For mom and daughter duo Lori, 50, and Taylor, 24, great curls run in the family. Together, the Connecticut-based twosome are the team behind hit YouTube channel M.A.D. Curls (short for Mother and Daughter Curls). Their honest hair product reviews and candid back-and-forth banter won't just make you want to spend some quality time styling your curls-it'll also make you want to give your own mom (or offspring!) a call. We chatted with the women about their creative process, their transition to natural hair, and what's it like to spend so much time in each other's presence.
For someone who hasn't seen your videos, how would you describe what you do?
Lori: We are a mother and daughter team, two different ages, two different thoughts. We're drawing in women of different age groups, but it crosses over - there's older women who love Taylor, there's younger women who love me, and we're encouraging all women to embrace their natural hair.
Taylor: We have a tip/chat-based review style, and people love hearing about the products, hearing about what they do, but they also love our banter.
Have you always worn your hair natural?
Taylor: I went natural in 2010 because I had my hair relaxed, and I was also dyeing it. All that damage caught up to me, and my hair fell out. It was kind of like a big chop, but I didn't mean for it to happen. So from that point on, I transitioned. At that point, I was losing my hair because I dyed it, and my mom was losing hers because of another reason, so we went natural in 2010 together.
Lori: I had turned 40, and hormonally I guess, I started to lose my hair and I was stressing out. With Taylor, I had always relaxed her hair because we're African-American and it's what we did in our family. No one in our family is natural except us. My stylist told me absolutely never to put another relaxer in my hair if I wanted hair on my head, so I had to stop on a dime. Taylor was losing hers, and I said, "You have to stop on a dime. I'm not going to put a relaxer on your hair anymore." So together we had to transition to get the relaxer out.
How did you feel after transitioning to natural hair?
Lori: We went live the other night, and I talked about comparing it to someone who loses weight and becomes a clothes addict - you love the way you look in clothes, and you just buy and buy. We've become product junkies because we love our natural hair and we just cannot buy enough products. We love touching it, we love styling it, love learning new tips, and we love sharing that with our audience. We just fell in love with our hair.
How long does a video typically take you to create from start to finish?
Taylor: Our process is probably longer than most people. Before we start, we wet our hair, shower, and get dressed, and that process between the two of us will take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours. The shower, the prepping, the makeup, the backdrop, the aesthetic - which people love, because we always match our product with our backdrop and our clothing.
Lori: We iron our t-shirts.
Taylor: [laughs] Yes, it's a real process. Then once we get on camera and click the record button, it can take maybe about 3 hours of filming, letting our hair air dry, and getting back on camera and finishing up the video. Then taking the thumbnail and the pictures.
Lori: I don't know if you call it being so good at what we do, or being so amateur at what we do, but we let the camera roll and we very rarely edit.Taylor: I would say 6 to 7 hours is a film process, from start to finish.
Do you have a favorite Ouidad product?
Lori: I love the Ultra-Nourishing Cleansing Oil Shampoo. It's like nothing I've ever felt before-I love that shampoo.
Taylor: I love the Featherlight Styling Cream - that was the first Ouidad product I tried.
Lori: And I love the whole Curl Quencher line. When I got my hair cut at Utopia Salon in New Jersey, they had all the Curl Quencher products, and I said, I want every single product in my hair. I have every single one now!
What's the best thing about working on these videos as a duo?
Lori: Our time spent together.
Taylor: Yes, our time spent together. My mom and I really couldn't be closer - we even share the same birthday!
Lori: We get to show ourselves unapologetically, and we encourage and support each other in that.
Taylor: I love that people love my mom, and my mom loves that people love me, and that they love us together, and that's what makes us fun.
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