Embracing my curls

[Bumbolina]

I've got wavy/curly hair if I leave it to dry with a bit of mousse. I like it and would like to embrace my curls - what can I do to encourage them? I have days when they curl brilliantly and others where they barely kink!

I've been reading stuff online and a couple of websites have suggested not shampooing...?

Geek - It's called "Curl Friends" by Umberto Giannini I think. I buy mine in Boots, yes.

Ok, today for the first time I have used Tail n mane shampoo and conditioner and plopped my hair. Then after about an hour of plopped hair, I have left it to dry on its own. It is soft and curly.

My hairdresser niece has been cutting my hair for a year or two, but the last cut she did was awful and I won't let her cut it again. Don't think she's been near it for about 8 months now with the scissors.

I'm hoping to go to a hairdresser with a good reputation for cutting curlies and not too expensive and also... not in Birmingham local.

When my hair is behaving well (curly), and I'm wearing it down, I dry my hands on it after washing them as it gives the curls a boost. I also don't brush or comb my hair except before I wash it.

I washed and conditioned Dd's very curly and long hair last night, but I have to brush her hair every day since being at school, as I plait it every day. It feels very silky, but I noticed that it is a bit bitty and I'm not sure if that means it needs a really good cut. I usually trim her hair myself twice a year and take up to 3" off. If it is in need of cutting to get rid of the bittiness then I'm going to have to cut 12" off and I don't want to :(

Any ideas?

Yesterday I had my hair cut. He blow dried the front and put round brushes in it at the back to make it curl, then put clips in it while it set. Looked very nice when I left, but today it looks very straight! I don't wash my hair more than once a week usually, but I want my curls back! if I wash it out today, it will have been washed 3 times in 4 days!

So wash your hair. What seems to be the problem?

I hate, hate hate washing my hair! that's the problem!

Stop plaiting the DD's hair? There is more you can do than just plaiting to keep curly hair neat in school. I kept DD4's shorter than shoulder length dry (when wet it was much longer) and she kept it all off her face with butterfly clips. Some days she liked it twisted into two little buns, left and right. As it grew longer she just gathered it into a ponytail without any brushing.

Brushing or combing it out every morning before school was such a horrible experience for her and for me by extension that I started looking into alternatives and ended up trying the CG method out of sheer desperation. When I saw how well her hair looked and how well our mornings were going I tried it myself..

And wash your own? Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish and then what you are prepared to do in order to get that done. You won't get a different result if you do the same things the same way.

This is inspiring me to investigate mine and DD's curls. But two things - doesn't your head get mega itchy if you don't shampoo? And also, do you never brush, ever?? I feel a bit twitchy about that.

I've been using the curly girl method for 4.5 years, my hair is only ever brushed by the hairdresser, i just run my fingers through it the rest of the time. It doesn't itch at all, although it does feel particularly zingy after a haircut.

I use dr organics coconut conditioner (seems thicker than others in the range, so a bottle lasts longer...) and Lush Dirty hair creme - the boots curl cream made my hair feel really crispy as someone upthread said.

I have course, thick, dry, very curly hair. I use tresemme salon silk shampoo and conditioner. I shampoo once a week and condition daily. I towel dry, apply a glob of boots pink curl creme, brush through whilst wet, shake and then a little scrunch. Very cheap and very effective and I get a lot of compliments on my hair.
It is important to have a good shape from a stylist who understands curly hair as well.

No itching here, it gets rinsed every day.

Brushing my hair when dry just destroys it - it might be different when wet but combing always made more sense. Don't think my hair has been brushed with a hairbrush for about 15 years and I don't miss it at all. Hair looks a million times better than it used to.

No itch, and brushing is something I don't miss one bit. I put my fingers through it in the shower when it's got conditioner all over it and that sorts it out.

You clean your scalp using conditioner and fingertips just as you would with shampoo, then rinse.

Ok, I plopped, and it doesn't look to bad. I did brush when it was 90% wet though and I think that has caused some frizz. Need to retrain my brain (twitch).

I don't understand what benefit we are to have from not shampooing our hair.

I use shampoo & conditioner on mine. Haven't brushed my hair for years but run my hand through it while the conditioner is in so it gets "combed" on a regular basis.

Blimey math I feel like you've just given me a good telling off!!!

Sometimes Dd's hair is put in a bun, but recently, she's requested I plait it for her. I use a Tangle Teezer and am quite gentle as I have bad memories from my own childhood of a less than gentle mother ripping a brush through my hair every morning and I won't subject anyone to that treatment. If I left it in a ponytail and didn't brush Dd's hair every day she'd have dreadlocks within a week and I'd have to cut it to the scalp. I do though sometimes leave it plaited from Friday until Monday morning, but it is then more knotty than I'd like, plus ends up very dusty.

Mine? well, I will put up with the straightened hair until I next wash it.

Sorry Solo

I am curious though, as to what you hate about washing your hair. I remember as a child hating it because the bathroom was so cold my lips would turn purple and my arms and legs got all blotchy.

If you don't want dreadlocks in the DD's hair, just wash it daily or every second day and separate it with fingers when loaded with conditioner.

I don't know...I think raising my arms above my head causes so much pain and aches over the past 14 years and it's gone on from there really. I find it such a chore.
I don't have the time or energy to wash Dd's hair daily or more than once a fortnight/3 weeks and she certainly would agree to it either!

I'm sorry it's painful for you to wash your own hair but you must make an effort to wash your DD's hair more often than once every 2-3 weeks. Of course dreadlocks form if you don't wash her hair for weeks.

ive decided to give the curly girl method a go...but i need help!
do i need 2 types of conditioner for co washing?
can i dye my hair?
what products do i need? ive read about the boots cream and the umberto gianni jelly, do you just use 1?
ive put 2 pics of my hair on my profile, is it curly enough for this method to be worth a shot?
thanks.

When I use shampoo, I get fluff rather than curls. I use it once in a while just because I think I should, but not on a day I'm doing anything important.

I say again, the moroccan curl stuff works a treat for me!

lymie i think you are supposed to use a thinnish one for co-washing and a thicker one for conditioning, but i've never bothered, i just 'wash' my hair with conditioner then rinse it out. But i guess i can't leave a bit in my hair (not sure if i even knew that was a thing) as the conditioner is then presumably 'dirty' and needs rinsing out.

I read a thread on here giving the analogy of a washing machine - the massaging of your finger pads on your scalp are what gets it clean, as opposed to shampoo. I was quite vigorous to begin with to get past the haven't-washed-your-hair-for-a-week stage as quickly as possible, i'm less vigorous now, 4+ years in.

Oh and my hair was only half curly when i started as it went straight when bfing dd2, then when she stopped it grew back curly from the roots, but the rest was still straight. Looked pretty weird for quite a while there...

Cote there aren't dreadlocks if I keep Dd's hair plaited and brush daily, but there would be if it was in a tail. If she is off to a party, she'll have her hair loose or in a tail and it's a nightmare to sort out afterwards and has the start of locks. I really don't see the point in torturing her by not brushing and I never brushed/combed her hair until she went to nursery, I just sprayed with water and fingered through it if necessary. School changes a lot of things and for her to get head lice...well! that's just not funny.
I will only wash her hair weekly if she is particularly sweaty as she tends to be in the warmer summer months. She has fairly dry hair even with the daily brushing. Her hair when pulled straight is just above her bottom, so about 2 feet long from her nape.

If her hair is dry it needs more moisture than it is getting from the infrequent washing.

If you wash & comb through her hair with conditioner every other day, you won't have to torture her by brushing her hair every day.

Curly hair just isn't meant to be brushed all the time. It looks better with locks & curls in place when it is left to dry on its own and not brushed at all.

My DD goes to school, too. Yes, I have plaited her hair (still without brushing) at the height of the nits scare earlier in the school year, but otherwise leave her hair free to form its tight locks.