Enhancing my waves

[SnowWhite]

Okay, my hair is kind of a disaster right now. I typed my hair as 1c/2a... Medium to coarse and quite voluminous. But perhaps it's a 2a, I don't know yet...

My routine consists of: SLS free shampoo, pre poo with heavy coconut oil treatment or cone free conditioning. I don't condition after shampoo because it's a PITA to rinse everything out...
I oil with coconut oil or olive oil when I feel my hair is dry. I comb my hair with a wide tooth comb one or two days after washing.
Most of the time, I just let my hair air dry. I tried plopping but it didn't work. I do scrunch sometimes.

When it's wet and I come out of the shower, it's definitely wavy but since my hair is quite heavy and thick, it becomes straighter and straighter. The day after washing, it's straight at the top and flips at the end. Horrible.
Especially since the right side flips towards my face and the left side away from my face. So it looks like I stood outside in a hurricane and the wind came frome the side.

Here are two pictures. The first one is my natural waviness, the second one is that weird flipping thing one or two days after washing... It looks tolerable from the back, but from the front it's really weird.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/1006/img5128qb.jpg

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/1812/dsc06166001.jpg

I don't want to use products with cones etc or mousse or other sprays and want to go as natural as possible, so I was wondering if you think that changing something in my hair routine would help to enhance my waves and keep them even some days after washing? (aloë vera gel perhaps?)

And you wavies out there :p did you notice your hair got wavier when longer, or straighter? And what do you think about layering with this type of hair?

Perhaps it's just a phase I've got to get through while wearing my hair up a lot. Once my hair is at BSL or something I hope it will be better.
I already read some topics about this issue and found some LHC'ers with my type of hair but it keeps being a PITA so that's why I wanted to ask some specific advice in here...

Thank you in advance! :D

[Lippytoes]

Your hair looks like you might be more on the solid 2 side in terms of waviness, to me. At least, my 1c/2a hair didn't have such defined waves with shoulder-length hair, that I recall.

As for enhancing waviness: conditioner only does the trick for a load of people (myself included). I definitely recommend trying it - the CO thread here has a lot of great info. Aloe vera gel is great too - or you can try to find some other type of cone-free gel.

[SnowWhite]

Thanks for your reply! Yes I was thinking it's in the range of wavies too... My hair improved when I started to oil so I guess it needs moisture.

I might try washing CO... :)

[afu]

you might want to try making a mixture of coconut oil and aloe vera and applying that, it really helps when my curls are misbehaving. What do you do with your hair at night, is it long enough to be able to braid? if so that might help to get a more even pattern. To me it looks like your hair is just at an awkward stage for its curl, it looks like it is almost trying to form big loose 3 curls but just doesnt have the length to do so - my advice would be to treat it as a wavy/curly and see how it progresses with length

[SnowWhite]

you might want to try making a mixture of coconut oil and aloe vera and applying that, it really helps when my curls are misbehaving. What do you do with your hair at night, is it long enough to be able to braid? if so that might help to get a more even pattern. To me it looks like your hair is just at an awkward stage for its curl, it looks like it is almost trying to form big loose 3 curls but just doesnt have the length to do so - my advice would be to treat it as a wavy/curly and see how it progresses with length

Thanks for that good advice. Must look for aloe vera gel and try your mixture!
And yes, I can try to french braid it at night.
I'm going to baby my hair as if it was a wurly...:D
It might behave better when longer.

[Vampyria]

A hair twin! :D Even my color is similar. My hair is wavier when shorter. Unless if it's damaged and the ends are thinner, then it's wavier.

I also use coconut oil as a pre-wash, than natural shampoo and natural conditioner. I haven't tried CO-washing though.

What about damp braiding? Well it didn't really worked for me, it just got really frizzy after a while.

[Aveyronnaise]

We look like similar hair people, and yes you are in the awkward zone , my hair is a little longer than BSL and it's so very much better than at the length that you are at right now. Mine started to get better at APL. Good Luck !

[natt i nord]

I'm not into the wavy ones, but have you tried to not comb at all between the washes?
Like comb right before washing and leaving it alone afterwards up to the next wash. I think that did the trick for many curlies here, maybe it works for you, too.

[Hollyfire3]

Thanks for that good advice. Must look for aloe vera gel and try your mixture!
And yes, I can try to french braid it at night.
I'm going to baby my hair as if it was a wurly...:D
It might behave better when longer.

I agree with using the aloe mixture, similar hairtype here and I use it alot. I also mix some of my normal conditioner with water in a spray bottle, shake, then scrunch into dry second day hair to revive some wurls, maybe even add some aloe gel to it? it works great! Good luck and I think more length will help the curls form.

[GrowingGlory]

Your hair is much more attractive than it sounds in your description. Maybe "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[papera]

I second the "awkward" hair zone ;) mine was quite similar at around APL, and it got more wavy/ curly with length... and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! curly/ wavy hair needs loads of that! For the rest: happy growing :D

[HintOfMint]

Your hair looks quite nice right now, even in the awkward stage. I had hair at your length before, and let me tell you, it gets much better as it gets longer. Layers might end up being your friend as it grows out as the thickness may not lay well when it is above BSL, but this isn't a bad thing. I love layers with wavy hair.

If you're not cone-free, I would recommend Aveda Universal Styling Cream. That really helped me get through the awkward stage.

[Annibelle]

My hair was 1b at your length. It's 2a/b now. It's definitely wavier as it gets longer, as for some reason my roots are straight. :confused:

CO washing was what initially led me to believe that my hair was actually wavy! BUT I don't think it was because of the CO washing itself-- I think it was because I was no longer using cones when I went CO. My hair is actually waviest now when I DO use shampoo (though I still do that only once a month max).

As for enhancing waviness, I used to use regular conditioner as a leave-in and scrunch, but last time I washed I used Andalou Naturals gel as my leave-in (it has aloe) and it made my hair a bit more consistently wavier. I normally have a few spirals on one side and a few straight spots on the other, but when I used the gel, I just had really consistent waves everywhere, and my hair was voluminous. :)

Some wavies use pure AVG, but that didn't work for me at all. It was sticky and weighed my hair down terribly!

(Your hair is really pretty in both photos, BTW!)

[Shell]

Yep, it's all about the length. What you're doing now sounds good, as well as the suggestions you've received.

Mostly, you need to be patient. My hair is also like that at that length. You could look into a curly cut--that would shape it better and make it stick out less, or at least stick out in attractive ways.

Best of luck.

[Emme76]

I also have wavy hair. Alot of moisture - a bit of jojoba oil that I scrunch into my hair. Only use a wide tooth comb. And for me - ACV rinse ofter a shower works. I feel that my waves behave better then. :)

I really like your hair and I can imagine that the waves/curls will look even better as it gets longer.

[SnowWhite]

Thank you all, I feel a lot more encouraged! :blossom:
And don't get me wrong, I don't "hate" my hair at all. Perhaps it sounded like that in my intro post but I was just frustrated because of this awkward stage.. It will get better :)

I tried CO washing yesterday. Mum was yelling at me for being too long in the shower, but I needed a lot of time to rinse. :p
Next time I'll wash my hair in the sink to save water...
I might try to switch to CO washing... My hair feels very moistured and bouncy. A lock of hair at the right side of my face is trying to form a big ringlet. Unfortunately I had to go somewhere so I blowdried my hair a little while crunching. I'm curious to see how it will behave when airdryed. Oh and my scalp is not itchy which is a great side effect!
I must have patience for the length, that's the hardest thing I guess!

But thanks again :)

[Lippytoes]

Thank you all, I feel a lot more encouraged! :blossom:
And don't get me wrong, I don't "hate" my hair at all. Perhaps it sounded like that in my intro post but I was just frustrated because of this awkward stage.. It will get better :)

I tried CO washing yesterday. Mum was yelling at me for being too long in the shower, but I needed a lot of time to rinse. :p
Next time I'll wash my hair in the sink to save water...
I might try to switch to CO washing... My hair feels very moistured and bouncy. A lock of hair at the right side of my face is trying to form a big ringlet. Unfortunately I had to go somewhere so I blowdried my hair a little while crunching. I'm curious to see how it will behave when airdryed. Oh and my scalp is not itchy which is a great side effect!
I must have patience for the length, that's the hardest thing I guess!

But thanks again :)

Great - hope CO works out for you!

[Suze2012]

Thank you all, I feel a lot more encouraged! :blossom:
And don't get me wrong, I don't "hate" my hair at all. Perhaps it sounded like that in my intro post but I was just frustrated because of this awkward stage.. It will get better :)

I tried CO washing yesterday. Mum was yelling at me for being too long in the shower, but I needed a lot of time to rinse. :p
Next time I'll wash my hair in the sink to save water...
I might try to switch to CO washing... My hair feels very moistured and bouncy. A lock of hair at the right side of my face is trying to form a big ringlet. Unfortunately I had to go somewhere so I blowdried my hair a little while crunching. I'm curious to see how it will behave when airdryed. Oh and my scalp is not itchy which is a great side effect!
I must have patience for the length, that's the hardest thing I guess!

But thanks again :)

I remember my hair being horribly awkward to deal with at the length yours is now..even just a couple of inches more and you'll find it easier to deal with and it'll behave better.
Having said that I think it looks good and I like the kinky curly ends you have. :)

I'd be interested to know how it behaves when air dyed too after your comment about the corkscrew curl.
Also, it's worth a shot to try scrunching with a cotton t-shirt while it's wet and air drying to see if you can encourage the parts you don't like so much to sit more evenly.

I don't use any products either (except for oil) and don't want to but since trying the 100% cotton scrunching and seeing the results I'll never go back to putting a towel near my hair again. I have tried a couple of times recently with a towel and my hair really doesn't like it.