The Menomonie, Wis., native had already learned that few hair stylists knew how to cut her very thick, curly, coarse locks.
"I was sick of how I would be treated and I knew I would wind up really disappointed, hating my hair and hating myself," Zimmerman says.
At age 14, she got a chemical relaxer treatment in efforts to curb the curl. But the chemicals were so harsh that Zimmerman says her hair "felt like hay," and opted for "a big chop" to get rid of the damage.
Scroll forward a couple of decades and no one would accuse Zimmerman of a bad hair day. Her blonde hair is a head-turning halo of soft ringlets — the type of Botticelli tresses that other curly-tops covet and complete strangers ask to touch.
Kristy Zimmerman opened her latest Uptown Curl salon in Fargo in April. Tammy Swift / The Forum
Then again, curls are Zimmerman's business. After launching an Uptown Curl salon on Hennepin in Minneapolis in 2014, Zimmerman also started Uptown Curls in Maple Grove and Stillwater, Minn., as well as in her Wisconsin hometown. In mid-April, she opened her latest salon in Fargo at Time Square East, 4900 13th Ave S., Suite 6. Here, her curl-savvy stylists cut, style and color curly-headed clients, whether their locks are loose, languid waves or the kinkiest coils imaginable.
Uptown Curl is located at Time Square East in Fargo. / By Tammy Swift.
The salon is by no means "straightist": Uptown Curl's hairdressers can cut any type of hair, including straight, Zimmerman says. But textured hair is a specialty: The stylists are trained in curl-care by an in-house stylist/educator, the cutting techniques are curl-centric, the haircare products are formulated for textured hair and the shampoo stations and hairdryers were designed with curly-tops in mind.
Even the curlicue light fixtures are an homage to curls: They're suspended from the ceiling like chrome-plated, electrified spirals.
Even the light fixtures in Uptown Curl salons are curl-inspired. / By Tammy Swift
"It's about educating and empowering clients to to do their own hair and love how their curls look," says Zimmerman, as she paints caramel highlights on a client with thick, long, black curls. "Having curly hair is not a curse, it can be easy. This is who you are, so we want to make it simple."
From cursing curls to coddling them
After the trauma of her early haircuts, Zimmerman knew she wanted to go to hair school and specialize in curly hair. She graduated from the Salon Professional Academy in Eau Claire, Wis., in 2011 while honing her skills at a variety of salons.
For years, Zimmerman had tried everything from relaxers and blow-outs to weaves to "cure" her hair. Oddly enough, her blonde spirals even held her back in the job market. "I was denied a job because the interviewer told me my hair wasn't professional and they wouldn't hire me unless I agreed to straighten my hair in writing," Zimmerman recalled.
It all changed when she read Lorraine Massey’s book, “Curly Girl The Handbook," which celebrates curly locks and shares tips for how to care for them. "I started to have a glimmer of hope," Zimmerman says.
Zimmerman couldn't believe her luck when she met Massey at a Curl-by-Curl cutting workshop in Atlanta in 2013. When she scrunched up the courage to approach Massey and ask her advice about opening a salon, the two immediately clicked. Not only did they share the nearly identical type of corkscrew spirals, they also shared the same passion for cutting and caring for curls.
Curly hair is typically classified according to degree of curl, with Type 2 encompassing loose waves and Type 4 representing tight coils. / By Tammy Swift
They've become close friends, with Massey standing up as Zimmerman's maid-of-honor at her wedding and Zimmerman working as the lead hair colorist for the photos in Massey's latest book, "Silver Hair: Say Goodbye to the Dye and Let Your Natural Light Shine: A Handbook."
"We're all these kinds of misfits," says Zimmerman, who spoke in past interviews of childhood teasing and cruel nicknames aimed at her because of her curls. "We weren't the cool kids."
By the time their paths had crossed, Zimmerman had earned her curl-care stripes. She'd worked as a textured hair specialist at East 42nd Street (now Twisted Hare Salon and Spa) in Minneapolis and another salon in Brooklyn, N.Y., and had become an advanced stylist in curly methods when she attended the Deva Curl Academy in New York City in 2012.
Inspired by all she'd learned, she took the plunge. Zimmerman took out a high-interest loan for $5,000 — just enough for a security deposit and one-month's rent — and opened her Minneapolis salon.
Within a few months, she had the good fortune to be discovered by a Star Tribune reporter, who wrote a three-page article on the comeback of curls for the Strib's Lifestyle section. "We just exploded," Zimmerman says.
Fargo ready for specialized salon
Today, with multiple salons in two states to manage, Zimmerman makes an effort to spend time — and to take appointments — at each salon.
Which begs the question: Why did she choose Fargo as the site for another salon — 230 miles from Maple Grove — as her next curly conquest?
Zimmerman says it was a logical next step after visiting the area and seeing the vibrant business community, the rapid growth of the area and the diversity of its citizens. She also felt reassured knowing that she'd lined up an experienced team, including manager Sandee Stall, who has cut hair for more than 20 years, and Megan Walz, a stylist and the salon's in-house educator.
"They really run the place," she says. "I just kind of set it up."
Receptionist Ysabelle Carr answers the phone to answer a future client's questions. Carr also hopes to cut curly hair someday. / By Tammy Swift
Early on in her career, Zimmerman learned that curly clients everywhere would go to any lengths to find products and haircuts that worked. In fact, one of Zimmerman's clients on this day is a woman who used to drive from Iowa to the Twin Cities to have the master stylist cut her hair. That client now lives in Fargo and was overjoyed to learn she could now just drive across town to get a curl-friendly clip.
The care and feeding of curls
The Fargo store is an an airy, clean, modern space, decked out in Uptown Curl's trademark aqua-blue intermingled with cream-colored brick, full-length mirrors and accents of dark gray and chrome.
(Left to right) Uptown Curl Founder Kristy Zimmerman, Meg Walz, salon educator and stylist, and Stylist Paityn Nogosek work with clients of all ages, hair lengths and hair types. Tammy Swift / The Forum
The stylists here don't rely on flat irons or the products typically used to coax natural curls into straight-laced conformity. You also won't find thinning shears or razors, which will only serve to fray curly hair and produce split ends, Zimmerman says. Unlike traditional haircuts, stylists here will cut the hair before they wash it. The practice of dry cutting allows them to follow the natural shape of the hair and groom it curl by curl.
All Uptown Curl hair products are free of drying sulfates, parabens and silicones, which can build up on hair and prevent the strand from getting valuable moisture. / By Tammy Swift
As clients with thick, curly hair may need to spend more time at the wash basin, Uptown Curl offers comfortable horizontal chairs for rinsing and conditioning. / Tammy Swift
Clients are then led to the shampoo room, where they stretch out on horizontal shampoo chairs that seem more like beds. Zimmerman chose them because they're more comfortable for clients who need lots of time at the basin to bathe their thick, curly locks.
When it's time to style, the stylists use curl-friendly, water-soluble formulations, which are free of drying sulfates, silicones, parabens, artificial fragrance or polymers. Although silicone will make hair appear shiny and healthy at first, it actually does long-term damage. It coats and seals the hair strand so that vital moisture is blocked from reaching the strand's interior; this can be especially damaging for textured hair, which tends to be dryer, Zimmerman says.
Hair dryers can be used on curly hair, as long as they don't deliver hot, direct blasts of air, which just encourages frizz. Uptown Curl stylists use Dyson hair dryers with diffusers to deliver a cool, low air flow, as well as extra-large hood dryers to accommodate "big hair."
Medium-curly hair shown before Zimmerman gives it the Uptown Curl treatment. / Special to The Forum.
"After" Zimmerman's cut, wash and style. / Special to The Forum.
Besides teaching clients how to work with and love their hair, Zimmerman also wants to train more stylists how to cut it. Beauty school is good at covering the basics, she says, but doesn't have a lot of extra time to devote to more specialized topics such as textured haircare.
So Zimmerman and Walz have already visited several beauty schools in the area to offer tutorials on the topic. Educators in Fargo and Grand Forks have been highly receptive and open to the presentations, Zimmerman says.
These school visits also give them access to student hairdressers who may want to specialize in curly hair in the future. "It's fun to see the next generation of hair stylists get excited about this," she says.
Uptown Curl's prices range from $30 for a kids' cut to $70 to $150 for a curly cut (including wash and style). Prices vary according to stylist expertise, with stylists in training charging $50 for a cut and master stylists, like Zimmerman, charging $150. Follow-up maintenance is less expensive, with bang trims complimentary to returning clients and returning clients who need an express, no-style cut paying $50.
The Fargo salon also offers a full array of hair-coloring and deep-conditioning services, including Vitamin C treatments for hair damaged by hard water, chlorine and color pigment removers.
Zimmerman has found it gratifying to witness a growing acceptance of curly-girl methods, although that wasn't always the case. “Curly hair stylists have had to fight for a seat at the table within the beauty industry because we were viewed as a fad or a gimmick," she's said in earlier interviews.
But Zimmerman believes the time is ripe to celebrate natural hair in all its glory. "Curls are here to stay. Perms are back with a vengeance," she says. "I'm seeing more and more women wearing their hair with natural texture, and that is such a reassuring sign. They realize they can wear their hair curly and feel beautiful."
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