Curl whisperers needed, advice on taming wavy hair.

[notso]

My thick hair is loosely curly/wavy if I just leave it to dry. Unfortunately it is also horrendously frizzy too. I have tried frizz ease, mousse and hair spray but with frizz ease it still goes frizzy, and with mousse and spray it is hard and crispy.
What I want is soft defined waves/curls, please!

my hairdresser swears by Moroccan oil, ridiculously expensive but is supposed to work better than the off the shelf stuff.

but hopefully I don't have to care for six months or more because I've just been Wella-strated!

(swish...)

I have a friend whose hair has been transformed into lustrous waves with the curly girl method:
thecurlyhairproblems.tumblr.com/cgmethod

I haven't found an all-rounder I'm totally happy with, but my favourite to date is Aveda's Brilliant Humectant pomade. It's excellent at defrizzing, but some of my curls need a bit more oomph, so I more regularly use Boots' dead cheap and wonderful curl creme - which will leave you a little crispy in places however.

Both these are silicone free. You may want to google the Curly Girl method, which makes a big thing of silicone-free haircare for curlies (frizz ease is chockful of it). There's some more product recommendations here, may try a few myself...

Aveda damage remedy works for me

I like Naked style curl cream

Moroccan oil curl cream is better than the pure oil. Also Be Curly leave-in cream. Both expensive but last a few months. Put plenty on after each wash. Then every morning spritz with water (superdrug do little spray bottles)and re-apply a little of the cream on the bits that you know get v dry. Once a fortnight do a treatment with almond oil (cheap from local chemist) and any old conditioner, mix it half and half, heat in microwave few seconds, apply and wrap in foil/hot towel for half hour plus. Shampoo out, hair's all silky and curls better that week!

Read up on the curly girl method mentioned below. I have curly/wavy hair. I always thought it was thick, but on closer inspection, it is actually quite thin, there is just a lot of it! The point is that it is quite fragile - curly girl posits that shampoo is too harsh and breaks the hair, hence the frizz. So I shampoo my hair a lot less now, and water down the shampoo before applying it. Has done wonders.

I also like the Moroccan oil.

Aveda "Be Curly" has been a bit of a lifesaver for me. My hair is fine and frizzy (sort of poodle meets early 90s hair rock band) if I don't blow dry it, so I was really worried about how I was going to avoid looking a right bloody state with a new baby and no time to sort out my hair. Now my routine is to spray some Bumble & Bumble Prep spray through it, comb through, work Be Curly into hair from ears to ends, comb into a ponytail and air dry. The mid lengths are now defined curls and the top dries smooth so I can style the front in a more controlled way.

Silicone free conditioner to wash
Silicone free conditioner to condition
Cold water rinse

Then this wonderful product
www.boots.com/en/Umberto-Giannini-Scrunching-Curl-Friends-Jelly-200ml_50951/

Scrunch, scrunch
And Plopping(dry by initially wrapping in tshirt rather than towel)

Leave to dry naturally- don't fiddle with it. If you want it to last into the morning- put hair in a pineapple before going to sleep

Sleep on a silk pillowcase

If you need to refresh in morning- rub a tiny bit of coconut oil through

Yes - don't fiddle with it! I forgot that it the number one rule :) I don't comb or brush after coming out of the shower.

nomnew, which silicone free conditioner do you use?

Thanks all sorry for being late back to this RL doesn't half get in the way of my MNing!

I have tried curly girl but didn't notice much difference. I will have another go though. Will also have a look at the products recommended.
Hoping for some good results.

I use Tresseme Naturals to co-wash and usually use a more sumptous conditioner to condition/leave in a bit like one from Naked. The one I use is very rich though so wouldn't be suitable for finer/less dry hair.

rangewww.nakedbodycare.co.uk/naked-rescue-intensive-care-conditioner-frizzy-damaged-hair

www.ocado.com/webshop/product/TRESemme-Naturals-Moisture-Conditioner/73923011?sku=73923011&dnr=y#

Inecto coconut conditioner is very good and usually available cheaply in Savers.

www.weldricks.co.uk/product/2980951_inecto-pure-coconut-oil-conditioner-500ml?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=GoogleShop&_$ja=cgid:5469211749|tsid:45416|cid:113219349|lid:18283950120|nw:{ifsearch:search}{ifcontent:content}|crid:18293365989|dvc:{device}|adp:{adposition}|bku:1&gclid=CPeju8q-5rgCFXMQtAod7xsAIw

Hello, stupid question alert.
Silicon free shampoo / conditioner. Does that just mean none of the ingredients have anything ending in silicon / silicate etc in there? The stuff I'm using atm doesn't. Need to unearth the other bottle I like and read those ingredients also!

Argan oil and a sock bun on 90% dry hair overnight = gorgeous, frizzle free waves.

I think you have to look for things called dimethicone.

www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/products-ingredients/10-silicones-in-curly-hair-products-to-avoid

I found this list of silicone free conditioners on a hair site.

Conditioners
Asda coconut natural approx 90p
Asda jojoba approx 90p
Louise Galvin Naked Hair £10 (tho sometimes on sale £7)
Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose approx £9 - Curly Emporium
Dr Organics Aloe Vera approx £4
Naked Conditioners (avail in Boots) £3.91 - Naked shine Hydrating Co is CG (2 water soluble cones), Naked Rescue Intensive Care, Naked rescue repairing Hair treatment repairing sachet, Naked colour protecting co (2 water soluble cones), Naked Vitamin Boost, Naked Detox Balancing co (1 water soluble cone), Naked Care sensistive co, Naked Volume Weightless co (2 water soluble cones)
Original Source £1+
Garnier Fructus Repair & Shine £1-£2
Garnier Fructus sleek and shine around £2
Inecto Pure Coconut Oil (500ml) £2
Superdrug Naturals Intensive Conditioner Coconut and Sweet Almond £1.85
Superdrug Naturals Conditioner Coconut and Sweet Almond (300ml) £1
Boots Ingredients Intensive hair mask Honey and Jojoba (350ml) £2
Boots Ingredients Intensive hair mask Coconut and Almond (350ml) £2
Pure Nuff Stuff conditioner approx £5.50 (order from website)
Knot Today £10.50 - Curly Emporium
Avocado Detangling Conditoner £8.95 - Curly Emporium
Coconut Conditioner £10.95 - Curly Emporium
Curl Assurance Daily Conditioner £15.95 - Curly Emporium
Faith in Nature conditioners for cowash - approx £3.90 - £4.50 (Whole Foods and some health stores)
Shea Moisture Shea Butter leave in - approx £7.80 (available from Nubian Heritage shops and online)
Lustrasilk Shea Butter and Mango - £1.69-£1.99 (bought from a black beauty store, but available online cost higher tho?)
Biolage conditioning balm - approx £8.99 (Sally?s in some stores) Also from hairdressers
Dr Organics Manuka Honey Conditioner approx £4.99 (Holland & Barretts)
Somerfield Jojoba & balsam (under) £1
Morrisons fruits conditioners around 99p
Big baby conditioner £4.50 for 250ml, £2.50 for 100ml
Feed the conditioner £4.50 for 250ml, £2.50 for 100ml
C Curls conditioner £4.50 for 250ml, £2.50 for 100ml
Straight conditioner £4.50 for 250ml, £2.50 for 100ml
Tesco Extracts coconut conditioner approx £1.50
Body Shop Rainforest around £4
Schwarzkopf Supersoft Bio Pomegranate Conditioner £1-£2
Loreal Restore Conditioner (white and red bottle advertised by Cheryl Cole)
Tresemme Naturals
Tea Tree and Peppermint around (Superdrug own brand) £1.75
Sainsburys family apple conditioner 500ml approx 88p
Morrisons big and beautiful conditioner 400ml approx £1
Superdrug naturals range Raspberry and Macadamia Nut approx 79p

Ahh, so mine all contain XXXXdimethicone.
Thanks for the info.

Look up www.naturallycurly.com, it's an American site but their forum is good and has some British people on it (I've nothing against Americans, it's just that a lot of the products they recommend aren't available in the UK :-) )