Curly/Wavy haired girls out there!

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My hair is fine, but thick, and I don't tend to get a lot of frizz. Everyone is different, but this is what works for me....

1. A hair stylist who understands curly hair; not all of them do.
2. Long layers.
3. The right products - for me Aveda or Abba shampoo & conditioners, I like AG Re-Coil, Tigi Curls Rock, or Aveda Be Curly for styling products.
4. I bend over so I can blow dry with my head upside-down, using a diffuser with the dryer on low.
5. You know those clips hair dresser use to hold peoples hair up for perms, coloring, etc? That's what my past two hair dressers have used - after cutting, and adding styling product, they scrunch up my hair in sections, use clips to hold in place, and sit me under the dryer. So this is what I do at home - get your hands on a bunch of those clips, or something similar. After partially drying with diffuser, use the clips as I have described and leave them in until your hair is mostly dry. You can take them part way through, and rearrange if you want. It takes a bit of practice but it's worth it. I usually do this at night and my hair is good to go in the morning. If there are any really unruly bits, I'll take a curling iron to them.

That said, some days my hair still won't cooperate. My hair grows really fast, and with curly hair I do find you have to constantly adapt. I like my curls though, so I try to work with it.

Nothing that I've tried works for my hair. Once it's dried it is twice the size of my profile pic. I keep it straight most of the time now.

ugh, when my hair is short, it's this crazy curl that looks like a perm.

When it's long, I get a half curl and mostly waves.

All the time, it's thick and heavy on my head. I usually end up throwing it in a ponytail and moving on lol

I have wavy/curly hair that only looks good when I spend time on it. In the morning I wash with frizz ease curling shampoo and then:

1. Brush it out using pantene curly hair detangler and scrunch
2. Put it in a towel for 10 minutes to get out the excess water
3. Scrunch with salon selectives curling mousse
4. Diffuse on the "hot" setting until it is 100% dry
5. Hairspray it so it doesn't go limp.

It results in my hair looking really product-y for the first few hours of the morning, but then looking good the rest of the day. If I do nothing to it, it just looks puffy and frizzy. If I scrunch in mousse and let it air dry, it does the same thing. When I have kids I know I am not going to have the kind of time I have now to spend on it every morning.

Any suggestions for a lower maintenance routine?? My hair is thin but there is a lot of it.

This right here! I also just started (still experimenting...) since Deva Curl is kind of expensive, only using conditioner. Natures Gate Hemp .... so for so good! My hair is crazy, layered, different types of curls all over. But I've learned its easier to just go with it.

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.

I use Ouidad products. These products are made just for wavy/curly hair. I have fine hair but I've got some super spirals. It's a great product! Check out the website. http://www.ouidad.com
Lots of information for the curlies.

i have naturally curly hair. i wear it long, otherwise it's just too full and curly.

i wash with conditioner, rinse, then put in more conditioner and leave it there. then rinse and put it a little bit and leave it there.

sometimes i'll use an oil as a defrizzer after i get out. some times i use a mousse for curly hair. i always let it air dry. if it frizzes too much i pull it up. if it curls up in ringlets, i leave it down :-)

very infrequently will i blow it dry straight. but if it gets wet or really humid it just poofs up again :-(

Those of you who do not use a towel - what do you do? Mine would be sopping wet dripping all over the place if I just got out of the shower and didn't do *something* with it. My routine is to dry myself off in the shower and then wrap my towel around my head turban-style while I put in my contacts, put on lotion, and do my makeup. Then I take it off and use a wide-toothed "pick" on it before adding whatever anti-frizz stuff I might be using that day.

Am I misreading what you're saying? I don't actively "dry" my hair with the towel - no rubbing - but I do wrap it up to absorb most of the moisture.

Let me know your tricks!

I legit have the craziest, thickest, most unruly hair humanly possible for a white girl.

I've TRIED everything!!! I also have long layers, and my hair is about down to the end of my rib cage ... my mornings were miserableeeee.

I started doing Brazilian Keratin Treatments (BKTs) - it's a smoothing treatment (get the Cappola one as it's all natural and won't damage your hair - in fact it's better)... my hair stays completely manageable for 3 months (keep in mind that for most people the treatment lasts 4-6 months.. but not me and my crazy hair!!!) Now-a-days, I wake up, brush through, and I get great waves. Seriously... BKT changed my life.

I have lots of very fine natural spiral curls down to my mid back when it's fully streached out.
I only wash my hair once a week with shampoo, but condition it daily.
I use a special h20 hair towel and leave it wraped up turban styly until i'm done doing my make up & dressed.
Then shake it our run my fingers through it, and smuch/scrunch in a nickle sized amount of Paul Mitchell Super Clean Styling Gel mixed with Frederck Fekkai color protect serum.
Perfect curls, no frizz, and if it starts looking afro like in the Florida swamp like weather here, i pat it down with a lil water & i'm good to go.

Best thing I've ever heard (my hair is so much like yours!) is to forget the cool setting. Diffuse it with hot air on a low air flow, and do it slowly. Put it in place and hold for 45 seconds, then move on. My hair looks GORGEOUS when I do this! Also, I use either frizz ease or moroccan oil plus mousse mixed with curlagizer cream (google it). And only wash it every 3 days, it dries out otherwise.

I use the diffuser on hot, low flow, too! :-D Best thing ever!!! I use Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie through my hair before drying.... Let me find a pic.... Here ya go!

oh yes, and no blow drying or brushing, I only finger comb my hair, and sometimes twiddle chunks round my fingers to encourage it to go at least in the same direction!

Okay, I didn't read all the pages of responses but so many of you look like your hair is barely curly! haha... on the other hand, I couldn't tell you the number of times I've heard "I know someone with hair almost as curly as yours!" so it may be apples & oranges. :laugh: I'm not totally sure you can see this in either of the pics on my profile, but my hair is incredibly curly. At the moment it's barely past shoulder length without pulling it straight. On a good day, it's a mass of pretty tight corkscrews. But it is not coarse (not fine either, just average) or "kinky", and is only moderately thick (I don't need extra-large ponytail holders or anything).

I also comb with a wide-toothed comb in the shower, only when it's covered in conditioner. I sometimes use leave-in conditioners (love Garnier Fructis products) but not long ago I discovered an amazing hair LOTION by Olive Oil Girls - http://www.oliveoilgirls.com . If you want reliable hold but hate crunchy curls like I do, this stuff is awesome. I use very little and it does a great job. I apply it after I wash/comb/towel dry, and usually only have to use a little water to style it for the next day or two after that. It does build up, though, being olive oil and all, so even though I used to have to be really careful about my hair drying out, I now have to use a clarifying shampoo (which is pricey, but worth it. Shampoo lasts.). Be advised that as it's made with olive, coconut, and safflower oils, using too much will result in a greasy look & feel. It also smells fantastic. I highly recommend it.

My sister has even more challenging hair than mine. The individual hairs are very thick and coarse, curly in places and kinky in others. She also has TONS of it, so she can just barely put her thumb & index finger around her ponytail. She started paying for keratin treatments a while back, and while they are pricey, they absolutely live up to their claims. She still straightens almost every day, but doesn't HAVE to. Since she started those treatments it has def. looked better than ever.