Help getting from 2C/3A to really 3A?

[seamstress]

I have hair that just won't make up its mind. On a good day, I get sausage/ringlet-ey curls, particularly around my face with s-waves everywhere else. On a less good day, I get a ton of separated s-wave chunks everywhere and two to four halfhearted ringlets around my face. My hair seems to really like aloe gel as hair gel, protein, and I have to shampoo it everyday with a gentle shampoo or it gets overconditioned. Is there anything I can try for getting my hair to be consistently curly when I let it down (mostly up for now- -winds here have started back up again)

[fiðrildi]

Maybe you could try scrunching your curls while they're wet and while they're getting dry, and try putting some more gel just on the tips. That way you could help with the curl definition. But I don't think that you're doing your hair a favour by shampooing it every day -even if it's a gentle shampoo-. Curly girl method could also be a good option, as long as you are ready to deal with ugly hair for a month... but could be so worth it ;) good luck

[lazuliblue]

Try the curly girl method (as mentioned above.) You'll need to find a conditioner without silicones and then you won't get that 'over-conditioned' feeling.

[BonnieU]

Could be hidden silicones in your conditioner...I've found that the LOC method has enhanced my curl pattern. I believe there is a thread on it here..

[lapushka]

Could be hidden silicones in your conditioner...I've found that the LOC method has enhanced my curl pattern. I believe there is a thread on it here..

Yep, here:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=118167

[seamstress]

I've tried CG for several months, and my hair got gross and stringy from it, unfortunately. I've even got the book and have read through it several times. I already use a conditioner without any silicones in it- checked the ingredients. I scrunch my hair with an old t-shirt to dry it. Yesterday I tried scrunching in a little extra AVG once my hair had mostly dried. That seems to help a little...

[lapushka]

You can always do modified CG. We use the WCC method (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=119314) (wash, then condition twice), then use the LOC method (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=118167) for styling. HTH.

[spidermom]

I can't help; my hair is very moody as well. It does what it does for no apparent reason (most of the time).
Good luck!

[jeanniet]

IMO, CG is more about technique than anything else. I'd give it another try, but use half the amount of leave in and gel you used before, and try different ways of applying (upright/upside down, plopping or not, etc.). I think the CG suggestions are heavy-handed, especially for fineys or looser curl patterns. The suggested routine also doesn't work for me. I have to put in my leave in and gel upside down, scrunch upside down, and then plop for about 10 minutes. I've tried it the CG book way, and it doesn't turn out nearly as well. I had to learn that through trial and error, and had to learn what products work through trial and error as well. A lot of products don't work well at all--for me, that means either too much frizz, take too long to dry, or feel gross. The curls are pretty much the same in any case. The products that do work are amazing.

[seamstress]

Hair has dried from my yogurt protein treatment today. I washed it out (needed shampoo because the dye that I mix in has some ingredients I don't want to leave in my hair) and conditioned twice. My roots and even the parts that have been done with a 10 vol toner once are wonderful and ringlet-ey, but they get messed up because halfway down my hair my bleach damage starts and everything frizzles into waves. They aren't the pretty, natural sort of waves, either. It's all a mess as you would expect with bleach damage.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10610&d=1398642626
Here's before my protein treatment

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10604&d=1398620993 Most of my hair looks like that still, just that the curls are more pronounced on my roots.

[cole]

I'll be watching this thread closely. I've got bleach damage I've been dealing with as well. Had the same sort of curl type before, too. Well, more sausage-y ringlets, before I started bleaching. (Think I've got a picture in my album here.) I've been wondering this myself. Short of chopping off the length I've worked so hard for, I don't know what to do. My roots feel way healthier than anything that was bleached, but man. I want my hair back. /:

Lovely color, btw.

[jeanniet]

Do you have an actual hair typing photo (washed, but air dried, no touching)? I really don't see 3a, but more like 2b/c. It may be that if you grow the bleach damage out you'll see 3a, but IME you can't push what's not there. I have several areas that are 3b, and you can tell from the shed hairs that there's 3b (much tighter pattern), but I can't get all my hair to 3b. The parts that are 3a are just really 3a and not more than that. Even with heavy hair (which will pull out root curl), you'll still see tigher curling at the ends of hair. Especially if you can't get to 3a with a protein treatment (protein tends to really give fine hair a boost), then I think you're more wavy (2s) than curly (3s).

[cole]

I haven't ever tried a protein treatment. I should probably try that. My ends do get curlier than the rest, but my hair doesn't weigh that much. I have been curious about protein treatments and if my hair is lacking it.

But, yeah, if your natural texture is showing improvement from the treatment, but not the bleached bits, you (/we) may just have to grow it out and rely on trims to get rid of the damage. Someday it'll be gone? /:

[jeanniet]

I don't know how much bleach can affect curl pattern, but I know heat damage can take a hit on curls.

[cole]

At least with my thin hair, it really loosened my curl pattern. It's doing better after using henna, and quite a lot of conditioning and oil treatments. It was so strange. I've chopped off the worst of it, so hopefully the majority of my hair is just stuff that was only bleached a few times. I can't remember how much virgin hair I had before I did the henna, unfortunately. It definitely changed my hair, though. I could put together a few photos to show you, if you wanted to see. But at least for me, bleaching did change my hair quite a bit.

[Wildcat Diva]

I feel ya. I used to think I was 2B, but it became clear that with curly girl techniques, I was really a 2C.

However, I think 3A would be a dream. I supposed that through technique I can get closer to 3A, but not sure I can, as it's been said, create what is not there. I am wondering if the last several inches of my hair which have in their history been heat straightened some and sun bleached, might be hiding hair that, if it were not so "damaged", might be a smidge curlier. So someday, I might have grown out and cut off ends to reveal healthier ends that curl a tiny bit more. Hey, a girl can dream, right? (Not gonna cut my hair to find out just yet though)

[Syren_Curls]

I can understand your wanting to encourage more curls but it might take a bit of time for the right routine to do that. In the meantime, baby it and treat it like a treasure so that it does the best it can to 'regenerate' itself. Perhaps look into trying some amla treatments to enhance your curls. There are some threads and I just bumped an older one :-)

I don't like to do this but some people swear by finger shaping then pinning their hair. I just don't want to put in the time of doing that nor do I like to handle my hair that much. YMMV though...