New, frazzled and confused

[kdsan]

Hi all - I've been doing a lot of research the past 2 weeks and my head is spinning.&nbsp; I am more confused now than I was when I started.&nbsp; Here's what I've learned:<ul><li>2b/2c/possibly 3a combo wave/curl when worn naturally</li><li>low porosity</li><li>medium/highly dense hair</li><li>medium but not quite coarse diameter</li></ul><br>Other possible relevant info:<ul><li>I have a water softener.&nbsp;</li><li>I don't usually apply products on my hair and I find my hair get's build up and oily (possibly attributed to porosity).</li><li>My typical routine involves washing/drying, placing in bun or braids till dry, and then flat ironing (w/ a protectant, first) or wearing wavy.&nbsp;</li><li>I don't want to do CG method cause I like wearing my hair straight regularly.</li><li>I STILL don't know if i'm protein sensitive or my hair is just dry.</li><li>I live in high-humidity Florida.</li><li>Current shampoo/conditioner: tressemme for color treated hair.</li><li>Trimmed the ends about a week ago.</li></ul><br>So I tried something new yesterdayand it feels like a huge fail.&nbsp; Pre-conditioned with avocado oil and steamed and wrapped for 30 minutes (washed (hair felt nice and soft), did a ACV rinse (bad idea, hair suddenly felt dry and tangled easily), conditioned, detangled w/ wide tooth comb, pinned up while I showered, rinsed, used Hawaiian Silk Leave in and plopped w/ a t-shirt.&nbsp; My hair was full of curls but still looked dry on the ends and a bit frizzy.&nbsp; Today, it looked like a hot mess and was tangled.&nbsp; So i combed (i've heard this is a no-no for curls but I can't leave it tangled!!) reapplied Hawaiian silk, did two side braids and put sponge curlers at the end.&nbsp; The attached picture is the result.&nbsp;&nbsp;<img src="images/smilies/frown.png" border="0" alt="" title="Frown" smilieid="11" class="inlineimg"><br><br>i've also attached a picture from last week where I braided my hair, moused (tressemme) and broke the cast.&nbsp; Notice waves closer to scalp and how it looks further down.<br><br>At the end of the day, what brought me to research all of this is that my hair feels dry (from the middle down), it tangles easily and I leave a ton of it on the shower floor, on the brush, or all over the house.&nbsp; If I wear it naturally there's NO WAY I can go a day without combing it... it looks awful and tangled. Based on the above, I'm still confused as to what products to use, in which order.&nbsp; One blog will talk about using products XYZ, but then blog 2 says, don't use XYZ if you have low porosity, or if you have protein overload.&nbsp; I don't want to spend a ton of money on products only to find out they're the wrong one for my hair. Help!&nbsp;<br><br><br><a data-cke-saved-href="https://imgur.com/a/49swUKx" href="https://imgur.com/a/49swUKx">https://imgur.com/a/49swUKx</a><br>

[kdsan]

Apologies - newbie and it seems it pasted my thread twice. Other one is much easier to read.