Attention curly haired girls! S.o.s

[dwillard]

Hey everyone! So, I'm recently new to the community and haven't been on in a few weeks, but in the past couple days I've had some issues. (Also, sorry if this isn't the totally correct place to post this) But my hair has little to no curl anymore! I have been struggling with frizz (talked about in my newbie post) and I sorta had the realization that it's probably because of the fact that I'm not taking care of my curls/how I dry my hair so, can anyone help me?!

It use to be very wavy, and is sometimes when I brush it out in the back of my head but I miss my curls very badly and would like to basically have a do over and get my curls back. So, I need y'alls help!

What products do you recommend to boost my curl again? I've been on YouTube and I've also had a curly girl friend recommend Devacurl products and I've been thinking about purchasing the wave maker product. Listen, I don't mind how much the product is, I'm basically desperate at this point. Has anyone tried anything from the Devacurl company? What are everyone's thoughts? If there's any other products to recommend please let me know.

From what I understand, I'm supposed to purchase and microfiber towel and a wide tooth comb. Which I will ASAP. For reference, my hair is about belly button length. I am planning to cut about an inch or two off for dead ends before the new year for a fresh start as well.

Thank you guys so much!

- Destiny :)

[Techmouse]

What kind of shampoo and conditioner are you using right now? What about leave in conditioners? Knowing what you are using now can help determine what might be missing in your routine.
Beyond wanting your curls back and minimizing the frizziness, are there any other issues (dryness, damage, etc.) that you want to address?
The wide tooth comb does help my curls stay less frizzy than when I brush them.
The microfibre towel works, but I get almost the same results using a t-shirt.

[Wavybrunetteuk]

I am also in the process I getting my curls back. But what I have been doing so far has worked for me.

Yes to using a wide-coothed comb, VERY gently (don't rip through any knots or hairs tangled together, go back and separate them with your fingers). In fact, I am thinking of only using my comb in the shower from now on to detangle my hair, and not after the shower. Don't comb it when dry.

I also always use an oversized t-shirt to put my hair up in when drying.

I scrunch my hair a little and maybe use my finger to twist some curls more when it is air drying, but other than that, I just leave it alone to air dry now. I personally don't use a defuser.

My plan from now on is to use the curly girl method, which I'm still researching but from what I've found: lessen the use of and hopefully stop using shampoo completely and use the conditioner to wash your scalp and hair instead. Buy products without silicones and sulfate.

Also, look into what porosity your hair is. Other members can recommend some oils, hair masks and leave-in conditioners to moisturise your hair. I personally don't do it at the moment because I have low porosity hair.

At the end of the day it is all about experimenting and seeing what your hair likes and dislikes.

[leayellena]

stop brushing it. in your profile it's written 1b. it's usually very straight with a cowlick that's all can you share a pic with your hair air dried but unbrushed? this should help us deciding your hair type. PS: 1c is very frizzy especially if it's fine. I don't brush or comb my hair when it's humid and raining outside

[Adelain]

Hi welcome to the community :)
I don't use Devacurl products because they don't ship to my country but I've read positive reviews about the wave maker. I follow the curly girl method and I think it's the best if you want your waves back.

To solve the frizzy hair problem, I would clarify then do a protein treatment and a deep moisturizing treatment. Completely avoid heat at first and keep your hair up.
What is your routine right now? Are you using a rich conditioner?

[LadyCelestina]

products are not as important as techniques

get a cheap conditioner and clear gel or mousse, you'll need a lot. Finger detangle your hair with it in the shower. Rinse. Apply some more as a leave in. Scrunch some water into your leave-in covered hair until it clumps nicely (look up how to scrunch on youtube). Then scrunch in the gel (make sure to test that it doesn't flake with the conditioner you bought) and put it in a plop (look up on youtube).

Once you undo the plop after 20 minutes or so, you can either airdry with NO TOUCHING, or diffuse if you have a diffuser, or blow dry while aiming the blowdrier from the bottom of your hair and scrunching it gently.

You should have a lot more texture after doing this. If there isn't texture or your hair just looks tangled, then you likely lost some of your texture either to damage or to hormonal/other changes. Damage can be remedied by deep treatments (moisture and protein).

Good luck!

* plopping and scrunching are things that are hard to explain in words, but very simple to learn by watching. Hence why I suggest looking on youtube.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Welcome to the LHC! :D

[Jo Ann]

Hey, Destiny! Welcome aboard!

I wash weekly, and here's how I do it (and yes, I do bend some rules here--feel free to bend the rules to make your hair happy :face: )

I wash with either a moisturizing shampoo or, because my hair is coming in with *ahem!* natural highlighting, a purple shampoo; I follow this with a conditioner (from roots to tips), a rinse-out oil (ROO) from the ears down, then another conditioner from the ears down. I'm a bit of an odd duck, so I wrap my hair in a towel (just enough to get out the excess water left over from wringing out my hair) between these steps.

After leaving my hair wrapped in a towel for about 5-10 minutes, I apply a leave-in conditioner, followed by a light application of coconut oil, followed by a curling milk. I comb this through (maybe I plop, mostly I don't) and let my hair air-dry. If it's close to bedtime, and my hair's still damp, I toss it over my pillow and go to sleep.

As far as products used:

Shampoo: SM Intense Hydration; Simply Silver (from Sally's); Jhirmack's Silver Shampoo
First conditioner: SM Intense Hydration; Joico Moisture Recovery; GVP Conditioning Balm (the Biolage Matrix knock-off)
ROO: Johnson's Baby Oil
Second Conditioner: Clairol Herbal Essence Hello Hydration
Leave-in Conditioner: SM Strengthen & Grow Leave-in Conditioner (also known here as JBCO)
Coconut Oil: Whatever's cheap in the grocery section--right now, it's Louann's Coconut Oil
Curling Milk: GVP Curl Detangling Leave-in (knock-off of SM Coconut and Hibiscus Curl and Style Milk)

[lapushka]

I'm struggling with my answer a bit because your marker says 1b, that is basically straight hair.

How wavy is wavy, and what is your current routine. Any bleach, heat, ...?

[Reservechic]

I have tried a number of DevaCurl products over the years, and the a lot of them honestly didn't work well for my hair, because they weren't moisturizing to my hair, actually caused frizz (and my hair not very frizz prone at all)' they caused my scalp to become more and more irritated the longer I used them (however I suffer with scalp eczema, so I do have a very sensitive scalp), plus I didn't care for their smells either. I have curly hair, that's naturally very dry, is fine textured, of low density, and is of high porosity as well. I had sworn off of buying DevaCurl products for a very long time, but when they came out with their new Decadence products and SuperCream, I was really excited about giving them a try. I really do like the Decadence No-Poo and Decadence One Condition because they are moisturizing to my hair and not drying in any way, and SuperCream works quite well for my hair too. I like that SuperCream can be used on both wet and dry hair, without it causing any major buildup. I probably could get away with using WaveMaker too, but I have never tried such thus far. Because DevaCurl products are quite expensive, I only buy the products when DevaCurl runs special promotions, so that way, I won't have to spend full price for them. I have tried two of their styling gels, but wouldn't purchase them again, because they dry out my hair quite a bit, and they don't work any better than super cheap drugstore gels, in my opinion. Plus, their gels are designed to work best on freshly cleansed, wet hair, and I don't wash my hair everyday, because doing such leaves my hair super duper dehydrated. So, because my hair craves moisture the most, I much prefer to use styling creams instead. However, the only issue is that SuperCream comes with less than 6 ounces of product, and I believe so does WaveMaker. Which is why, I could never continuously use it only a weekly basis on my hair, because I would have to buy 2 or 3 bottles of it a month. And, that's way out if my budget.

The products don't work to encourage a whole lot of curl in my hair, as the only way that I would be able to achieve such is through a diffuser. However, i don't use one because I don't care to regularly have a lot of heat used on my hair. But, if you have no problems with diffusing your hair, then that would cool for you to use to encourage greater curl formation, and scrunching your curls also helps towards encouraging greater curl formation/enhancement too. I don't know how often you use a brush on your hair, but I would only recommend using it, if needed on your hair wash days. Otherwise too much brushing, pulls out ones curl, and makes one hair look more puffy and frizzy, versus defined. I only use a detangling brush on my hair on my wash days, which is normally once a week, sometimes twice a week (if needed), and in between my hair wash days, I simply use my fingers to finger style my hair only. I do apply styling product to my hair daily, because going without such doesn't work well at all for me.

I mainly use styling creams in my hair. When I use styling creams, I do not use a leave-in under them. However, everyone's hair is different, so if you need to use a leave in underneath your stylers, then of course definitely do what your hair responds best to.

The only time that I use styling gel on my hair is when it is in the middle of Summer, and it's incredibly hot and humid out. When I do use gel, I use Kinky-Curly's Curling Custard. However, I always apply Kinky-Curly's Knot Today first, as my leave in, before applying the custard to my hair.

I am not a strict follower of the Curly Girl Method, that Lorraine Massey originated. I have tried to adhere 100% to it, a number of times, however, I can honestly say that everything that goes along with the Curly Gurl method does not work for my hair, so I just choose to go along with what does. I of course learned this through trial and error, and learning what ingredients, products, and methods work best for my specific hairs' needs and sticking with such.

[dwillard]

I am so sorry i'm sorta late on these replies, I definitely was not expecting the amount of responses I got! lol

I am like 100% aware that the stuff im about to say is like contributing to my problem but ya girl is broke and has to finish them out until I can get new stuff.

So, for my shampoos. I have two. I interchange them when I feel like it. (this is all coming right off my head so forgive me if the product names are not completely accurate) Anyways, I use Carol's daughter's Almond milk shampoo. I like that one but I feel like I have to drench my head and then put it on right after. And then I have the garnier whole blends olive oil one, I actually hate this but like I said, I need to finish them out. I watched some more youtube videos and heard that I basically need to run ten feet in the opposite direction from anything that has "-cone" at the end of the word, alcohol and parabens. So, I'm definitely keeping my eye out for now.

As for leave ins, the only one that I've used in the past recent months is from shea moisture, the jamaican black castor oil strengthen and restore leave in conditioner. I also use this giovanni frizz be gone oil. I put these two on after I brush out my hair when I get out of the shower. I am also aware that my problem is that I brush it out after I get out the shower so I'm stopping that. (thats why I got a wide tooth comb for in the shower)

I dont really have a lot of damage to my hair, I rarely use heat on it unless I'm going to an event, I'd probably say I use heat atleast three times a month. I literally brush my hair out and let it air dry. The only other problem that I honestly have is that my hair is like wayyy to oily, I only wash it like every two days. I use dry shampoo a lot but I know that's just something I need to train my hair to fix.

I would like to purchase a microfiber towel but I honestly haven't checked any places for cheap. And I'm also assuming I'm not supposed to use the same ones I could just get at walmart or something? I'm guessing I have to get one specifically designed for hair but if thats not the case please let me know. But as for now, I'm using my boyfriends old long sleeve.

Today, I did spend my birthday money on treating myself at ulta. I got the devacurl wavy hair "starter kit" it had the "Low Poo delight" cleanser, "one condition delight" conditioner, and the wave maker (the actual product I wanted to get in the first place) in the box. If all goes as planned, and I really like these shampoos/conditioners I'm going to make the switch.

[dwillard]

As far as my hair type goes, I still have no clue what it is. Here's two very crappy similar pictures of what my hair looks like unbrushed (took these very quickly, but If need be, I will retake them another time, its just late here and I'm tired)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByLn4Vd802TsT0VqQVMzRlhYeFlkWjg3Ymljb2ZFVkU5T2FN/view?usp=sharing

http://https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByLn4Vd802TsLUZGVk9DdWlocktqdkNxNXFNd29pOEdPOG1J/view?usp=sharing

I have not done anything to my hair, I do agree that a lot of my problem is brushing it after out of the shower so thats why I'm making the change to a widetooth comb in the shower.

[dwillard]

Also, I did forget to say thank you, so thank you all so much for the help!

I do brush my hair out a lot because i feel like it gets very crappy and stringy if I don't, I also find it harder to brush out if I leave in uncombed for long periods of time. I think a lot of this is caused by what I'm using on my hair. Feeling it literally right now, it feels like my main issue is based around my ends (still havent cut them) but I know that's caused from end damage, but other than that, my roots to nearly my tips feel fine.

[Jo Ann]

Destiny, you don't have to "run" from cones--HH is a coney conditioner. My hair handles coney conditioners rather well. If your hair likes cones, don't deny them--let your hair be your guide :flower:

Non-SLS/SLES shampoos won't lather--they foam. If you're not getting what you're used to getting with that type of shampoo, just add more water, NOT more product. You'll get more foaming action--and you'll be better able to adjust your amount to use. With my hip-length hair, I work the scalp first, then add a little bit more shampoo for the length--YMMV :)

Some people do use a wide-tooth comb in the shower, but I finger-comb as I rinse out my products; I comb after I add my products for the LOC method, and my comb just glides through my hair--no tangles!

If you have an old T-shirt, that should work just as well as a substitute for a microfiber towel until you get the $$$ to get one. I use neither--I have HUGE fluffy bath towels that I prefer--but others here swear by old T-shirts to help absorb the water from their hair and plop it after they've added their products.

[lapushka]

No you don't need to run the other way when it comes to silicones. The curly girl method promotes no silicones but that doesn't mean they are bad. I am wavy, wear my hair wavy and use sulfates AND silicones. And I see no adverse effect. There are more people out there like me that need to do a modified CG due to their scalp or another issue. So no they are not *automatically* bad.

The JBCO leave-in from Shea Moisture is excellent but you don't need to use a lot! Keep that in mind.

Devacurl is not the be-all end all. There are much cheaper alternatives out there. For CO-wash for example the As-I-Am one or the Cantu one and for a mask the Garnier Whole Blends line of masks is excellent. It's not that you have to spend "big bucks" on regular hair care.

Wish you would have come here first before buying things. :flower:

I'm not saying Devacurl is bad, it's just pricey. ;)

[Simsy]

Coming from a curly girl on the cheap, I found most of my problems were fixed with 2 things. You shouldn’t need to purchase anything new until you know if the below is working for you.
#1-drop that hairbrush. I use my fingers to ease any tangles or knots out; and I have a cheap knockoff tangle teaser that I use right before I wash, just to make sure I’m tangle and shed-free. A wide-tooth comb is another good option.

#2-let your conditioner sit for a few minutes. While you are in the shower, wash as you normally would. When you get to the conditioner, put it on and just leave it there. I stick my hair up in a bun, but just keep it out of the water in some way. Give it 5 minutes or so, then rinse it out. If you aren’t washing anything out, give it another soak with conditioner.

[lapushka]

#1-drop that hairbrush. I use my fingers to ease any tangles or knots out; and I have a cheap knockoff tangle teaser that I use right before I wash, just to make sure I’m tangle and shed-free. A wide-tooth comb is another good option.

#2-let your conditioner sit for a few minutes. While you are in the shower, wash as you normally would. When you get to the conditioner, put it on and just leave it there. I stick my hair up in a bun, but just keep it out of the water in some way. Give it 5 minutes or so, then rinse it out. If you aren’t washing anything out, give it another soak with conditioner.

That is how I do it too. I only comb + brush *right* before a wash. Then I wash with a sulfate shampoo, and put a glob of it on the back of my head, the top of my head, and a glob divided into 2 for the 2 sides. I suds it up well, every "part" until it all is one big sudsy "mess" and then I massage my head all around, really well, then rinse a bit, re-suds what is left over (which is quite a bit), then ultimately rinse.

I double condition (ear down). I put one conditioner in, let it marinate for 2 min., then rinse out. Then I put a few pumps of oil on the last 5 inches of my hair (rinse out oil, see signature), then immediately stick my second conditioner on the lengths of my hair. Let sit for 2 min., then rinse out.

I "wring" most of the water out, then I put my head into a microfiber towel for 30 min.; then when it comes out it is damp and I detangle one last time, with a wide tooth comb (this week I am trialing a copy of a wet brush) and then I put my styling products in.

I let it airdry for 2-4H, then I only need to diffuse for 5 min.

The rest of the week I finger detangle my hair (not using the fingers as a "comb", but by separating strands and getting sheds out). This way you do not disturb the wave/curl pattern.

Can I still ask why you mark 1b in your stats, as you haven't gotten back to me on that yet. 1b is in essence straight hair, and it doesn't need the same care as 2s or 3s need. That is why the question.

[enting]

I agree with stepping away from the brush, keeping your hair moisturized however your hair likes it, plopping/scrunching, and not touching it otherwise. I don't plop with a towel or shirt of any sort, they all make me frizz. I just scrunch gently when wet with my head upside down, then I carefully clip it up with claw clips until it is mostly dry.

Start out with the changes that are free/cheap, there's no need to go out and spend a lot of money on more/different products until you see what the free changes do.

When you say your hair gets stringy without brushing, do you mean stringy like it looks oily? or stringy as in piece-y? With curly hair you *want* it to clump, to essentially be piece-y in order to show the curls more. Brushing it will reduce the curl by several orders, guaranteed. At my curliest I'm in the Cs. After brushing or even combing too much and oiling I can get down to the 1s. I oil after combing or brushing because I get frizzy when breaking up my curl pattern and the oil makes my hair look less frizzy.

ETA: Your hair looks wavyish/straightish in the pictures. It may just be down to routine, especially since you mentioned frizz, but do keep in mind that some people's hair patterns change, and you may not now have quite as much curl to bounce back to as you might want. :flower: