A question for those with curly/wavy hair

[ConstanceL]

After 25 years of straightening my hair, I'd like to try and embrace my curly waves, I have fine collarbone length 2c hair. I can make it look nice after I've washed and styled it, but then it gets ruined over night and looks terrible the next day, sticking out in strange directions or just clumping together. How do people with curly/wavy hair keep it looking good without having to wash it every morning and start from scratch?

I've just joined a Facebook group for people with curly hair. Mine's wavy but my 10 year old daughter looks like the wild curly haired princess from the Disney film Brave.

So far the main tips seem to be only washing with conditioner and not using shampoo, leaving hair to dry naturally rather than heat drying (that takes a long time for DD's hair but means she has a lovely full head of ringlet type curls rather than frizzy hair), using a comb for curls not a hairbrush.

Leave in conditioner also is recommended. I've just brought some today for her so will be giving that a go soon.

Honestly I wash it the days I want it to be curly and straighten it a few days in between, other than in summer when I just wash it everyday and let it Airdry. If I go to bed with curly hair I wake up looking like Russell brand, it's not salvageable without either washing or wetting it so much I may as well have just washed it

Definitely only brush it when it's sopping wet and full of conditioner with a proper wet brush

On day 1 I co-wash with conditioner that doesn't have silicone in. I like As I Am Coconut Cowash best - but the XHC conditioners, either ginger or banana are good and only £1 in Savers and other places. I then gently scrunch it til damp with a microfibre tower and scrunch some curl jelly through it and leave it alone.

On Day 2 and 3 I basically either sprinkle the shower over my hair or spritz it with warm water in a spray bottle until it's damp/wet then simply scrunch it about and leave it alone to dry. Sometimes I do this Day 4 as well.

I basically just wash it twice a week at most.

I haven’t found a way to avoid the scarecrow look in the morning. I bought a satin cap to sleep in and it didn’t make a difference so following with interest. I end up wetting my hair every day or tying it back if I don’t have time

Silk pillowcase and tie hair up with a silk scrunchie in a pineapple. Look up the curly girl method if you haven't already

Agree with silk pillowcase and pineapple for hair

The silk bonnets from Silke really help me. I try to convince myself that they don't make me look like Nora Batty...

I have similar hair to you. The bonnets don’t work for me but a stretchy buff does - it’s like a tube you pull up and over your hair. Keeps the waves in better shape overnight. Hair still looks odd for the first few minutes after taking it off but then settles down.

I know some people have luck scrunching in bit of water and/or conditioner in the morning but that has looked terrible every time I’ve tried it. Am thinking of getting a handheld steamer to try.

I’ve tried all the crazy methods, if I want it curly I have to wash it in the shower ever morning with conditioner, wide tooth comb while I’m in there and let it dry naturally

Thanks everyone, why is curly hair such high maintenance 😭 I already use a silk pillowcase but will give some of the other tips a go too, thanks all. I have a feeling I won’t be saying goodbye to my straighteners after all though..

Mine is at a good length and I think that is key to finding it manageable. I don't do the no shampoo stuff because my hair gets to heavy and lank. I find products the key and use some surf spray on the second day and that works great for me. But I think you do have to do some experimenting to find what works for your hair type. At 55 I love my hair.

I still haven’t found an infallible method and would be very similar to you with the wavy/curly 2c hair which I straightened the bejesus out of for 25 years also!

I went through a several week period at the start of the curly journey of “this is a complete pain in my ass” with hair being like an absolute nest in the mornings and either having to fully wash it every day or revert to straightening/brushing it out and whacking it into a bun.

Stuck with it though and my hair now seems in much better condition so behaves better. Now, there is still no way I can spring out of bed in the morning and shake loose a glorious mane of curls, but I tend to pineapple it with a silk scrunchy or pile it into a silk turban, shake it out in the morning (looks like hair explosion) and then dampen it with some water to sort of calm it down (don’t need to wash it or even soak it except for sometimes giving the front bits a good wetting to get a more attractive frame of curls round face if they’re looking a bit shite), then pat through a decent splodge of curl cream and scrunch it up into curliness again (using a dampened cotton T-shirt over my hand for the scrunching).

If I have time I use diffuser to dry it as it tends to set the curls better, if not just let it air dry while I sort kids/breakfasts etc. Then scrunch out the crunch and go.

Works 95% of the time and the other 5% I have a selection of nice hair scarves and clips to shove it up and hide it!

I’d also highly recommend getting a curly cut and style, if only to have hairdresser show you how to properly wash, style, and diffuser dry your hair for your twice weekly (or so) wash day. I did it for the first time a few months back and it was a revelation. Really feel like I know what I’m at now!

Stick with it. The big thing I’ve found is even if I’m having a bit of a “meh” hair day I get loads of compliments because people just seem to see the curls, not the frizz! (I still very much see the frizz).

If I want my curls to look nice I have to wash it.

I've tried curly girl method, silk pillowcase, turban etc etc and nothing works.

I wash my hair every other day and the unwashed day I wear it in a ponytail or bun.

The only thing that has helped is a dyson hairdryer which has been a godsend on the wash days I'm in a rush.

I have 2c/3a curls. Every night I sleep with it piled on top of my head in a silk scrunchie. Days 1 & 2 I also use a satin sleep cap. Day 3 onwards it’s a bit of a wreck but still curly. I spray with water mixed with Cantu cream if I want wear it down outside the house. Wash again Day 7.

Basically the first 3 days are my only window for looking reasonable. Perhaps I should wash it more but it’s such a faff!

@Lindy2 - my DD is slightly older than yours but has similar sounding hair. Our term time routine tends to be:
Sunday evening - wash (with conditioner only), French plait whilst wet and she goes to bed with a towel on her pillow or with a microfibre hair turban on. This stays in until Tues morning
Tues morning - unravel French plait and plait in one or two normal plaits
Weds morning - unravel normal plaits and do as a pony tail
Weds evening - same as Sunday evening. This lasts until Friday morning
Fri morning - unravel French plaits and do normal plaits or a ponytail

I wet mine last thing, scrunch it with cantu mousse, and ‘plop’ it in a t shirt overnight.

I’m my family my method gets called Boiling your fleas 😁. Hang your head over the kettle, maybe scrunch a bit, or fluff it up. It does what brushing does for straight hair, ie gets everything going in the right direction and looking good.

I have to wash mine for the curls to look good and even then it's unpredictable! I have a silk pillowcase but this doesn't seem to make a difference.

I can sometimes get away with water and a bit of conditioner applied with fingertips and scrunched but it depends on the day 🤷‍♀️

I'd love to wear my natural curls every day but I never know how they are going to look from one day to the next so if my hair needs to look decent, more often than not I'll straighten it

I find 3-4 drops of L'Oreal Professional Mythic Oil applied to my palms, gently warmed and run my hands through my dry hair deals with the frizz.
I also use it when I have blotted my hair with a microfibre towel after washing. It seems to help the curl "separate" and stop thefrizz.

My hair is more wavy than curly but have found having it cut by someone who knows how to cut curly/wavy hair has made a huge difference. The waves and curls are much more pronounced and I don't have to do anything other than let it air dry for it to stay wavy/curly.

DD10 has 3b curls. Dries naturally with leave in conditioner and hair oil. Before bed it goes up in a pineapple and in the morning, she tips her head upside down to rake the curls. It tends to look good for 2-3 days, but then she wears it in a messy bun until the next hair wash.

My hair however is 2c/3a and I have never had it look decent the following morning, it just goes stringy.

Long hair with soft waves. I don’t brush it, but finger comb between washes. When freshly washed, some curl cream, mousse, then scrunch dry before twisting into a scrunchie overnight.

I have long hair type 2c I think, the only way i can get my hair to look good is to have a shower last thing before bed, then towel dry and mousse / gel and head to bed, I wake up with lovely hair to be fair but never lasts more than a day! Also the loreal magic gel is absolutely amazing to keep frizz under control, I am going to start looking into the curly girl method, though its hard to know where to start!

If you're 2C then the full on curly girl method may be too intense. I have this slipping into 3A on a curly day. I use a faith in nature shampoo on my roots with a,quick run over the ends and a silicon free conditioner (huge bottle from Poundland) about once a fortnight I use a hair mask, I use the garnier hair food in the nut variation but others swear by the banana one. I also use a curly cream ,Superdrug 's own brand .