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 got super curly hair. I wash it twice a week. I make sure that I use plenty of product when I style it (mixture of Cantu cream and another one in a pink tube from Boots, can’t remember off hand), twist in sections with my fingers and then diffuse to dry. The next day I spray lightly with water and use claw clips to capture any sections which are looking a bit random/straightened out. I leave the clips in until my hair is dry and then remove and sort out with my hands. My hair always looks better the day after I’ve washed it than on the day.

After 30 years of trying I’ve finally worked it out:

1. Good hairdresser who knows how to cut it
2. Moisture moisture moisture… I use Milkshake leave in conditioner spray after washing and in the morning to revive
3. My hair works well with mousse and gentle diffuser drying with parlux hairdryer
4. Avoid harsh heat treatments including straightening
5. Keep hair out of sun and swimming pool

I second use of claw clips too

As I said earlier I have to wet my hair again in the morning if I want it to look nice, but wanted to clarify that I don’t find my hair difficult to manage. I just use a spray bottle to wet through and scrunch dry. I never use a diffuser as I found this makes my hair frizzy so just leave to dry naturally. When I wore my hair straight I would mess around with hairdryer, straighteners etc and it took ages. Embracing my wavy hair takes minutes and even on a bad hair day, looks much better. I wash hair, use plenty of conditioner and the add some serum and curl defining mousse which I scrunch in using a microfibre towel. I scrunch until mostly dry, maybe about 5 mins and then ignore it and let it dry itself. Once dry I give it a little shake to loosen the curls slightly and that’s it. I also only have to wash my hair approx every 4 days, when it was straight the longest I could leave it would be every other day. I am still learning the best way to deal with my hair but on the whole I am pretty happy with things as they are, although I would love for my curls to still look great after a night’s sleep

I have 2b hair and like you OP it looks great on the first day, but then I go to bed and get up the next morning and it's just a tangled mess, despite wearing it up for bed. So I have to brush it and then it's just like a mushroom. There is no way I can not brush it, so is this my life forever more?

I tend to use product wise
Bounce curl shampoo
Innersense conditioner
Treluxe serum and gel

This is my hair, it's more wavy than curly, very fine and tangled easily. I brush all my products through with a paddle brush, then at night pineapple it and use a silk pillowcase. Also find washing at night and sleeping without breaking the cast helps it last longer

I have started plaiting mine quite a bit to elongate the time between washes - so its not really my natural curl pattern but is not dissimilar and seems to work.

So I plait it when its wet on day 1 anytime of day - sleep on it - Day 2 its sometimes still drying - I can either take it out day 2 morning or evening and have perfect wavy hair which is knot and frizz free.

This doesn't last long - say one day so by day 3 evening or day 4 morning I then brush it to recondition with my natural oils and plait again. I have a Mason Pearson boar bristle brush and it has taken me years to condition my brush so it smooths rather than frizzes.

The greasier my hair is before a wash the better it is when it dries! Natural conditioner

I have extremely fine 3a curls.

I sleep on a silk pillowcase (actual silk and not satin) and pineapple my hair with a silk (not satin) scrunchie. This has helped the condition so much and stopped it breaking off. And it's not quite as horrific in the morning....

...but I still need to wash it daily to reset the curls. I only was with conditioner (no shampoo).

Get regular trims, as frizzy or split ends make everything much worse (I trim my own hair now!).

Keeping my hair in the best possible condition makes it so much easier to style.

I used to straighten my hair but after a few years of nurturing it, it is now in really good condition and I have found that managing well looked after curls is easier than straightening.

I have 3A hair, and today I conditioned my hair, then a hair serum then a leave in conditioner, then a mousse, and I used my Dyson hairdryer with the deffuser on a cool setting, and honestly I just have a maine of curly yet fizzy hair. TBH I know it's because I need a hair cut for curly hair, there is a curly hair salon near me, but it costs a bomb to get it cut there.

I usually put my hair in a bun, or If I straighten it use dry shampoo. So I understand the not wanting to put the effort in. It's just too much work right now

I have very fine 2c hair... and I put it up in a couple of claw clips and wear a buff to sleep, doing that I get about 5 good days out if it where I do literally shake it out and give it a spray with hairspray and I’m done. I only use gel when it’s wet and diffuse it, takes less than an hour, so every 5 days (or more if I’m not going anywhere and can just put it up, lol) it’s a lot less maintenance than when I straightened it.

If I leave it down to sleep I need to either wash it or at least completely wet and restyle it every day, my hair is just too fine and the waves too fragile to survive sleeping on it.

Tbh for product and routine, best thing you can do is find a hairdresser that specialises in curly hair. As a warning though, if your hair is fine and wavy, products like cantu are very very unlikely to suit your hair, they’re very heavy products and not designed for that hair type at all.

BED
if its long enough to put in loose pony (top of head) that helps, blissy silk pillowcase, sleepnet, leave in conditioner little each morning, especially underneath to stop kitchen hair. The pillowcase is fab but expensive, their are cheaper types but blissy is very thick and lux, tying a silk scarf around your hair is ok but can leave kinks in your hair. If your crafty you could make a bonnet out of a silk scarf, it needs to be shower cap shape. Hope one of those helps

Try children's leave in conditioner, it is a lighter texture

I don't wash my at all. It's waist length, when I pull it straight, but between my shoulder blades normally. I only have it this length as the weight pulls out the wretched ringlets. YUK! I HATE ringlets! My hair is rinsed everyday in the shower. Sometimes I condition it, but I don't rinse out all of the conditioner. I don't comb it. If I comb it, I look as if I've stuck my finger into a live electric socket. I let it dry naturally, and while it's damp, I turn my head upside down and scrunch the hair all over. It seems to work for me. Incidentally, even though I haven't washed my hair for over five years, it doesn't smell. It was my hairdresser who advised me to stop washing and combing it. I've got on with it so much better since then! I used to spend a fortune on hair products, trying to tame it. Now, I don't bother and it looks better for it. The first six weeks of not washing it was the worst. Once I'd got past those six weeks, I've never had any issues with it. I have to say though, I still don't eat crusts! I haven't eaten crusts since I was about six years old .....

In the old days - I'm talking maybe 1970s onwards - there were no fancy products. We just used a good shampoo - I used Revlon Flex way back then - gently towel-dried and on the whole our hair behaved itself perfectly fine. Yes, it might go fluffy/frizzy in really damp weather, but neither I nor boyfriends at that time (not that they had any rights over it) ever felt this was a problem. Having ''wire hair' as one of my then boyfriends once called it - was just part of us. I really rather liked it.

Each to their own, of course.

Mine is very curly and quite fine although there's lots of it. I just wash it every day - the only time I can get even a wide toothed comb through it is when it's got conditioner on it. I use Tigi Bedhead urban antidotes no 3. Then leave it to dry naturally.

Never brush your hair when its dry, wash once a week at the most, condition condition condition.
I use my fingers to detangle, wash every two weeks.
Happy curly girls are now embracing the hair we were born with, for too long we have been and still are told to tidy it up, straighten it, because it would look so much better!. Bugger off with your heat, CURLY GIRLS REBEL. 😁

Spray bottle, water mixed with leave in conditioner. Spray hair and comb through with fingers in the morning.

I took the advice of a lot of people who suggested wearing hair in a pineapple at night, and to my great surprise this actually works :) My hair when I take it down in the morning looks ok and is not sticking out in strange directions! I've also started using Aveda's Invati range, and so far I'm impressed.

My problem is finding someone to cut it. Never ever do they understand the shrinkage. Start off ok then forget. I live in a northern town so need to travel into the city to find a curly expert. Problem I find, hairdressers say they can cut curly hair on the phone, then I turn up and watch their little smile fall away. I now stick to the same hairdresser who just trims it for me. Can't get the look I want I've tried and failed many times. Only once did it lay right and I cut it myself 🤣

I don't know what '2c' is, but I have curly hair. It's relatively flyaway and has a bit of a mind of its own but I keep it long, otherwise it looks like a hideous curly helmet and the length keeps the curls nice and ringlety.

I comb it at night with a wide toothed comb, then tie it up in a high pony tail, but with the ends tucked in the hairband (if that makes sense). I wash it every 3 or 4 days with sulfate free shampoo and conditioner (Hask suits my hair as its lightweight). When wet, I wrap it in an old cotton t-shirt, then comb it through with the wide toothed comb and leave to dry naturally.

@Frazzlerock

I don't know what '2c' is, but I have curly hair. It's relatively flyaway and has a bit of a mind of its own but I keep it long, otherwise it looks like a hideous curly helmet and the length keeps the curls nice and ringlety.

I comb it at night with a wide toothed comb, then tie it up in a high pony tail, but with the ends tucked in the hairband (if that makes sense). I wash it every 3 or 4 days with sulfate free shampoo and conditioner (Hask suits my hair as its lightweight). When wet, I wrap it in an old cotton t-shirt, then comb it through with the wide toothed comb and leave to dry naturally.

This is a good explanation of different hair types basically type 2 is wavy hair, a is the loosest, and c is in between wavy and curly (curly hair is type 3). The high ponytail at night seems to be the key to managing wavy and curly hair :)

Ooooh! Thank you! Looks like I'm also a 2c, although mines not very thick unfortunately. And yes deffo to the high pony. I only worked this out once baby 3 was born 15 months ago and kept me awake all night long and my hair was getting in the way of feeding him, so I started tying it up before bed and, hey presto, my face looked like shit but my hair looked great - silver linings eh!

Pure silk pillowcase, total game changer