3 JVN Products That Transformed a Beauty Writer’s Curls

A haircare brand founder once told me (and I paraphrase), “frizz is your hair reaching to the sky for moisture.” I can’t tell you who said it or what brand they founded, but that quote is permanently ingrained in my mind. Since heeding that advice, I’ve discovered that the key to making my curls defined and luscious is to keep my hair hydrated and my locks soft. Through my endless cocktailing of products, I have come across three products from JVN that have given me rich girl curls. 

As the resident hair expert on the incredibly wholesome and heartwarming Queer Eye reboot, Jonathan Van Ness had a tall order to fill when his namesake hair-care line, JVN, was announced. Celebrity beauty brands are a dime a dozen, and most are unremarkable, so I did not bother having any expectations — which only made the products’ effectiveness all the more pleasant. 

My hair looked shampoo-commercial level shiny and smooth, which was flabbergasting. I always assumed that, because I have a 3A curl pattern, this newfound lusciousness was not an option; my curls were just inherently too unruly for that type of sleekness, but JVN proved me wrong. After a few uses of these products, I had rich girl hair. You know, the type of hair that looks like you’ve spent thousands of dollars and countless hours on. Like maybe you’ve never experienced heat damage or dandruff in your life, and the water in your shower comes from a completely pure babbling brook in the Swiss Alps. Shop and read more about the hair-changing JVN products below. 

The shampoo does a wonderful job of making your hair feel clean but not dry or stripped bare. I usually avoid shampooing more than twice a week for that very reason, but I actually found that my hair could tolerate and even thrive when I used the Nurture Hydrating Shampoo every other day. 

I have lived most of my life with the assumption that the most important product for my curls’ definition and overall look is a leave-in conditioner or air-dry product. Over the last couple of years, however, I have discovered that if you find the right conditioner, you actually won’t need dollops of post-shower cream to awaken your curls. I haven’t been able to forgo a curl cream completely, but I am less dependent on it (and I can get behind anything that cuts steps out of my routine). 

Thinking about putting oil anywhere near my strands used to send me into a panicked tailspin. I couldn’t imagine the nourishing benefits outweighing the cons of greasy, weighed-down, limp strands. But I will try anything a few times for the sake of beauty. After showering and with my hair still wet, I put three small drops on my fingertips, rubbed them together, and very deliberately dispersed the oil throughout my hair, being careful to avoid my roots. After my curls dried, my hair looked like I had somehow brought makeup-like highlighter to it. My strands caught the light without looking oily and glistened throughout the next 14 hours.