1st wash in Curly Girl
- Sept. 10, 2018, 4:36 p.m.
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- Public
If you don’t want to read a boring entry about me learning how to take care of my hair by trial and error, click on to the next one. :)
I’m also tracking this process with pictures, but I haven’t really felt comfortable posting pictures of myself on this site. So I’ll keep those on my phone for my own reference.
Last sulfate wash last night to kick out any remaining build-up.
Used NYM Naturals to condition, then went straight in with the Aussie instant fix on my soaking hair while still in the shower.
My hair took like 4 hours to dry. Slept on it overnight in a pineapple. Because otherwise I would have had to wake up at 3am to wash and have it dry in time for work. And ain’t nobody got time for that.
I’m thinking I’ll wake up early next time I wash, but not on a day I have to be at the office.
I was surprised how good it looked when I took it down in the morning, as far as the curls holding shape. I sprayed a bit of Cantu curl refresher on it to redefine a couple of loose locks.
Unfortunately, I had to go to the office and it was a little too big and wild for that environment. So I fought with it to get it into a tamer state with bobby pins and clips.
I was NOT impressed by the hold-up through the day. I’m sure touching it a ton (as I kept fussing with it because I was self-conscious about wearing it natural at work) did not help a lot, so that’s probably a big factor in the curls falling on the top layers.
Another falling factor is that I’ve been flat ironing my hair about 5 days a week for the last year. And fairly frequently even for years before that. So there is a transition period where my hair has to learn how to keep it’s curl after years of abuse.
So I’m going to try this routine for the time being to see if it gets any better. I also ordered a new product that wavy girls swear by, so I’ll have that later this week to try next. I also ordered a satin pillowcase, because they apparently don’t sell those at Target.
I’m probably going to try the same routine tomorrow, when I’m working from home, and see how it holds up throughout the day without me me sleeping on it.
hot-lips ⋅ September 11, 2018
I have curly hair, but I've been blow drying it straight since I was about 16! There used to be a really good curl cream by Shockwaves (I think that was a L'Oreal product?), but as with everything that I like - it became discontinued. I only wore my hair curly on hoils because it was pointless straightening and fighting the humidity, but in London I still blow dry daily (so bad, I know). I don't have time for hair masks etc, so I just mix in olive oil and coconut oil into my usual conditioners and while I'm doing my bits in the shower, it works its magic. :) I also add a drop of olive oil to my hair serums. Might be worth a try if you want to tame down your curls a bit?
Ginger hot-lips ⋅ September 11, 2018
Definitely planning to incorporate some olive and/or coconut oil to deep condition soon. Right now I'm just trying to find my curl pattern again after all the abuse! I'm glad I at least had the sense to use heat protectant when I straighten it but I also had a bad habit of combing or brushing it while wet so there's still a good bit of damage. We have a lot of humidity where I live as well, so I think finding the right products to combat that are going to be a trial-and-error challenge.
SilentEcho ⋅ September 14, 2018
So I'm curious, what is a pineapple? I've never heard that before when talking about hair? Or hair drying...
I have this stuff I love for my hair, though I hate my hair in general but it smells good. There's a line of Miss Jessies and I like the Pillow Soft curls one. I don't have mega curl, I have a lot of strong wave I guess? I don't like using a lot of product on my hair because I don't want it crunchy like ramen. I found it on Amazon.
P.S. I love using coconut oil for conditioning, I haven't done it in SO long but I should give it a go real soon!
Ginger SilentEcho ⋅ September 14, 2018
A pineapple is just a loose ponytail or bun on the very top of your head. Making you look like a pineapple! :) I'd never heard of it either, lol.
I also always hated using product on my hair, but apparently if you use gel on wet hair and let it completely air dry, you can then scrunch it again, breaking the gel cast off and leaving lovely, soft curls that aren't crispy at all.