Anyone successfully ditched the straighteners and found their 'natural curls'?

[LoyalLion]

I keep seeing ads for Only Curls, Merwave etc which have lots of pictures of women with previously straight, frizzy hair that use their products and then have lovely, non-frizzy waves or curls.

Any success stories of these?

Also, when you read into them they're all complex 5 steps routines with multiple products. Is that why they have nice curls?

My current routine is shampoo and conditioner (whichever ones are on special offer when I need to buy more!) or 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner when I'm at the gym. Then blow dry and straighten, no other products. What I really want is a single product I can use when my hair is wet and I cba drying/straightening which gives me nice beachy waves and not just a mane of frizz. Am I asking too much?

Frizz ease do an air dry curls, it's like a mousse. Works well but not the beautiful bouncy curls you see on the ads. You have to put in a bit of effort to obtain that

I did the curly girl method a few years back. I had some success but in the end I just couldn’t be bothered with the whole rigmarole. It takes an awfully long time to re-establish a good curl pattern to your hair, and no curly product is one size fits all. It’s a lot of trial and error.

I stopped straightening my hair, did curly girl and I'm really happy with it. Yes it takes a while to find the right products and system but my goodness it's so much lower maintenance than straightening your hair if it's naturally wavy and frizzy.

P.s. for what you want I would use Umberto Gianni curl jelly, you have to scrunch the curls once the hair is dry so they're not all crispy feeling but it's very easy

I wash, condition then brush curl cream or gel through soaking wet hair with a bounce curl brush (about a tenner on Amazon) and leave to dry.

I sue this too! I didn't even know my hair was curly. It always had a weird kick when wet but the hair is so fine it would uncurl under its own weight and just end up flat and frizzy mess unless blowdried. Now I just rinse my hair upside down after showering, scrunch water out, out UG gel in and diffuse. 10 min job.
I still use my normal shampoo and conditioner so this is the only extra step.

There is no one product unfortunately if you have "S bendy" waves rather than corkscrew curls. To make them stay in and curl on their own, you need the appropriate shampoo and conditioner, gel, mousse or curl cream, and a microfibre towel. Plus time to scrunch it all in and a diffuser, or time to let it air dry.

I do the above and still need to tidy up the bits that only bend, not curl, with a curling wand. It means I can only be arsed to wash every 3 days!

Mine is the texture of SJP in the early Sex and the City episodes.

I’ve done this and I now have amazing curls… some days. It’s not less maintenance than straightening though. There’s a lot of conditions, refreshing, twirling, gelling, sleeping in bonnets. You still have good and bad hair days.

The good days are stunning though. Also my hair is now waist length which I never thought I’d achieve in life.

If you don't want curls, simply don't eat your crusts

Umberto Gianni curl jelly was one of the products I was looking at actually but on their website they have kits which suggests it needs to be used with various other products but I'll give it a go on it's own!

No I can't be bothered with all those products but I have just started doing no heat curlers. Check out Rehab, one of Stacey Solomon's investments I believe . Easy easy, and in rubbish with hair, you get lovely massive curls. Or just try with socks!

My cousin did. She spent three decades thinking she had frizzy, straightish hair but since doing curl girl, she discovered she has gorgeous bouncy waves and curls. She doesn’t strictly stick to the curly girl method anymore, but has learnt so much about how to style and maintain her hair that she can wear it straight or curly now.

😀

I got a perm. I couldn’t be arsed with a learning curve. Having said that my hair holds the perm beautifully cause it’s already got a wave

Have a look on Reddit curlyhairuk

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurlyHairUK/s/IToCnkNCME

They also have a page for cheap products

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurlyHairUK/s/40K8sQ4ekd

Curly method for beginners

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurlyHairUK/s/hOOZN8v5Ev

I started curly girl method in December. This is my method for 2a type curls

I used Alberto balsam £1 raspberry shampoo once at the beginning for a reset wash/clarifying, then use the conditioner also £1.

Then I cowash, only use conditioner to wash my hair/scalp. Occasionally the shampoo can be used for a reset/clarifying to remove product build up.

I then use a tangle teezer to comb through my hair. I wash the conditioner out, I then use boots curl cream (£1.99) I lean forward and squish the product in and then put my hair in a microfiber towel while I get changed.

Once dressed, remove the towel and I use a hairdryer with a defuser. I bought a universal defuser for £6 from eBay.

It's quicker because I only wash with conditioner, my hair is usually dull, lank and thin feels thicker.

I've never used straighteners and always liked my natural curls. What I do to maintain them is very simple. I use shampoo and conditioner and I let my hair dry naturally after just scrunching it slightly with salt spray. No heat and no other styling products, I have used curl cream but to be honest I could not see any difference between using that and just salt spray. It's also important to have layers as long unlayered hair will inevitably pull itself out a bit straighter.

It's takes a bit of time to work out what works for you but my routine is Aldi luscious lengths shampoo and conditioner, mousse (on wet hair), brush through with a bounce curl brush, scrunch dry with a micro fibre towel, hairspray and then diffuse till dry.

I spent ages faffing with creams, leave ins, gels etc and I found it weighed my hair down - particularly gel, no matter how little I used. I've gone old school and my curls looks great