Embracing Our Curly Hair

Mom and I both have curly/wavy hair. About ten years ago she decided to work with her curls rather than fight them. She goes to a hairdresser who has curly hair, and she has been using products designed for curly hair. However, she is seldom satisfied with the way it looks. I, on the other hand, have long hair, but I, too, have been fighting my curls all of my life. I have used flat irons and curling irons to encourage my hair to do what I want it to do and not what it wants to do.

All of you curly hair girls out there know that wavy and curly hair does what it wants to do and not what we want it to. You can see in our old photo from the side bar that Mom’s hair is looking frizzy, and my hair has been flat ironed into a soft curl.  All of that heat isn’t too healthy for anyone’s hair.  I read that Americans spend over a billion dollars a year on straightening products for our hair. Can you believe that???

(source)

Last week Mom met a woman her age who had really pretty natural curls, and they had a conversation about hair. The woman told my mom that there are a lot of tutorial videos on Youtube about how to deal with curls and waves. It opened a rabbit hole for her, and she went down it. Then she texted me and told me about the videos, and I went down that rabbit hole, too. We both learned a lot, and the bottom line is that we have been doing it all wrong all along.  The videos that my mom has been watching are mostly by Real Life + Curly Girl.  This video is the first one she watched.  Mom already knew that there are salons out there that specialize in curly hair. She has had her eye on one in New York City and hopes to go there some day for a trim. We learned some other helpful information, too.

Here are some things we learned about curly hair:

 – There are different categories for curly hair. For instance, Mom is an S wave, and I haven’t figured mine out yet.

 

– Only get dry hair cuts – not wet hair cuts. It’s easier for the stylist to see the end of your curl in order to know where to cut.

 

– Don’t use a comb or brush on curly hair because it breaks down the curls and causes frizz. Use your fingers to “rake” your hair.

 

 – Don’t towel-dry curly hair because that, too, causes frizz.   Use a microfiber towel (available here), an old t-shirt, or paper towels to blot your hair dry.  I saw a huge difference by using an old shirt.  Here I am without makeup right after I stepped out of the shower.

 – The Curly Girl Handbook (it’s available here) has a wealth of info about curly hair. We mentioned it already in our Saturday Selections.  We learned about it on the videos. Mom’s dream hair is on the cover.

 – Curly hair that is longer works better than short curly hair because the weight of the longer hair helps relax the curl.  This is my hair on “day 2.”  We learned that our hair will improve the more we follow these steps.  Also, frequent washings are not necessary if you use a silk pillowcase for sleeping.  Mom has been using one for a few years, and I just bought one.  You can find a silk pillowcase here.

– Avoid hair products that have sulfates, silicones, alcohol, or parabens because they dry out your hair.

 – Healthy curls need moisture.

– Just because a product is made for hair doesn’t mean it contains all good ingredients for your hair.   Mom has been using Redken products for years, and she finally read the labels.  Her Redken days are now behind her. She bought this co-wash and this Cantu coconut curling cream at Walmart and was shocked at how inexpensive they were.  The links to purchase them are here and here.

I’ve been using regular shampoos for colored hair until  now.  These are the curly hair products I bought at Target.  We also found them on line for you here, here, and here.

 

This product reminds me of the 80’s, but it works to create a hair cast that is talked about in the book.  There are tons of videos on Youtube that you can watch.  By watching videos created by different people, you can see the different brands of hair products that they use and learn how to deal with different lengths of hair and different types of curl.

 

Sorry for the blurry picture, but I texted this to Mom to show off my “day 1 curls” before going to date night. If you are a girl with curly or wavy hair, we hope you have learned something here today that will help you in your curly hair journey.

 

Cheers!

 

Affiliate link used.