Advice: How to tame that wild hair (without heat)

[Mrstran]

Do you have any tricks, ideas, or product suggestions for keeping hair down so it's not a fluffy mess?

My hair is kind of thick with big waves. It has curls undernieth, making it difficult to work with.

I don't like to look oily everyday, and have sworn off of heat. I'd love to have that sleek look, or at least a "beach wave" type look, but all I get is frizz unless my hair is over oiled or flat ironed.

...I'm not touching a flat iron. Any ideas?

[littlestarface]

Lol I know trimming hair is nerve racking! What happened with your trim?

[LaísB]

Do you have any tricks, ideas, or product suggestions for keeping hair down so it's not a fluffy mess?

I don't like to look oily everyday, and have sworn off of heat.

Usually, when my hair is puffy I try to make a hairstyle, or wear a headband. That just mamages the puff and it looks cute without heat or too much oils. Some hairstyles that can be done on CBL hair are half up-dos, ponytails, and some buns.:D

[animetor7]

Are you trying to have a wavy/curly look or a straighter look? 1c/2a could go either way depending on the drying method you use. If you want it to be wavier, my personal favorite is a leave-in and braids of some sort (rope braids for a more ringlety look, braids for a beachier look). If you want it to be straighter I'd go with a leave-in again and then some method of wrapping to help straighten it, there are many methods for this, but hopefully someone more familiar with heatless straightening will chime in, I've never tried to make my hair straighter, it would have been a waste of time. :) If you're happy with your texture you could try the leave-in by itself, but since you describe it as wild and you want to tame it, I assume you want to change something about it. I'll also add that if your hair is damaged it will be less sleek and more difficult to deal with texture-wise and such than less damaged hair will be. Damaged hair tends to have inconsistent texture and the added porosity, dryness, and sometimes breakage can sometimes make it frizzy or fluffy.

[Mrstran]

Lol I know trimming hair is nerve racking! What happened with your trim?

It was a wreck. I Have short pieces in my hair from where it fried off from bleaching, so I attempted to find them and trim them. In the front it was all burnt off so I attempted to sort of layer/ trim my bangs a bit. I ended up cutting a stairs or a step pattern. My hair had that and choppy pieces all over. It's bad. If not for all the oils they'd stick out like a sore thumb. Lol what a mess!

[Mrstran]

Are you trying to have a wavy/curly look or a straighter look? 1c/2a could go either way depending on the drying method you use. If you want it to be wavier, my personal favorite is a leave-in and braids of some sort (rope braids for a more ringlety look, braids for a beachier look). If you want it to be straighter I'd go with a leave-in again and then some method of wrapping to help straighten it, there are many methods for this, but hopefully someone more familiar with heatless straightening will chime in, I've never tried to make my hair straighter, it would have been a waste of time. :) If you're happy with your texture you could try the leave-in by itself, but since you describe it as wild and you want to tame it, I assume you want to change something about it. I'll also add that if your hair is damaged it will be less sleek and more difficult to deal with texture-wise and such than less damaged hair will be. Damaged hair tends to have inconsistent texture and the added porosity, dryness, and sometimes breakage can sometimes make it frizzy or fluffy.

To do this should be even more challenging being that my hair is destroyed. That makes sense. I will try to find those techniques and hopefully my hair will cooperate enough to get an exceptable look. I cannot wait to get as far as you all. It's going to be awesome. Thank you for your help

[Mrstran]

Usually, when my hair is puffy I try to make a hairstyle, or wear a headband. That just mamages the puff and it looks cute without heat or too much oils. Some hairstyles that can be done on CBL hair are half up-dos, ponytails, and some buns.:D

The up-do's I'm just now starting to get good at. Before this site (last month) I could only do a pony tail. Lol. I'd love to wear my hair down for once, it just doesn't do what I want it to just yet. But I'm getting great tips on this thread so far. You girls are hair savers!

[animetor7]

To do this should be even more challenging being that my hair is destroyed. That makes sense. I will try to find those techniques and hopefully my hair will cooperate enough to get an exceptable look. I cannot wait to get as far as you all. It's going to be awesome. Thank you for your help

But hey, the good news is that the better you treat your hair, the better it will look as you trim out damage!! :)

[Anje]

Braids, especially if you put them in with damp hair, are good for the beachy look. Look into the paranda thread if you want an easy way to get waves all the way through the ends.

[Connemara]

Braids, especially if you put them in with damp hair, are good for the beachy look. Look into the paranda thread if you want an easy way to get waves all the way through the ends.

French and dutch braid pigtails are really good for overnight curls at CBL length. If you're after waves twists/french rope braids are the way to go. It's also really good practice for when your hair is longer too, as some braids can become more difficult with extra length.

[kidari]

Use a really coney hair mask or do an SMT then air dry hair until it's almost dry and use kimberlily's defrizz spray (look up the thread- it's a great recipe!) to set the hair in heat free curls using your favorite rollers/method. That's the method that works for me. My hair dries so soft and shiny and the curls last until I wash my hair and makes it easy to put up.

[Mrstran]

Use a really coney hair mask or do an SMT then air dry hair until it's almost dry and use kimberlily's defrizz spray (look up the thread- it's a great recipe!) to set the hair in heat free curls using your favorite rollers/method. That's the method that works for me. My hair dries so soft and shiny and the curls last until I wash my hair and makes it easy to put up.
Thank you. I bet that's really cute!

[ANoteToSelf]

I have super thick 2c/3a hair around CBL and I just make sure to condition really well and brush in every direction with a tangle teaser until it's most of the way dry. I focus most of the brushing on the front because that area is curly. One thing that REALLY helps to do along with this is to put a generous amount of heat-protector in my hair before brushing. But tangle teaser is a must.

[GoddesJourney]

I have the same basic hair type as you and I often run into the same problem. Growing out damage helped A LOT! Not ghe quickest method, but definitely the most effective. I found that coney products actually made my hair much frizzier, so I gave those up. However, while I still had a lot of damage, I found heavy coney products like Pantene actually helped.

That said, I had a problem with oily scalp and dry hair, which caused serious frizz. CO washing with Suave or something else light and shampooing with a mild shampoo (CWC method) every maybe four days has been my happy medium. It keeps my hair from getting too dry and crazy but it stays clean, and it doesn't look oiled.

I get the tamest hair when I braid it wet or damp, and the brush it out before it fully dries.

I don't know if any of this will work for you, but it worked for me. ...and I've accepted the wild woman hair to some degree. I don't mind that it's puffy as I like the volume now that it's longer (short was a disaster) but that's only because it's not so frizzy now. I accept that it will never be that stick straight hair other people have. And it will never hold bouncy curls either. Oh well.

[Arete]

I have hair that also likes to misbehave *looks pointedly at mane*. What I've found works for me is CWCC, and then I nickel sized drop of cone free conditioner watered down as a leave in. It doesn't weigh my hair down too terribly, and keeps it from getting dry and flufzy (frizzy and fluffy :p) for the most part. With type 2 hair, you also have to accept to some extent that your hair will never be as sleek as a 1. We have the problem (especially us 2cers) that when we get new growth, it's going to wave/wurl like the rest of our hair, and hence you're going to get shorter "frizz'' and sticky-outies. I also have little "horns" above my ears that don't grow much longer than three inches. It's just the way it is, and it's okay. Healthy hair still looks great, even with baby wurlies and you can get healthy, shiny hair, even as a 2. Great job for resisting the flat iron. :)

[Anya15]

My hair frizzes in humid weather no matter what I do to it. So if I'm wearing it loose, I try to keep it braided at night so that I have slightly sleeker waves in the morning. If I am not wearing it loose, I usually put it in some kind of braid. :D

Before braiding I spritz my hair with a water+conditioner+AVG mix.

[meteor]

I think damp-setting well-moisturized hair (e.g. hair post LOC) really helps, especially if you run a bit of silicone serum on the canopy hair.

If you want to avoid product, you can just damp-set hair with only water or heavily diluted conditioner and wrap it in silky smooth scarf overnight. The silky material wrapping around the hairline and canopy should help reduce friction and keep frizz at bay. If you are going for straighter hair, just wrap the hair down lengthwise with pretty tight material (technique sometimes referred as "le kardoune (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VySOOF1DcpA/maxresdefault.jpg)") or do a hair wrap (https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4i_W19d3IDk/hqdefault.jpg) (essentially using your own head as a giant roller). For wavy/curly hair, you can go for buns or braids overnight, figure-8 bandanna waves or for classic roller-sets, covered with a silky scarf.

Also, if the issue is little hairs sticking out around the hairline ("edges"), you can use a bit of gel or hairspray or even just water on a toothbrush and run it along the strands to smooth them out and comb them in place. All sorts of half-ups help control that hair a bit too, depending on the style that you choose. But personally, I'm all for embracing natural volume, frizz and all ;)

[spidermom]

I have the bushy/fluffy hair, too. Finger-combing some aloe vera gel or styling gel through it helps a lot as long as I keep my fingers, combs, and brushes out of my hair after styling. If I disturb the wave pattern, BUSH!

Braids help, too, especially when done with a bit of gel. I have to carefully take them out with my fingers and avoid combing and brushing.

[ephemeri]

I second the suggestion for Kimberlily's de-frizz spray: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=277
I've been using it with pretty great success lately. I still haven't mastered second day hair, I always have to put it up. But this stuff does de-frizz a lot.

The LOC method is also a huge lifesaver for wavy/wurly/curly people: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=118167
It can take some experimenting to find the products that will work for you but there are lots of great suggestions in that thread. :o

[akuamoonmaui]

I get pretty, soft beach waves when I bun it at the top of my head over night. It works best when my hair is damp and lightly oiled where it's frizziest. I secure the bun w a wide cloth head band.

[MegHan-Solo]

When I was on holiday where I usually get mad frizz from pool water heat and humidity, I found twisting my hair while it was damp and pinning it up made it dry really smooth.