chahuahuas, what do you use on your hair? It looks fantastic!
chahuahuas, what do you use on your hair? It looks fantastic!
Every day is Thursday.
Your hair is darling at any length. My hair, on the other hand, looks like a poodle or a jewfro when it is short....not cute.
I should have never cut my hair! Growing again.
Thanks! When it was short (especially bob length), I LOVED creams. I hated how gel would make my bouncy curls turn stiff and crunchy. A friend recommended Perfect Curls line from Nature's Therapy (by Loreal). This line smells AWESOME! The conditioner was amazing, and so was the cream. Sh, but it was kindof expensive, so sometimes I would only buy the creme and the conditioner.
Now that my hair is longer, I have to use some gel to get suitable volume. I use plain 'ol Herbal Essences curl gel, but only as a top layer. I think the most important part about using gel is using plenty of creamy products underneath it. I'm think the herbal essences gel preforms alright on top of the creams.
I put it on after leaving in a s*** ton of conditioner, and then putting in some thick cream I got at my hairdresser. I'm still looking for a conditioner I'm totally happy with, and the cream is Boing Curling Cream by Unite. The cream was more expensive than I like, and I don't know if I'm "in love with it" (and its purple color, which weirds me out). To it's credit, it is nice and thick, almost like a gel/cream combo (that's how my stylist put it), which is something I didn't couldn't get from the nature's therapy cream (the nature's therapy was designed to be light, which doesn't work for me anymore.)
**FYI:**
I purchased all these products I just mentioned BEFORE learning the CG method, I'm just in the process of using them up before I switch [ETA: That is, if I do switch. Dunno which products I'll keep using or go back to yet.]
The one thing I knew about before the CG method was sulfate-free shampoos. I use a nice and gentle baby shampoo & body wash combo. I really like California Baby's, it's cheap, you can get it in a huge pump bottle, and you can use it everwhere!
Recently I've been pampering myself shampoo-wise. I purchased drugstore sulfate-free shampoos of Organix just because they smell nice, and I like the nice scents in the shower... The smell doesn't stay in my hair after I get out of the shower since I layer in so many products, but it's nice to have it there while I was my hair. Like an aromatherapy session . I use either the cherry blossom or the tea tree mint. My boyfriend likes the cherry blossom, but I LOVE the mint because its SO refreshing in the shower!
I think the baby shampoos are more gentle on my hair, I just REALLY like how these smell .
I've really just started my quest to find the best products, and I think the new Curly Girl handbook gives really good guidelines on products. If you don't have it yet (I suggest you eventually get it), some of the old version is available on google books, and you can find information on gels and products around page 50-ish. The book has advice on purchasing "sticky instead of gel-y" gels, and hte advice was sooo right. I purchased a stickier gel and it was terrible! Never buy FX curl gel. I'm not even linking to it, just remember not to get it
The only thing I would recommend as my 'ultimate product' that I can't see myself experimenting with is California baby shampoo, but you can still look at all the links I included in this post for more information. I also linked each picture to more information! Hope this helps
Last edited by chahuahuas; July 11th, 2011 at 11:11 AM.
"I'm not cheating, I'm just decorating." ~ravenreed
Thanks so much for all the info, chahuahuas. I love HE gels too. I have experimented with others, but I always come back to HE.
Every day is Thursday.
I can't see your photos chahuahuas (still too new), but I've often tried to figure out where my hair fits between 3a and 3b and I think some of the differences are:
1. In 3b hair, the first turn of the curl's spiral happens closer to the head. So if you cut 3a hair under an inch or two it will look pretty much straight.
2. 3a ringlets loosen and stretch much more with length. Those tight curls kitschy has on her long bottom layers? 3b. At that length 3a curls would be much looser.
3. When you pull 3a hair back into a ponytail, particularly if you comb or brush it, you don't get the really strong "crimped" effect.
Oh no! I'm a 3a!!! I always liked considering myself to be very curly, haha, but those bullet points pretty much perfectly described me. Where did you get them??
My super-short pixie cut is not as curly, my ringlets loosen with length, AND my ponytails don't get a crimped effect unless I load up on the gel (my ponytails are in danger of getting flat on top, which is why I made this thread about backcombing!)
Well.... now I know. *off to change my stats*
ETA:
Hahhaha. I told my boyfriend "I just found out I'm not as curly as I thought I was! I thought I was REALLY curly!" and he teased "awww poor THING! I bet you're crushed. How are you ever going to handle it?! Do you need me to get you some chocolate??" he knows me toooo well.. and I think I'll take him up on the chocolate offer just because I'm addicted to it
Last edited by chahuahuas; July 11th, 2011 at 05:01 PM.
"I'm not cheating, I'm just decorating." ~ravenreed
First up, don't take my word for it! Those are just my observations as a fellow 3a who wishes she was 3b (actually I'd happily trade for something in the 4s).
I bought the Curly Girl book maybe 10 years ago, and have spent some time in the curly underground and I still had a lot of confusion about the 3a/3b thing. When someone on here mentioned that 3a curls start a little bit further down than 3b it clicked for me.
Lots of things change the tightness of my curls. At the moment it's short and has coconut oil in it. Tight curls. But if I used a harsh shampoo and dried my hair out the curl formation would be looser and less coherent.
The things I mentioned above though are pretty consistent and no so reliant on how my hair dries on any particular day.
Anyway, now that I've finally accepted that I'm a 3a, I have to change my profile too--when I can.
You can now, greygardens! 26 posts, congrats For me it only took like a day to change, I think it changed around midnight. Maybe it'll be sooner for you.
hmmm weeell those are pretty good observations, but I don't consider observations to be *super* official... so I'm gonna leave it as 3a/3b for now!! :laughs: Maybe I'll come to terms with 3a later (or I'll decide I really AM a 3a/3b!) Who knows
"I'm not cheating, I'm just decorating." ~ravenreed
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