Welcome to my curly hair life, a life filled with many different paths that have led me to this wonderful curly one and made me who I am today. I was born in a large wonderful family, 6 of us girls, with beautiful curls that we did not know how to tame or master. As children, having curly hair was a mystery, we never talked about it or learned to live with it. Our mother had a very busy life raising us and could not keep up with the maintenance of our curls, to make life easier, she would bring us to the barber who would cut our hair remarkably short.
In my tween years, I dreamed of having beautiful long flowing hair and cringed at the thought of maintaining the short hair look that our local barber would love to achieve. To help attain the look I wanted, my mother graciously bought me over the counter relaxers which would tame my textured hair and smooth it with ease. I spent my high school years processing my hair with these relaxers and the thought of a life without these chemicals never really crossed my mind. I kept up this hair routine and was content enough until my discovery of the flat iron during my studies in cosmetology; life was finally easier and chemical-free.
After five years spent in the industry, I was offered a job at a curly hair salon that changed my life and my career path forever, my career as a curly hair specialist finally saw life. I started training with Lorraine Massey at the Devachan Academy when she was the lead educator. Lorraine is the creator of the 1st No sham POO-official and author of the Curly Girl handbook. My time with her opened the door to a different way of embracing my curls which also started a beautiful journey of cutting and styling curly hair and connecting with my clients. I now have over 17 years in the hair industry, 14 years as a curly hair specialist. It was a challenging journey but one that I am very proud of.
For most of my life, I struggled with relaxers, flat irons, razor cuts and thinning scissors. This has given me the strength and courage not to give up and find the right way to end the battle that all naturally curly hair girls are fighting. The struggle is real, and I am delighted to tell you that it ends here! I am the proud owner of Born Curly by Kim Gabriel Hair Salon and I have liberated myself from the traditional methods of cutting hair that I was taught in the midst of my cosmetology education, apprenticeship and post-education training. Years of precision, razor, and texturize cutting are over; harsh chemical relaxers are a thing of the past and smooth blowout and flat ironing are no longer on my agenda.
Alongside the original curl by curl cut, I am a Devacurl advanced stylist as well as trained and certified with the award-winning Rëzo cut. These cuts are balanced cuts with a solid foundation and are performed on curly styled hair. My training and experience has allowed me to perfect these techniques and develop the Signature Born Curly Cut Experience that I am sought out for.
Whether you have curls, waves or kinky curls, I accept all textures and provide my clients with the right cut and education that will allow them to love and embrace the beautiful curls they were born with.
BE BOLD BE BRAVE BE CURLY!