laura amor king a

From a haircut that mortified her, to meeting her future husband in the hairdressing chair, Laura shares her story of discovering her curls that she didn’t even know she had.

At school in Hackney in the 90’s, I found my hair incredibly embarrassing. It was so outrageously frizzy, stubborn and totally impossible to do anything with. And having parents that both had straight hair, my mum would get me to brush it thoroughly after getting out of the shower, totally oblivious to the fact that it was in fact really curly. My natural brushed hair texture is now lovingly-known by my teenage daughter as the "uni-pouffe": a solid pile of hair that frizzes into one solid mound of fluff, stands upright on its own and resembles something a little like an electrified

Albert Einstein. It has no resounding qualities. So at school, my go-to look was to tie it back as tightly as possible and just deal with the ever increasing halo of shorter, fluffy hairline frizz that would encompass my face as the day ticked on. Not a great look, but thankfully it was the 90’s, it was kind of OK to look a little unkempt and grungy. Until one day I decided to ask my local hairdresser to give me "The Rachel" cuttotally not understanding that Jennifer Anniston's hair was straight. For that first day when it was blow dried straight, it felt all swishy and shiny and I felt like I could have easily fit in as an extra in Friends. But the next day, ooosh I was back to the uni-pouffe and with the intense layering system she’d added I could no longer contain it in a slick pony and the uni-pouffe was released for all the world to see. Bloody Nora, that hair cut was a nightmare and there were definitely some giggles in my class from the seats behind me that day as I felt my coolness factor dip even lower. because I knew it would always be my nemesis. He put some product in my hair and started to dry it with a diffuser - and well, my life changed forever! I had full, voluminous, shiny, ringlets that framed my face. My hair actually looked healthy and beautiful. I felt beautiful and was to be forever in love with my new-found curls, and also that dishy young fella that had shown me the curly side. to all the crazy textures we had going on in my class in Hackney in 1993, that they are multi-tasking and that the products actually make a real difference to your hair.

Fast forward to the excitement and newness of the year 2000 - a whole new millennium - and after travelling the world and not bothering with a haircut for over two years, I was dragged round from my internship on London's Chiltern Street to Toni and Guy on Marylebone High Street. My friend forcibly made me make an appointment and fate made the receptionist book me in with a rather lovely young chap called Larry King.

Larry cut my hair - with me really not caring what he did with it

I was no longer the ugly hair duckling... people actually started complimenting me on my hair, it became a huge part of my persona. And 23 years on, I’m still in love with my curls, and of course, Mr Larry King.

Nowadays, running a huge salon and product business with my husband, I get asked over and over again the same question: "Does Larry do your hair all the time?" and my answer is, "hell no!"he’s the busiest guy I know! Luckily, he showed me how to dry my curly hair shortly after that first appointment 23 years ago, and now I understand my curls just as well as he does. I am the self-proclaimed queen of my curls and I'm almost as fanatical about the products I use, the drying method and the aftercare.

When we started our product line, it was incredibly important to me that they spoke

We started work on a curl cream five years ago and we’ve been through formulation after formulation. We wouldn’t let it out the bag until I and the whole Larry King family were in love with it.

So if like me, you’ve always battled with your texture, give some Nourishing Curl Enhancer and a diffuser a go and you may never look back, just like me!

@lauracurlyking CO-Founder & creative director