Jessicurl

New Jessicurl ad on KHUM Radio.

2008-12-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

I know most people don't go around TRYING to listen to commercials, but this one is actually funny! :) Jessicurl recently started sponsoring the Cocktail Hour on KHUM (awesome local radio station) and had a new commercial made to go along with it. It's hella funny, thanks to our awesome ad rep Mo and Larry the DJ. Check it out at this link, it's only a minute long:

http://www.jessicurlvideos.com/mp3/KHUMBusinessBuzzspot.mp3

Cool story about Island Fantasy scent.

2008-11-21T08:06:00.001-08:00

Here’s something cool that’s never happened before. Last night I was at the Jambalaya seeing a band, (ok, THAT part has happened before :-) and there was this girl standing next to me. When she moved her head I smelled a very familiar scent – the Island Fantasy scent of my products. It’s a pretty distinctive fragrance, and since I created it myself, I’m pretty familiar with it. So I asked her, “What hair products do you use?” and she said “Jessicurl!” I replied, “that’s my company!!” and she got all excited and said it was an honor to meet me and how much she loves my products. She didn’t even have curly hair! :-) (But like I’ve said many times, the shampoo and conditioner are great for any hair type.)

What’s even funnier than that experience is that JUST that morning I was thinking of how that’s never happened – recognizing the scent of my products in someone’s hair and finding out they use it. (I’ve had lots of situations where someone recognizes me and tells me they love my products, or I compliment someone's curls and find out they use Jessicurl, but never this particular scenario.) So that’s even weirder, eh? :-)

Video from my Rotary presentation

2008-11-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

I did my presentation to the Eureka Rotary on Friday and it went really well. My flapper costume was a hit and everybody there was really nice to me. I recorded it and edited somewhat to end up with a 16 minute video. The editing is kind of choppy, since it's my first attempt, but I imagine I'll get better over time. You can see it below. If it doesn’t work for you please let me know – I’m new to this video blogging thing and imagine there might be some things yet to work out. :) Here’s a picture of my costume, including the totally awesome garter flask my friend Sara made me. :)

Here’s the video:

I have lots of groovy stuff to tell you this time! :)

2008-11-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

First off, I’m excited to let you know that the November 10th copy of Women’s World Magazine rates Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream as its #1 pick for curly hair shampoos! (page 10, if you have a copy of it)

I’m thrilled that Woman’s World has recognized that the benefits of Hair Cleansing Cream come from including natural ingredients such as avocado oil, and the absence of sulfates which make so many traditional shampoos too drying for curly hair. Hopefully this article will educate other curlies about how best to care for their hair! You can see it at this link: https://www.jessicurl.com/wwghs-p-41.html

There’s also a great new article up at NaturallyCurly.com about Jessicurl that highlights some of the philanthropy we’re involved in. You can read that here:
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/spotlight/jessicurls-business-is-more-than-skin-deep

I’m also stoked about our newest international distributor, Fitjar Soap, located in Norway. The website is http://www.fitjarsoap.no/ so if you have any friends in Norway, let them know they can get Jessicurl there now! :)

And, I’ve FINALLY updated my hair routine on my website. :) I got my hair cut several months ago so of course my routine changed, and I kept forgetting to update it. :) So thank you to those of you who gently reminded me. You can find it by going to the following link and clicking on My Hair Routine: http://www.jessicurl.com/Meet-Jess-p-7.html

My blog is going to get a whole lot cooler!

2008-10-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

The other day I got a new digital camcorder so I can do video blogs!! :-) I'm pretty stoked. I have some groovy ideas for videos I want to post, but what I really want is input from you all about what kind of videos you'd like to see.
So please, leave comments letting me know what you would find helpful, interesting, just plain weird...whatever! :-) (well, you know, within reason of course. :-)

My presentation to the Eureka Rotary is tomorrow and I plan to use my new camera to film that. I'll post some or all of it once I figure out the editing, etc. I'll be in my costume and they're said to be the "rowdiest" Rotary club
in the area, so it should be fun.

Speaking of Halloween, I decided on my costume and went with the flapper idea I posted about a few weeks ago. I enjoyed hearing all of your ideas and think some of them were really cool, but between the blog and email comments, as well as input from people I know, the clear winner was the flapper. So I got the dress, fake pearls, the fake cigarette holder, the headband and some shoes and I'm all set! :-) AND, to make the costume even more authentic and awesome, my
super talented crafty friend Sara custom made me a garter flask holder! :-) (Women often had them during prohibition.) I got a small 2.5oz flask, picked out the fabric, and Sara sewed the cutest little pouch onto a black garter. (Not to worry - it will be empty when I speak to the Rotary! :-)

Here's a picture of that, and I'll post more pics and some video after I do the presentation.

Oh, and here's a link to Sara's blog. She makes some REALLY cute stuff! :-)
http://rainydaycraftsbysara.blogspot.com

Great trip to Canada and Boston, plus a pic of some Jessicurl curlies I met!

2008-10-22T15:39:00.000-07:00

Great trip to Canada and Boston, plus a pic of some Jessicurl curlies I met!
I've been gone for the past 2 weeks and am really glad to be home. (though I had a GREAT trip, as you'll see in a sec.) But being away from home for 2 weeks really makes me appreciate how wonderful Humboldt County is!(even though, really, there are worse places to visit than Northern Ontario and Boston in the fall! :) )

I spent a week in Canada with my dad, and that was great. We visited a bunch of old family friends and had a great time overall. Here's a cute pic of me and dad at his house:

After being in Canada for a week I flew from Toronto to Boston where I spent another full week. I was in Boston to attend Natural Products Expo East, a trade show aimed at the natural products industry. I didn't present at it, rather, I attended as a means of learning about the whole experience of presenting at a trade show so that in the next 6-8 months I can go to one and actually have a booth. I feel like I learned a lot about how it all works and am eager to find a trade show I can actually present at next time.

I went to college in Boston, so I have lots of friends there I haven't seen in 12 years. I stayed with my friend Heather and had a great time spending time with her and her ADORABLE little son Harry. He's 3 and right now he's ALL ABOUT Scooby Doo. :) One day I was wearing a dark blue wrap-style shirt that had purple trim, along with a skirt and brown boots. That is when he started calling me "Daph" after Daphne in Scooby Doo. :) I guess he decided I looked like her. :) (I'm sure the red hair didn't hurt either...) So all day it was, "Do you like this song Daph?" and "Are you ready for lunch Daph?" It was SO CUTE! Here's some pics of me and Harry, with me in my "Daphne" outfit. :)

His mom wanted one of me holding up the Daphne action figure. :)

One night when I was in Boston several of my Jessicurl customers came out and had some drinks with me and my friend Anna. I've known Anna since I was 6 and she lives in Boston,
so while she doesn't have curly hair, we thought it was only fitting that she come out for drinks too! :) We had a GREAT time. One lovely lady took the train all the way up from Providence, RI and another drove up from Cape Cod!!! Those are not short trips! So I was totally stoked to meet these 4 lovely curlies and was very flattered that they came from so far! We had a great time; they were all super nice and we had a lot of laughs. Here's a pic from the curly gathering:

I don't have any pics from the trade show, but I don't imagine you'd be TOO interested in that anyway. :) On Saturday night my old college friends and I all went out for a few drinks and had a GREAT time. I hadn't seen these folks in 12 years so it was SO great to re-connect and find out about their current lives, jobs, families, kids, etc. Here are a few pics from that night:

Here's me with my good friends Maria and Heather:

Here's one with just me and Maria. Jeez I sure do laugh a lot, even in pictures.

Here's a great one of my gals Rene, Heather and Maria.

OH!!!!! That totally reminds me of a great story! I was at the trade show and this woman was working a booth that featured herbal supplements. She had great curls. BUT, before I could tell her that, she said to me, "You have great curls, what products do you use?" Before I could even answer her, she said, "Have you ever heard of Jessicurl?" I said, "Yes, actually, that's what I use every day." I had every intention of telling her I AM Jessicurl, but before I could even do that she said, "Oh good, I wanted to make sure you knew about it because it's the best stuff I've found yet." So that's when I said, "Well, actually, that's my business...I make that stuff...I am Jessicurl..."

She buys my stuff from NaturallyCurly.com so she hadn't been to my site and didn't know what I looked like I guess. :) I thought that was SO AWESOME!! This random curly in Boston selling me on my own stuff!!! :) That was for sure the highlight of my trade show experience! :)

So all in all I had a GREAT time away, but I'm really really ready to be home now and keep selling that Jessicurl stuff! :)! (2 weeks is a LONG time to be gone! )

Thank goodness for my awesome staff who keeps things under control when I'm gone. So in that vein, I'd like to shout out to Dave, Matt, Steve, Doug, Drew and "the other Matt" for being such awesome employees!!! Really y'all, these dudes rock! :) I'm really lucky to have such great guys working for me. :)

New bumper stickers!!

2008-09-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

If you've made a purchase at Jessicurl.com in the last month or two you may have noticed the option to add a free bumper sticker to your order, and a ton of you have!

Those stickers are now gone, but we've just gotten in our shipment of brand NEW bumper stickers. But don't worry, they're still free. Here's a picture of what it looks like. (the actual size is 10x3)

Just like before, you can opt to get a free one with your order. And you don't just have to put it on your bumper! (but of course I had one on my bumper about 2 minutes after the box arrived. :) )

Please help me decide on a Halloween costume

2008-09-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

As a successful local business owner who’s not afraid of public speaking, I’m often asked to speak to local Rotary clubs, university classes and other various conferences. I always have a great time and I tend to get pretty good feedback. A few days ago I got a call from one of the Rotary clubs in Eureka asking me to be their speaker for their meeting on Halloween.

The woman said they specifically asked me to be their speaker on Halloween because, as she put it, “They’re a pretty rowdy bunch, and well, it’s Halloween, so I couldn’t very well schedule some stuffy old guy.” So, she asked me. :) I get it – I’m not old OR stuffy, and it was at a different Rotary speech that I was finally convinced to start doing stand-up comedy. :)

She also made it very clear that a costume is NOT optional. She said the last time they met on Halloween, they charged anybody NOT in costume $5. But, since I’m being asked to talk about my business, I feel like any costume I pick has to allow me to wear my hair the way I normally do – down and curly. I’m having a hard time coming up with costume ideas that will go well with short red curly hair. :) The one that I keep coming back to is a flapper from the 20s. Back when I had short BLONDE curly hair I had a blast dressing up as Marilyn Monroe, and when it was long red curly hair my Jessica Rabbit costume was a hit.

SO, I’m looking for your input on what would be a good costume. I found this flapper costume online and think it’s totally cute:

If you have pictures of yourself in your favorite costume that you want me to put in my blog, email them to me at Jess@Jessicurl.com and I’ll post them in the blog where I let you know which costume I decide on. Thanks in advance for your input! I’m totally excited for this speech! :)

Surgery update and other life stuff

2008-09-23T20:20:00.001-07:00

First off, thank you all so much for all your good wishes and thoughts when I had my surgery last month. :) I had it on Aug. 13 and I'm glad to say I didn't have to get a pacemaker after all! :)

The procedure was about 6.5 hours long and my doctor really thinks he fixed me this time. (It was my 4th.) At the end of it he gave me adrenaline, and that didn't even make my heart go fast, so he deemed it a success. So thank you again for all the good vibes!! :)

I'm fully recovered now and have been having a good end to my summer. A few weeks ago a band that I really love from Bellingham, WA, called Yogoman Burning Band, came to town and played at The Jambalaya in Arcata. (Remember, that's the place in town that has the Jessicurl Island Fantasy drink on their drink menu! :) You can read about that in my previous blog about it here:
http://www.jessicurl.com/blog/2008/03/random-fun-updates.html

The lead singer of Yogoman had gotten in touch with me through MySpace a few months ago and asked if I knew anybody at the Jambalaya and to see if I could help get them a gig there. I had never met him, I guess he just found me through his friends list on MySpace, I'm not sure. Either way, I was super happy to help! This band is super fun and I'd been loving their cd for months after hearing them on our awesome local radio station KHUM. Since I DO happen to know people at the Jambalaya, it was all too easy to get the gig booked. They played about a week and a half ago and it was AWESOME. There were a bunch of them, and hotels get expensive for touring bands, so I also hooked them up with places to stay. :) Some of them stayed at my house and some stayed with a friend of mine. It was great getting to know them all better that way and they were stoked for the hospitality. :) I took some pics so I'll paste them here.

Here is the whole band, after the show.

Here's one of me with Joel, the trumpet player.

I love this one of Jordan, Mars, Thomas and Joel totally rockin' out. :)

This is me and Robert the guitar player. The red hat was loaned to me by Joel. :)

The next day I left for a 3 day music festival called Earthdance. My SUPER favorite band, Spearhead, was the headliner, so I was totally excited to see them. Once again, I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with the lead singer, Michael Franti. (If you've checked out the Public Service section of my site, you know what an inspiration he's been to me and the donation program we have. You can read about that here: http://www.jessicurl.com/Public-Service-p-3.html)

Here's the picture of me with Michael Franti.

The festival was awesome and a great way to end the summer. Three days of camping and hanging out in the sun is good for you! :) (Yes, I wore lots of sun screen. It was HOT out there!) Not to mention, I was very thankful to be well and feel like dancing!

I'm really really going to try to blog more often, because I do have some other things I want to bring up. Feel free to give me a friendly reminder if you think it's been too long. :)

More thoughts, one week after the cut.

2008-07-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a week now since I did the big cut, and I'm slowly getting more used to it. The reactions have been ... interesting. Some people genuinely seem to really like it and prefer it for various reasons. Others say something like "it's cute" and move on, making me wonder if they really mean that. Others are a little more blunt - one friend looked at me in shock and said "what have you done to your beautiful hair?" :-) None of this really matters, because what's done is done, it was for good reasons, I do like the cut and it will grow back. But it's just interesting to see all the different reactions people have when someone does a major hair cut. :)

I don't have any more recent pictures, but I'm still having success using Too Shea for in-shower conditioning, not using any leave in, and styling with Gelebration and Confident Coils. I've also been using the Oil Blend a lot, as it makes it nice and soft without being over conditioned and cotton candy-looking, and it's useful as a way of smoothing the curls out a bit. Now don't get me wrong - you KNOW I think that when it comes to curls, the curlier the better! :) But, my hair is SO much curlier now, and so short, I'm liking that I can smooth them out just a bit. It has the added bonus of seeming to define them even more and adds a bit of nice shine.

One positive "side effect" of having this shorter hair is that I can't put it up. I know I said before the cut that I wanted to still be able to, but since I can't, I decided to find the positive aspects of that. :) When my hair was long, it would take a while to blow dry, wash, etc. So there were LOTS of days I just wore it up in a bun or a braid. Pretty boring for someone who owns a hair company! :) So now that I can't wear it up, I'm wearing my hair curly every day and, well, that just makes more sense! :)

I also plan on playing around and seeing if I can wash and style it with one hand. (read my former post about how I might not be able to do my own hair for a month due to possibly getting a pacemaker:
http://www.jessicurl.com/blog/2008/07/impulsive-decision-well-kinda.html

I have 3 weeks until my surgery so I'm going to give that a shot, just to see. :)

Playing around with products and amounts.

2008-07-21T23:08:00.001-07:00

So I'm having some fun figuring out what combo of Jessicurl products works best for this new short cut. I'm finding that if I use my old standby combo of RR + CCSS, I get SUPER curly hair. Which typically would be good! :) But since I'm feeling this cut is a little shorter than I'd hoped, I'm now aiming to elongate the curls a bit to get a little more length.

On Monday, I didn't wash it, I just conditioned with Too Shea. I used a little Aloeba as a leave in and styled with RR and CCSS, scrunched with towel and diffused for 5-8 minutes. Once it dried and I had scrunched out the crunch, I smoothed a little Oil Blend over and scrunched it in a little to soften it up and add some shine. My hair was kind of fluffy but very soft. I don't think I need as much conditioning as I did with my longer hair, so I'm guessing the leave in was not necessary, and I might be better off using Aloeba as my daily rinse out for a while. I LOVE my Too Shea, but maybe it's just too conditioning for my now super healhty hair. It was SUPER curly, thus making it really short. It was nice and shiny though, which I attribute to the Oil Blend, but over all pretty much looked like the last pic I posted.

Today I tried a different tactic. I washed with Hair Cleansing Cream and conditioned with Aloeba. I didn't use a leave in and instead of RR, I used Gelebration Spray, since it's lighter and thus, less curl enhancing. I scrunched into wet hair about a quarter sized puddle of CCSS and sprayed all over with Gelebration Spray. I scrunched with the microfiber towel and diffused. Once it dried and I scrunched out the (very little) crunch, I again smoothed over some Oil Blend. This time I didn't scrunch after adding the Oil Blend, I kind of just smoothed it all over. I think I like this better. It SEEMS a little longer and less curly, but obviously, still VERY curly and well defined, which I love. I wonder what your perception is - is there actually a difference, or is it all in my head? :-) Here's a pic, and I welcome your input. I will say, I'm loving how SHINY it seems. Again, I think that is because of the Oil Blend. It doesn't feel greasy to the touch, just nice and soft, but SO shiny.

Hair cut, take 2

2008-07-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

I was really feeling like the cut from yesterday was too round, so I went back today and had her do some re-shaping. I like it a LOT better. Here’s a pic:

I’m REALLY liking how much faster it is to do my hair now! I used two quarter sized puddles of RR, a nickel sized puddle of CCSS and diffused for about 5 minutes then let it air dry the rest of the way. Showers are faster, hair styling is faster – I’m diggin’ it! :-)

This cut is going to take some getting used to.

2008-07-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after getting the cut I went home later and re-did my hair. I had a fundraiser to participate in later that night for the community currency project. I set up my Joke Box! :) That is so fun. You can see the pics in my Fotki album – it looks like a juke box, but instead of playing music when you put money in, I tell you a joke! :) It was really fun and everybody at the event really enjoyed it.

Anyway, when I first re-did my hair, I totally liked it. But then, as the night progressed, it seemed to just get rounder and rounder, and after a while I didn’t like it anymore. I think today I’m going to try just using Confident Coils and not Rockin’ Ringlets, and I’m going to try air drying and not using the hair dryer. Maybe those two changes will elongate the curls a little and keep it from getting quite so round. We’ll see. And maybe this “roundess” problem is all in my head. (ha, or ON it.) I want your honest input here people! :) I mean, if you actually like it, then sure, tell me. But if you agree that it’s pretty darn round, lemmie know your thoughts on what I can do to fix that. It’s been 5 years since I’ve had short hair, so maybe it’s just that I’m more used to the weight of my long hair pulling it down, and I just need to get used to it. I’m hesitant to ask my stylist to re-shape it, because I don’t want it to end up any shorter than it already is. Ah well, at least I know someone will get to use the hair I cut for a wig! :)

Here's a a pic I took from inside the Joke Box of how round it got:

Here’s my fotki link again if you want to see the pics from the Joke Box. http://public.fotki.com/Jessicurl/the-big-chop/

I'll keep updating the blog as I figure this all out. :)

It's done. I now have short hair!

2008-07-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it’s done! I’m a little in shock and it’s going to take a few days to get used to it, but it’s a good cut. Just shorter than I’d hoped. Oh well. Like I said, hair is a renewable resource! :)

Below are a few pics from the process, but I added a few more to my fotki album here:
http://public.fotki.com/Jessicurl/the-big-chop/

I knew the hair needed to be clean and dry, so that morning I washed it twice with Gentle Lather Shampoo, conditioned with Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment, let it air dry and put it in a braid. This pic is in the salon, right before she re-braided it and chopped it off.

This is after she re-braided it and cut it:

This is Noelle, my stylist, making the first big cut. She looks a little too into it, don't you think? :-)

This is after the first cut and before she re-wet it and did the shaping portion of the cut:

This is after I styled it myself at the salon:

I had NO idea how much Rockin’ Ringlets and Confident Coils to use, because, as you can see, it’s SO MUCH SHORTER! :-) So the final pic in this posting is when it was still a little wet and without the right amount of product. Over the next week or so I’ll post updates as I learn how best to style this new short do I have! :-)

Impulsive decision – well, kinda.

2008-07-17T17:55:00.000-07:00

You may know that since Sep of 2003 I've been growing out my hair to donate it to Locks of Love or some other worthy organization that makes wigs for kids and women with medical hair loss. I first thought I'd do it Jan 2007…well that date obviously came and went. Then I thought I'd do it last Spring. Well, I obviously didn't do that either.

BUT. Today I called and made an appointment to have it done TOMORROW!! I have to have more heart surgery next month and this time they will likely give me a pacemaker. If that happens, I'm not going to be allowed to lift my arm above my head for a MONTH! That means, GASP, no washing of my own hair! How difficult is THAT going to be??? (answer: VERY ) So I figured, if I'm going to have to be asking friends to help me wash my hair, it might be nice for them to have less of it to deal with. :-) Like, 11 inches less. :-) So that's that. Tomorrow at noon I'm doing the Big Chop. I'm totally excited, and a little nervous too. I'm not sure how much hair that will leave me with, but I figure it will at least be long enough to still put up, and that's all that really matters.

Just for comparison purposes, here is a pic of where it was when I started growing it out in 2003. (That's pretty much my natural color.)

Here's what it's like now (please excuse the super shiny face. :-) )

And I HOPE I'm left with at LEAST this much when she's done tomorrow:

(That's me with one of my favorite musicians, Michael Franti, in 2005)

I'll of course post pics after it's done. Eeek! I'm stoked and nervous at the same time. :) But hey, hair is a renewable resource, right? I'll just start the process all over again and do another donation in a few years. If you have any suggestions of other organizations besides Locks of Love who accept hair donations, let me know. :)

Check it out, I’m in a commercial!

2008-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty stoked about this actually. I’ve never been in a commercial before. But when Cliff from KHUM asked me to be in the new TV commercial for the radio station, I said SURE! Everybody knows what a fan I am of KHUM and all they do for our community, so I was happy to do it. Not only are they awesome with supporting local charities and keeping the public updated on what’s going on around here, they also play totally awesome music! They’re one of the last free-form stations around, which means they can play basically whatever they want and are staffed by actual local people. They have a webstream available at www.KHUM.com so YOU TOO can listen to the best radio station ever, if you're into that kinda thing. :) Anyway, you can check out the commercial at YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3Fh73nsCg0

In my last blog I mentioned that I’ll be doing standup comedy this coming Saturday night at the Jambalaya in Arcata. I was stoked to see that they put me on the poster for the show! (Yes, people just call me Jessicurl these days. :) )

I am going to have someone record the audio for it, so I’ll post what I can here. :-) Have a great day curlies!! :-)
Jess

Random fun updates

2008-03-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

Now that it’s basically spring, things have really picked up here in Humboldt and I have some fun updates to fill you in on.

You may remember a few blogs ago I posted that the Jambalaya, my favorite bar/restaurant in Arcata had featured the Jessicurl Island Fantasy cocktail as their drink special for a few nights in December. (Here's a link to that post:
http://www.jessicurl.com/blog/2008_01_01_jessicurl_archive.html

Well, I’m excited to report that now it’s on the drink menu permanently. Below is a pic I took of the menu. It’s a little hard to read all the drinks, but the Jessicurl is near the bottom. I think this is SO cool. I go to the Jambalaya (the “Jam” as the locals call it) quite often, so I’m honored to have a drink named after me on their menu. It’s quite tasty too! :-) Here's a link to the pic:

As you also may know if you read my blog, I’m friends with a lot of the people who work at the groovy local radio station, KHUM. (I also listen to it pretty much all day, as they play awesome music. Their slogan is “Radio Without The Rules.”) The first weekend in March they do Women’s Weekend, where for the entire weekend they play music by only female artists and feature only female DJs. This year they asked me to guest DJ during the weekend, and I had a BLAST. I did 2 hours of co-djing with my good friend Lila during the day, so that was SUPER fun, then from 10-midnight that night I did 2 hours of my own. I had a lot of fun the whole time and was thrilled to have been asked. Last week I also was filmed to be in their upcoming TV commercial, so that was fun too. Here’s a pic from my guest DJing gig:

And now for something totally unrelated to shampoo flavored cocktails and guest DJing … stand up comedy! I picked up this little hobby a few years ago in an effort to get more comfortable with public speaking. My theory was, if I can comfortably do stand up comedy, I can talk to ANYBODY about ANYTHING. I was right. :) I have no problems speaking to the various university classes or Rotary clubs I’m asked to come talk to. What I WASN’T expecting was that I’d be any good at the stand up. :) Sure, I know I’m funny, but I’m funnier in conversation and the act of actually WRITING comedy is very difficult. Well, I guess other people around here think I’m not too bad at it, because lately I’ve been asked to do it for various reasons. Back in November I was asked to be the entertainment and do 30 minutes of comedy at a fundraiser for the Companion Animal Foundation, who provides low cost spay and neutering for local animals. I was shocked. I did it, but I was still shocked. It went well though, and people laughed, in a good way. :)

Then a few weeks ago I was at the Jambalaya (shock!) talking to a local musician friend of mine, and he was going to be doing a show with some other guys a few nights later at a different bar, and he asked me to “open” for them with 30 minutes of comedy. So I did. I was NERVOUS because I only had 2 days to prepare. BUT, the people were CRACKING up! So much so, that they asked me to do it AGAIN in April! So on April 5th I’ll be opening for those guys and some others with 30 minutes of comedy at … The Jambalaya! My favorite place in town! :) I’ve been carrying around a note book to keep track of the funny things that come into my head, and I’m feeling pretty good about the material I’ve come up with. It should be fun. Of course I’m still totally nervous, but it will still be fun. :) I’m going to see if maybe someone can record it this time, at least with audio, and if that happens I’ll post what I can in this blog. We’ll see. So that’s all been keeping life fun and interesting, for sure! :)

There are some other really exciting things coming up around here in Jessicurl land, but I’ll have to save that for another blog. Keep on laughing curlies, it’s the best medicine! :)
Jess

Had a great time on the Bob and Sheri show.

2008-02-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did an interview on the Bob and Sheri radio show, and it was super fun. Bob and Sheri are so nice, and quite funny. Sheri has been using Jessicurl for over a year and seems to really love it. The interview is about 7 minutes long, and you can listen to it here:
http://www.jessicurlvideos.com/mp3/bobshericall21808.mp3

Their show is really entertaining, and since they podcast (and air it live on their webstream) I’m going to start listening more frequently. You can too, at their website:
http://www.BobandSheri.com

I'm going to be on the Bob and Sheri radio show.

2008-02-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

I'm stoked to let you know that coming up on Monday (2/18) morning at 9:10am ET (6:10am here in CA) I'll be a guest on the Bob and Sheri radio show. Sheri recently said she is "addicted" to Jessicurl, "the best curly hair products ever." They are syndicated on 60 stations around the country and I'll be answering hair questions from their listeners. Anybody can call in, even you! :-) Plus, if you're not in one of the cities where you can hear it on the radio you can still hear it through one of the following ways:

To listen live on the internet via the webstream, go here: http://1079thelink.com/page.cfm?ID=2

To listen anytime, anywhere, grab their podcast here: http://1079thelink.com/custom/podcast.cfm

The number to call the day of the show to ask questions is 1-888-BOB-SHERI.

I hope you're all having a good hair day! :)
Jess

Please don't drink your shampoo

2008-01-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Hey y’all,
I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted a blog. I’m really going to try to be more regular about it in the new year. I’ll call it a goal, not a resolution though. Less pressure that way. :-)

Over the years it’s become really obvious how much people LOVE the Island Fantasy scent that our products come in. People say they want to drink their shampoo because it smells good enough to eat. We don’t want you to do that, especially since now we’re offering Island Fantasy flavored white chocolate candy bars instead! Sounds strange, yes, but they’re SO YUMMY, and we donate twenty-cents from every candy bar to Food For People, the food bank of Humboldt County. So really, you’re doing a public service by buying and enjoying them. :-) You can find them on my site here:
http://www.jessicurl.com/Island-Fantasy-White-Chocolate-Bar-pr-688.html

AND, if you just need MORE Island Fantasy flavored goodness, you can make a yummy cocktail that tastes like it. In fact, The Jambalaya in Arcata, my personal favorite bar/restaurant, even recently made it their drink special! Here’s a picture of the special board:
The drinks on their drink menu are all named after local bands that have played there, and in the next few days they’re going to put the Jessicurl Island Fantasy on their permanent drink menu – even though I’m not a band! :) (but I SEE a lot of bands in there.) I think that’s pretty cool. Why SHOULDN’T people be able to enjoy a cocktail that tastes like their shampoo smells? :-)

Of course, I ask you to enjoy your shampoo flavored cocktails responsibly! Happy New Year!
Jess

Fun on the radio

2007-09-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

Humboldt County is a pretty small area, yet we’re blessed to have THE coolest radio station around, KHUM. Their slogan is “Radio without the rules” and as such they have the freedom to do whatever they want, even if it means playing the same song 3 times in a row just because the DJ wants to. :-) (luckily they play great music.) They’re ALSO very involved in the community, sponsoring all sorts of events, and they’re very into promoting local businesses. Since I’m always raising money for something, I end up on the air with them sometimes to promote it, and lots of it has been recorded in the recent months. So I thought it would be fun to put up some of the clips, just in case you felt like “tuning in”.

Over the spring I worked really hard as the Fundraising Co-Coordinator for the North Star Quest Girls Camp, a non-profit camp for adolescent girls. So most of the clips I have pertain to getting the word out about the camp and the various fundraisers we did.

Definitely the most FUN fundraiser I did was the Joke Box. :-) The deal was every time someone put $1 through the slot, I told them a clean joke, and for $5 I told them a dirty joke. :-) We had a lot of fun and raised some money, so that was great.
Here’s a picture of what it looked like:

www.jessicurlvideos.com/jess/JessInBox.JPG
In preparation for it, Larry the afternoon DJ at KHUM was kind enough to let me come on the air with him and tell some jokes for a while to get the word out about camp and the joke box. Well THAT was a ton of fun, of course, and since we recorded it I can share some clips of it with you here! These clips were from June 27.

This first one is pretty funny, as I totally surprised Larry with some random things he asked me to bring to him as a joke, and did he NOT expect me to actually bring them. It was by far the strangest scavenger hunt I’VE ever been on. And it was on the radio for all to hear. :-)
Gifts For Larry.

In the next clip I explain a bit about camp and the joke box, then tell a joke going into the commercial break:
Camp/Joke Box info plus a joke.

Here’s a really funny joke that I was a bit surprised I was allowed to tell. :-) (it’s not THAT bad though, but it WAS on the radio.)
Thought I might be pushing it with this joke.

This clip is just funny because the label on the Vitamin Water I was drinking was HILARIOUS (at least to me):
Vitamin Water is hilarious.

This was by far one of the strangest radio moments I’ve ever been involved in. Larry read pieces of the crime report from a town North of us called Trinidad, which has a population of about 300. So you can imagine how crazy their crime report is. ;-) So we alternated – he talked about crime and I told jokes. Yup, you gotta love Radio Without the Rules! There are actually some pretty funny jokes mixed into this one. :-)
Crime report and jokes - a natural pairing.

And here’s the final joke I told before leaving the station that day:
Last joke.

Here’s one that’s pretty funny. Mike, the mid-morning DJ at KHUM has called me the "Paris Hilton of Humboldt County" on the air a few times. I know he's just joking, but it's not exactly the most flattering thing ever said about me when there's no context for it. :-) So about 2 weeks ago I was down at the station and on the air with him, to talk about how Jessicurl was a sponsor of the Power to the Peaceful festival in San Francisco, and I took the opportunity to set the record straight. ;-) Check it out:
Jess is NOT like Paris Hilton!

So that was all just a blast. But some of the other DJs there were also super awesome to me in getting the word out about camp, and I have those interviews too. The one below is with Amy, the evening DJ (and co-founder of the station!) She’s also a friend of mine. This interview is all about the awesome camp and why I’m so passionate about it, as well as the fundraisers we were doing for it. Amy is such a wonderful woman!!
Amy teases me a bit when we start this interview.

Even though the message is basically the same, here’s one more. This one is with Craig from KWPT, which is the sister station of KHUM. Craig is super cool - he even uses my products on his wavy hair! :-)
Camp interview with Craig.

So obviously there’s a ton of clips there, but I thought, hey, what the hell, might as well put them up in my blog in case people need a good laugh once in a while! Most of them are pretty short. ;-)

5 Years Ago Yesterday

2007-09-05T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yep, it's that time of year again – Jessicurl's birthday! :-) Five years ago yesterday I got my business license and thus became official. CRAZY!

In some ways it feels like I've been doing this much longer than that, and in other ways that seems like a long time. It's weird. But all the business people say that the 5 year mark is really the point at which you know you'll succeed, for the most part. So many businesses fail in the first 5 years that I'm really thankful that we've been able to keep growing this whole time.

Of course it wouldn't have worked out if it weren't for our awesome customers, so thank you so much to all of you who have helped support Jessicurl over the years. I really appreciate it. It's been fun, hard, exciting, stressful and all sorts of other emotions, but I can't imagine doing anything else. Anyway, now I'm just rambling. So thank you all again for all of your support and encouragement. It really means a lot to me.

Please take my t-shirt survey

2007-08-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

I'm working on making Jessicurl T-Shirts available, as I’ve had a number of requests for them. Please click on the following link and take a moment to weigh in on your favorite style, size and color. At the end of the brief survey you can enter a drawing to win free Jessicurl stuff!

Take the survey here.

Back from North Star Quest Camp. OMG!!!!

2007-08-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so those of you who know me in person know I'm pretty enthusiastic and once in a while I exaggerate things. But I am NOT exaggerating when I say that this week at camp was one of the most, if not THE most, amazing experiences I've ever had in my life. If I ever had any doubt that we can make a difference in this world, it has been cleared up.

The camp is for girls going into 6-8th grades, and we had 31 campers. The girls got there on Sunday and left Thursday, and the staff all got there Saturday. It was out in the redwoods, on the Matole River. Here's a picture of part of the main lodge and some of the grounds:

We had all sorts of workshops, including a 2 hour one on deconstructing the media. They cut out pictures from magazines of images of women they thought were and weren't realistic and pasted them on posters. We talked about the different things that made them feel that way and how they would LIKE to see women represented in the media. Then they each made a page for their dream magazine and we put them all together, so basically they all contributed to making their ideal magazine. It was really awesome.

Here are the posters they made during the workshop.

We also had a super fun clowning workshop (I took that one – SHOCK! :-), a woman from the Rape Crisis Center presented one on creating healthy relationships, we had one on discovering your true colors, along with belly dancing, west African dancing and all sorts of other really awesome topics. We also spent lots of time in the river, song a ton of songs and had a blast overall. Local singer/songwriter Extraordinaire Lila Nelson came down and played and stayed over so that was SUPER fun. The next day all the girls were walking around singing her songs. Also, each cabin wrote a skit that they performed for their parents on the last day. So cute!

The campfire we had on the final night was amazing. We all went around the circle and said what we got out of the experience. I can't tell you how hopeful it made me feel to hear a sweet 11 year old girl say, 'I learned that I'm beautiful just the way I am and that I don't have to look like the ladies in the magazines– even THEY don't really look like that!" Another girl said, "I learned that love is like confetti – you spread it all around and eventually you always get it back. I'm taking home all the love that you all have shown me." Another one said, "I'm taking home the knowledge that I am beautiful, because nobody ever tells me that in my regular life." Powerful stuff from such young girls, I tell ya.

It was really awesome to see some of them come out of their shells. One girl literally almost left when she got to camp because it was her first time away from home and she was scared. She decided to stay, so when she chose to read a poem at our talent show on the 3rd night, I really almost cried.

Every night we sang this song at the end of campfire:

How can anyone ever tell you
that you're anything less than beautiful
How can anyone ever tell you that you're less than whole.
How can anyone fail to notice
that your loving is a miracle
How deeply you're connected to my soul

It was all just wonderful. The other women who made up the staff were all amazing and I just feel SO lucky that I was able to be a part of something so awesome. There's NO way I'm not going back for as long as I can. :) As I've mentioned before, it's a non-profit camp that doesn't turn anyone away for inability to pay, which is why I spent the last 6 months working my butt off being the Fundraising Coordinator. But it was SO worth it.

And I’m touched and proud to say that we were able raise over $500 in donations through Jessicurl.com, so thank all of YOU for your support of this awesome camp! I really really appreciate it and can honestly say you have helped to change the world, one girl at a time. Thank you!

SO STOKED!!!

2007-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

OMG, maybe it's sad that this has me so excited, but whatever. This is my life. :-)

The company we get our Jessicurl labels from is now offering an environmentally friendly option!!! Check out this email we just got from them:

"Lightning Labels is delighted to announce the introduction of a new environmentally friendly label material for the digital label printing industry. Most film material, such as the popular white BOPP material, are made from petroleum. Now, there is an alternative – it is a material called EarthFirst PLA and it is made from corn, a renewable resource.

We have been testing this corn-based material here for some months now and we have found it to be quite durable. It is both waterproof and oilproof, and it has similar properties to our popular white BOPP material."

DUDE!!! I'm stoked. Being as environmentally friendly as possible is super important to me, so I'm thrilled that on our next order we can begin switching.
(I know that there are some issues with using corn for non-food options, but you gotta admit, this is better than the alternative.)

Now to get a better alternative to plastic bottles. :-)
(in the meantime PLEASE keep recycling them!)

I'm off to do the Happy Hippie Dance!!!! :-)

Love Jess