Newbie with Style question :)

[alicia.s4]

Hey all! I stumbled across this forum many times, form many different searches, and have read many articles already :)

Here's my question; a lot of posts, and outside sites suggest to let your hair air dry, and not to use, or to minimize the use of heat tools.

I typically wash my hair at night, and I have let it air dry.. I find that when it air dries it gets really frizzy (lots of broken damage from heat tools etc) My hair is also no straight, not wavy, not curly, but just off.. the front pieces of my hair are very light so they tend to curl; I have a small cow lick on my right side; my hair is very fine, but I have a lot of it..

I'm not sure how to go heatless without looking awful! I am jealous of women with curly/wavy hair that can put in gel, scrunch and go to work with wet hair that will dry nice..

I seem to have to run a straightener over mine to smooth and tame it.

Any suggestions??

[Firefox7275]

Welcome!

If your hair is frizzy and you have little hints of curls, you very likely have way more natural wave than you think you do - many many of us wavies don't even know our own curl pattern because we spend so much time pulling it straight (brush, comb, towel turban, flat iron, blow fryer, tight up dos). I didn't know until my late thirties, two years on - lot of damage to grow out - I have loose ringlets at the front and getting pretty defined waves at the back, and I now receive regular compliments. I thought I had straight-ish/ wonky/ unmanageable/ poofy/ bad hair for twenty plus years of my adult life!

Do you need a trim to cut off all the broken ends? Nothing can fix those, they will just drive you nuts trying to get them to conform. Do you use a hairbrush? If so throw it in the trash, detangle with your fingers or a very wide tooth comb only, preferably in the shower slathered in conditioner and not at any other time. Brushing and combing are designed to separate individual hairs, which is exactly what frizz is. See if you can see yourself in any of the befores
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/general-discussion-about-curly-hair/47609-post-your-before-after-cg-pics.html
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/2/112354-before-after-wavies.html

Wavies and curlies don't magically have great air dried hair just like not many adults (beyond teens) are 'naturally' slim or toned, you don't see their full lifestyle. We have the right ingredients/ products, use the right amount (a LOT of conditioner) and the right techniques, we are either very kind and gentle on our hair or work very hard to mitigate against any damage that we do.

Every time you use a straightener you set yourself back by breaking the bonds in your hair and increasing the damage, too much heat styling permanently destroys waves/ curls much like a relaxer does. Don't waste time being jealous, put the work in to growing out healthy well conditioned waves or curls. Both fine and damaged hair tends to do well with hydrolysed protein treatments but don't overdo it, balance that out with conditioning ingredients, a little penetrating oil, perhaps panthenol, other film formers.

[Adelynd]

I had that problem when I first starting growing out my damage too. Nowadays, most days, I can wake up in the morning and hop out of bed with already-ready-for-the-day hair. But, back then, it took some work to make sure I could leave the house with confidence. Bun curls were my saviours. I suggest you search the internet for heat-free hair styles. There are tons of them. Headband curls. Sock bun curls. Rag curls. Straightening wraps. My favorite style was this and I still use it sometimes for some oomph:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXsCxRjPFw4

My advice would be to stop straightening your hair. You're straightening it to hide the damage, which means you're damaging it to hide the damage. It's a battle you will never win and you will never get the hair you always wanted that way. It's tough, but I think it's best just to go cold turkey. I still wore my hair down (or half-up) most of the time, but only after I used a heat-free curl method because my air-dried hair used to look awful! Now it's beautiful (or at least I think so, and that's all that matters anyway). Thank goodness for LHC!

[alicia.s4]

Thanks a bunch! I find that I struggle the most with my front wisps/baby hairs; I have SOOO many of them and they seem to never grow out; and get all weird curly right away but then the rest of my hair gets that sort of weird wave..

What do you think of drying hair on the cool setting? Is it okay? or does it do damage as well (like being blown around etc?)

[Leeloo]

Blow drying it on low setting will do less damage, then on hot setting. Some people can use blow dryers; it depends on how strong and healthy your hair is. I’d suggest using a ceiling fan. Much safer than a blow drier. Maybe some mineral oil can get the wisps under better control.

[goldenlady]

Your hair sounds so similar to mine! I blow dry on a cold-setting until nearly dry and then leave it :) It seems to go quite sleek that way. My hair is very annoying as it curls at the roots but drops out from weight at the ends, if I leave it to air-dry fully. I use a Boar-Bristle brush once my hair is fully dry :) I recently got complimented on how healthy/shiny my hair is - so a cold setting cannot be too bad!

[jacqueline101]

I agree you might be a wavy hair type and try the curly girl method.

[Sharysa]

It sounds like you're a borderline 1c/2a wavy. What works for my hair is to comb a couple palmfuls of oil through after a wash, let it air-dry until damp, and then to braid it carefully to get the waves to clump properly as well as taming the frizz.

[jeanniet]

The problem with heat straightening regularly is that you're creating more damage, and the damage is partly what is causing the frizz (or rather, broken/damaged ends sticking out). So you either have to give up the straightening, or accept the damage. Most likely you're wavier/curlier than you think, and adding a lot more moisture to your routine will help (along with protein treatments to help with the damage). You can use a blow dryer on a cooler setting, but again, if you're using a brush to pull your hair straight, you're causing damage. Using a diffuser would be better. I diffuse dry my hair part way, but always on medium or lower, and since at this point I'm maintaining at a shorter length a minimal amount of damage doesn't matter a whole lot to me (and my hair is very healthy anyways). If I was growing out again, I probably wouldn't diffuse at all.

[alicia.s4]

Thanks all!! Is there a link that works that explains all these 1a/1c sort of stuff? I tried to click on one from a link page that i *thought* might lead me there, but there seems to be an issue with the database..

I will take some photos tonight and get myself a photobucket account to show the hair, but I have been battling splits like crazy; if I can successfully find a way to do my hair that does not involve the straightener I will take it! I love wearing my hair down as I'd been short for years, but a lot of the damage I got was from trying the No-Poo method a few years back which was working wonderfully until I started doing too many baking soda treatments and it just dried everything out from root to tip.

I believe I'm still growing that out and really hope it's the biggest cause and that the new hair will be better, but I've got splits having splits. I just cut a strand today that had FIVE splits starting about 1.5 inches up the shaft. Eeek!

[Sharysa]

I have a hair-typing chart for most curl patterns from Naturally Curly.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b124/CrossoverQueen/hairtypechart_zps16aa2103.jpg

It doesn't have 1b/1c hair, but 1a is stick-straight and flat, 1b is straight with some lift/volume, and 1c is a very loose or stretched almost-wave.