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Athena's Owl
May 29th, 2010, 09:27 AM
I'm wondering if there are other curlies on LHC who have adopted the methods and ideas in the live Curly, Live Free eBook (no link, sorry!)

I got started with Curly Girl years and years ago and it was a good start for me but there were things getting in the way - I'd have frizz and fluffiness to deal with, and my rampant perfectionism just got crazy about it. Then i had a couple years where i didn't do anything with my hair at all - I'd just put it in a bun and leave it.

When I decided to get back into it, I found that I wasn't getting good results and the curly women I talked to about it told me about this other eBook, so I picked it up and discovered a bunch of other factors to consider when choosing products and styling - and I have so much control over my hair now, even in my first year of experimentation with the method. It's really improved the way my hair looks and how it feels. But it seems like I know this whole other language that no one else on LHC speaks.

So I wonder. Does anyone else track dewpoints? Do you use certain washing techniques because of your hair's porosity? Do you read ingredient labels not just to find out if there are silicones, but also if there are proteins and humectants in the product? Is anybody else Living Curly and free?

jane53
May 29th, 2010, 09:30 AM
Funny you posted this at this moment!

I was just thinking about posting something about my CURLY ENVY.

I have straight hair. Both my sisters have curly hair, and all they have to do is come out of the shower and shake their heads and they have lovely curls.

Not so much for me!

Buddaphlyy
May 29th, 2010, 09:37 AM
Never heard of the book, but I would be very interested in reading it (will look it up after work).

Anyway, through much trial and error, I have learned to truly work with my hair they way IT needs to be work with instead of the way I want it to work. I never could get into the CG thing because my hair and most gels don't particularly get along. Plus my hair likes most silicones and going cone free was a disaster for me.

Now, I do choose products and use techniques based on what my hair has told me it likes. I very rarely wash my hair completely loose now. I always put it in braids or twists and leave them in during the entire wash process. Shampoos have to be ALS/ALES based (though I am having success with Suave's new Almond and Shea Butter shampoo which has SLS in it).My hair is very porous and protein seems to help a lot, but it has to be keratin based or it won't work. I don't watch dewpoints, but I have found that glycerin is the best humectant for me. And it has to be a part of the last steps in my wash (say, they leave in, but not the rinse out conditioner) to be most effective.

pilateschick7
May 29th, 2010, 09:42 AM
I love Tiffany's ebook and would dearly like to get a curly cut at her salon near Tampa Florida. :) I am not hard core enough to religiously track dew points, however I sporadically check.

Debra83
May 29th, 2010, 09:42 AM
I've never heard of the book, but I'll look it up later for sure after work.

TrudieCat
May 29th, 2010, 10:09 AM
I love Tiffany's website and I use the basic techniques she outlined there, which I found more specific and technical than the CG book - but I don't have her ebook. I am thinking about looking into it, though, since I still struggle with some frizz and I am just now realizing how much the dewpoints & ingredients in my products have to do with my hair's day-to-day look. However, I am a little too lazy to be so careful with that stuff these days.

Since I started saturating my hair with condish after my shower, like she describes on her site, I have seen a HUGE difference.

Plus I like the vibe of the site. It does feel so freeing to accept my waves & wurls!

BotticelliCurls
May 29th, 2010, 10:36 AM
So I wonder. Does anyone else track dewpoints? Do you use certain washing techniques because of your hair's porosity? Do you read ingredient labels not just to find out if there are silicones, but also if there are proteins and humectants in the product? Is anybody else Living Curly and free?

yes, i do check for protein too but what are humectants? they sound bad. yes, i am living curly and free :). i always had.

Athena's Owl
May 29th, 2010, 10:56 AM
yes, i do check for protein too but what are humectants? they sound bad. yes, i am living curly and free :). i always had.

Oh humectants aren't bad at all. It's just that they ...

Hmm. I was going to say "aren't dependable," but that's not true. you can depend on humectants to do exactly what it is that they do - attempt to match the moisture level in your hair to the moisture level of the air around you.

This is a wonderful thing for curls when the moisture level in the air is ideal for humectant use, and that's what I'm checking on when I track dewpoints. If the dew point is in the right zone, then humectant products are going to help my hair look great, and if not, then disaster will strike.

But here's the thing: The dew point range is actually pretty narrow. it's a mild weather thing, most places: not too warm, and not too cold weather is likely to be a day where the dew point is in the right range.

But here's the other thing: It varies wildly by region and climate. I live in an extremely dry, northerly area. It is almost june, and I still haven't hit weather where the dew point is *high* enough to use humectants! (as a matter of fact i'm looking out my window at snow on the ground. Not a lot of snow, but it's there.) But for someone living in, say.... Atlanta, GA, the dewpoint is at the point where it might be wise to start laying off the humectant products before curls become fuzzy, limp, frizzy poofy strands of unhappiness.

So they're great!

In the right conditions, anyway.

rchorr
May 29th, 2010, 02:39 PM
I bought the Curly Girl book years ago. So, I went looking for this site. AWESOME! Thanks so much for sharing. This woman really seems to know her stuff.

Thanks for sharing!

RCHORR'

jeanniet
May 29th, 2010, 02:56 PM
What is the "right" dewpoint? Does it vary by area? And where do you look it up? I'm in an area that's very wet in the winter and very dry in summer, although we also get summer fog and overcast. Needless to say, this wreaks havoc with my hair at times (wavy, not curly) and it would be great to get some kind of handle on it. :cool:

Athena's Owl
May 29th, 2010, 04:26 PM
I look up the dewpoint on the internet. I use Wx.ca, but I know that weatherunderground gives dew point in their temperature and forecast pages too.

if it varies by area, I'm not sure. I've only been at this method for a couple of months, and it's been noted by another curly i talk to who is even further north than I am that there's considerations for very, very cold dewpoints - what we do with our hair when the dews are at -15 c, which isn't even considered by the author, who lives in Florida and maybe hasn't been anywhere near a day so cold that the *temperature* reads -15 c, let alone the dew point!

Ideal dewpoints for humectant use - I converted the chart in the eBook to celsius, because i don't really understand Farenheit at all. I posted that chart in my hair blog.

KBG
May 29th, 2010, 05:11 PM
Thanks for posting this! I'll check LCLF out soon.

I'm in a dry climate most of the time. Ingredients like glycerin are a disaster for my hair and skin unless I'm on vacation.

masa_inn
May 29th, 2010, 06:21 PM
Dew points map (http://image.weather.com/images/maps/current/actdew_600x405.jpg)
Courtesy of this wonderful blog:http://dormroomcurly.blogspot.com/

IIRC, the "ideal" DP for curl formation is 60-65.

Fractalsofhair
May 29th, 2010, 06:40 PM
Noting the dewpoints in that chart, that actually explains why my hair curls somedays and not others, I think. Today, it is curly, but not neatly curled(So it's puffy. Yay for shea butter! XD), and other days, the hair lies straight, like 1a ish.

OperaTeacherMom
May 29th, 2010, 06:45 PM
Hmmm, no wonder my hair curls so much better here (DFW, TX, dewpoint of 60) than it did in Phoenix, AZ (dew point like 9 lol).

Thanks for sharing that book/site, it had a lot of info on proteins and such that I really need to look into!

curly girl fla
May 29th, 2010, 07:29 PM
I never downloaded her ebook, but Tiffany is amazing and she is an absolute wealth of information on anything hair. I get my hair cut by her about every 5 or 6 months, and she never disappoints. It's hard to follow all the dew point stuff-here in Florida it's almost always high, as well as the heat and humidity. Curlies and non-curlies can learn alot from her...:)

Roseate
May 29th, 2010, 07:36 PM
...I'm in an area that's very wet in the winter and very dry in summer, although we also get summer fog and overcast. Needless to say, this wreaks havoc with my hair at times (wavy, not curly) and it would be great to get some kind of handle on it. :cool:

I'm in the Bay area too, and our microclimates can make keeping track of the dewpoint so hard, especially if you're going from one side of the Bay to the other in a day!

I haven't gotten serious about this method partially for that reason. I often spend half the day in the South Bay and the other half in SF, so from parched to damp... er... I wear my hair up a lot.

rachelily
May 29th, 2010, 09:15 PM
I've stumbled across this site a couple times and have the information very valuable. It's so neat to know the perfect science between what works for your hair.