The GlamTwinz Guide To Beauty and Natural Hair
Kelsey and Kendra Murrell – a.k.a. the GlamTwinz – are two badass Southern Belles and experts on beauty, fashion, and hair.
With over half a million subscribers across two YouTube channels – GlamTwinz334 and GlamTwinzTV – it’s clear that viewers have come to rely on their tips, tricks, and beauty recommendations.
How did “The GlamTwinz” vision become a reality?
Nearly six years ago we happened to create a video and upload it to YouTube. Today, that one upload has turned into over 400 videos and nearly 47 million views – we never dreamed of being here. We just wanted to vlog our passion for beauty, fashion, and most all – hair.
Tell us something surprising.
People may not know this about us – but we love interior design. We love decorating and think that we really have an eye for it.
What beauty products do you think are totally to-die-for?
This is a hard one but here goes…
Kelsey: Lancome Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate – It’s an anti-aging serum that makes my skin glowy and smooth.
Kendra: MAC Mineralize Volcanic Ash Exfoliator – I love this exfoliator because it helps to get rid of dead skin and allows my makeup to go on flawlessly.
Since you’re from the South – what do you think is different about Southern beauty?
We feel that beauty is universal. It’s all about how you feel – some days you want to go simple and other days you want to make a statement.
For both of you, your hair seems to be your pride and glory – what made you take the leap to go natural?
We’ve been natural for 6 or 7 years now and we decided to go natural because the relaxers were damaging to our hair and we wanted to take a chance and see how our hair would grow out.
We started transitioning and just let the relaxer grow out. We wore our hair in buns and in curls a lot and we started to realize that our hair was more manageable like this.
So you don’t believe the stereotype that natural hair is more difficult to manage?
Not really – it depends on your hair texture.
Kelsey: You can’t put everyone in one box – it depends on the person. Some people prefer to sit in a chair and get a sew-in but we don’t have seven hours to sit in a chair so maintaining our natural hair is the easier solution for us.
Are you a fan of extensions?
We’ve never done weaves or anything. A lot of people have had extensions at some point but through our transition [to natural hair] we basically wore it in a bun a lot and tried to make it work.
Why did you choose to slowly transition instead of doing the Big Chop?
We were a little scared to do the big chop – it’s a lot to cut off all your hair, especially when you’ve had long hair all your life. It’s hard to make that kind of commitment.
A lot of natural hair blogs will claim that this product or that product helped them to get their hair as long and full as it is – do you ladies believe that products can really have this effect or is it more genetics?
It’s definitely genetic – products enhance what you’re already working with but they can’t magically reform your hair. We’ve always had curly hair texture and when we were little our mom would do our hair every day. She only started doing relaxer when we were 9 years old because it wasn’t manageable for her.
Who do you look at and think #hairgoals?
Jennifer Freeman, from “My Wife and Kids,” was the first girl we saw with really curly hair and we thought it looked really pretty and decided that we wanted to grow our hair out.
We also follow lots of different girls on IG for hair-inspo.
What’s your process for maintaining your curls?
We don’t use shampoo all the time – maybe just once a month to remove build-up.
Every week we co-wash [conditioner washing] and deep condition. Then we do our routine – we do a moisturizer, curler, and style. We like to do the pineapple [hairstyle] at night.
What products do you use?
Kinky Curly Origional Curling Custurd and Mixed Chicks products. We also love As I Am products – the range has a nice butter cream and jelly for styling.
Do you have any final tips and tricks for all the Galore girls out there?
Kendra: Stick to a routine that helps your hair look how you like it to look. Don’t do one thing today and something completely different tomorrow because it’s confusing for your hair.
Also, make sure you keep your hair moisturized. If you live somewhere where it get’s really cold like in New York – have a hat on to protect your hair from drying out.
Kelsey: Deep conditioning. Sometimes I deep condition twice a week. I had a period of time when I had a lot of heat damage and deep conditioning helped me – after a while I started to see the straight pieces curl out.
Another way to do this is to put a shower cap on and sit under a hooded dryer.
