Curly/Wavy haired girls out there!

omanitshann

I probably have the weirdest, most frustrating hair in the world. I don't really know if it'd be considered wavy or curly, it's kind of a mix of both, and i have A LOT of it, it's so thick. It took me 19 years to figure out the right products and the right way to deal with my curly mess, and I still probably haven't found the best solutions, but i'm learning.

I just want to know if there's any other girls out there with unruly hair like mine, and how do you deal with it? What do you think is the best hair cut to get with this type of hair?
I think layers work the best with my kind of hair. I tried having long hair (just past my b00bz) and It just looked like a mess, and then i tried out having somewhat short hair (to the top of my shoulders) and it looked like a huge poof ball/afro, and i didn't like that i couldn't pull it up. Currently, my hair is at a medium length with long layers. It looks okay, but my hair just never looks nice, it's frustrating, I wish I could get different hairstyles or bangs like the straight haired girls do! And straightening my hair is just out of the question. It takes 3 hours and doesn't even last that long anyway, waste of time!

My current routine on days I want my hair to look decent is:
-at the end of my shower, I rinse my hair with cold water ( I hear this is good for curls, don't know if its true)
-I also brush my hair out in the shower with a wide tooth comb
-I dry my hair a little with a paper towel (cloth towel I've heard works well too)
-i put a squirt of macadamia healing oil treatment in my hair (Deff recommend this stuff)
-Then I scrunch Rusk Mouse in
-and lastly, I dry my hair on the Cool Setting with a diffuser till its about 60% dry, and then i just let it air dry

So anyone with hair like me out there? What shampoos/products do you use? Whats your routine look like? What hairstyle do you think works best? I'm not one of those people that likes to spend hours on my hair, my current routine takes like 10-15 mins.

butterflylover527

I am very interested in what other people do, I have a hard time with my hair :grumble:

Discoveri

I've given up on mine. When I do go out and want to look nice this is my routine:
1) shower as normal
2) use curl cream to try and tame the curls
3) wear a low cut shirt to distract from said hair.

I have to keep my hair below shoulder length because otherwise it poofs up like a mushroom. My hair looks like the girl from the new movie Brave except brown instead of red. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brave_Teaser_Poster.jpg

Allie_71

Blerg. I don't do any of these things. Maybe I should start

I just condition with Moroccan oil conditioner. Let it dry Naturally with a squirt of Macadamia nut cream. Pretty much it. I stay away from blow drying because 1) I'm lazy and 2) It makes my hair uber-poofy. I comb with a wide tooth comb in the shower.

Elizabeth_C34

I have really fine but thick hair (lots and lots of really thin strands), and it is very frizzy and curly.

I cut mine. It's chin length, and I find that it's just the right balance of cute and easy to maintain.

When my hair is long, it is impossible to style. It just goes everywhere and will not hold a style for long.

butterflylover527

What is Macadamia nut cream? I've seen 2 of you say you use it. Is it expensive?

I use the cheapest shampoo and conditioner i can find and when I get out I put in leave in conditioner. Then I braid it or I'll have a giant afro lol

questionablemethods

I have very thick curly/wavy hair. It is much curlier in front than it is in the back and usually I only get one day of good curls out of it before it just looks frizzy. So, for the most part, I have taken to smoothing it out into waves with either large velcro rollers (on damp hair, letting it air dry) or blow drying it straight(ish) and then smoothing it with a wide barrel curling iron. The biggest trick for me to be able to have higher maintenance hair is that I only wash it/get it wet about every three days. The rest of the time, when I shower I wrap it in a turban made out of an old t-shirt. The t-shirt absorbs the humidity from the shower so then all I have to do is run a brush through it when I get out of the shower.

KaleidoscopeEyes1056

Mine can be pretty horrible, too. Mine is more wavy which just makes it look like I don't ever brush it, but here's what I do
I leave in conditioner until the end of the shower, washing it out last
Put in some John Freida Frizz Ease stuff, which really doesn't do that much, but it makes it shiny
Then I usually straighten it when it's dry. If I'm too lazy, I'll put it in a side braid.

souperficial

I've almost given up on figuring out how to deal with my hair. It's wavy, with a little bit of frizz. Most of the time, I get out of the shower, brush it out, put some Moroccan oil on it, and put it in a braid until it dries. I hate curling it because, even though it's naturally kind of curly, one giant section in the front REFUSES to curl with a curling iron. Most of the time, it's in a braid or a bun. I am the master of giant buns.

hooperkay

big hair here too. I use regular shampoo/conditioner. I do leave some conditioner in and brush only when wet. I don't usually dry my hair, unless it's cold out. When my hair gets dry like now in summer, I put baby oil in my hair. You think it would weigh it down, but not this mop.

JediMaster_intraining

3) wear a low cut shirt to distract from said hair.

haha. i do this to distract from a lot of things. not just a bad hair day :ohwell:


as for my hair: it is very unruly and somedays it's more wavy than others. sometimes i feel like i HAVE to straighten it because it gets all crazy!

Laurenx3nyc

KERAMINERAL PRODUCTS!!!! My hair is the exact same way. I use the shampoo and deep conditioner, and it's makes my hair straight, soft, and super smooth! Also frizz free! You can get it at sallys beauty supply for a really cheap price!!

MisanthropeKitty

I switched to "no poo" so I only do baking soda and apple cider vinegar on mine. Has made it a lot softer but not any more manageable.

Nailrep

I straighten mine. I can't get a curly style that looks good on me.

katkada

Ever thought about Brazilian Blowout?

Cadori

I have to switch it up because I'm convinced curly hair lies awake at night plotting how to overthrow the technique you just perfected.

I've had the best success with long layers and about bra strap length hair. But the layers have to be done right to avoid the dreaded pyramid head.

My routine right now is just a hydrating shampoo and a tiny dab of Say Yes to Carrots leave in conditioner after I get out of the shower. I only shampoo 2x a week and am considering going the no-shampoo route with baking soda and apple cider vinegar once my current stash runs out.

I use mousse right now (some cheap stuff...Tresemme I think) and when that runs out I'll go back to Nexxuss Exxtra gel. I have to alternate because, as I said, curly hair is evil and plots against me.

saraann4

I never go au natural with my hair because I absolutely hate it. I have naturally wavy/curly hair. As I'm getting older, it's getting curlier. I usually blowdry my hair straight then use a flat iron to smooth it out. On days that I don't want to do that, I take a shower, put some gel in and scrunch it up and put in a tight bun for a few hours. Once it's almost dry, I let my hair down, shake it out, and it's perfection plus laying off the blowdryer is good. I really like Tresemme's shampoo and conditioner. I can't remember exactly which one I use, but it has something to do with humidity. I also LOVE It's a 10 spray. It does 10 different things to your hair. It's a tad expensive ($18 for a very small bottle) and you can usually get it in salons. I've seen it in CVS before, but it's even higher. It's totally worth it though.

ashlinmarie

I have curls that refuse to look good. They don't curl the same way on any side of my head and they look awful when I leave it curly and long (one of the pics I have up at my heaviest weight also has me sporting the curls...didn't help it was raining either). There is one hair length that they will be okay at but it only lasts 2 weeks until it is chaos again. I usually keep my hair longish and just keep it braided or in a bun at all times or I keep it super short and use a straightening spray to straighten it (only takes about 10 minutes compared to my usual 40-50).

NYAngel1089

3) wear a low cut shirt to distract from said hair.

LOVE THIS!!! haha

I have curly hair. I have NO CLUE WHAT TO DO WITH IT!!!! I am getting married in 2 years and I am at a loss with my hair. no matter what I do it looks awful!!! I do love the curls when it looks nice tho.

CharisSunny

<----

Biracial
Living in a hot climate
Working out 4x a week
Water therapy 3x a week

I've given up
Its the 4 horsemen of hair apocalyse :grumble:

I use tresamme conditioner for curly hair.
Slather it on, comb out.
Coconut oil on ends to kill the frizz and a HEALTHY amount of leave in conditioner.

Beyond that, alotta hair ties and headbands :grumble:

sarahgilmore1

For ages I kept mine shortish, but with a longer fringe. I would curl or rough the short stuff up at the back with some product like a wax that stayed flexible, and straighten the long bits in the front ONLY. 5 minutes, tops.

Sorry the pic is small but its the only one I have access to right now



Now, I really need a cut it's grown out and I just pull it into a ponytail. It'll be going back to that style when I get around to it, though!

ETA: durrrrr just realised that's my current profile pic. dumbass...

cereja78

Read the Curly Girl Book! It changed my life! I've always hated my hair, especially on wash days, now I love it! Also, if you're in the U.S., go to mydevacurl.com and look up a Curly Girl stylist in your area.

I eased into "no-poo" with Burt's Bees shampoo and conditioner, then just used the conditioner, but now I'm on DevaCurl products because I think it does a better job of removing gel than the burt's bee does.

My routine:

"Wash" my hair with DevaCurl Conditioner taking care to come it through and really scrub scalp
Flip forward, scrunch out water
add a dime-sized amount of the conditioner, scrunch more
get out of shower
scrunch with t-shirt
scrunch in styling cream
Flip head over (yes, I haven't done this yet!)
shake head gently to allow curls to fall
scrunch in gel
DO NOT TOUCH HAIR AGAIN!

No combing ever! Unless you're in the shower, and no more coming once you've rinsed.

musicmrse

I comb it out in the shower when it has conditioner in it. Then, try not to rub it with the towel, just wrap it and let it sit in there for a bit. I just use mouse and pick it through one more time. I let it air dry probably 70%, then blast it for about 2 minutes with the blow dryer, holding it as far from my head as possible. It looks crazy for a couple minutes, then tames down nicely, but with awesome volume.

candykay0605

i have a weird mix of curly/ straight/ wavy hair.... i used to hate it but as i have gottne older i have began to embrace it, if i wanna fix it i wash it blow dry it then straigten if I dont feel like doing anything i get out of shower put it in a towel take it down after about 10 mins and goon those days my hair is so very curly

MB_Positif

I have very thick hair that is somewhere between wavy and straight with a few random more than wavy areas that aren't exactly curly either. Yeah, make sense of that!! I have actually looked up to the ceiling and shouted, "Why God, why???" on bad hair days. That said, I pretty much only flat iron my hair because I haven't found products that give me the look AND feel that I want. I have had a couple of stylists do an amazing job styling my hair curly with great products that keep it soft...then 2 hours later the curls are nearly gone. My most recent haircut which was about 2 inches below chin length was actually super cute when I just dried it and let the ends flip up (think updated 50's housewife) and touched up a tiny bit with the curling iron, but now that it has grown a couple of inches it really only looks good flat ironed again...

marvelscale

I get mine thinned when I go in for a haircut. (And even then I go out with it still thick ) My hair does best with a simple air dry; people ask me how I did my hair and I get compliments

Barbeliza

I have 62 years of dealing with the same kind of hair. Its very heavy, have about twice the "normal" about of hair, and its wavy/curly in some place more than others.

Having worked in hospice for years, I now thank God I have hair. I have had friends and co-workers lose all their hair with chemo/radiation, too. I don't fight my hair, some days I blow dry it straight, if its a dry day and when its rainy or humid, I just let it do its thing. Most products I have make it feel either oily, stiff, or just yucky. I keep it short.

elizabeth509

I use argan oil curl creme and I absolutely love it!!! Also I never blow dry my hair and I find that touching up my frizzy curls with a small curling iron works amazingly

ExcelWithMel

If you can afford it, get a Brazilian Blowout Keratin Straightening Treatment. My hair is a lot like yours. I have cut it short over the last few years to make maintenance manageable, but especially in the summer I treat myself to the BB. I was my hair every other day, use a pinch of defining gel after towel dry, and blow dry with a round brush. May need a few wicks of straightening iron, but then I'm set for 2 days. You have to use shampoo that is sulfate free to maintain the look. I also comb out my hair in the shower, but always have.

lizzybethclaire

Boy, is this a great post! I was born with naturally curly hair and it can be a pain in the *kitten*. I have it past my shoulders now. I wash it, condition, condition again and comb it through with a wide toothed comb,put frizz stuff in, and let it dry natural. It gets fluffy if I blow dry it out. I haven't used a blow dryer in years. I wash it every other day unless I am really yucky from the gym. I use freida anti frizz, but a friend of mine is in Iraq and she swears by Jojoba oil. I never brush my hair either cause I look like a lamp shade. Always a wide tooth comb after combing out the tangles. I also sleep with my hair in braids or pigtails so that it is not so tangly. lol, my hair is usually not as wild as in my profile pic, but I love it. Only side effect is the curly hair makes me look young, but I have never minded that! I can't let my hair get too long otherwise it gets that kinky curl that always tangles. Most hairdressers are afraid to cut it. Layers can make your hair fluffy, so be careful. I would definitely go to someone who knows how to cut curly hair and don't be afraid to ask when you make the appointment. Good Luck!

eireannyoung

I've been straightening my hair for a little while, but when it grows out more I plan to go back to curly because it looks nice curly when it's to about chest length. The times that I've let it be curly, this is what works best for me:

-Getting my hair thinned when I get a haircut, and slightly layered at the bottom
-Scrunching the lower parts of my hair right after a shower, using some quality hair gel
-If my hair is going through a frizzy period, I shampoo only lightly and leave the conditioner in for the whole duration of the shower