One look at Aleali May and all you’ll be thinking is how you could possibly grow your hair out into silky, Pantene-shiny strands just like hers. Any way she styles it—middle-part, side-part, naturally wavy, or straight—it’s always looking A1. And when we started grilling her with Qs and she told us her routine was super low-key, like how she only washes it once a week, straightens it regularly, and only gets it trimmed when she goes home, we knew we needed to press her for more detail. Herein, everything you need to know about how the model-slash-stylist-slash-blogger gets *that* hair.
On her middle part meaning business:
“I play around with hairstyles. Sometimes when you are on the go, you just want to wake up, brush, and be like, ‘Okay, we’re good, we’re out.’ When I have it with this middle part that I always do, tucked behind, it is like I am about business, but still looking cute. When I wash it, I air-dry it because I try to keep as much heat away as possible so I won’t have crazy damage. I also do hair masks. I try to look up natural hair masks because my hair has never been treated. I do the egg and milk or olive oil. I tried this one where it was apple cider vinegar and something else—it was supposed to make your hair shiny, and it actually worked.”
Her go-to shampoo:
“I really like the Rahua—Kristen [Noel Crawley]; she is like my older sister, Don C’s wife. She actually got me on some of the natural products for your hair like Rahua. I tried it and was like, ‘Oh my god, this works so good.’”
On her love for Ouai:
“I love Ouai’s dry shampoo. My hair gets greasy over time, and if you’re at fashion week and you don’t have time to wash your hair and dry it naturally, re-do it, and throw some dry shampoo in there. I actually just discovered it this year. It was like, ‘Where have you been?’ Shout out to them for sending out their products because I need it. It's the best.”
Her post-hair-wash routine:
“When I wash my hair, I like to throw in a really small, tiny bit of coconut oil and rub it through and give it some coating. Then I use this product called Carol’s Daughter, it is for girls with wavy hair and can also coat crazy-definition curls—it is a mixture of coconut and shea butter. I put that in my hair and then I put a shine spray over it.”
She gets her hair trimmed for only $10:
“Usually I go to my beautician, the same one who has been doing my grandmother’s hair for the past 20 years. I’ve been going to her since I was a baby to get my hair trimmed. She trims it, she washes it, and she only charges me, like, $10. I always give her more. It is one of those things that I do when I’m at home.”
On if she will ever cut it off:
“It’s funny, my mom cut my hair when I was young, say 11. She cut it off so short that I couldn’t even put it into a ponytail. When it grew back, I was like, ‘Ha, Ha, got you. It’s supposed to be long.’ I was wearing Nike sweatsuits back then, too, so I was like, ‘I look like a real boy now.’ Now that it got back to this length, I don’t think I’m ever going to cut it. Have you seen those ladies with the really long, silver/grey hair, and it is in a long braid? I think I want to look like that. That is goals.”