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View Full Version : Uncombed Curls - I don't know what to do with them!



AprilElf
January 9th, 2009, 07:04 PM
Arrrggh! (This post is partly ranting, so sorry about that ... :o)
I'm going out this evening; nothing flash, but I want to show off my curls somehow.

I washed my hair last night, detangled, and slept with it loose. I haven't combed it since. So now I'm trying to figure out what is the best thing to do to conserve the curls. I've currently got it up in a loose pony, and I think they are already falling out a little, just from the weight on the hair. I think if I comb and not add any other product, I'm going to lose them. They might be okay, if I very gently finger-comb.

I actually have some 'King of the Mods' styling gel that I bought from Lush when I was travelling last year. I haven't used it yet. I'm wondering if I should give that a go ... but I've never used any kind of styling gel before. I'm not sure if this gel is right for my hair, anyway. But what the heck, maybe I should just try it?

Any advice for using styling gel?


Uncombed curls
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn253/AprilElf/Misc%20LHC/uncombedcurls.jpg

mommy101405
January 9th, 2009, 07:07 PM
Maybe just dampen in. Take a very wide tooth comb or a pick and pull it in a half up? Just a suggestion. I'm not a curly so I don't have a huge amount of experience.

Teazel
January 9th, 2009, 07:29 PM
I'm not a curly either, obviously :P, but what if you dampened them slightly and 'plopped' - in a towel or hair-net or something? Just to defy gravity.

Demetrue
January 9th, 2009, 08:31 PM
I find that a drop of aloe vera gel mixed with a drop of jojoba oil and 2 or 3 drops of glycerine mixed together in your palms and scrunched through your hair helps bring out the waves and is also good for your hair.

jojo
January 9th, 2009, 08:33 PM
spray them with a little conditioner mixed with water, that may help.

Your curls are lovely by the way.

shell78
January 9th, 2009, 08:40 PM
We have a similar hair type, so I'll try to help.. I can't add gel to dry hair - it gets sticky and glorpy and the wrong kind of crunchy that doesn't scrunch out well.

If you used gel when you styled, spritzing with water should reactivate the gel already in your hair. The problem is, sometimes spritzing can cause individual hairs to frizz if they're thirsty. I like to put a tiny bit of conditioner in my water bottle - that helps some. Try a spritz and scrunch technique and see if that helps.

When my hair looks like it does in your pic, what I generally do is grab my length in my fist and gently comb just the ends (like the bottom 3" or so) with a wide-tooth comb. If you're afraid of combing dry, spritz the ends with a water-conditioner mix first. This causes it to look a little neater without shredding all the curls and/or having to wait for them to dry again.

If you do decide to use your gel, use just a tiny bit and water it down pretty good in your hands, then scrunch it in and smooth what's left on your hands over any flyaway frizz in your length.

Hope some of this rambliness gives you some ideas - you've asked a pretty hard question!

ReddishRocks
January 9th, 2009, 08:54 PM
We have a similar hair type, so I'll try to help.. I can't add gel to dry hair - it gets sticky and glorpy and the wrong kind of crunchy that doesn't scrunch out well.

If you used gel when you styled, spritzing with water should reactivate the gel already in your hair. The problem is, sometimes spritzing can cause individual hairs to frizz if they're thirsty. I like to put a tiny bit of conditioner in my water bottle - that helps some. Try a spritz and scrunch technique and see if that helps.

When my hair looks like it does in your pic, what I generally do is grab my length in my fist and gently comb just the ends (like the bottom 3" or so) with a wide-tooth comb. If you're afraid of combing dry, spritz the ends with a water-conditioner mix first. This causes it to look a little neater without shredding all the curls and/or having to wait for them to dry again.

If you do decide to use your gel, use just a tiny bit and water it down pretty good in your hands, then scrunch it in and smooth what's left on your hands over any flyaway frizz in your length.

Hope some of this rambliness gives you some ideas - you've asked a pretty hard question!

I agree - I use these techniques as well with a certain amount of success. It's never as good as freshly washed hair, but what can you do, right? I have also had some success with aloe vera gel plus a bit of water, which I then gently rake through my hair. But shell78 is right - the outside sometimes kinks up pretty good because it's so thirsty in this dry weather. I have no luck with glycerin this time of year - its particular humectant properties seem to suck the moisture out of my hair since the air's so dry here.

I can't sleep with my hair loose because I toss around a bit when I sleep. ;) I pull all of my hair into a high ponytail using a scrunchie that's very loose - I have medium thickness and I only wrap my scrunchies around twice. That really seems to keep me from messing up my curls when I sleep.

Good luck - I hope it turned out okay!

RedButterfly
January 10th, 2009, 12:30 AM
We have a similar hair type, so I'll try to help.. I can't add gel to dry hair - it gets sticky and glorpy and the wrong kind of crunchy that doesn't scrunch out well.

If you used gel when you styled, spritzing with water should reactivate the gel already in your hair. The problem is, sometimes spritzing can cause individual hairs to frizz if they're thirsty. I like to put a tiny bit of conditioner in my water bottle - that helps some. Try a spritz and scrunch technique and see if that helps.

When my hair looks like it does in your pic, what I generally do is grab my length in my fist and gently comb just the ends (like the bottom 3" or so) with a wide-tooth comb. If you're afraid of combing dry, spritz the ends with a water-conditioner mix first. This causes it to look a little neater without shredding all the curls and/or having to wait for them to dry again.

If you do decide to use your gel, use just a tiny bit and water it down pretty good in your hands, then scrunch it in and smooth what's left on your hands over any flyaway frizz in your length.

Hope some of this rambliness gives you some ideas - you've asked a pretty hard question!

Shell78 has soon good ideas. I agree that gel works best when applied to wet or damp hair. In fact, it works best on my hair when it is soaking wet.

I also wanted to add that you can also mix a small amount of conditioner and gel together and smooth it into your hair to revive curls. Sometimes my hair does not like to be misted with water and actually frizzes. I have better luck with the conditioner and gel mixture.

You can also apply a small amount of conditioner alone to your hair to revive curls.

When I apply any product to my hair dry to revive curls, I smooth it into my hair with my palms. I do not scrunch and I do not comb it in. Scrunching and combing create frizz for me. After the product dries, my curls are usually shiny and bouncy again.

I hope this helps.

inspiral
January 10th, 2009, 01:02 AM
i also have similar hair, and for me, if i sleep with my hair loose, its all over, its so tangled and crazy and frizzy! if i really wanted to go out and show off my curls and had no time to detangle.... i would probably try and detangle the ends a little, put my hair up on top of my head or something, in a messy bun type thing, with the curly ends loose all around the bun, and then also before i put it up i would see if i could find some curls around my face that were in good shape or could be salvaged, smooth them, wet them a little, gel them, and have some curls hanging.

AprilElf
January 10th, 2009, 03:15 AM
Thank you so much for the responses. :) This is all great information that I will definitely come back to when needed in the future.

What I ended up doing tonight was wetting my hair again, smoothing in a little conditioner to the lower half, then rinsed that out. Squeezed excess water out and scrunched in some of the Lush gel (smells great), then plopped.
Wore hair in a bunny tail, so the tail was kinda curly. You are right, ReddishRocks, it's not as good as freshly washed (!), but it was fairly good.

Just not good enough for a picture. :p

Misha
January 10th, 2009, 06:36 AM
Hi AprilElf

We have a similar hairtype, here's what works like a charm for me (I hope you don't mind non-gel info), this revives and defines the curls:

After airdrying, my hair is somewhat stringy looking, so I need to comb it out. Or, if I need to revive my hair later in the day, I first slightly mist it with water. Then I simply smooth on a bit of coconut oil and comb with a wide tooth detangling comb. Voila - combed out well bodied hair, with all the curls intact and accentuated.

HTH :)

Dreamernz
January 10th, 2009, 06:43 AM
Wow I love your curls they are absolutely amazing!!!! I'd agree in saying plop and keep your hair up until you go out to maintain the curl :D

lapushka
January 10th, 2009, 07:08 AM
You might like to try the CG method:
http://www.wikihow.com/Follow-the-Curly-Girl-Method-for-Curly-Hair

Don't comb curls ever (unless you're washing them and you're detangling)

rhubarbarin
January 10th, 2009, 07:17 AM
Yeah I think they look great uncombed, why mess with them at all? Unless you are prone to tangling. I'm not, and I rarely disturb my curls once they have dried.

snowbird
January 10th, 2009, 05:25 PM
this trick might work, but it takes time:

do your 'hair wet in the shower' routine (gel? condish? whatever you do normally). after towel drying, plop into a hairnet, and let your hair airdry completely while in the hairnet. sitting in front of a fan speeds this up, or use a hairdryer on cool. Remove hairnet once totally dry, shake and fluff, and go!

Dez
January 10th, 2009, 08:55 PM
when my hair was longer and I found i had a day with great curls I always used an oil or hair serum. What i like is the victoria secret very sexy hair serum. and just rub it on my palms and then lightly brush it on the top and sides of my canopy and fluff around a little and that usually smoothed them out, then i could brush into 1/2 up with a clip or just leave down.

DecafJane
January 10th, 2009, 11:05 PM
I love your curls! I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to add that comment. :)

AprilElf
January 11th, 2009, 01:04 AM
Thanks DecafJane. :p

And thanks for the rest of those very helpful tips. I really appreciate it. I know I really should have searched the Wurly and Curly Thread, but that thread's so huge now, it's quite intimidating. (Will have to just jump in to that one and see if I can keep afloat! ;) ) And I'd forgotten about the Clumps RULE!!! thread, which I see is also a good place to hang out.

Thanks for indulging me. It was a good introduction to dealing with curls, which is something I haven't really focused on yet in my hair journey. :)

Honey39
January 11th, 2009, 01:44 AM
Thank you so much for the responses. :) This is all great information that I will definitely come back to when needed in the future.

What I ended up doing tonight was wetting my hair again, smoothing in a little conditioner to the lower half, then rinsed that out. Squeezed excess water out and scrunched in some of the Lush gel (smells great), then plopped.
Wore hair in a bunny tail, so the tail was kinda curly. You are right, ReddishRocks, it's not as good as freshly washed (!), but it was fairly good.

Just not good enough for a picture. :p

That's what I do - add leave-in conditioner to dry hair, then wet the lower half of my hair thoroughly using scoops of water from the handbasin, and then scrunch up into curls. I get great second day curls this way - almost as good as freshly washed!

The pic of your curls was gorgeous, btw!