To ask if you have naturally curly hair but regularly straighten it...

[Sprayerhayer]

...how you keep it healthy?

I have naturally curly hair, bottom layers look good curly as they’ve never been coloured. Top layers are blonde (bleach/ tint) and look a frizzy mess when it’s curly. The first day I can just about get away with it with the right products but after that, it’s awful.

I also lose so much length when it’s curly, it’s past my boobs when straight and when it’s curly it’s just below my shoulders but it ages me I think.

So, I would like to start straightening it more, maybe once a week/ fortnight?

I’m worried about it getting even more damaged (and I know inevitably it will) but if there’s anything I can do to keep it in a healthier condition I’m willing to give it a go!

I’ve got naturally 3b curly hair and mostly wear it straight. It’s long like yours.
The one thing I don’t do is color/highlight it. It’s naturally dark brown anyway but have avoided the damage from regularly highlighting it.

I’d have a keratin treatment to relax the frizz and then try and get the split ends trimmed out.
Also plenty of serums and heat protectant when using the flat irons.

Would nothing convince you to keep it curly, ie by trying the curly girl hair method, improving the condition and get a more flattering hair style?

The damage is worth it. Who wants to spend ages farting about with 'methods'? And yes,curls are ageing.

When you feel like spending five hours in a hairdresser again, get them to wellastrate or L'Oréal xtenso it.lasts a year if properly done so that is worth the time and money.

I’ve had mine permed straight for years . However now doing the curl girl method and if I’m honest it’s harder work than straightening it . I do have decent curls now I’ve stopped washing with shampoo and using conditioner instead . If you’re going to do CGM you need to find out what your hair likes and doesn’t like as it definitely had an effect . I’m CGM but don’t follow it as it’s very strict and a bit of a cult ! Saying that I do prefer it curly now

I gave up straightening when I had my baby. You don’t have to join the curly girl cult to look good with curls, just do a bit of experimenting with products and techniques and you’ll get there. I just spray my hair with water and smooth in a little normal conditioner and serum then scrunch on some gel.

If you’re sticking with straightening, I know a lot of people swear by olaplex treatments.

I also put coconut oil on for a few hours every few weeks

Curly and I straighten most weeks. If it’s curly I end up bundling on top of my head as a pony tail looks manic. Looks great for one day but trying to maintain the curl is a faff. I straighten it and I can get a good few days of different styles. I bought new cloud 9 straighteners as they glide so easily I definitely feel like they are less damaging. I also use a heat spray.

Mine is naturally frizzy & not attractive. I’ve been straightening it every day for the last year. It gets a proper wash, blow dry & straighten every 2 or 3 days & in between the straightener is just ran over it in the morning. My hair is in bits though. I also colour it every month so although it feels soft, it actually started falling off at the end. My dd took a photo for me a few weeks ago to show me how bad it was. I ended up getting her to cut off the ends for me as it was so bad & our hairdressers weren’t open at the time (I’m in ireland). I use a heat protector spray on it, hair oil on sparingly after its dry & I use a hair mask conditioner weekly. I’ll show you a photo of how bad it was.

That’s the before

And after

I have 3b/c hair and just wear it curly now. It was such a faff to blow dry and straighten it, and caring for it now is definitely not more time consuming. Straightening is SO damaging, it took me about two years to get proper curls back.

I wash with a sulphate free shampoo, condition, comb through, rinse, then follow with a curl enhancing creme (Aveda normally) and Aveda Confixor gel. Refresh it every other day which takes about 10 minutes.

I get it. Some people don’t like their curly hair, but if you’re going to straighten it there’s no way to keep curly hair properly ‘healthy’. Heat will always damage it, regardless of how much you use masks and heat protectors.

I straighten my hair, the condition is much better since I stopped colouring it. Tried the CGM and it was shit, I looked like the delinquent love child of Worzel Gummidge and Leo Sayer. Just get a good heat protection spray and trim the ends regularly.

I use Olaplex 3 and 6 also Oi hair oil by Davines and a weekly hair mask. I use the L'Oréal Steampod straighteners which cause a lot less damage than my old ceramic ones.

What do you use to refresh @ToryStelling. That's the part I struggle with and haven't cracked a good method yet.

I've never heard of curls as being aging before. If anything black women, usually with natural curls, look incredibly youthful

@murbblurb curls aren't ageing they're a perfectly normal, natural hair type
That's like saying people of 5ft look old, or people with brown eyes look ageing
My hair doesn't straighten, and I won't damage it to fit into some ridiculous ideal that women should all have poker straight hair with not a single bit of frizz

@pinkearedcow

What do you use to refresh *@ToryStelling*. That's the part I struggle with and haven't cracked a good method yet.

It took me about a year to find a refresh method that worked for me! The key is using styling products which have water as their main ingredient (they’re then reactivated by water when you refresh.)

After washing, I style with Aveda Be Curly Curl Enhancer and follow with Aveda Confixor gel. They’re pricey but the best I’ve found. I also brush them through with a Denman D3 brush.

Then whenever I want to refresh, I wet my hair and reapply both the curl enhancer and the gel, then blow dry with a diffuser. When I use this method I actually prefer my ‘refreshed’ hair to my just-washed hair(!) and I do get a lot of compliments on it. If you’re on Instagram I’d highly recommend following Nuala Morey - I get most of my styling tips from her.

I have naturally curly hair but the only time it looks decent is when I air dry it on holiday, if I attempt to dry it with hairdryers etc., then it turns into a frizzy mess. I usually blow dry and if it's still a bit frizzy I'll use straighteners or my curling wand, but the last year or so I've been using my straighteners to curl as it lasts longer. Sadly, my curl seems to have disappeared completely when it's wet, just has a bit of a kink to it - looks like I've permanently damaged it using the straighteners to curl

Thanks ToryStelling I will have a look at those products.

And yes,curls are ageing.

WTF??

I have 4c hair - more frizzy than curly and I love it. It's attractive to me - don't care about what attracts others.

I used to straighten mine and the tighter the hair (like 4c), the shorter it looks. I was often amazed at how long my hair really is when I straighten it vs when I wear it shrunken. Anyway, while it looked "good" straightened, I chose health over visible length because over time, my hair couldn't take it anymore. It's too delicate for straightening treatments and I've done all of them, using both low end and high end tools. Some worked better than others but still left its mark after a while. I've chopped my hair off several times to start again and won't be doing it anymore😊

I have slightly curly hair but DD has crazy curly hair. And the things I've learnt is that curly hair is very very dry. This will be exacerbated if you've been heavily highlighting it. Personally, I'd be inclined to colour over your hair and let it recover from all the highlights.

For both of us, the key is to keep the hair as moisturised as possible, especially for DD. We only wash her hair about every 2 weeks and do a full wet rinse and recondition weekly. It's washed with KMS moist repair and we use a hair mask from KMS for frizzy hair as conditioner (I use it on my hair too but only about once a month as it's too much for me on a regular basis). We put an Innolux leave in conditioner/treatment after washing (both of us).

On a day to day basis we dampen her hair slightly and then rub through a little of the diluted hair mask. And use an anti frizz serum - John Frieda currently. I use Moroccon hair oil on my hair if I've blow dried it.

The main issue for DD is that she has to wear it up for school and while we try to give her very loose pony tails, the top does tend to get a bit frizzy. Also, ironically, since we got control of her hair, when we use the hair mask and then comb her hair out before rinsing, we're doing that much more quickly as her hair is less knotty and I'm starting to suspect that it's therefore not staying on long enough.

I have straightened mine with Ghds every wash for 10+ years, never had an issue with damage from straightening. I do use a heat protector spray / serum beforehand

What has caused damage though is bleach. I’ve always coloured my hair - and dyed brown never had any issues with damage either but since having highlights it’s been a never ending issue, dryness through to actual breakage when I went fully blonde

@Sprayerhayer A friend of mine has has Brazilian blow drys, have you tried this?

And yes,curls are ageing.

Rubbish. And quite insulting to a massive group of people and pretty much all black women ....

I use a sulphate free shampoo and use heat protective spray and frizz ease spray before straightening. I probably only straighten it once a week now and instead use styling products to loosen the curls a bit. I use a hair mask once a week without fail. I do dye my roots as I have loads of greys.

[quote QueenPaw]@murbblurb curls aren't ageing they're a perfectly normal, natural hair type
That's like saying people of 5ft look old, or people with brown eyes look ageing
My hair doesn't straighten, and I won't damage it to fit into some ridiculous ideal that women should all have poker straight hair with not a single bit of frizz[/quote]
I clicked on this thread as I have curly, well more wavy hair that I straighten regularly. But I was also surprised to read that curly hair is aging, never heard that one before! .