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Curly hair styling

ShiftyBagLady

ShiftyBagLady

Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
Can anybody recommend some good styling products or techniques for curly hair?
I've got naturally curly hair but it no longer forms a decent curl, instead i get a mixture of frizzy curls and straggly bits and it all poof out and the ends into what can only be described as a hot, poofy, unwieldy mess.
Currently I straighten it but I'd like to use less heat on it so I thought "d check out some curly products and techniques. Any ideas?
 
My hair is really frizzy. If I'm lucky I can tame it into a curl, but straightening doesn't work on my hair, it just makes it frizzier.

So far I have realised that the key seems to be quantity over quality, especially with regard to conditioner and mousse. Some mousses (eg Wella) are better than others (eg VO5). I used to use leave in conditioners but they can be expensive and would still need a holding product. I think ages and ages ago I tried the Frizz Ease serum but it was useless because it was a tiny bottle and my hair just laughed at it.

But i dunno. I'm still trying stuff out really.
 
Dove does a sort of argan oil in a big bottle. I tend to use quite a lot, and a leave in conditioner, and heat protection stuff before I do any sort of styling on it. Other than that, it very much depends how you'd like it to look.

I've been using heated rollers recently. They make it a bit more glamorous but it's a bit of a hassle. Stops the frizz, though.
 
I've heard lots of good things about Morocann oil and I bought a serum thing with argan oil in without realising that it also has a silcone type thing in there. I think I found that it overloaded my hair a bit but I should probably play around with that a bit more.
I've tried leave in conditioners, I use them all the time as my hair is coarse, dry and frizzy, but I've not had any luck with curl enhancement and it's still really flyaway poofy and fluffy unless i style it with straighteners or a curling wand.

Heated rollers. Hmm :hmm:
I did try rollers once but I didn't really know ow to use them and it was a disaster. I could investigate this some more. I think a loose curl would be good, that means using a bigger roller right?
 
It has taken me years to finally get curly hair I am happy with. I wash my hair twice a week using organic surge moisture boost shampoo and shine boost conditioner. I focus the shampoo on the roots and massage it in but always do it from top to bottom. When I put the conditioner on I use my fingers to comb through. While it's soaking wet, straight out of the bath I spray liberally with Trevor sorbie frizz free spray (I am using treseme heat defence at the moment as my local doesn't sell the Trevor spray) then chuck my head upside down, put a decent pump of Alberto gianni shapely curl mouse and scrunch it in to my hair. Then I give it a quick spray with lee Stafford argon oil shine spray and leave it to dry naturally. I do not towel dry it at all. Having spent years buying pratically every curly hair cream and product there is going, this has given me the nicest, frizz free curls ever. I watched a lot of videos on YouTube and the unanimous point made seemed to be that towel drying is a no and that all product should be applied to soaking wet hair.
 
The curl mousse I use advertises it's for 'light curls' and even though I have very thick hair I've found it better using a product for finer hair. For one if you accidentally add a bit too much it doesn't really matter but it also stops that horrible heavy feel you get with the weightier products. I also won't use any jelly or heavy cream products as I hate crunchy hair.
 
images



I have been using this stuff for years.
Stupid name but it's kinda sticky snotty ( :D ) stuff that doesn't over load my hair.
Goes on wet hair and doesn't need to be dried with heat.
I just keep turning my head upside down every now and again and gently scrunching til it's dry.
 
purenarcotic said:
The curl mousse I use advertises it's for 'light curls' and even though I have very thick hair I've found it better using a product for finer hair. For one if you accidentally add a bit too much it doesn't really matter but it also stops that horrible heavy feel you get with the weightier products. I also won't use any jelly or heavy cream products as I hate crunchy hair.
Click to expand...

I find all mousse gives me crunchy hair :hmm:
 
The lovely Frizz Ease spray I've used for years has been discontinued, and the jury's out on the new John Frieda Go Curlier spray. I use the John Frieda Dream Curls conditioner, and don't wash it out too well. Wrap my hair in a towel - without rubbing! - for few seconds, spray with Go Curlier, then dry upside down with a hairdryer and massive diffuser. If still frizzy, I use the styling cream that I've forgotten the name of - tiny bit rubbed in my hands and smoothed over the hair.
 
Oh..the other tip I took years to discover (embarassed here) is to comb or tangletease wet curly hair at the tips and ends first before tackling the rest...No more agony.

I spent way too long using john fteida serums. Now I wash my hair twice a week and I dont use shampoo....I use conditioner and work it into the hair really well. It works for me. Then I wrap it in a towel and after about five mins I put on some moroccan oil cream starting at the ends and brush it through with a tangleteaser. If needed I add a small amount of moose and brush it through again applying it to ends first. That way there's no build up of product near the roots.

On the days I dont wash it I dampen it and put a little moroccan oil through it. Tangletease it and let it dry naturally. I shake it out a bit once it's nearly dry and the curls stay nice and frizzless.
 
trashpony said:
Doesn't your hair just drip down your back purenarcotic? :D

I have got a Babyliss Big Hair which is good for frizz taming and dream curls stying creme helps a bit. I don't straighten it very often, not least because it doesn't actually stay straight for very long :facepalm:
Click to expand...

Yeah it does a bit; usually I'll sit with a towel round my neck for 20 minutes or so and then it's dry enough to not drip. I am happy to sacrifice a wet neck for curly hair that no longer looks like a bird's nest and I am too lazy to dry my hair.
 
I have wavy not curly hair so feel free to ignore me but I really like Umberto Giannini products for curly hair.

I wash my hair every day if I'm going out, brush it though with a tangle tease with conditioner on. If I'm leaving it to dry naturally I'll put some product on the ends when its pretty much dry. It's some sort of finishing cream.

I just went to find it online as I can't remember the name and they've changed the bloody range. Fucksticks. :(

I use Tigi oatmeal and honey conditioner which you can currently still get in huge bottles from TK Maxx/Homesense.
 
Surprised at the combing and brushing going on. I haven't owned a comb or brush since the 70s, and it only gets done at the hairdressers 3 times a year!
 
moose said:
Surprised at the combing and brushing going on. I haven't owned a comb or brush since the 70s, and it only gets done at the hairdressers 3 times a year!
Click to expand...

I have to, I get dreads. My hair is annoyingly wavy and not proper curly though.
 
What do people do in between washes> My hair is also wavy rather than curly, and I can on occasion get a nice loose ringletty sort of vibe - generally via the product on wet/leave to dry naturally kind of route. It may look good that day, but the next day it invariably looks limp, messy and shit. How do you restore a nice wave without going through the whole tedious wash-dry cycle again?

I wash it every other day, for info.
 
I have wavy hair too and I can get a beachy kind of vibe by blasting it briefly at the roots with a hair dryer (after wrapping it in a towel for a few minutes). Then I apply john Frieda Dream Curls spray to damp hair and let it dry naturally, scrunching occasionally. The next day I revive the curl slightly by using a sea salt spray - currently using Sachajean Ocean Mist which is a bit spendy but doesn't make your hair crunchy.
 
I have thick wavy hair, that's prone to frizz.

For me moisturising shampoo and regular conditioning really helps. Also serum and heat protection spray while damp and then further serum after blow dry and then more after straightening.

If styling curly then a good quality conditioner scrunched in and use the diffuser on it.

In between washes my hair goes in a topknot. Actually that's my default bc I can't be arsed to style/straighten every morning.
 
moose said:
Surprised at the combing and brushing going on. I haven't owned a comb or brush since the 70s, and it only gets done at the hairdressers 3 times a year!
Click to expand...

I have very curly/kinky afro hair and I only comb my hair with a wide toothed comb while it's wet and covered in conditioner. The rest of the time it's strictly finger combing.
 
I like Aveda's Be Curly range.

I am very interested in this theory of applying the product to sopping wet hair. Never tried that. I'm off work today so I reckon I will give it a go.
 
I have wavy - curly hair and I use (normal) moisturiser to deal with the frizz and keep it healthy.

It works well, better (or at least as good) as any of the expensive products I've bought in the past. Just the big vaseline body moisturiser. I like the coco butter one the best, but I think the others are lighter. Most body moisturisers work fine.

I rub a bit in my damp hair and let it dry naturally. As well as making my hair look better for the day it makes my hair more moisturised. I get compliments on my hair too now and I never used to.
 
I use stuff made for natural afro hair -- I might be the palest, whitest person you could meet but my hair is very coarse and very frizzy and I don't like to use silicone-based stuff like Frizz-eze, I've never had any good experiences with that sort of thing.

Blended Beauty has some really nice products in a variety of 'weights' - so lightweight stuff for hair that gets weighed down easily, and thicker stuff for hair that needs to go the extra mile. They also do some straightening stuff too, again without any silicone serum type ingredients. I prefer to straighten my hair, because it doesn't have a uniform curl pattern and is a mix of frizzy curls, waves, and straight bits, so I can never get it looking nice curly regardless of what I use. That's more a logistical problem though, because I have to let it dry naturally to get it looking decent, but that takes hours, and I can't sleep on it afterwards and have it looking nice the next day, so it would mean getting up several hours before I had to leave the house, washing my hair every day, leaving it to dry naturally, and then going about my business. I simply can't be arsed.

Now it's a bit longer though I do get lazy and leave it unstraightened and just tie it back on occasion. When Charlie was really ill recently and I was at the vet several times a week I mostly took a 'fuck it, I don't care' approach to my hair and regularly turned up there looking like I live in a hedge. It was somewhat liberating.
 
I used to use moisturiser on my hair. Had to be a relatively thick one though, I think I used E45 once and it was amazing. Only problem is that those kind of things cause a lot of build up and can be greasy looking. I bought a thick cream to try from boots to see if that still works for me. I think it helps with the frizz but I'm wary of using too much of it.
I would much rather use all natural and moisturising (rather than slicking) ingredients as I'm trying to grow my hair to eventually cut it off for a wig making charity and it needs to be in good condition. I've been trying to remember to use a solid nut butter on it but I do tend to forget...
I was considering doing the co-washing thing but I really dont know if I can push past the greasy phase. At the moment I am wetting and conditioning it every day or so, doing a pre-wash condition and washing it once or twice a week and using moisturising leave in product and oils each day. And yes it is still poofy :rolleyes:

The results of my product experimentation so far is that mousse makes it crispy and shit, gel also. Leave in conditioners do not weigh it down enough and I get flyaway coarse looking hairs at the roots.Serums are not weighty enough. Takes too long to dry by itself naturally every day but I can just about get away with sleeping on it once I've dried it and have it looking decent. I am still looking for a wonder product though...

Almost everybody I've seen has said how wonderful it is curly which is making me paranoid that maybe it was a right shit heap before! :D
 
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