"cones" causing a loss in curl...

[wizboo]

Hi guys,
Thanks for all your help over the last months, my hair thanks you for it and is growing like billyo (cm bast bsl now)!Now for the ramble:

Until a couple of months back i always thought i had straight hair. When i cut it to bob-length i noticed it was slightly wavy. As it grew longer i noticed some spiral curls, and was really please with my curliness!

Now my hair is heavily layered (big mistake :() and the layers are spiralling away, but the length of my hair is poker- straight. As you can imagine this looks quite weird, and i was wondering if it was the length weighing it down, or if it could be my conditioner (always full of cones). Because of the shortness of my layers i don't condition them.

So hopefully someone can help my strange hair to make its choice, curly, or straight. As some may know i have been thinking about changing to a no-cone condish (jungle from lush). And for those who can help me out with my waves, would "jungle" make any difference?

btw- my curls can be brushed to small waves easily- so am curly or straight??:confused:

[Flynn]

First up, there is a whole spectrum between "curly" and "straight". Have a look at the visual hairtyping guide (link in the very important threads sticky on each board...), so the question is not "am I curly, or am I straight".

It's pretty common for wavies and wurlies (and perhaps even 3a curlies, though I'm not sure about that one) to have a very straight underlayer. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe because all the hair on top isn't giving your underlayer the chance to wave or curl as it dries.

Yes, going no-cone often brings out curl. Being very heavy-handed with your conditioner, so you get an awful lot of moisture in, also really, really encourages it. Similarly, a cone-free leave in conditioner can make a big difference, by increasing moisture. (This can be a dab of your "rinse out" conditioner; a lot of people, myself included, do that. It's easier to find cone-free "rinse outs" than leave-ins, they're an awful lot cheaper, and their composition is not actually significantly different from conditioners marketed as "leave-in".)

Finally, about the layers. If your hair is anything like mine, those layers you don't like at BSL will look amazing at waist. I grew from a pixie to waist+, and it grew into that layered sort of look that I really didn't much like at around APL. I didn't really need to trim it until I was almost at waist, and it really made me sad that the heavy layers that had been driving me nuts at APL had to go. (I didn't really trust the hairdresser to keep the layers long enough upon trimming, so I let them go TT^TT ) I'm at hip now, and planning to try to get those layres cut back in!

In case you haven't noticed them already, the Wurly and Curly Thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=369) and the Wavy and Wurly Thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=31563) are full of people with ideas and experiences who should be able to recommend products, techniques and so on for you. ^__^

[Presto]

For me, cones make my hair less curly and more frizzy. For others they are a must have product. You'll have to try going no cones to see how it works for you. :)

[daydreamer]

I've been going through this mysterious new wavy thing myself -- and I think cones *do* have something to do with it. Also, do you have any old damage? Like for me, my hair is starting to wave all over the place above my old dye damage, but still pretty straight below. Maybe your shorter layers have less old damage on them (if you have old damage, that is)?

[Roseate]

Do try no-cone for a while, see how it goes.

I had forgotten how much cones change my wave pattern; I used some a couple weeks ago on vacation and really missed my wurls!

[Cherry_Sprinkle]

ditto to all of the above as well as length also adds to loss of curl

[teela1978]

My hair is wavier without cones. I prefer it straighter lately though so I use them.

[Belisarius]

If i use a conditioner with cones, dimethicone, my curls become somewhat less. But everyone's hair is different.

[wizboo]

Thank you so much everyone. No- cones is definately something i will have to try!

Flynn, I know there is a huge range of hair types, and i will bear with my layers for now.

I don't think it could be old damage as i have never coloured my hair and very rarely straightened it.

Also, i would have thought extra moisture would weigh your curls down, but i will try that too. I've read that jojoba oil is good??

[jojo]

It could also be the weight of longer hair pulling the curls out but I find my hair to be much more wurly when I go coneless but I like the slip cones give me. Its hard desiding which to go with, try both and see which you like best its normally well for me a toss over waves or gloss!

[Feye]

When I went back to cones from using natural products my hair got much more wavy than before. I think cones are better now than they used to be 5 years ago when they got their bad reputation? Anyway, that's just a guess. You could experiment with going cone free and see how you like it. Good luck!

[teela1978]

When I went back to cones from using natural products my hair got much more wavy than before. I think cones are better now than they used to be 5 years ago when they got their bad reputation? Anyway, that's just a guess. You could experiment with going cone free and see how you like it. Good luck!

Different cones definitely work differently. Dimethicone weighs my hair down a lot more than amodimethicone for example.

[Feye]

Different cones definitely work differently. Dimethicone weighs my hair down a lot more than amodimethicone for example.

Ah! I look at the bottle and my favorite conditioner has amodimethicone! It makes sense.

[pradabacon]

No cones definitely increases my waviness. My hair can be nearly straight (although with a tendency to frizziness) with certain cones to extremely wavy without any at all. If I don't comb or brush my hair during drying the waves are pretty tight, and if I brush my hair after it dries, the waves are much longer and looser. It's fun being able to 'switch' hair types depending on how I feel any given day. :D