Annie & Many
The Texture Temple
Newton, MA
In the past, Annie felt that thinking about a career was like a frustrating jigsaw puzzle. She was always a creative thinker. She wanted to lean into something where she can impact someone for the positive, and she always felt most comfortable taking the most natural route. After school, she made a move to Boston to pave her own way and find a way to put those puzzle pieces together. As she made her way from apprentice to stylist, her exposure to curly hair as a stylist really started to shift and that’s when she really made the connection that curls and texture play as a wearable piece of art and each cut needs to be crafted to everyone’s specific features for that art to shine. Seeing that same mentality and creative intuition with Many, that kindred spirit really fueled them to create an environment that can let the curls and the imaginations run wild. Today, she lives for her career and the ability to feel like a sculptor rather than a hairdresser along with her partner educating clients about techniques that feel adaptable and where the crowns are celebrated with every appointment.
From a very young age, Many had a fascination with hair, hair styling, and how anyone could change and create amazing looks. However, he never truly saw it as a profession. It was when he went for his first curly cut, where he met Annie, that his whole perspective of hairstyling changed. For him, knowing that he’s able to honor and celebrate their beautiful natural texture as a profession is an amazing opportunity.
Here are a few questions we asked Annie and Many to know more about them and learn about what inspires them!
Question: What are your specialities?
Answer: Natural Hair Stylist & Curly Specialist
Question: What do you love the most about kinky, coily and curly hair?
Answer: We love the versatile and endless possibilities that textures can provide to create a completely unique look on every client. Patterns and textures tell stories, they speak about youth, their history, what they are craving, the same way plants do to promote healthy growth. The concept of observing and working to enhance really elevates our interpretation of what it means to wash and go and above all, embrace.
Question: What’s your favorite go-to-hair-regimen you like to share with your clients?
Answer: For us, it is all about the water. It is what all natural living organisms need on some level, but with curls, the more the merrier! We love working in products alongside water in the shower right after conditioner to allow the curls to absorb any defining product in without feeling any crunch by the time it is dry. Incorporate a flexible detangler if necessary if your curls tend to tangle, it will also help push your styling product in for longer lasting hold without the crunch!
Question: What favorite products will you like to share with us?
Answer: We are currently using Ouidad, Olaplex, and Malibu. Our goal is to work with cleaner, ingredient focused products as we navigate with different lines. We have our sights on some great lines such as Innerscence, Hairstory, and others as we are drawn to the simplicity of the lines but the attentiveness to the formulations.
Question: What is your favorite hairstyle?
Answer: As much as we love a diverse array of styles, we are very much about the big voluminous curls that make more than just a statement. Curlies and Coilies can finally let their manes take the space they deserve without any contention of hair being “messy”. These days, the more tousled, the better and we are here for it!!
Question: What do you consider a good hair day?
Answer: It is any day that you can wake up, look in the mirror, and feel that natural confidence that your hair doesn’t need to be manipulated to feel polished. A Day 5 voluminous tousled crown of curls that tell a story is way better than any blow-out in our books.
Question: What inspires you to do what you do?
Answer: For us, it is the sense of community and embracing of one’s identity without feeling the need to conform. By tearing those boundaries down, it has opened us to so many great connections from so many different backgrounds. It is also the visual instinct that you can build once you start to familiarize with head shapes. At this point, we refer to what we do more as sculpting than just a haircut because the industry has really advanced, not just techniques, but how as stylists, we are restarting how we perceive textures and silhouettes.
Question: If someone is looking to join the trade, what advice would you give them?
Answer: The best advice we can ever give someone interested is that there is never a linear road to be a stylist, especially a curl specialist. Always tell yourself there are endless ways to do things and it all comes down to attentive listening and observing the cause and effects of your cuts. Eventually after learning the basics and finding your creative voice as a stylist, you develop a rhythm, and everything ends up feeling like a rewarding puzzle waiting to be solved.
Question: How are you using CurleeMe to grow your business?
Answer: We have always looked up to CurleeMe as they have made their way as a voice within the curly community, helping curlies connect with their crowns and each other. Their ability to create an online space for all curly royalty to help, encourage, and navigate through everyone’s curly journey is so meaningful to us and helping to engage in those conversations and connect with our voices is a goal that we had dreamed of when we first started.
Question: What achievements in your career or life are you most proud of?
Answer: To be honest, this moment right now has been our greatest achievement. It is probably something that we would say 20 years down the road as well because this is the first time we get to create our own experience. To work in a space that we have started from the ground up with the full intention that we are here to cater to everyone’s unique bouquet of curls. Everything going forward we take as an additional blessing and really give credit to our clients and our community that allowed us to open and continue to enjoy what we do with our craft.
Question: Do you have a personal motto?
Answer: It doesn’t matter how small the step forward, as long as it doesn’t lead to a step backwards. There is always room to be bold but a positive outcome will only depend on the trust that is built getting there
Question: How can we contact you?
Visit our CurleeMe Profile to view our contact information and ways to connect.
Question: What social media channels can one follow you?
Follow us on Instagram!
Question: Any advice you would like to give Curlees out there?
Answer: The best advice we can give is that seeing is believing. As cliché as this seems, the beauty with this community is that it is visual above all else. If you are trying something whether it’s a product or a technique, if you’re not seeing progress after a certain point, change it up. Some of the worst points we have heard in client’s journeys is when they feel stuck but are doing the same habits and not getting satisfactory results!
