Oh, WOW! Waves!!! But.... Oh, now what?

[DragonLady]

I think I need help. Maybe the mental kind?

My hair has always been stick-straight. Like string, or twine, if you like, but straight. It has hung flat on my skull and straight down the sides and back just like there were little weights on the end.

For years I curled it. I blew it dry with a round brush, then teased the front up and back, then used a curling iron to turn it into big loose ringlets. Then I dyed it, and then I fried it. After cutting off the damage and getting some layers put in, I waited for years to have length again.

Now (thanks in large part to LHC) I finally do. But, in the last few weeks it's becoming more and more obvious that my hair has changed. When I regisered here I was 1a~f/m~i/ii. Now, I've changed in all three aspects!

Ever since I started taking gelatin, I've been gaining in thickness. Not a lot, but enough to make me a solid ii. And using the egg yolk/honey/molasses mix has been causing subtle changes in the way my hair acts. First, it gained some body (!!!), and now I have distinct waves. Not big -certainly not curls - but soft waves that run through most of it (some straight sections) that make it look....like someone else's hair.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I think I just might like this new thing -at least while it's new. And maybe it won't stay. Maybe it's just because I've been leaving my hair in a towel longer to avoid damage 'till it's mostly dry. But I let it air-dry this evening, and there's no doubt there are waves.

Now...question is, how do I take care of them? I've never, ever, ever had waves! Even perms never lasted more than a few weeks, and then the damage was so bad they were never worth it. How do I make the most of them?

[Nevermore]

I find brushing with oil (put a drop of two of oil in your palm, run the bristles of a BBB over it, then brush) brings out my waves and curls, especially in combination with finger combing and sort of shaking my hair out. The oil just makes it gorgeous, but the finger combing and shaking seems to help it clump better, producing nicer wave/curl definition.

[DragonLady]

but the finger combing and shaking seems to help it clump better,

Clump better? To my straight-all-my-life ears that sounds stringy? I think I know what you mean from my curling iron experiences -holding the curl together in a roll so it doesn't fall out into dozens of loose strands?

[DragonLady]

Once I was sure it was completely dry, I combed it out. The waves disappeared -I guess King Bryan took them back. :(

But, I do have nice volume. So I guess I have to call myself a 1b now....at least for now. Maybe it will become more obviously wavy with time, or maybe my hair is just experiementing and will go back to the straight-n-(very)narrow when it's ready.

edited for speeling

[Nevermore]

Yup, clumping is what straight hairs call stringiness. Though, there is such a thing as stringiness for me too, but usually that takes two weeks of not washing or a heavy oiling to achieve-the waves/curls fall out and it just hangs in strings.

[Aditi]

I am a wavy and i don't do something particular about taking care of my hair, i just follow steps which are commonly done by most of the members in LHC like ACV, air-dry, use Wide-toothed comb, etc. Just do what you have been doing with your hair when they were straight. There are times when my hair just feel straight rather than usual wavy but they come back after sometime. So maybe your hair is having a phase like this too, just give some more time before you consider your hair has changed the texture. Hope this helps :).

[Arctic]

I've had similar experiences. When I joined I typed myself 1a/f/i-ii and now I am all but :D
It did took a long time to learn to accept the waves, and to stop thinking myself as a straightie and start thinking myself a s a wavie (or straivy, as my title says, since I too have some straight(ish) parts).

First I didn't treat my hair differently, except trying all these new hair care practices. Wavy hair needs moisture moisture moisture, and that's what I give to it. I have reduces combing a lot. And I always use leave in. Hmm, feel free to ask more question and read my blog too!

[GoddesJourney]

My hair has definately changed over time. Sometimes it's related to hormones, nutrition, or stress. My hair is straight to wavy and every possible thickness and color. Ever since I was about twelve, I started noticing little black, flat, kinky africana hairs around the top of my scalp. I think I get a tiny bit more every year and I'm almost 25. Hair definately changes over time. You've obviously done a lot of damage to yours over time, so it's probably starting over. I didn't ever style or even blow dry my hair, but it still changed. I did dye it for a few years though, but it stopped growing and it looked like straw. When it grew back, it was more or less the same, so perhaps it changed, for me, independently of what I did to it. Who know? It's hair.

I'm glad you've gained in thickness, though. That's always fun. Enjoy your new volume. If it doesn't last, oh well.

[enfys]

I'm wavier too, which I put down to herbal washes. You've also started using natural stuff too, maybe that's just what it does?

I'm just ignoring my hair and hoping when I look at it again I will just *know* what to do. You might find it takes a curl better than before. Mine always used to drop, but seems better now.

Your layers might make a difference too, mine do!

[jera]

Less is more when it comes to maintaining natural waves. My hair was always straight and I used to blowfry it FAT straight. When I stopped all that, lo and behold - natural waves. :)

I just CO wash and add homemade herbal leave in rinse. The air dry. Sometimes the waves are more intense than others. I think this may have to do with the thickness hair gains when you do healthy things to it and for it. :p

[DragonLady]

Thanks for the answers, everyone. I do believe it may be because I've been doing all the moisture treatments. Every hairdresser I ever had told me I had really dry hair. I've always used "moisturizing" products, but with 'cones and probably not enough of it.

Now my layers have almost completely grown out and I've been doing SMTs every single week. So I think maybe I'm just now seeing what my hair really can be.

I've always kinda wondered why mine is so straight. My parents and sisters all have a tiny bit of curl. Don't know about my brothers, as they've all kept their hair so short there's no telling. Now to be honest I'd be tickled pink if I can just keep the volume I had yesterday. That alone makes me want to do a little happy dance as the flatness and limpness has always bothered me much more than the straightness.

[creativehoney]

My hair did the Same thing. I thought I was always had straight dry hair and would brush the crap out of it.

Well then when I started co washing I started seeing really nice waves, and one day I did a plop with aloe gel, and I was like holy @!!?!! What the heck happened to my hair!
Lol
My hair is actually 2a2b and I swear I see 3a curls in there too.

What I have learned so far is:
don't brush, use a wide tooth comb or finger comb, losts of moisture, like oils and leave ins.
And don't touch hair when its wet. That lets it clump naturally.
Hope that helps. :)

[lockslessmonstr]

I think I need help. Maybe the mental kind?

My hair has always been stick-straight. Like string, or twine, if you like, but straight. It has hung flat on my skull and straight down the sides and back just like there were little weights on the end.

For years I curled it. I blew it dry with a round brush, then teased the front up and back, then used a curling iron to turn it into big loose ringlets. Then I dyed it, and then I fried it. After cutting off the damage and getting some layers put in, I waited for years to have length again.

Now (thanks in large part to LHC) I finally do. But, in the last few weeks it's becoming more and more obvious that my hair has changed. When I regisered here I was 1a~f/m~i/ii. Now, I've changed in all three aspects!

Ever since I started taking gelatin, I've been gaining in thickness. Not a lot, but enough to make me a solid ii. And using the egg yolk/honey/molasses mix has been causing subtle changes in the way my hair acts. First, it gained some body (!!!), and now I have distinct waves. Not big -certainly not curls - but soft waves that run through most of it (some straight sections) that make it look....like someone else's hair.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I think I just might like this new thing -at least while it's new. And maybe it won't stay. Maybe it's just because I've been leaving my hair in a towel longer to avoid damage 'till it's mostly dry. But I let it air-dry this evening, and there's no doubt there are waves.

Now...question is, how do I take care of them? I've never, ever, ever had waves! Even perms never lasted more than a few weeks, and then the damage was so bad they were never worth it. How do I make the most of them?
HOLY COW!!!!!
Gelatin added thickness for you!!!!!????!!!???? How do you take it? Where do you get it? Is it a pill or powder? I'm totally trying this - I want thicker hair!!!!
And the "egg yolk/honey/molasses mix" - Can you give me the recipe and tell me how to use it?
I'm so excited to learn of 2 new things that might help me gain thickness!

[DragonLady]

HOLY COW!!!!!
Gelatin added thickness for you!!!!!????!!!???? How do you take it? Where do you get it? Is it a pill or powder? I'm totally trying this - I want thicker hair!!!!
And the "egg yolk/honey/molasses mix" - Can you give me the recipe and tell me how to use it?
I'm so excited to learn of 2 new things that might help me gain thickness!

lol

Okay...gelatin. The plain Knox variety. I mix one teaspoon of gelatin and one teaspoon of sodium-free chicken or beef broth into a disposable cup and add rapidly boiling water. Every night.

Pre-shampoo mix:

-2 egg yolks. Remove all the whites, or they'll cook in your hair and be impossible to remove.
-1 tablespoon of molasses -careful with this, it may darken your hair. Doesn't seem to have changed mine, but be on the lookout.
-1 tablespoon of honey. Nuke it before you add it in for 20 seconds or so if you don't want to risk lightening your hair a bit.

Yesterday I also added 1 tablespoon of castor oil, and I think that made a nice difference. The very ends of my hair still feel moisturized today, even though I didn't oil them last night.

I rinse my hair real well before I start, because the night before I load it up with coconut oil and olive oil 'till it's so greasy I can make abstract hair sculptures.

Once it's rinsed, I squeeze out most of the water and put in the egg mix. I wrap my hair in a plastic grocery bag and leave it on for an hour. Then shampoo it out.

The only reason I still use shampoo is because I follow this up with catnip, which doesn't work as well for me if I don't start with shampoo. I shampoo it just once with diluted Flex, then put in the catnip for two hours.

After the catnip, I do a ten-minute beer soak, followed by a two-hour SMT.

Washing my hair takes the better part of a day now, but the results are (for me) to die for. I never imagined my hair could be so nice without a $150.00 trip to a salon!

For more updates and such, I do keep a blog of sorts, and usually write down any changes I make.

[DragonLady]

I should add that it took over three solid months of drinking the gelatin mix to start noticing a difference. And that difference is only really obvious now, and I've been drinking it almost every single night for a year.

[xsadiemamx]

lol my hair used to be stick straight as a kid then it got some body waves. Now its straight on the sides of my face and way underneath its like braid waves. I also noticed my hair is really coarse on the top layer I even have really kinky pieces and then underneath near me nape its really fine like baby hair! I guess hair just has a mind of its own.

[xoLegallyAubrey]

lol my hair used to be stick straight as a kid then it got some body waves. Now its straight on the sides of my face and way underneath its like braid waves. I also noticed my hair is really coarse on the top layer I even have really kinky pieces and then underneath near me nape its really fine like baby hair! I guess hair just has a mind of its own.
Same here.:D