Yaya DaCosta’s Hair Care Involves Whole Foods Shampoo and Making Her Own Gel

The “Our Kind of People” star is all about intuition when it comes to her hair.

Yaya DaCosta’s Hair Care Involves Whole Foods Shampoo and Making Her Own Gel

Yaya DaCosta is a pro when it comes to natural hair, so her expertise comes in handy when playing salon owner Angela Vaughn on Fox's new drama Our Kind of People. (Catch it on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. E.T.) The series—inspired by the book of the same name by Lawrence Otis Graham—revolves around a single mother who sets out to reclaim her family's name before discovering a dark secret about her mother's past. There's intrigue, suspense, and a whole lot of Black beauty front and center.

“I was initially drawn to the fact that she seemed like a really mature, confident, focused, driven, fun woman,” the America's Next Top Model alum tells Glamour of her character. “The fact that her passion is hair was almost a moment of kismet because I had just begun my own personal hair-related project. It was just really serendipitous.”

In a time when everyone is talking about porosity and curl types, the Chicago Med alum doesn't overcomplicate her hair care. Instead she focuses on learning what makes her curls unique. “I've never had anything but natural hair, so I was never converting to anything or needing to classify and read up on it and understand intellectually,” she says. “My experience with my hair is very intuitive.”

It seems that intuition is put to work. “I have multiple textures on my head,” she says. “For a while I thought, Oh, maybe the hair at the very top of my crown is heat damaged because it wasn't curling back as much as the rest of my hair. And then, about four years ago, I completely shaved my head.”

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It turns out her hair wasn't damaged. It just can't be put in a box (much like her character Angela). “I noticed as it grew back, there were all these pretty, pretty, pretty perfect curls all around the back and the sides, and then the top of my head just didn't want to curl right away,” the actor explains. “That's just the texture. That curl is much looser than the rest. I have nicknames for different sections. You know, Mom's over here, Dad's over there at this, and the ancestors there. The top of my head are basically the colonizer curls, and then in the back are the other ancestors.”

So how does Yaya DaCosta maintain it all? For this edition of Wash Day Diaries, she walks us through her favorite products to keep her curls healthy and moisturized.

I wash my hair on average once a week. If I decide that I'm going to wash it, when I have time, I use a scalp treatment beforehand. I'll take some oil and put it all on my scalp. It's usually some mixture of ingredients that are stimulating to the scalp, since it could be like a castor oil base with some tea tree or even cayenne—just not too much. Those ingredients tingle and activate the scalp and promote hair growth.

Castor Oil USDA Organic Cold-Pressed

I tend to use a simpler brand, like what you would buy at Whole Foods or a health food store. When I was living in New York, where I'm from, I would use Carol's Daughter products back in the day before they blew up into a huge brand. I used to go to the original little small shop in Brooklyn and get different shampoos and hair moisturizers. 

Goddess Strength Fortifying Shampoo

After shampooing I immediately go in with the conditioner. My favorite thing is actually to soak it on. I use the same brand as the shampoo from Whole Foods. I have to buy bottles and bottles, because I have a lot of thick hair and I like it to be fully saturated in conditioner. If I have time, then I'll just tie it up in a topknot and cover it with a shower cap or a plastic bag and then put a headwrap over that and go about my errands for the day for maybe a few hours. I'll keep it on anywhere from an hour to five hours. I don't tend to do that in the winter as much because I don't like a wet head outside in the cold, but if the weather's warm enough, I like to do that.

Purezero Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

Then, when I go in to detangle, it's so slippery and so easy. Sometimes I use a brush, like a Denman brush, and I'll even go in with smaller sections with a Tangle Teezer, especially if I'm going to do a twist-out or do braids. Then I just rinse it over and over and over again to make sure that all the product is out. 

Tangle Teezer

Denman Hair Brush

I go in with some oil. Usually, I like Camellia seed oil. I like argan oil. Castor oil is very thick, so I only put that on my scalp—not the actual hair. I also like shea seed oil. I just make sure that it's super moisturized and the oil is locking in the moisture.

I make my own flaxseed oil. I've been doing that for many years. There are so many things that have that slip effect. The main ingredient is flaxseed, and there are a bunch of other proprietary ingredients. Sometimes I'll add a marshmallow root or slippery elm, all those kinds of things that have slip to them, and use that as a gel. It's much easier on the hair if you do it right. If you add a little oil, it doesn't flake if you're changing styles and don't want to rinse the product out. It can just be reactivated with water and then reset again. 

If I'm doing a twist, one of my favorite products is the Jane Carter Solution curl defining cream. I like to use that. My main thing with products is that I can't deal with strong smells. The first thing I do when I'm in a store shopping is to see if the container opens enough to be able to smell the product. If it's sweet or fruity or flowery, I can't do it. I try to use unscented. I find the Jane Carter products to be very versatile and mild in terms of scent.

Jane Carter Solution Curl Defining Cream

Paulina Jayne Isaac is an editor and freelance writer based in Philadelphia. You can follow her on Instagram @paulinajayne15.

This story originally appeared on: Glamour - Author:Condé Nast