Martina Nicholas

Martina was raised in Chicago until she was 10. It was a complete culture shock coming to Peoria Arizona with nobody to do her hair and nobody that really looked like her or her family. Her mom didn’t know how to do much but use a hot comb to make it more “manageable” so that’s what they did, until it was time for Martina to do her own hair. She also didn’t know much, so turned to relaxers & heat like the other women were taught before her. Looking back, she didn’t even realize there was another option. 

Her curl journey started with a semi-toxic desire to have longer hair. She figured she’d lay off the heat for a bit to allow her hair to retain some more length & eventually go back to straightening it. In the process she learned about what ingredients worked well in her hair & experimented with a good amount of brands. Finding what felt authentic to her, was not her intention at all, but became the point of her whole journey. She started ridding herself of the perfection of always being or looking “on” & the shame of not looking like everyone else, or feeling like she truly fit in. The free feeling of not being attached to a flat iron, or afraid of the rain or enjoying a bonfire was something that she had never experienced & that felt like authenticity to her. She’s leaned into that ever since. 

Her goal is to continue to share her “Lazy Natural Routine” to help more of us develop a low maintenance Curl Routine that we love & can recreate week after week on ourselves. She is also working on a Curl Curriculum for beauty schools so the information stylists need to work on tight curly & coily hair types is provided along with the same training as straight hair. 

Accolades—

Martina has made her name around the industry & in the past few years been recognized for numerous awards. She received BTC Top 100 Texture 2021 BTC Top 100 Suite Decor 2021 Alfaparf Top 26 Black Stylists 2021 Modern Salon Top 100 2022. She wrote a texture curriculum for SR Academy in Scottsdale AZ & has travelled all over the country to teach curly & coily haircutting. Recently she has worked on a few high profile projects including the Gila River Casino commercial 2022 as well as with Athletes, Authors, Musicians & Influencers. She is currently partnered with a few companies, being Oligo Professionel, Fast Foils & Sunflower Curls Education. She worked to deliver the first Texture Week focusing on curly/coily hair with Oligo Professionel in Nov 2022.