So.....I think I have curly hair! Help!

[Imscarlet]

My daughter has beautiful naturally curly hair. It's just fab. Neither myself nor my husband have curly hair. Or so I thought. We're having a lazy lounge around the house day, and I let my hair dry naturally. I can see a curl. I'm thinking that years of blow drying and having it in a ponytail it's been trained to be relatively straight. I have bob lengt hair.

I remember a friend growing out her hair, in my childhood, realising that it was curly and using a huge amount of product etc in it and having fab curls. Do I need to do this? What happens if only some of it is curly? I haven't a snowball's what to do here!

Just popping in during my lunchbreak and as a committed curly cannot help but comment.
First: It depends on your curl type whether you shampoo or not. Some people never do, only co-wash, others do it frequently. Personally I do at least once a week and co wash in between. What is important is that you use a sulphate free shampoo (curlies refer to it as low poo) as it doesn't strip the natural oils from your curls. The point is scalp benefits from cleansing, but the cleansing is best carried out with non detergent products, that are sulphate free.
Second: Always follow with conditioner, silicone free (curlies refer to this as "cone free"). Why? Because dehydrated curly hair leads to dreaded frizz. Hydrated well conditioned curly hair leads to reduced (or no) frizz, well defined curls and Curl heaven.
Depending on your hair type you may need a heavier dry hair conditioning treatment/mask and then co wash with a lighter conditioner in between. The point is whatever you do it must be silicone free as silicone tends to build on the hair and if you are cleansing with a sulphate free shampoo (or only co-washing) over time the silicone will build up and result in unsightly greasy hair.

To find out about your curl type and products that could work visit the British curlies website, it is a good starting point and they have useful forums
www.britishcurlies.co.uk/

Regarding Boots curl cream I use it every now and then and like it. A leave in conditioner works just as well. I combine it with Umberto Giannini pink curl gel for more definition (either leave in conditioner or boots curl cream) but it does depend on your hair type.
Again, whatever styling crème, mousse, gel, leave in or combination thereof please please make sure it is silicone free.
You only need a small bit of Boots pink curl cream, or leave in conditioner (50p piece for mid length hair), double the amount of gel but don't go overboard. Your curls with gel might feel "crunchy" but you can easily run your fingers through the roots once dry to take out the crunchiness.

The British curlies website has a lot of "cone free" product recommendations.

Apply styling products to sopping wet hair, then instead of using a towel use an old t shirt to mop up excess moisture. You can even put it in a little turban for a few minutes to soak up water. Then leave to dry naturally (takes ages for me and I am short of patience) or dry with a diffuser, if you do it with head upside down it gives more volume to the roots. Try not to touch your curls too much (or at all) while it is drying, once nearly dry gently scrunch to take out "crunchiness".

Regarding not using a hairdryer: I have naturally dry hair but as I take care of my curls with above routine I do use a hairdryer with diffuser to speed up the hanging around for hair to dry naturally. I also occasionally colour my hair with semi permanent tints but in all honestly I do try and keep away from chemicals as they do far more damage than a diffuser on mid to low heat every 4 days.

Finally find a hairdresser who understands how to cut curly hair! It makes all the difference!
I hope this helps and good luck on your curly journey!

Placemarking to come back to the thread later for tips.

Ok, so apologies for not coming back to this thread. I had my hair cut fairly shortly afterwards and today was the first time I had a free morning where it didn't matter what I looked like.

So, washed my hair. Put pink boots stuff into it. Kind of twisted it around in my fingers. Fashioned a diffuser by duct taping one to an old hairdryer (protip - doesn't work!) and went for it.

I'm a bit underwhelmed. It kind of looks dry, frizzy and as if I got out of the shower and forgot to comb it.

I did venture out and got gel spray and sea salt spray - I might try it a bit more later.

Do I need a curling iron?

I've always embraced my curly hair but it gets dry and even matts if I don't brush it for a few days. Using children's mixed chicks haircare helps a lot. It's obvs for mixed race hair but is good for any dry or curly hair. It's really expensive but lasts ages and defines curls.

My daughter's matts as well. Her actual hair is very thin but she has lots of it. Currently my hair is in lots of little twisty things like 90's Gwen Stefani. I'll wash it out tomorrow unless it drastically improves.

Definitely agree with SoyYo. So important to get the right product.

I use NYC products from british curlies. Since using them my hair has changed from being like straw, to being lovely and soft (has taken about a year).

I use the cleanser & conditioner (I leave that in), approx every 3 or 4 days.

Scrunch dry sort of , with the gel (look at the NYCcurls . com website), with an ecloth.

Never comb or brush my hair.

Sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase.

When I follow this religiously my curls look great. Right now I haven't washed it since Tuesday, and it isn't greasy, but isn't too curly either.

The products aren't cheap but they are worth it. I love my curls so much. I think there is a Facebook page too (NYC Curls).

I've also used Deva products (from Amazon) which were good.

To get your 'real' curl pattern you need to scrunch it. NEVER run your fingers through it.

I don't get on that well with the pink curl creme - I tend to overuse otherwise I miss bits and it goes lank. I prefer Tesco basic gel - it's 25p so won't break the bank if you decide to give it a go!

I wash once a week. Brush and part where I need to, then wash out without running my fingers through my hair but scrunching upwards. This helps form the curl pattern.

When out of the shower, I add conditioner by again scrunching from the bottom up, slipping my fingers into the hair and scrunching. NO RUNNING FINGERS THROUGH AND DEFINITELY NO BRUSH! Do the same with gel (you may not need the conditioner bit - my hair is terribly dry).

I almost always diffuse for convenience, just try not to move your hair and head too much. Once it's dry, it'll be a bit crispy. That's fine, that's the 'cast' of the gel. You can then scrunch it out and be left with gorgeous curls or waves.

I have posted this loads of times and could possibly be accused of being a bit evangelical but seriously, I'm 34, and only this year have I found the most reliable way of having good hair every day. This method never fails, and although I don't wash my hair everyday, so long as I wet it (normally soaked under the shower but even a spritz with a water bottle is fine) and apply product, I have lovely hair.

do you brush it before washing?

If you're asking me sunny - the answer is no, NEVER brush when dry, only when soaking wet and intending to be washed. Mine doesn't get brushed unless I'm washing it so I get an impressive hairball

DH doesn't love the rat that collects in the plughole though....

haha….ok, so you brush it wet in the shower, then wash. It sounds quite like my routine. Mine needs a bit of fine tuning, but it is really soft atm which is good :)

I want to try this tomorrow but I actually don't have a hairbrush :\

The Palmer's Coconut leave-in stuff contains at least two 'cones' (silicones) which are something that 'curly methods' strongly avoid. They are really not good for curly hair for the reasons described by Soy above.

I have shoulder-blade length naturally curly hair and have been following the CG (curly girl) method for a few years. I'm not evangelical about it, I dye my hair occasionally, but I do avoid all products containing silicones and sulfates. You have to stick at the CG method, try different product combinations and give it a while to work, but when it works it really does work. The key, as already said, is finding the products that work for you.

My hair is naturally strongly curly, proper Celtic hair (I'm Irish) so I don't need to create curl as such, just get proper definition, so my product mix may be different to someone who has more wavy or less strongly curled hair. I use a mix of Cantu Co-Wash, Tesco 75p Pro-V conditioner, Tresemme Undone, Yes to Carrots and Yes to Blueberries. I don't usually need to use an actual product in my hair, just the conditioner is enough to give me soft, defined curls, but it's taken a couple of years to get it to this point - it looked awful to begin with! I used to straighten it a lot - went through a keratin treatment/GHD phase for a couple of years and basically ended up frazzling the fuck out of my poor hair. I had to cut 3 inches off the length and decided then that that was enough of that and I was going to go back to embracing my natural curl and ditch all the silicones, sulfates and heat. I'm so glad I did, my hair has grown the lost length back, thickened up again and has no brittle or split ends. It has literally never looked better and I get frequent comments on it.

I do a lot of exercise so usually have to wash it at least every other day, I co-wash with the Cantu or Tesco, cool rinse, squish in a huge palmful of the Tresemme, cool rinse and then scrunch in more Tresemme or the Yes To... as a leave-in when still soaking wet. Never towel dry, turban it up in an old cotton t-shirt of DP's for half an hour or so then let it dry naturally, scrunch out any cast once it's totally dry and that's it. I refresh between washes by scrunching with water and Tresemme Undone. I find it actually looks best on the second or even third day if I get that far without getting too sweaty. If I ever do use a product I've found that Cantu Curl Activator works well but you don't need much of it; I do have a tub of the Boots pink stuff but I find it a bit too sticky/gloopy, but that's just my personal opinion, I know it works fantastically well for lots of people. Other things are to avoid brushing at all costs, sleep on a silk pillowcase, 'pineapple' it up on top of your head at night with a soft scrunchie and even better, whack a silk or satin bonnet type thing over it to sleep in, but that really ain't the sexiest look

Mine isn't tight curls sadly but I never brush it dry unless for comedy value. It literally triples in size .

I also used to do argan oil leave ins overnight but the stuff is pricey. It's going on my Christmas list.

Diffuse if I can be bothered but best result is just scrunching it.

I might try it again tonight. I ended up looking like a scarecrow after bunging in more crap on Sunday. I do feel it will take both me and my hair a bit of time to get used to it.

I have ridiculously thick, curly hair and if I want it to curl properly, I cannot do anything to it.

I run my fingers through it go get knots out in the shower before I wash the conditioner out, wrap it in a towel for 20 mins to get the worst of the water out and then leave it to hang (Way past shoulders). I can't dry it, I can't put product in it, nada.

I brushed my thick wavy hair 2 days ago before dying and washing it, it was so painful, I had a headache all evening from the trauma of it. I used to love the John Frieda Brunette Curling Cream. I've not found it in Boots for years now. It's the first hair brush I've owned for about 5 years too!

Goop and other comparable products for curls do nothing for me other than give me a frizzy mess. I wash every day, brush when wet, tip head upside down, run small blob of mousse (not the firm hold stuff) through hair, tip back right way up, wrap sections around my finger to curl (usually about 7 sections) then blow dry upside down with diffuser. Once you find what works for you then you should be fine!

I never use shampoo, no cone conditioner only. Curls vary between acceptable and fabulous. (I have little control over which...)

Look for the curly girl method on FB - but beware - a lot of them treat it like a particularly faffy religion. I literally wash (without shampoo) and dry but it took me some experimentation to find my products.

I find that washing my hair with shampoo as little as possible when in a hard water region like London, but using tonnes of conditioner helps. My hair is tightly coiled and loves conditioner, cones and all!