Overnight curls?

[Mandie]

So I'm a solid 1c, a bit of wave but mostly straight hair just the body wave. I've always been that, except when I was more of a 1a with no body wave when I was a little kid. Night before last I was brushing out my hair after a shower and it was half-dry, and at the nape of my neck on the 4-5" long strands of mostly-virgin hair (I dye but I'm lazy so most of what's back there is untouched since it's usually hidden), I watched curls appear. We're talking full on 2c curls. COMPLETELY different from my usual hair. After it was all dry I went to bed and in the morning while brushing my comb was catching on the curls since they were still there and suddenly all over the place.

This is literally overnight. I stare at my hair enough () that I would have noticed it before now. Any idea what could cause it? I don't have kids, I'm not pregnant, there is no giant hormone change going on for me right now. Just all of the sudden, wham, I have a whole bunch of curls at the back of my neck. Nothing on the top, it's exactly the same. I'd be okay with becoming a curly-head (although I would have to totally change my haircare routine o-o) but what on earth could cause it?

[Naiadryade]

Did you do anything new in that shower?

Have you been giving your hair more or less moisture than you used to?

If you've been treating your hair better than you did before LHC, it's possible that your wurls are just coming out of hiding, as it were... but only on the undamaged hair. (I'd expect it to happen more gradually, though! Hmmm...) Maybe if you stopped dying your hair, it would all go 2c.

Then again, the under-layers of my hair are definitely curlier than the canopy. My canopy is 2a, acting 1c on a lank day especially near the front... But underneath, you'll find 2b waves that go 2c sometimes. This pattern totally happens to people... but again, I don't know what would make it happen so suddenly!

[Mandie]

I HAVE been doing better with moisture by a huge amount, coconut oil before every shower and argan oil on my damp hair after. I wonder if that's what did it? Maybe this whole time I've had curls waiting to come out and my hair has been straight because I haven't been kind to it. xD I'm actually going to switch to henna if I get the right colour going, no more dying for me. I tried to go back to blonde to stop dying altogether and it didn't excite me...so to henna!

[Iolanthe13]

Mandie, if you switch to henna you should know that it often reduces curl for people with wavy hair. I say this as a very happy hennahead - though I don't know if I have lost any curl, because I always end up bunning or braiding my hair as it dries.

[HylianGirl]

Don't want to be break it out to you but.... on some people (not everyone) henna can cause some loosening on curl definition. Although I heard mixing henna with amla can prevent it from happening. Also amla treatments can enhance curls. I haven't tried on myself, but I've already ordered some amla along with henna for me to try ^-^

ETA: whoops, Iolanthe13beat me to it xD

[Mandie]

I wouldn't be too heartbroken about the henna reducing my curl only because... I don't...HAVE curls. I am not wrapping my head around that. I'm tempted in a big way to try an Amla treatment and see what my hair does!

[inertia]

A similar thing happened to me. My hair is somewhere in the 1c to 2a range depending on the climate (smooth 1c when I'm in a dry area, frizzy 2a in a humid area) and I suddenly developed nape ringlets a couple of years ago. Or rather, it seemed sudden in the sense that I'd never noticed ringlets before, but if I think back before then, the finer hair on my nape area always tended to be frizzy. I think what happened is just that as my hair became healthier, that frizz turned into ringlets.

There might be more curls or waves hiding in my hair, but I'm not sure because I don't have the patience to change to air-drying my hair with the curly method.