My hair only curls mid shaft to ends

[Meagan]

My new growth isnt curly, my hair starts curling mid shaft to ends why?? It sucks because I would like that volume at my scalp and it looks weird because it's so volumous at the bottom and flat at the top??

Lol..i dunno..it's just something ive always wondered.

[julliams]

I think that's how my hair curls too. For me, I don't want any big hair at my roots so I'm more than happy with the way my hair lies flatter on top but gives me volumnous curls at the bottom.

There is a technique that I read about in curly girl where you cross your curls over each other at your parting to give more height. This might work for you?

[snakewitch]

It's all genetics, baby.

But I've noticed something with my hair... it is 2b/2c, sometimes even 3a. And it all depends on how I wash it. If I use any harsh shampoos, it kills my curls. Which is why a while back I threw out anything with 2 or more harsh chemicals in the ingredients. They look like depressing, ugly waves when I wash with harsh chemicals.

When I only wash with conditioner, my curls start halfway through after some good healthy looking waves.

And when I wash only with herbal tea, all of my hair is curly(well, starting about 3 inches off of my scalp).

I'm assuming that my hair isn't the only hair that acts like this based on washing. So, try out some different things and see what your own thing is for controlling your hair texture.

And I'm no expert. Just putting that out there.

[Jeni]

You have what I always called "cheerleader hair"! All the cheerleaders in my middle and high school wore their hair up in ponytails with a ribbon, flat (straight) at the tops and the pony part were soft bouncy curls. I wanted that hair SO BAD!

[DrkAngel]

Same here. It happens for a lot of curly heads. For me, my hair is very fine so I think its mainly because the weigth of the hair pulls down the curl at the top and it appears straighter.

There are ways to prevent the flat top and create more volume. You can try plopping, the criss-cross thing mentioned above or any other method really to lift your hair away from the scalp and let it air dry without the weigth of the rest of your mane pulling on it. Layers can also help a great deal to avoid the "pyramid head" look haha.

[McFearless]

I've always wanted my hair to be like that. Curls at the roots cause horrible tangles and make it impossible to have sleek buns.

[Katze]

Mine too. It looks straight until about chin length, and from APL onwards I have loose spiral curls. Go figure!

You might try braid waves to get some more wave in your crown, though for me (fine hair) they don't work very well.

[OneCurlyMan]

The hair does curl but you have to take into account that the hair closest to the follicle is bearing the weight of the whole hair shaft. You may think that hair does not weight much, which is true, but imagine that constant weight everyday, year round.

Do this, grab a hair strand by midway length and lightly pull on it. Even the slightest pulling stretches the curl pattern. Now imagine that tension everyday.

The final segment of the hair (tip) does not bear any tension hence you can notice the difference in curl pattern as the shaft goes from follicle to tip. I always recommend that to identify curl pattern, one should use the length of the tips (aprox. last 1/5 of the hair shaft) as examples.

This is something that happens to all of us curlies. Like the above posters, it happens to me too and sometimes straight haired people ask me if I have permed my hair because my curls are very tight at the end compared to the roots. Many times I just sigh and say "yes, I perm my hair".

[OneCurlyMan]

Apologies, I clicked enter without seeing it was on post.

This case of differences in curl shape are especially notable amongst people with long hair. The longer the hair, the heavier it becomes hence the more tension on the segment closest to the follicle, leading to permanently stretched curls. If you were to cut your hair to, say, 4 -6 inches of length, you would see how the length takes a curlier appearance than what used to be when it was bearing an additional 20 inches of hair.

Unfortunately there isn't anything you can do and it will become more pronounced as your hair grows longer. Don't sweat it, I personally find the transition in curl shape to look great.

I hope this helped.

[Pierre]

When I had short hair, the radius of the curl was about 4 cm. Now the radius at the tip is about 5 mm, but the radius on my scalp is more than 4 cm, so it's not just weight. I think that the tip of a hair, even when it's just a new hair that's all tip, curls tightly, and as the hair grows, the later parts of the hair curl less.