All of my life I have been struggling with my curly hair. I always have hated having curly, not straight hair. My friends growing up had straight hair, and I was stuck with frizzy, curly, unruly hair. I could never get those fancy haircuts and hairstyles like my girlfriends did. It just wasn’t fair.
When I was in College I could remember spending hours blowing my curly hair straight. Flat irons weren’t that popular yet so I was stuck doing it the old fashion way. I would use a hair blower and a paddle brush. I had long hair so it would take me hours to get ready. I would have to separate my hair into sections and blow them straight, piece by piece. Then I would apply an anti-frizz serum and would be done. I would walk out the door and within 5 minutes, my hair would start to curl up again. What a pain in the neck.
When I met my husband 7 years ago, I decided I was done straightening my hair. I started to style it curly. He loved it! I was so happy he loved it because it was so much easier to do my hair curly. I saved hours and hours by not having to straighten it anymore. I have learned some trips along the way now that I have been wearing it curly and not straight. Here is what I have found:
1. Never brush your curls when your hair is dry. If you brush dry curls, all you are doing is brushing the curls out and creating frizz. You should take a hairbrush with you into the shower. After the conditioner has been in your hair for 5 minutes, then take the brush and work it through your hair. Once you are done brushing it with the conditioner in it, take a hairclip and twist it up. Finish soaping up and right before you are ready to get out of the shower, take the hairclip out and rinse. This will help condition your hair and keep it from frizzing.
2. You should wash your hair at night. If you wash it in the morning, it will be too soft and as soon as you walk out the door, the weather elements will create it to frizz. You should always wash it at night. If you wash it at night that gives your curls time to settle down to prevent instant frizzing.
3. Wash your hair every two to three days. Most people that have curly hair also have thick hair. If you are like me and have thick hair too, then I would suggest washing it every three days. If you wash it every day, that will cause your hair to dry out and in return, frizz more. If you give your hair a break and let the natural oils soak in, that will prevent your hair from drying out. If your hair is a little more on the oily side, than you might have to wash it every day so your face doesn’t break out.
4. Apply hair products. You should never just wash and go when you have curly hair. Curly hair needs special treatment. I would suggest to condition every time you shampoo. When you shampoo, you are stripping your hair of natural oils, when you condition you are restoring the oils. I like to leave my conditioner in for the length of my shower. The longer, the better. After I get out of the shower, I towel dry to shake off the excess water. Don’t towel dry too much or else you will break your curls. Then apply a spray gel. Again, don’t brush it on. Just spray it on and work it through with your fingers. Get out all knots that were created from the shower. Then apply a leave in conditioner. This will help keep your hair healthy. Again, don’t brush it, just work it through with your fingers. Not too much or else your hair will feel heavy and greasy. Just apply a dab in the palm of your hands. What I like to do next is spray hairspray. Not too close, just a faint mist all over your head. I know that hairspray can be drying so I just put it on when my hair is wet. I don’t use it once my hair is dry.
5. Use a blow dryer – lightly. Next, I take my hair blower and flip my head over upside down. I use my hand and scrunch my hair all over. Not too long or else you will turn your curls into frizz. Then I flip my head back over and put all of my hair up into a clip. This keeps the air from getting into your hair and lets your curls settle down. I keep it up in the clip all night until I am ready to go to sleep.
When you wake up in the morning, you hair will have had time to settle down over night. I find that the first day after a new wash, my hair is a little fluffy. As the days go on, my curls settle down even more. By the third day when I am ready to wash it, my curls look their best. I have been known to go that fourth day until wash if I had an event I needed to go to. Everyone’s hair and curls are different. Learn how your curls react to different styles. Never cut your hair in a shag or short layers. You need the weight of your hair to keep the curls from bouncing up. I like to cut long layers in my hair. After all of these years, I have found long layers are the way to go for curly hair. Also, never cut bangs. You are going to have to go back to spending time straightening them only to walk outside and have them bounce right back up.
Now that I am a mom, I definitely don’t have hours and hours to waste straightening my hair. I barely have time to brush my teeth in the morning. It has been wonderful to be able to run out of the house in the morning without spending time and energy with a hot hair blower. I actually like my hair better curly than straight. I guess I was born with curly hair for a reason. I just needed to learn how to work with it.
