Grammy- and Academy of Country Music Award–nominated country singer Cam didn’t always love her natural curls. “My mom had very curly hair when she was young, and she got teased for that. So when we were growing up, she would blow-dry our hair for us and straighten it out with a big, round brush. It was totally in style and cool to do, but she was trying to protect us, I would say, from the same kind of treatment that she got,” the Lafayette, California, native, 32, tells Stylish. “When I got to a certain age, I realized that the more I tried to straighten my hair, by the end of the school day, kinks would start coming out of the back of my head. I remember the first time I saw one of my friends in high school do her hair curly. She scrunched it and put some gel in it. I was like, ‘Holy crap, what are you doing?’ And she’s like, ‘You can do your hair curly, this is how you do it.’ And I thought, ‘This is amazing.’”
The recently married star, whose husband is business broker Adam Weaver, has joined John Frieda Hair Care for its “Your Hair Talks, Make A Statement” campaign, joining a community of women who embrace and flaunt their natural hair texture. Read on for more of our interview with Cam below!
Stylish: Why is John Frieda’s campaign important to you?
Cam: When I play shows and meet fans, they’ll come up to me and say things like, “My daughter has curly hair and she’s always hated it, and now she loves it because of you.” It’s really sweet. Most women with curly hair have tried to straighten it at some point to try and look like everybody else. And it’s just so important to have role models — ones that look different, but also ones that look like you. It has a big effect on kids and women in general when you look like someone in a position that’s successful because you start to realize that you can be like that too.
Stylish: How do your natural curls make you feel?
Cam: Now, when I have to do something that makes me nervous, like performing in front of a stadium or on TV, it makes me feel powerful. I remember going on The Ellen Degeneres Show for the first time and being really nervous, because I look up to Ellen and I really love that show. I wore my hair big, and it made me feel cool. Having big hair makes a statement. It says, “I think this is powerful; I’m not trying to be some sleek, sexy thing.'”
Stylish: What’s your favorite way to wear your hair every day versus on the red carpet?
Cam: The biggest thing with curly hair is that you have to slowly diffuse it once you get out of the shower while it’s really wet. That’s what takes a lot of time. When you want to do extra curls for a red carpet, you can use a curling iron to fix some of the ones on the top. You can use dry shampoo, which is great for volume, if you have fine hair like me. The more you put time into it, the more perfect the curls look.
Stylish: What’s the latest way that you’ve styled your hair that you love?
Cam: We kind of pulled it back — I think for my wedding we did this too — on one side, we pulled back pieces, and that’s really nice. It thins it out, sort of, on the side. You still have a lot of height on the top. My husband just got all gooey-eyed. He loves my hair that way.
Stylish: Any words to share with young girls who look up to you and want to follow in your footsteps?
Cam: Yes. I would say, own how you look because that is what is going to make you irreplaceable. It’s going to make you someone that people want to hire, someone that people want to be friends with, someone that people want to love.
