Calling Curly Girls

[Soror]

I'm trying again to embrace these curls. So far, I'm not loving them but really want to get to a place where I have a simpler routine and can go with my hair's natural tendency. I'm just doing the basics so far, steering clear of sulfates/silicones, not using terry towel. I'm hoping to get some clumping, instead of this stringyness I've got going on now and figure out something with the front of my hair that is not nearly as curly as the back.

Do you have favorite blogs etc for info? I found a reddit today for curly hair that seemed to have good info, watched a few videos, trying to go for simple at first.

[Junie]

I think the first step is to figure out what kind of curly hair you have.  After you have determined your hair type, you will be able to search for products and methods for your specific type of curl.

Here is a link that should be helpful.:  https://www.glamour.com/story/curly-hair-curl-type-chart

 

[Soror]

57 minutes ago, Junie said:

I think the first step is to figure out what kind of curly hair you have.  After you have determined your hair type, you will be able to search for products and methods for your specific type of curl.

Here is a link that should be helpful.:  https://www.glamour.com/story/curly-hair-curl-type-chart

 

Oh, nice link thank you, lots of good info to look through. 

[KungFuPanda]

Did you get a curly cut? The curls behave differently when they’re properly trimmed. 

[Hannah]

3 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

Did you get a curly cut? The curls behave differently when they’re properly trimmed. 

 

I'm 51 and for the first time in my life sprang for a Diva Cut this week - the hairdresser cut my hair dry and washed and conditioned after.  It has made a HUGE difference to how my hair shapes my face.  A lot shorter than I"m used to, but really pretty.

I have fine hair that tends to frizz.  I learned to re-use the water that comes off from rinsing the conditioner and to really work it in strand by strand while the hair is wet through.  This helps with clumping.  Then to apply curl cream with 'praying hands' to not break the clumps.

She started off diffuse drying from the top down with cold air to seal the cuticles and held my hair in a towel in what she called the 'hammock' position.  Only when the ends were dry did she turn up the heat and diffuse in the normal way (pushing the curls up with the difusser).  She only pushed her fingers in when my hair was completely dry.   

[lynn]

I follow the glambelle and bosscurl on youtube.  A lot of good curl info

[Corraleno]

If you're looking for more clumping, my favorite product for that is Moptop Curly Custard. I didn't like using stiff gels and then "scrunching out the crunch" because scrunching would just mess up the curls and my hair would still be crunchy in a few places. Moptop Curly Custard creates amazing clumps and never leaves my hair stiff or crunchy so no need to scrunch it out. Some curly bloggers and you tubers will tell you not to comb your hair while it's wet but I got the best results by combing with a very wide plastic comb while in the shower after shampooing, and then conditioner, rinse, followed by squishing Curly Custard into my wet hair. "Plop" hair in a tee shirt when I get out of the shower, then air dry.

If you use a dryer I would get one with a diffuser and then hold it pointing upwards under a clump of hair (supporting the weight of the curls so they don't get dragged down while drying), and let your hair just sit on the diffuser while you dry on cool/low. You can also turn your head upside down to get more volume at the roots. 

There are dozens of curly girl youtubers, just choose a few to start with and then you'll get lots of additional recommendations in the sidebar. I like Curly Susie, she has stunning hair and is very down to earth (she's Canadian) vs the more typical "glam" beauty youtubers. If you are more wavy than curly, Real Life+Curly Girl has lots of great videos and info for wavy hair.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Corraleno

[Soror]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

If you're looking for more clumping, my favorite product for that is Moptop Curly Custard. I didn't like using stiff gels and then "scrunching out the crunch" because scrunching would just mess up the curls and my hair would still be crunchy in a few places. Moptop Curly Custard creates amazing clumps and never leaves my hair stiff or crunchy so no need to scrunch it out. Some curly bloggers and you tubers will tell you not to comb your hair while it's wet but I got the best results by combing with a very wide plastic comb while in the shower after shampooing, and then conditioner, rinse, followed by squishing Curly Custard into my wet hair. "Plop" hair in a tee shirt when I get out of the shower, then air dry.

If you use a dryer I would get one with a diffuser and then hold it pointing upwards under a clump of hair (supporting the weight of the curls so they don't get dragged down while drying), and let your hair just sit on the diffuser while you dry on cool/low. You can also turn your head upside down to get more volume at the roots. 

There are dozens of curly girl youtubers, just choose a few to start with and then you'll get lots of additional recommendations in the sidebar. I like Curly Susie, she has stunning hair and is very down to earth (she's Canadian) vs the more typical "glam" beauty youtubers. If you are more wavy than curly, Real Life+Curly Girl has lots of great videos and info for wavy hair.

I found Curly Susie this am and liked her simple videos, so many are so complicated and not practical. 

4 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Did you get a curly cut? The curls behave differently when they’re properly trimmed. 

Nope. I did a Deva Cut several years ago and never could come close to replicating what she did so I gave up. This time I'm going to see what I can manage on my own and then consider another cut, the closest is 2.5 hrs away.

Thank you all for the blog and product rec's I'm checking them out. I've never been big on using a hair dryer and haven't been lately at all.