So a few months ago I decided to share my curly hair secrets and techniques. I've gotten such a huge response that I was really encouraged to explore more ways to love on this curly hair of mine. There are too many women with curly hair who do everything in their power to get rid of it. When I was growing up, all the "cool girls" had stick straight hair that just always looked perfect. And I got this:
If you can take your eyes off of the slammin' ensemble I'm sporting, you'll notice the home permed poof on my head. Thanks, mom. After a few years of perms in my childhood, my hair went from wavy to all out curly. I'd brush my hair in attempts to make it straighter, which only added to my poof. Once I got to high school I discovered straighteners and well, I woke up extra early each morning just to iron out the kinks. So much wasted time.
What's so great about embracing your curly hair? Um, everything. Let's talk about WAY less time to get ready, not having to worry about whether it's going to rain or be humid out (when our laboriously straightened hair goes to crap), and much, MUCH less damage due to heat styling.
Healthy hair that takes less time to do? Winning.
I've decided to stop using my straightener completely. Maybe someday I'll get the urge to straighten again but right now I'm focusing on loving myself, hair included, the way I was made. I've been doing a lot of research and reading on different curly hair techniques and I've adjusted my own system a little.
Time to share some magic with you.
This day I happened to rinse my hair under the faucet in the tub. I didn't wash, just rinsed and scrunched. I just wanted to start with a fresh base of wet hair.
Dry your hair upside down with an old t-shirt or pillow case. Don't dry curly hair with a normal towel, it disturbs the curls and can cause frizz. I've found an old t-shirt works best. Dry hair by scrunching, not by rubbing. Again, we're trying to protect the curls in their natural formations.
Next, load up on leave in conditioner. Don't apply to your roots, so stay about an inch away from your scalp. Your head will produce it's own oils to moisturize your roots. Adding conditioner at the roots will only make your scalp feel oily and totally kill root volume. I comb a good amount of conditioner through my curls with my fingers, focusing on scrunching on the ends.
After conditioner, I use some form of heat styling protective spray. And then finally I spray the crap out of my hair with spray gel. You can use regular gel but I don't feel like it distributes as evenly as spray gel. This is going to help keep your curls together. The products above are just what I use, and I'm constantly trying new brands to find what works best.
Then, I blow dry my hair upside down with a diffuser. I scrunch the ends of the curls into the diffuser to take the weight off of them. Gravity and the heaviness of the product can stretch the curl out, so taking weight off when you can really does help. You don't HAVE to blow dry but I like the extra volume I get from it, and my hair takes forever to air dry. About halfway through blowdrying I add more spray gel because it tends to dry out easily from the heat.
And that's it! Flip your head over and love your crazy volume lion hair. Rearrange curls or do some twisting of hairs that are out of place. If your hair is still crunchy from the gel, gently scrunch your curls up and toward your head. This will break up the gel and still keep your hair from getting frizzy later on. Your hair may look huge at first but it starts to go down pretty quickly.
Right now I have some annoying bangs that just kind of hang out on my forehead when they're curly so I twist them together and pin them back like this:
Use a bobby pin to grab some of the twist, push it toward the back of your head to catch some hair and then pivot the pin toward the front of your head and into the twist. This hides the pin and secures it pretty well.
Some things I've learned about curly hair:
- Stop using shampoo/conditioner/product with sulfate. They dry out curls. Curls are naturally more dry than other hair types, and most shampoos and conditioners contain sulfate. So make sure you're looking at ingredient lists!
- Don't wash your hair everyday. I can't stress this enough. I only wash every couple of days, if I need to clean anytime in between I rinse in the shower and apply more conditioner. Conditioner is the key.
- I sleep with my hair kind of loosely piled above my head, not to smash or flatten the curls overnight. Satin pillowcases are also good.
- STOP STRAIGHTENING YOUR HAIR. Every time you do, you're setting your curls back. The longer I've gone without straightening my hair, the better my curls look.
- If you have curly hair, you should not own a comb or a brush. The only time you should be going through your hair is when it's wet and full of conditioner, preferably in the shower.
- LOVE IT! The better you feel about your hair no matter what style it is, the better you'll look. Attitude is everything you guys.
I hope you find this (and/or the old tutorial) helpful! If you have any questions let me know! I'm not a pro, and this system works on my hair because it's big wavy/curly.
