Anyone else want bigger, wavier hair?

[Pheasantlysurprised]

Im growing more and more towards this in recent years.
Im fluffy and wavy myself, and have spent the past 15 years ironing it into a tired, flat disaster. If I slap a bit of leave in conditioner on it and dry it in a twist, or else just allow it flow, it looks healthier and thicker and just....more alive.
It really doesn't have to conform to anything it isn't. And I don't have to spend a fortune 'correcting' something that should not be considered wrong.

I was also looking at some older style pics on Pinterest and loved the wanton haphazardness of Helena Bonham carter's hair, Kate bush, etc.

Im not suggesting the 80's bon Jovi here, im talking about a more relaxed, natural, substantial kind of liberation from the super glossy, almost cardboard cut out styles we have been used to seeing for so long now, where women in the media are all straightened and glossed, afraid to move in case a stray strand breaks free.
Natural straight hair is gorgeous, but it has dominated the demands on women for too long, I think. The desperation to fight any fluffiness or frizz is kind of sad really.

Anyone else growing to prefer a little more wildness and naturalness to their hairstyles? This can look both contemporary and well groomed, but I believe we have been hoodwinked into perceiving it as crazy or untidy.
It didnt seem to bother anyone prior to the GHD craze - a very long running obsessive trend for very repressed, neat hair that had to reflect light like gloss paint and barely move.

And it isn't 'either-or' either: we can absolutely have natural, bigger hair without being untidy. I can't even relate to having to become a 'curly girl', which always strikes me as infantile and yet another way to beat oneself into submission - many curls and waves are not uniform and such strict methods are no cheerier than the GHD obsession to my mind.

Seen a lot of younger women and girls with long, fluffy hair, going with their natural texture out and about for a few years now. It's one thing as a middle aged woman I am happy to see!

I have always wished my hair had more texture and curl. It is super straight and sleek - if I don't do anything to it, it just hangs totally limp, which I've always hated. I've tried lots of things from getting perms as a teenager to sleeping with it braided or twisted into multiple buns. These days I use straighteners to add wavy curls although this time of year the damp weather means they fall out really easily. Would love Helena Bonham Carter's hair!

@nordica

I have always wished my hair had more texture and curl. It is super straight and sleek - if I don't do anything to it, it just hangs totally limp, which I've always hated. I've tried lots of things from getting perms as a teenager to sleeping with it braided or twisted into multiple buns. These days I use straighteners to add wavy curls although this time of year the damp weather means they fall out really easily. Would love Helena Bonham Carter's hair!

It's often this way, if we haven't got it we want it! I ironed my hair from being 13. It used to snap off and dry up horribly and looked so parched. I could never hope to look like someone with natural straight glossy hair.

If only both textures were duly celebrated for their own unique reasons.

I have thick wavy hair which looks weird when straightened, it just doesn't suit me. I just diffuser dry it and let it do its own thing. So much easier and it stays in good condition.

I have this hair - and was just thinking the same thing!

Surely healthy, natural hair always looks best?

Keep it trimmed, clean and detangled
Have it cut into a style and coloured if you want to
Only do anything else to it if you really want to

Just enjoy your hair!

I would love that but I had all mine cut off last week (and hate it now!)

Use heated rollers and mousse. It will give you fuller hair

I have had long layers cut in, and slightly shorter around my face. Now I just wash my hair, and scrunch it while wet with a little bit of Aussie Work That Curl serum. It ends up flowing and wavy and a bit messy. I often get compliments and people asking what I do to it. I'm so glad I've let it grow out and stopped straightening!

Following this, as my hair is the bane of my life.

It was at its peak in the late 80s/early 90s. I’d wash it, towel dry it, scrunch some mousse throughout it, and it was a long, thick, flowing mass of 80s wondrousness.

Now, I BBH and GHD it into submission. Have done for years.

I can’t let it dry naturally, as it’s not straight or curly or wavy. After I wash it, the strands all seem to dry apart and it’s just a witchy mess.

I tried the curly girl method - but my God it’s time consuming. I resent the half hour it takes to dry/straighten it - but it’s far preferable to the more than half a day it took for the curly hair to be dry enough to fiiiiiiiiinally scrunch out the crunch.

Following this thread with interest.

I was just thinking.
I always compared my hair to a judges wig when l was younger! 😂

I've got Big Hair. It is wavy, but needs a very short cut to become curly, so is mostly sort of wiggly with a tendency to frizz around the front. Altogether, it makes a very thick, heavy ponytail, but the individual hairs are very fine and when my hair is down ties itself into a thousand tiny knots. I've started going grey and am fascinated by the changes, although sadly my longed for Mallen streak is not materialising. In my 30s I did straighten it sometimes, but I'm nearly 50 now and haven't for years, I like the big!

Thanks for sharing photos, these are really lovely. Im happy to see it's not just me who has had enough of torturing my hair!

All natural textures are fine as they are, although I get that we might want to tweak them - I often get a halo of frizz around my face in drizzly, humid weather, and it irritates me because it makes my hair look dry when it isn't. I do use a leave in cream on the lengths so combat this.

But looking back I have no idea why I was so desperate to flatten it all out because it never really did look naturally straight or glossy. My hair is quite porous and I tend to look for the positive in that now - it gives it lift and movement, even if I do still get weary when it rains
Real straight hair moves like water or silk, very beautiful, but I don't think you can imitate it.

I have thick wavy/bushy hair that is neither straight or curly. Even if I straighten it, it sort of rebels and does its own thing after about 15 minutes a while.

Mostly I tie it back because I have to for work and most of the time I can't be bothered to straighten it for it to bounce back in no time. But I'm Inspired by @DareDevil223 to try my diffuser again! Often if I leave naturally one side gets a few nice ringlets or curls and the other side looks just bushy with no defined waves or curls!

@Elyat

I have had long layers cut in, and slightly shorter around my face. Now I just wash my hair, and scrunch it while wet with a little bit of Aussie Work That Curl serum. It ends up flowing and wavy and a bit messy. I often get compliments and people asking what I do to it. I'm so glad I've let it grow out and stopped straightening!

This is my holy grail.

Yes, me.

I've always thought of my hair as curly but if I'm honest it's more wavy. However, it's not very thick, and as I've got older it seems to be getting straighter. I want it very wavy/curly with lots of volume, but I can't quite be bothered to pay for a perm. The main things that seem to help are:

1. having enough layers

2. never blow-drying it or brushing it wet, but towel drying and then basically using my fingers as a big Afro comb (it's not Afro hair) to separate it as it dries naturally. On days when I'm not washing it I sometimes brush it upwards just to un-flatten the top a bit.

(3 - getting rained on is the best of all, I've been known to get actual corkscrew curls, but that can't always be arranged)

I rarely use any styling products but sometimes use a bit of Boots curl creme (I've heard it's been discontinued, but I still have a big tub with lots left) and/or salt spray and then just scrunch it up as it dries naturally.

I have thin wavy/curly hair that frizzes easily, as soon as it's damp outside or I get too warm my perfectly straight or curled hair frizzes and goes limp
Contemplating a few inches off to get rid of the dry bleached bits but know I'll regret it
Following with interest
I just want my hair to stay in whatever style I do!

Yes! I don't brush my hair. I haven't brushed it for 15 years.

Amazing photos!

I have to brush mine, it's like a primal urge, and yes it does create more frizz. The frizz tends to calm down of it's own accord a day later though, so I often wear it in a knit or twist the first day of washing.

It's arsey at times, and I used to tell myself that using GHD's made it easier. Which is rubbish, I know. It wasn't exactly easier as I had to live in fear of humidity which created little dents in my otherwise straightened hair

The longer it grows the better it behaves, but I do wonder if we all need to reassess our perceptions of fluffiness - like why do we consider it 'bad'?

Why is natural texture and movement repressed nowadays? You hear women online saying they would hate curly or big hair yet they spend hundreds on devices to create Hollywood curls (im not a fan of those barrel type things).

When I was very young (early 90's) people used to come over and touch my hair and make all sort of oooh noises about it. I went to a salon back then and asked for a straight blow dry and the stylist gathered everyone over and told me I was insane for trying to lose my natural texture - people would pay hundreds for it! (so he said!)....

Roll on to around 10 yrs later and stylists began to make noises of pity when they saw my natural hair. How perceptions had changed. One girl once asked me "how do you cope with hair like this, it must be really difficult for you".

I try to section my hair and blow dry it well, using the cool shot, this makes a big difference to my hair, smooth but still big.
I also use root lift powders or dry lift sprays at the crown and parting - especially on days 2,3 and sometimes 4!
To finish off, the Percy & Reed No Oil Hair Oil for thick hair is amazing, it stops my hair feeling dry, no frizz and makes it look in good condition.

Mine is naturally frizzy heading towards Afro type texture. No curl at all unless wet and gelled to a maximum. And then it is gorgeous.
It takes ages to wash and style but then I do nothing for days.

I’m like you op, had the most amazing big curly hair in the 80s, I had strangers tell me they loved my hair, but the bubble burst somewhere in the 90s and I’ve been straightening ever since.
However I did find the curls difficult to maintain because you couldn’t brush them. I had to wash my hair every morning and scrunch it dry with mousse, and repeat each day. It look ages you dry because of being so thick. With straight hair I can sometimes brush and leave it and manage to look semi-respectable. I do worry what the hell my hair will look like if I ever get too old or incapable to style it though, I do think straight haired people have the overall advantage in life.

Curly here - they are definitely back - there's a French girl I follow on IG who looks fab and I tell myself I'm channeling her style

But seriously, practically every day I get a compliment about my hair - it's the touching I don't like. For some reason, people are drawn to stroking curly hair, very annoying.

I have similar hair to daredevil, I use a sls free shampoo, and a silicon free conditioner and with either a hair mask or curl cream once a month or so.

I have quite flat hair. Super thin strands but loads of it. I've always wanted big wavy/curly hair. I curl if for special occasions but it takes such a long time!

Opalex and twist and dry has been a game-chamger for me.