Hannah Bronfman Shares How Letting Her Hair "Do Its Thing" Is Bringing Her Joy Right Now

Bronfman is passionate about clean beauty, but she's not one to naively claim that everyone needs to "clean up" their beauty routine instantly. She acknowledges that the industry still has some limitations, takes time for exploration, and most importantly, isn't cheap. Still, she believes it's worth the investment (both in time and money).

"When I first got on my wellness journey, I realized so much about my body and how it reacts to certain chemicals and certain things," Bronfman told POPSUGAR. "And I think we just forget, as a society, that our skin is the largest organ and that everything we put on it goes into our bloodstream, so it really does affect us on a larger level than I think we realize when talking about topical products."

With that in mind, she's not completely against using a product if it's not labeled "clean." "It's hard to be all in, just because the technology isn't there yet, but it's getting there," she said. "And so, for me, I really try and seek out those products that I feel really do perform, but also are clean, and I'll take them where I can get them."

Her biggest tip for navigating the ever-growing category: "you need to understand what you're looking for as a consumer before just jumping onto a trend because there's plenty of products that are geared towards just a trend situation." She recommends first determining what's most important to you: environmental impact, effectiveness, or natural ingredients. "So, once you identify what you're looking for, that can really help shape and navigate your search."

Narrowing your search will also keep you from just spending money like crazy. "Another hard thing about being a consumer in this industry is that you do have to try and play around and figure out what works for you, but obviously, that's expensive," said Bronfman. "But I do think it's worth the exploration, because at the end of the day, you're talking about your overall health, and so I think it does pay off."

We've all been leaning into various beauty rituals this year, but Bronfman's new self-care routine involves more than just taking baths and doing daily facial massages (which are two of her favorite things). "I've been embracing my natural texture throughout quarantine, and it's been such an awesome journey," she said. "It's just been a wild journey with my hair over the past 15 years, and I finally feel like I'm in a place where I am loving my curl texture and my curl pattern. Just letting my hair do its thing in its own natural environment has been bringing me joy."

Like many of us, Bronfman gave up heat-styling her hair at the start of social-distancing nine months ago and focused on repairing, replenishing, and restoring it. "I was taking that time to nourish my hair from the excessive heat damage and styling that I had been doing on a consistent basis over the last six years."

All of that TLC paid off and she's since started reintroducing heat styling, but only when she really feels like it. "Now, I will say that since work has picked up and I'm back in the city, and I just wanted to experiment a little bit and try some things out," said Bronfman. "I have even put heat on my hair to optimize my curls, to make my hair look a little larger than life — really going for a fun, curly girl style. I almost missed the creativity and excitement of my hair during those six months."

Prior to embarking on her natural hair journey, Bronfman didn't know if her past use of chemicals on her hair — even if it was years ago — would affect her texture, but she was pleasantly surprised when her curls came back. "Your hair really does hold memory," said Bronfman. "No matter what, no matter if you've chemically treated your hair over the past couple of years, or you had a relaxer back in the day and then stopped, or you've put a lot of heat damage on your hair over the past couple of months because you just always want to wear it straight, if you want to embrace your natural hair texture, it's never too late to do that."

It took a bit of time, but she couldn't be happier with the journey now being on the other side of it. "It's definitely a very rewarding journey because I think so many of us forget what our original or natural hair pattern is," said Bronfman. "A lot of women ultimately try to not put so much emotion into, yet, there's so much emotion attached to our own self-worth through our hair, that rekindling that relationship is actually really, really quite beautiful."

Bronfman's new natural hair routine, coupled with her latest partnership with Hair Food, lead her to discover a couple of new products that she now can't live without now. One of them is the Mango & Aloe Curl Defining Smoothie ($10), which is a curl-defining cream. "[It's] not like a traditional hair mousse — it just feels lightweight and it really takes the frizz out of my hair, so it's such a great styling product," she said. Her other favorite product Avocado & Argan Oil Smoothing Hair Mask ($3). "The hair mask is an indulgent moment – at least for me — because I'll put it on and then I'll also do something, like shave my legs, or put a face mask on, or give myself a foot massage. I make it this luxurious moment, and then [my] hair just feels so good for days afterward."