.jpeg)
Designer Carly Cushnie’s elegance extends to everything she touches: from the silhouettes and timeless pieces of her brand, Cushnie, to the icons who wear the designs—including Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Lopez. To top it all off, there’s her signature cheekbone-accentuating crop of golden coils.
You’d be surprised to hear that she didn’t always take pride in her curly crown, which she relaxed from the age of 7 through 19. “My mother had grown up relaxing her hair, so she did mine also. By the time I left high school I was so sick and tired of the constant chemicals, the blow-drying, and the flat ironing. I was certain that by the age of 30 my hair would be completely broken.” The now 36-year-old proved herself wrong: “The summer before I moved to NYC to start school at Parsons, I went and had my hair braided in order to grow out my natural hair, so that I could eventually cut it off,” she remembers. At the time, she didn’t fully know what her natural hair looked like. “I figured that, because I was moving, this would be a good time to start fresh with my hair,” she says. When it came time to do the big chop, “I didn’t cry, but it was definitely a big moment for me and honestly it was the best thing I ever did.”
Now, the designer is experiencing a new hair change. After two pregnancies—her second baby girl arrived just six weeks ago—Cushnie admits that the time she spends on self-care has become shorter and shorter, as she squeezes her “whole life into the time when my two girls are napping.” Gone are the days when she could spend hours in the bathroom. Still, she says, “I’ve promised myself that I would work to ensure I put the proper time into my hair while I still have this time at home,” especially now that she’s noticed her curl pattern has completely changed postpartum. “My curls are much looser than they used to be.”
Thanks to a once-a-week wash with shampoo and heavy conditioner from Pattern by Tracee Ellis Ross, she’s seen a “noticeable difference” in the bounciness of her curls, especially when she puts castor oil at the root of her hair to help with growth the night before she washes. “I started doing this during my postpartum fall-out after my first pregnancy,” she notes. Pattern’s leave-in conditioner especially leaves her curls “super soft and defined.” She often adds hair oil by Ouai to the conditioner “for added sheen” and, of course, “its heavenly scent.”
Otherwise, her hair rituals include sleeping on a Slip silk pillowcase every night and adding Vital Proteins Marine Collagen powder in her green smoothie or matcha every morning. Once a month, she uses Oribe’s Signature Moisture Masque. “I wrap my hair in a little towel turban and go to sleep and wash out the next morning.”
Lately, the designer has been making DIY headbands out of old tights to keep her hair back and out of her face. When lockdown orders lift, you’ll find Cushnie in braids “so I can let these looser curls grow out and see where my hair journey continues.” Until then, she’s learning to accept the changes and “wildness” that come from not having a trim. “It’s important to not try to make your hair what it’s not,” Cushnie says. “Embrace its beauty in all its glory.”
Below, Carly Cushnie shares her at-home natural hair routine.