
Below, hear directly from the talented team behind the launch about their personal hair journeys, the design process for these curl-loving products, and what inspired them to collaborate on the creation of the Be Curly Advanced collection.
Meet Antonia Gentry, Actor and Aveda Partner
What does your partnership with Aveda for the launch of the Be Curly Advanced collection mean to you?
I am very excited to be working with Aveda—not just because they are a company that truly cares about the impact they have and the products that they make but [also] for the Be Curly Advanced line because it’s something I’ve used and learned all about what went into its creation and how to use to products. I normally wouldn’t jump on hair partnerships because hair is very important to me, especially in relation to the textured-hair community, but they knew what they really were doing with this line!
I’m also super excited to do this because I know that a lot of people look up to me through my character in Ginny & Georgia to see curly hair represented on TV, which is an ever-evolving thing that I feel so privileged and grateful to be a part of. To join Aveda and work on this is just an extension of that authenticity and representation.
Did you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with Christine Hall and Renée Gadar on the development of the collection?
I was able to meet with Renée, where she introduced the products to me from start to finish while the products were still in lab. I got to try every single product in the line, and she showed me how to use them together and gave me advice and tips on what each product was for. For my hair, I learned how to edit the collection to fit my specific needs, and I was really grateful to have them take the time to do that with me. I also got to speak with Christine Hall and the team about the science behind the it.
I’m no scientist, but hearing about all about the testing and care that went into creating these products was super eye-opening. Aveda being so transparent about how these products were made is something I think a lot of companies don’t do, so it was definitely a green flag for me. Ultimately, just trying them and being my own guinea pig to make sure these products work for my hair is just the cherry on top!
Can you tell us about about your hair journey, and is it reflected in Ginny & Georgia?
For season one in particular, we threw in some experiences for Ginny where she was dealing with people that didn’t know how to properly style or take care of it, especially the scene where someone tried to brush out her ponytail! There was also a phase where she tried to straighten her hair because she wanted to fit in a bit more. There’s even [negative] comments and people touching her hair because they think it’s some unnatural spectacle.
Those experiences in season one for Ginny’s character arc were very important because they are based on things that a lot of Black girls with curly hair experience on the daily, especially as a teenager. I also experienced them, so I was very happy we did that. It paid off because I had fans DM’ing me about how those scenes helped validate their experiences. It’s really important to bring them to light.
How do you keep your strands healthy on and off set? Are there any tips and tricks you can share for curl upkeep?
Over the past few years since I’ve started working as an actor and I’ve been on different sets, I’ve learned that not everyone knows how to do curly hair. It’s really hard to trust people with touching your hair, so there’s a lot of heat damage, breakage, and more that it goes through. Curly hair is not as universally understood as it should be.
I’m also using products that I love in between styles to let my hair be in its natural state as much as possible so that it doesn’t lose its curl. It’s really easy to damage curly hair when you don’t know how to do it, and unfortunately, it’s something that still needs to change on a lot of sets. When I’m off set, I’m making sure I’m also using my hair masks and making sure my hair can breathe and be itself.
Let’s talk about wash day. What’s your go-to product lineup for cleansing and moisturizing your hair?
My favorite product from the line is the Be Curly Advanced hair mask when I’m actually in the shower. The shampoo is also fantastic—it doesn’t strip my hair or make it feel dry and brittle or anything like that. My hair feels clean, nourished, and moisturized. The mask is just incredible because it melts in my hair like butter! It’s not too heavy, it doesn’t dry my hair out at all, and it makes detangling so much easier, so I’m not adding extra breakage.
It literally only takes me five minutes to shampoo, condition, put the mask in my hair, and detangle, which is amazing. I’ve had masks that say I should let them sit on my hair for 30 minutes, and I’m like, “I don’t have 30 minutes!” When I get out of the shower and start styling, my favorite product from this line is the Curl Enhancer Cream. After I use the Curl Perfecting Primer, I put a little bit of the cream in my hair. I like it because it’s light and doesn’t weight my very, very fine hair down.
The primer also doesn’t dry my hair out because I don’t need so much of it, and it keeps my hair softly defined, shiny, and moisturized. It stays that way for multiple days! I used to have to fully drench my hair every single day to get the curls that I wanted, but now, I don’t have to do that because my hair really loves the cream.
What is the best advice you would give to anyone getting to know their hair type and curl pattern?
Patience and acceptance! Because we’re so used to the language around having curly and textured hair as aggressive, something you need to tame and fight against, you’re subconsciously approaching your own hair with a sense of dread, which is absolutely wrong. Curly hair is incredibly versatile and beautiful. It just takes patience, understanding, and trial and error to find out what works specifically for you.
It’s also about learning how you like your curls to look. If you want more of a textured, voluminous Afro or something closer to the frame of your face—whether it’s big or small—you can do it according to what you want! You just need to give yourself the grace to unlearn all of the noise we hear about our own hair to discover what you love and how you would like to feel when you wear your natural hair.
