Wholly Jewish: The Secret to Eliana's Fabulous Hair

Hosted by Jewish performance and ritual artist Shira Kline (she/her), a.k.a. ShirLaLa, this season features interviews with LGBTQIA+ Jews from the Union for Reform Judaism's JewV'Nation Fellowship. Follow along as they share their experiences in Jewish spaces, how their queerness and their Judaism intersect, and their visions of a more inclusive and equitable Jewish community.

During Shira’s conversation with Eliana Rubin (check out our June 2nd episode, if you missed it), many topics came up – including Eliana’s beautiful, curly hair! In case you couldn’t get enough from episode one, check out this bonus episode all about how she creates those perfect curls.

Three ways to listen:

Transcript

Rabbi Leora Kaye [00:00:03] Welcome back to Wholly Jewish, a podcast presented by ReformJudaism.org. This episode is a bonus. When Eliana Rubin was talking to Shira about her personality and all the things that make her, her, one of the things that came up was her very curly, very beautiful hair. They went off on a side conversation about just how Eliana gets it to look the way that it does. We thought you might want to hear about it. So, we've given you this secret episode.  

Shira Kline [00:00:33] OK, now, friends out there, if you have been with us this long, then I just, I have one little bonus for you. Elias came in today and then they mentioned something about scrunch and crunch and, well, we got an entire demo on the scrunch and crunch.  

Eliana Rubin [00:00:47] So I followed something called the Curly Girl Method.  

Shira Kline [00:00:49] Yes.  

Eliana Rubin [00:00:50] I get super excited talking about it...  

Shira Kline [00:00:53] Ok, do tell.  

Eliana Rubin [00:00:54] Because for the longest time I just, like, cut my hair really short or I, like, shaved it because I just didn't know how to style it. And it basically told me, like, how to wash it and dry it and style it. So, like, I only use conditioner. I shampoo like once a month, and I have to use a conditioner that doesn't have any parabens, silicones or sulfates. And then I dry it with a cotton T-shirt and I scrunch. I don't rub.  

Shira Kline [00:01:15] Got it.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:15] And then I put gel...  

Shira Kline [00:01:17] Are you listening everyone? Now, is this like, you know, a lot of Jewish people have curly hair.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah.  

Shira Kline [00:01:20] Is this really important information? 

Eliana Rubin [00:01:21] Oh my...this is like...  

Shira Kline [00:01:22] This is it, OK.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:23] If there is, like, a takeaway... 

Shira Kline [00:01:24] Yeah.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:25] I mean, like, it should be all the other stuff. But this is like an added bonus 

Shira Kline [00:01:27] OK.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:28] But yeah, like, I use TRESemme coconut oil conditioner.  

Shira Kline [00:01:33] OK, OK.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:33] And then I use a 100 percent cotton T-shirt to dry my hair. And then I use an Herbal Essence Totally Twisted Curl Gel, which you can get at Bed, Bath and Beyond for three dollars. Please sponsor us. And I put it into my hair, and then what I started to do recently, like in the past three weeks, is I would I pin my hair up, because it would always fall into my face and it would just dry, funky.  

Shira Kline [00:01:55] Yeah.  

Eliana Rubin [00:01:56] So I put, I put little clips into my hair and then I just, like, go about my business. Because, like, before I would, like, have to keep my neck just, like, very stagnant and stationary.  

Shira Kline [00:02:08] And that just will not do.  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:08] No. The best way that I can describe it is to go onto YouTube and look up someone moving a chicken, because chickens don't move their head if you move their bodies. And that was me.  

Shira Kline [00:02:16] OK.  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:17] Before the clips. Anyways, then you have to scrunch it out and then you just get luscious curls. 

Shira Kline [00:02:21] OK. And then, oh this is the scrunch.  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:23] Yeah.  

Shira Kline [00:02:23] OK, can you do that? Can you just do it...  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:24] Do you want me to...  

Shira Kline [00:02:24] Yes.  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:24] Yeah, yeah, OK. OK. OK.  

Shira Kline [00:02:27] The scrunching is happening, everybody. There's, like, it's like a typical thing we think of when we see scrunching, but body is forming...  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:32] Yeah  

Shira Kline [00:02:33] Wow, I see what you're...  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:34] I like to scrunch upwards.  

Shira Kline [00:02:34] Yeah, it's beautiful.  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:36] So that I can get that extra lift in the roots. And the, another key, is you have to make sure that your hair is fully dry. Otherwise, it'll clump incorrectly, and the curl pattern will get so messed up.  

Shira Kline [00:02:46] Elias, this is a transformative move. I'm seeing it right now. The curls are intact and...  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:51] I know!  

Shira Kline [00:02:51] And shiny and...  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:52] And they're bouncy...  

Shira Kline [00:02:53] Bouncy!  

Eliana Rubin [00:02:53] And they stay like this all day.  

Shira Kline [00:02:55] Well, hallelujah to that!  

Rabbi Leora Kaye [00:03:00] Thanks for joining us for this week's episode of Wholly Jewish. Tune in again for our next episode, and in the meantime, you can find daily ongoing conversations about Jewish holidays, pop culture, current events and more at ReformJudaism.org. Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/ReformJudaism and on Twitter, our handle is @ReformJudaism. Hope you have a good week. L'hitraot!