So much of life lately feels like it’s about making peace and accepting change. Whether it’s something huge like our political system or something smaller, like the weather, or something in between, I’m working on accepting the things I can’t change and changing the things I can.
Until recently, I thought that my hair was one of the things I just had to accept. Everything changes, that’s part of aging and the passage of time! So I put my hair into that mental category; I’m in my 40s. My hair has changed. I worked hard to accept that.
It all started 6 years ago. My family and I moved from New York City to Los Angeles, California. With that came a lot of change and some acceptance, including when it came to my hair. I had lived for thirty-plus years on the humid East Coast and my hair had thrived in that climate. In California, aka the actual desert, it’s much drier and thus my hair is a different texture here.
Much like general aging and change and the meaning of life itself, I thought these were things I just had to accept. After all, life for my family has been really wonderful in California overall, so if my hair is straighter and more limp here, it seemed like a worthwhile sacrifice for me to just handle that.
Let me back up for a second, and tell you more about my hair. I have—had?– naturally curly hair. When I was a baby, it was a halo of dark ringlets. As it got longer, my mom used to braid it every day, and for a long time, I didn’t realize how curly it was. In high school, I learned how to style my curly hair— gel, diffusers, plopping, scrunching, not brushing when dry; all the things you lucky youngsters have access to knowledge about thanks to the internet that I had to figure out from friends and through good old trial and error in the 90s!!!
After this discovery, for many years, I wore my hair curly. It was big and corkscrew-shaped and long and thick. Like, maybe too thick. But I loved it.
As an adult with a real job, I didn’t have time for all the plopping and diffusing and scrunching daily. My hair would get frizzy after a day or two, so I started blow drying it straight in my early 20s. I missed my curls, but this was a revelation: I could blow dry my hair on a Monday and it would last all week, looking full and bouncy and glossy! Don’t hate me— it was some combination of genetics, the climate on the East Coast, and really great styling tools— but I could straighten my hair and get away with washing it only once a week! And, every so often when I had extra time, I’d wear it natural and curly, and the straightening didn’t ever seem to interfere with my ability to go back to curls a few times a month for variety! The dream! I didn’t know how good I had it!
Now we’re caught up to the time I began with— aging, time, and a country move.
In California, after a few months, my hair became mostly straight on its own. I didn’t notice at first, because I was blow drying it weekly as I had in New York, because I was so busy and didn’t have time to wash it daily. But a few swimming pool episodes made me realize that when it was wet, it didn’t get curly anymore.
Even when I did my old, arduous routine of “squish to condish” and diffuse and gel and allllll the things that used to make my curls pop, it didn’t work. My hair felt more limp. It didn’t curl even in the shower with conditioner. No more little ringlets popped out around my neck when I got sweaty exercising in the sun. My curly hair days were just… over. I thought.
I figured this was just my hair in California‘s dry climate. Or aging. Change— it’s part of life, right? I made peace with having straight hair. I learned new styling techniques and tried new products, using curling irons to add some waves and various hair dryer attachments to add volume.
So why am I telling you this story, you ask. It’s kind of a boring, inconsequential story on its own: woman in her mid 40s experiences normal hair changes due to climate and age. Fun!
This story is only interesting because recently, it all changed!
You all know I’m a big fan of everything Maya Chia makes. I’ve gone on and on about the Waterless Wonder Balm every year on our staff favorites roundups, proclaimed their Straight A serum the best retinol ever, written about them here for IB, in magazines like Allure and Oprah, and recommended them in blogs all over the internet.
So of course I tried their shampoo and conditioner when it came out last year. I knew I would love it, because MC’s products are always impeccably formulated and made with the best ingredients and founder/formulator Susanne has the highest standards for her creations and excellent taste.
But I had no idea that this shampoo and conditioner would restore my hair to its original, natural, healthy form!!!!! Its CURLY form!!!!
I couldn’t believe it. The first time I used the Power Fol Shampoo and Power Fol Conditioner, I noticed my hair curling like it used to, just even in the shower after rinsing out the conditioner. That was odd. I hadn’t seen my hair do that in years, even with coaxing, let alone without!
So I got out of the shower and thought, maybe I’ll scrunch in some gel and diffuse it, to see what happens?
Well what happened was that my curls were back! For real! Despite me still being in my 40s and still being in California in the super dry winter!
These miracle products reminded my hair what it was supposed to do and healed the damage that time and circumstances had done, and brought it back to itself!!!!
Here’s a note I wrote to Maya Chia shortly after using the Power Fol Shampoo and Conditioner a few times.
Maya Chia: “You have created a truly special masterpiece. I used to have curly hair, but I thought I lost my curls– some combination of aging, hormones, and the dry air of Los Angeles. AND THEN, after using your shampoo and conditioner, MY CURLS ARE BACK. I thought they were gone for good, but they’re back, and I can’t believe it. (I did some tests and washed my hair with a different shampoo and conditioner and the curls were not nearly as good, so I know for sure it’s your products!). “
These photos show how the Power Fol Shampoo and Conditioner make my hair look amazing BOTH STYLED STRAIGHT AND CURLY!!!!

Like my note to the brand says, I did my due diligence as a beauty journalist. I tried other shampoo and conditioner combos and styled my hair curly. Not as good. I went back to MC and the magic returned. I styled my hair straight and it looked great, like normal. And then went back and forth between straight and curly, all using Maya Chia, and the curls are there for when I want them now.
My hair feels thicker— the individual strands are plumped up. It feels like old times. And I can’t believe I have my curls back!
Here are some other before and after results from other customers using Maya Chia’s Power Fol Shampoo and Conditioner. The results speak for itself!


This duo recently won an award for one of the best shampoos and conditioners of 2025 by Organic Spa Magazine!
