Hi curl friend!
I’m Donna, aka The Curl Next Door™.
Grassroots curly girl turned curl specialist, curlpreneur, stylist educator, and curl products retailer.
A’head of the curlve, having pioneered a curl infrastructure in Aotearoa-NZ to benefit the generations of curls to come.
Donna surpasses her especially talented skill-set, by creating life-changing experiences for her Curl Friends.
-CZ, Auckland
If you’re a curly girl, this 2 minute read could change your life…
In 2018 a few things happened.
I decided enough was enough; I had to make peace with my own naturally curly hair.
I was a grassroots curly girl at the time, looking around the internet for help…like many of us do, or did at one stage. But instead of following untrained curly hair influencers, my interest was piqued around the huge worldwide shift in conversation where the natural hair movement, The Curly Girl Method and the rise of desire for authenticity were converging, cross-pollinating and creating a grassroots swell of demand for better natural texture experiences.
It became clear to me that there was an emerging niche internationally, of curl specialist stylists, curl specialist educators and curl product manufacturers answering this grassroots demand.
And I saw that neither this niche, nor it’s offerings, were being embraced here in Aotearoa, NZ.
I decided to so something about this.
Uncategorisable miscreant.
Passionate curly.
Curl friend.
Since then I’ve been a curl on a mission.
Bringing together life experience, entrepreneurial skills, academic interests, a background in education, customer service and performance, combined with my passion for inclusion and excellence, my mission has been to build a curl infrastructure in NZ in a way that would make a lasting change for the generations of curls to come.
‘The Curl Next Door™’ was born. I began a Directory showcasing educational opportunities available in this niche, and a space for listing any stylist in NZ who had done these. I sparked conversations with educators, asking what would it take to bring them here to NZ, and began posting about the ‘curl specialist’ niche to get stylists to see the demand from the grassroots.
Then one email later and Lorraine Massey, author of “Curly Girl: The Handbook” and The Curly Girl Method, suggested I learn under her at her CurlyWorld Masterclass, to cut curly hair. (#lifechanging)
Seeing that more social proof was needed to gain attention from the salon industry here, I began answering the demand for Curl Lessons and initiated Curl Workshops all over the North Island, which in turn also served to empower curlies with their own curl care.
In 2019, I opened Curls Naturally™, NZ’s first dedicated online shop for a variety of internationally-grassroots-trusted curl products used in the curl specialist niche.
The grassroots demand for the niche continued to grow, and what I was doing began to draw attention from hairdressers.
I came back to NZ and began to be swamped with demand to cut curlies’ hair, all over NZ. Since then I’ve been running… with scissors.
Now I have my own private curl studio in New Plymouth to which people from all over NZ travel for their curl cuts and I run my online business, Curls Naturally, with the help of my awesome assistant and family.
In addition to having been trained in person by Lorraine Massey in CurlbyCurl™ and THE Curly Girl Method (CGM), I have completed the Curly Hair Artistry Mastery Program by Curly Hair Artistry (USA), Level 2 Rëzo Cutting education under Nubia Suarez (USA), and have completed Level 2 Professional Education in tight curls through Cut It Kinky (USA), attended multiple online classes, and more to come!
Only the best will do!
xx
WOW!
Donna has given me the knowledge and techniques to love and embrace my curls.
-Jewels Berry, Taranaki