Hey pals!!
This week I succeeded in figuring out an optimal way of getting my curls to stay for almost two weeks!!! Okay yes it is gross to some people that I have not washed my hair in that time but for pretty curls I’m willing to try anything and everything.
Since I was little I’ve had a head of curls and went through periods of loving and hating it. I remember in middle school I wore my hair in a ponytail everyday because I just couldn’t manage it. It can be very overwhelming so my 12 year old self handled it as best she could.
In high school I definitely embraced my curls and learned about Ouidad products!! I was hooked! The haircuts made my hair so bouncy!! For my 16th birthday my mom even took me to the flagship store in NYC to have my hair cut by Ouidad herself!!! Such an awesome experience!! The first picture up top is her and I!!! So cool! That was all fine and dandy through high school when my lovely parents were fronting that bill! In college I couldn’t afford to go to my normal hairdresser and switched to a cheaper one. Sadly it did not do my hair justice so I’m dealing with the repercussions now.
I’m not saying my curls weren’t cute or anything but I look back and see I could have taken such better care of them!!!
In October I officially started the curly girl method and haven’t looked back since!! I saw all these transformations online and was hoping my curls would go back to being super tight! I did some research on the Facebook groups I joined and picked out some basic products to try: a deep conditioner, a regular conditioner, a curl activator, a mousse and a gel. Before I switched I really only used mousse because gel was so aggressive. Come to find out, that it was actually me being too aggressive and not scrunching out the crunchy curls to make them soft!
I got my last Ouidad cut in June of 2018 and chopped off all of my colored hair which was about 6 inches! (check out the featured image!) I love short hair so much, even if everyone else isn’t a huge fan.
I did my final wash with shampoo that had sulfates in it in October. Mind you I haven’t used shampoo since I was probably ten because I knew what cowashing was! Cowashing means I only use conditioner in the shower to keep the moisture balanced in my curls and to not strip them of their natural oils. I conditioned really well and added the curl activator, mousse and gel and let it dry. It did not look great at all! I definitely needed to make some adjustments.
I learned how to plop my hair (basically wrap it in white cotton T-shirt to absorb excess water) and that helped a ton!!! Sometimes I would diffuse it before plopping if I had the time. It started to look better. But I still needed do more work to perfect my curls.
Most recently I’ve figured out that my hair really enjoys apple cider vinegar rinses (50/50 mix with water) followed by a deep condition and then regular conditioning. A big mistake I was making was putting in the product when my hair was dripping wet. I now scrunch a lot of the water out of my hair before putting any product in it. I use the Cantu Curl Activator whereby I section my hair and rub it into each section in a scrunching motion. Then I use the Giovanni Cosmetics Foam Mousse in the same manner. Lastly I use the Tresemme gel by I applying it in a scrunching manner all over my head. When I’m all done adding product, I pull my hair down between my palms and scrunch it tightly one last time. I’ll plop (see above for what plopping is) it for as long as I have (preferably longer) and will diffuse after!! This exact procedure got me to where my hair is right now!!!!
I’m not an expert at all and I’m still learning!! But I’ve learned so much so far that I’m ready to keep exploring!!!
If you have curls I highly suggest checking out the curly girl method and getting to know the products we put in our hair!
Hope this helps a curly girl out there!!
Xoxo,
Z
