how do I get my curls back??!

[minxofmoravia]

I used to have lovely long, thick, abundant, spiral curls, rich dark brown and shiny, of course never appreciated them.

Now age (am 37), high-lights, 2 pregnancies and perpetual straightening have trashed them . How do I get them back at least a bit to their former glory? They are limp, stringy and thin now, not even curls just straggles and then don't dry nicely at all.

Am going to lay of the straighteners and colourants...are there any shampoos/conditioners/products that might help?

Have you tried aveda damage remedy intensive conditioner and aveda b curly range?

Stop using products with silicones and check out www.naturallycurly.com

Naturallycurly is a good site. Have you tried washing then scrunching gently with gel then doing the same into the towel and leaving to air dry?

The thing with curls is its different for each person.

Oh don't worry about hard hair - you have to smooth your hair over once dry it softens the gel on the hair.

chop it and start again? this is what I did. PITA but the curls are back (no doubt will get scuppered by my hair fall out when new DC arrives in Feb though!)

I have wondered about this. Am same sort of age as you and up till my 20's had Long dark pre-raphelite curls which I too never appreciated. Then came the days of everyone having straightened hair and I loved how sleek and groomed ghds could make me look. However the trend now is all for curls and waves and my spiral curls seem to have gone. Not sure if having children has made my hair different or if all the years of getting it straight have changed it?
When I was younger used to put mousse in my hair tip upside down and then scrunch dry with diffuser .
Not much help but you are not alone!

Pinktortoise, you could be me!

You need to read the Curly Girl book it has given me curls that I never knew I had so it will definitely work for you.

Basically, use a shampoo without sulphates (try the Naked range at Boots) and then use conditioners and styling products without silicones (Naked range again, or Tresemme Naturals. Oh and Original Source conditioners)

Don't towel dry, gently squeeze water out of hair with an old tshirt or pillow case. Then use either a curl creme (boots do a pink one in a tub, dead cheap) or a gel (try Umberto Gianni flirty curls in a bright pink tube) again no silicones and gently scrunch. Leave to dry and you should see the difference straight away.

Have a look at Britishcurlies.co.uk as well, tons of advice there for curly wurlies

Oh and stop using heat of any type

I have started using John frieda shampoo and conditioner for curly hair ( on budget drive so the switch from Bain curl - kerastase) turban hair in towel. Tip forward, apply Be curly by aveda (pricey but lasts ages!!!!) and air dry...
Post baby curly hair - looks good in the day I wash only!!!

I second aveda products.

Curly girl method did nothing for me -Naked shampoo turns my hair to straw.

Tiniest amount of conditioner- not used straightners since August and I am nearly back to being Alex Kingston!!

The Curly Girls method takes a while.
You can use as much conditioner as you need once it doesn't have silicones in it?that's what weighs down your hair and pulls out the curls.

Naked conditioner made my hair awful too. I gave it quite a while.

I've never lost my curls, and I've never straightened my hair either, but I find that the best shampoo/product combination for them is Lush Curly Wurly shampoo, Lush veganese conditioner, and then John Frieda anti frizz serum (it comes in 3 strengths, I use the strongest one since my hair is incredibly thick). The real key though is not drying it at all, but essentially going to sleep with still damp hair.

could it be that after 2 pregnancies the curls just won't be there ?

Happened to me. I could almost see the curls disappearing as the pg went on.

my hairdresser said if they didn't come back after 6m, they wouldn't. And she was right.