All my life, for as long as I can remember, I wished that my very straight hair was curly. I wanted ringlets so bad. I remember sighing with desire when I would see curly hair. In 4th grade, my teacher had the curliest, thickest hair and I just loved her. She was one of my favorite teachers ever, to this day! And when my cousin was getting married, his fiancé had the most amazing curly spirals. I loved her too, I wanted to be around her all the time and I seriously just thought she was the most beautiful person in the world.
I was obsessed. Like… obsessed with curls. I would curl my hair at any opportunity. When I was in college, I started curling it with a rod on a regular basis. Like, a few times a week. I loved it so much and started to get a ton of tools- wands, rods, irons, hot rollers, velcro rollers, you name it. If it promised to turn my straight hair into curls, I bought it.
Fast forward to the year after college and I swear to you, out of nowhere, my hair started curling on its own! I joked with my friends that I’d forced it curly for so long that it got confused. Literally bursting with joy, I started to explore the world of curly products. I was so excited, I bought any sort of liquid, gel or mousse that had the word curly on the bottle. I didn’t bother googling and I didn’t think to ask anyone other than the person cutting my hair what they recommended. I had no idea there was a WAY or a METHOD to take care of curls, I just looked at bottle labels and bought the cute ones!
After a year or 2 of curly joy, my hair went straight again. I was devastated. I didn’t realize that hormonal changes, weather changes, water changes and even some of the curly products I was using could change the texture and curl pattern of my hair. At this point, The Future Husband and I had moved to Atlanta. In an effort to save money for our wedding, I was buying cheaper products at the grocery store. Products full of silicones, phthalates, polyquats, and worst of all- fragrance. All things that were altering my hormones and coating my hair, causing it to stretch out of its curl pattern and show up more wavy/straight. I still loved my hair though. It was my favorite feature.
Fast forward again and we moved to California. Another change in weather and water. Still innocently using the products that were wreaking havoc on my hair and body but this time the damage was worse. My hair completely frizzed out and I couldn’t do a thing to it other than take a heating tool to it. Not even blow drying it straight would make it look presentable. It was awful and I felt like I’d lost the favorite thing about myself. As I learned about how damaging the products I was using were to my body and my hormones, I started to change them out for cleaner, more natural options. I was already using Young Living essential oils, so it was easy to take the next step and try their shampoo and conditioner. Not only was it better for my body, but unbeknownst to me, it was better for my curls too! Slowly, the frizz decreased and the waves came back. I started to love my hair again! I still had never heard of The Curly Girl Method or any techniques specific to curls, but at least I was getting better results!
Then one day, a whole world was opened to me. I was introduced by a friend to Curly Connections– a facebook group that was all about loving your waves and curls and how to take care of them so they look their best. I poked around a bit, picked up a few tips that shocked me (like washing your hair upside down and using shampoo A LOT less) and implemented them in my next shower. And literally came out of the shower with curls. Not quite full on ringlets yet, but CURLS for sure! I was blown away! Literally, all I did was wash my hair upside down that day. I dove in and here are the basics that I took away from that group.
-Curly hair needs more water. More than I had ever realized. and then more on top of that.
-Even when I was exercising like crazy and super sweaty, I still didn’t need to use shampoo. Washing with conditioner (Co-wash) would suffice.
-I needed to use conditioner almost every single day. Even on the roots and mid shaft. And even on days where I didn’t wet my hair in the shower. Watered down conditioner in a spray bottle became my best friend.
-I needed to stop touching my hair so much.
-I swapped out my hair ties. Even my freaking normal scuncii hair ties were damaging my curls! Satin scrunchies or claw clips only.
-I needed to even take care of my hair in my sleep! I got satin hair caps to sleep in (much to The Husbands dismay) and a satin pillowcase to reduce the friction overnight that caused frizz in the morning.
-Just like with most other personal and home care products, just because its for sale doesn’t make it safe to use or actually good for curly hair. I learned to read deeper into ingredients again and make sure that certain ingredients weren’t present- even in curly “approved” products. So annoying.
If you want to check out the group Curly Connections, I highly recommend it! It’s a free group full of content that you can pick through and learn from! Regardless of whether or not you have curly or straight hair, your hair could be healthier and the strategies will help no matter what your hair type is!