From Jeremy Allen White to Connor Storrie, guys are embracing their natural curls | Canada Voices

In April, KC Fee won Groomer of the Year at the Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles, an honour presented to her by her client, actor Jeremy Allen White.

“I thanked his head of hair in my speech because it’s a huge part of the reason why I was standing up there,” she said.

Fee first met White at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018, back when he wore his hair short. The two reconnected in 2022 for the premiere of HBO’s The Bear, which required White to grow his hair out and wear his natural curls.

Since then, Fee has been instrumental in White’s red carpet appearances, with the actor’s loose, undone curls becoming a key part of his image. (Those curls featured prominently in his viral 2024 Calvin Klein underwear ad.)

It wasn’t long before other members of Hollywood’s new guard of leading men were flaunting their own curls and waves, from Timothée Chalamet to Jacob Elordi. More recently, Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie and Off Campus’s Belmont Cameli have leaned into their natural textures. Guys from their teens into their 30s are even getting perms, Fee added.

“Jeremy was at the forefront of this movement,” she said. “And it was the way The Bear exploded into pop culture.”

To style White’s curls, Fee begins by applying Roz Milk Hair Serum, which adds hydration and controls frizz, on damp hair. “I never use a brush,” she said, instead using her fingers to twist and pull the curls into shape. She then dries them with a diffuser. Once the hair is 75 per cent dry, she adds Roz Evergreen Style Cream to hold everything in place.

Fee described the finished look as effortlessly chic and cool. In that respect, curly hair on men has been rebranded. No longer seen as nerdy or comical, curls are now read as sexy and desirable.

The preference to keep one’s natural curls is something Ian Russell, a Toronto-based hair artist, has clocked in the last few years.

“Clients would previously request that I eradicate the texture, and now it’s completely shifted to the other side,” he said. “With some of them, it’s a very quick shift. With others, it’s more of a curiosity.”

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Russell attributed this change to the pandemic. increased representation in pop culture as well as the pandemic. “I think it was a really strong lean into that, ‘What am I doing? Why am I spending so much money or so much time?’” he said. “I feel like it really encouraged everyone to just be more themselves.”

It was an ideal moment for the launch of Wavy, the L.A.-based men’s curly hair product line started by brothers Eyal and Ariel Booker in 2023. Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Eyal said the pair had no role models who embraced their curls, so they would flatiron their hair every morning before school.

In 2018, Eyal appeared on the British reality show Love Island and was soon inundated with messages on social media from other curly-haired men who wanted to know what products he used. Everything in his arsenal was targeted at women, which he admitted he was embarrassed to share at the time.

“It sparked this idea: What if we try to simplify the curly hair process?” he said. “Instead of doing a leave-in conditioner, a curl cream, a gel, a spray, we narrow it down to a product that can do a lot of these things and be the starter for guys trying to embrace their curls?”

The result is the brand’s hero product, Everyday Curl Crème, which was an Amazon’s best-selling curl cream at its launch. “I don’t think we realized how good the timing could have been,” Eyal said.

For men trying to get a handle on managing their curls, both Eyal and Fee believe finding the right person to cut them is the first priority. “Curls bounce,” said Eyal, “so when you get your hair cut wet and they cut a lot off, it just bounces up and retracts, and then you’re screwed. So go to somebody that knows what they’re doing.”

He also advised men to figure out their curl type, whether it’s wavy, curly or coily. That will inform how often to shampoo, as overdoing it strips the scalp of its natural oils. “It creates a ton of frizz, and those oils add texture to your hair,” he said.

Lastly, it’s important to find the right products. “Everyone’s curly hair is a journey, and it takes time,” said Eyal.

The process will likely involve some trial and error, Russell added. “It’s one of those cases where one thing that works for one person will not work for another, so try different combinations out.” The simplest approach is shampoo, conditioner and a curl cream or lotion, he said, but you can also try adding a leave-in conditioner, an oil to lock in moisture and a gel that holds the curls in a firm ‘shell.’

Ultimately, learning how to work with what the hair wants to do on its own is a good investment. “I think it’s wonderful for hair,” said Russell. “But I think it’s also indicative of a broader notion: People are just more willing to explore themselves. They are as nature intended.”