Newly wavy hair- need hair brush help please!

[BigButtons]

I say newly wavy- it is becoming increasingly so as I go through menopause. I am 56 and have thick but fine just below shoulder length hair. It has always been straight as a die up until recently.
Now it has a definite wave to it and gets horribly frizzy if I brush it dry- I look like I have been electrocuted.
I can see that it wants to wave/twist. 56 years of treating it one way and now I have to learn something new.
I have heard that the Denman/ tangle teezer brushes are good to use when it has just been washed to help define the curl pattern.
Can any more experienced wavy hair ladies help this clueless woman out please. I don’t want to look like Hagrid any more!😮

When I was learning how to deal with my wavy-curly hair, I think the most useful piece of advice that anyone gave me was that natural waves/curls don’t look like the waves/curls made with heated tools so try to embrace the natural variation in your hair’s wave pattern.

Also, from experience, I’ve noticed that the more you use the correct products and styling techniques for your hair the more it will be happy sitting in its natural wave pattern and the less effort you will have to put in to achieve that.

Best of luck with your new project 👍

Your hair is amazing! I would say that was pretty damn curly though!

@UtopiaPlanitia I would love to have some product recommendations! I look stuff up, read reviews then get completely overwhelmed and buy nothing.☹️

This happened to me too when I hit menopause. I tried to roll with the curls (as it were) for a while but gave up in the end and went back to ruthlessly blow drying it straight. 😅

A wide tooth comb is best for wavy hair. Wooden is the best, but plastic is also good.

Mine is thick, long, wavy, coarse, bleached, prone to dryness. Just setting the scene!

I hate the feel of styling products that set, so won't use gel, mousse etc.

I've had some success with the pots of Garnier hair food. I take a decent amount each morning and rake it through the mid lengths and ends with my fingers. It's enough to smooth any frizz and the extra moisture defines my waves.

Olaplex oil is a nice finisher, but expensive so I feed hair with the conditioner first then just a few drops of the oil over the top for shine.

I am still confused as to what to do the ‘next morning’ when my hair looks like a birds’ nest. When people say they wet it down- what do you use? Shower head? Spray bottle?
I am quite excited to try the brushing method on wet hair with a deman style brush. I am not sure I will have the patience though. I have such a lot of very fine hair. It takes hours to dry too.
The curlsmith weightless stuff gets good reviews as does the JVN air dry stuff . They are expensive though. Has anyone tried them? Or is the cheaper stuff just as good?🙂

Hi OP, be prepared to be confused and skint having wavy hair 😂
The amount of products and techniques can be overwhelming. One of the links above for wavy Courtney is good, her voice is very annoying but she's fab. There's another 2 ladies I follow, I'll go and get the links.
I use a few products but my favourite at the moment is Umberto Gianni range, banana coconut shampoo and conditioner and the curl jelly. Got2b salt spray for extra texture is good if you have fine hair. I do and it takes ages to dry and I get so fed up.
The Brushes you have seen are a hit and miss for wavy hair. I prefer to add my styling products to soaked hair in the shower for definition.
It's trial and error I'm afraid, there are so many groups it's ridiculous. I'm on one which is good, again I will reply with the link. X

https://www.instagram.com/curlyzia.xo?igsh=ODl1am0wbW9ncHN1

https://www.instagram.com/wavycurly?igsh=cng4dzlqaGZoNXFx

https://www.facebook.com/groups/384936538929898/?ref=share

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1291836700966525/?ref=share

Hope these help @BigButtons xx

That is a specialist brush. It has indentations on the side to encourage clumps of hair to form. It's only to be used on wet hair which is full of styling product.

My hair also went wavy at meno. I only brush mine with a tangle teaser when it is wet and full of conditioner. Between washes it just gets a spritz of water to refresh the curls and that's it.

Giving up the daily brushing was a really hard leap to make.

Never brush wavy hair

I'd personally start at the cheaper end. I've not been convinced that a £25 product gives 5 times better results than a £5 product. Just avoid anything that says things like rich or deeply hydrating and that is based around oils and butters. They're designed for curly hair. With fine textured wavy hair you're looking for stuff that says lightweight.

With regards to brushing. You can of course still brush it, but you can't brush and avoid frizz. I brush on days where I don't mind if it looks frizzy, but I know it will then be frizzy until i wash it again. There isn’t a product out there that will return 'wavy hair that has been dry brushed' to looking like 'wavy hair that has been wet combed.' That would be the holy grail!

For styling products I have a cheap one that I like (Cantu curl custard - not the activator which is really heavy. I don't get particularly good curls from it but it calms the frizz and is easy to revive in the morning but does weird things when it's humid, due to the glycerine content) and some pricier ones. The pricier ones are treluxe gel and kinky curly knot today leave in, which I use in combination, and I can get some 2C waves from that but they are quite delicate and hard to revive and I've not bothered with it, this week, due to the weather.

It's all trial and error, though. With fine hair you might want to avoid any heavy oils like coconut, to start with, and go easy so you don't end up with product build up making it look limp and greasy. If something isn't dispersing into your hair, add more water, rather than more product, particularly if you're using a denman brush. You can always try a bit more, next time, if you thunk it needs it.

No brush here either. I have a wide toothed comb that I've had forever because I've failed to find a decent replacement.

So here are some poor quality photos I just took. Damped hair down in shower and added some curl mouse and scrunched.
it is far more curly at the back.🤷🏻‍♀️

Disclaimer: I have curly hair (3a/b curls and ringlets) but very fine, and menopausal so this may not exactly reflect your experience with waves - but the weird thing about curls is that sometimes they can spring (hee hee) out of nowhere with moderate encouragement. .

The scrunching starts with the conditioner - there's a cutesy internet phrase 'squish to condish' which basically means you're trying to get water into their hair, to hydrate dry curls and encourage the curl pattern to start forming. Then I comb a curl cream through soaking wet hair (Aveda Be Curly, or It's a 10 curl cream), more scrunching, then because I am a total sucker for IG reels, I use a BounceCurl brush to smooth/define, then I dry upside down with a diffuser.

If I want a lot of definition, I run a light gel through before diffusing, but so many of these internet curl influencers use soooooo much product their hair must feel like the Smash robots (ask your gran) by the end of the day.

This website is really helpful for stuff like reviews and guides

curlmaven.ie

Thanks so much! I mean I literally thought my hair was dead straight.🫣

I need to get a diffuser for my parlux hair drier. My hair takes hours to dry.

So do I. I haven't brushed or combed my wavy/slightly curly hair for years.

Mine is also curlier at the back, which is one of the things that hairdressers and influencers often don't acknowledge. It's perfectly possible - perhaps the norm - to have different curl patterns on different parts of your head. And treatments that are good for the wavy parts won't work as well for the curlier parts and vice versa. You either have to use different products and different approaches to different parts of your head (I don't know anyone who does this). Or it's a compromise accepting that there's no one perfect solution.

You have some lovely waves there.

I agree that using a diffuser with your hairdryer is a good idea because waiting for wavy-curly hair to air dry takes hours. Diffusing can also improve wave formation because it dries the hair while it’s at its most curly which stops the curl pattern from stretching out like air drying can.

The secret to tidy second day hair is to protect the hair while sleeping - it stops the curl pattern from being disrupted and it makes for easier refreshing of the hair in the morning. I alternate between sleeping with my hair in a loose 'pineapple' bun (using a satin scrunchie and positioning the loose bun on the top of my head) and sleeping wearing a silk/satin bonnet or scarf - both methods keep my hair from frizzing up and prevent disrupting the curl pattern when sleeping. The YouTubers I mentioned in previous posts all have videos discussing how to protect hair during sleep.

Is your hair wet or dry in those photos, OP? If dry, then I'd say that whatever you've put on it is weighing it down a bit too much.

Re recommendations for products - there are as many different recommendations as there are curly girls! It really is trial and error to see what suits your hair. I'd definitely start with the cheaper stuff for that reason, it can get pretty pricey otherwise.

You mentioned Curlygirl products - I got a selection of their stuff on a special offer, which kept costs down, but I found it a bit confusing and whilst a couple of their products which I tried suited my hair, it was no better that my chain store products.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is the importance of finding a hairdresser who knows how to cut curly hair. Many hairdressers have no idea and how I've suffered at their hands! My current hairdresser knows that my hair bounces up by 25-30% once dry so if you take an inch off when wet, it will look a LOT more than that when dry. She cuts accordingly. I look at the tiny smidgen of hair on the floor after a cut and wonder why I bothered - then it dries and looks noticeably shorter ( not a smidgen!) and I'm so glad she's a curl specialist!

It is wet! I damped it down to try and revive the waves and get rid of the bed head I woke up with !
my hair dresser has extremely curly hair! I have just had it cut but when so go back in a couple of months I will ask her about switching something up to help the waves/ curls. Always been nervous about layers but think I could probably do with some gentle ones now, as it is the very top layers that is the straightest- understandably.
thanks for the recs🙂

Charlotte Rich wavy hair method FB group. She is amazing.