My hair in its natural state looks a bit like this but with a little more curl and body. Can anyone recommend product/regimen to get it to look like this? Basically I want more defined curls and less frizz. I already don’t use shampoo, just a daily conditioner with argan oil.
Also, and I fully realize this might be asking for too much . . . but the more minimal the time input, the better.
Thoughts?
Oh . . . I thought you meant a product made from curly hair.
Moved Cafe Society --> IMHO.
twicks, whose stick-straight hair means she has nothing useful to contribute
Ah sorry about that twickster. Wasn’t sure if, because it involves beauty/fashion degree, this thread belonged in Cafe Society vs. IMHO. Thanks for moving it.
No biggie. Threads about beauty products, because of their opinion/advice bent, seem like a better fit in IMHO.
I have a good deal of curl to my hair but mostly what I have is POOF. I have an insane amount of body, and my hair is dry. So we sound fairly similar.
I wash with a conditioner only, and after every wash I first ‘scrunch in’ some regular conditioner, and then add some gel on top to keep frizz and puffiness in control. I use a lot of products, honestly… I have 4-5 conditioners I use regularly, 2-3 gels, and I am usually auditioning something new on top of that!
Today, for instance, I used DevaCurl One for my conditioner and Kinky Curly Curling Custard for my gel. Be warned, most curly hair products have really dumb names.
Have you checked out the forums at Naturallycurly.com? They are a fantastic resource for finding out what works for your ‘hair type’ before you invest the money. But do take some reading.
Never thought I’d be answering a question like this, and I’m no expert on the subject matter, but I have a suggestion.
I’ve never really bothered to try to do anything with my hair, but one day I met this girl who had similar hair to mine, and she convinced me to try Aveda’s Be Curly line (shampoo, conditioner, and the apres conditioner thing, that you don’t rinse out).
My hair pretty much went from being like the girl in the first photo to the one in the second. Except, manly, like Viggo Mortensen or something. Yeah. It’s actually kinda gorgeous and I get compliments when I go out.
After a life of buying shampoo at the dollar store and the like, it took some adjusting to be okay with the price, but the results have been worth it for me.
I suspect that most people might need to go with a curling iron or even a perm to make the curls come out that much more, but the Aveda thing might be worth a shot as a low-effort alternative.
Medium-size curling iron. Draw the iron down a bunch of hair from scalp to ends to smooth the hair, then roll the hair up in the iron, release it after a couple of seconds (or whatever works for your iron and hair), and quickly clip the hair up in the loose curled shape until it cools. You can probably do your whole head in 8-12 sections, and it goes very fast. Use whatever product you like to hold the shape - either something before you curl it, or spray after, or whatever.
One of my curly haired friends swears by the Frederic Fekkai Luscious Curls line. And having a hairdresser who knows how to cut curly hair. I on the other hand, am more frizz than curl and it is easier for me to straighten my hair than to get it to look good curly.
Have you ever tried (judiciously applied in small amounts) coconut oil? It’s solid at room temperature but melts if you rub it between your hands. And if you don’t like it in your hair (or on your skin), you can just cook with it! And hey, it’s pretty cheap, much cheaper per ounce than your average cosmetic product.
I don’t have a full head of curly hair, but I do have some experience with trying to encourage the curls/waves to occur. Since my hair is thin in texture, I still need to shampoo but have gotten rid of anything with sulfates or silicone in it; in addition, I use coconut oil or macadamia nut oil on my wet hair before any sort of styling, and usually avoid blow drying of any sort. Lastly, if you’re having issues getting the curls to be more defined and smooth, you may want to try plopping, as it helps with maintaining the texture while drying naturally.
My daughter has curly hair (real ringlets) and we were recommended Revitafoam which has turned them from frizzy and tangled to defined and glossy. Might not be available in the US though? It’s also on EBay.
I’m a “refuses to put any effort into it” type of girl with a head full of super curly, thick, dry hair. I wash and go.
I recently started using Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk for when my hair needs to look good when I go out. I got the $24 starter kit so I could try the different things to see what worked best. It got rid of my frizz and helped my tighter curls stay tight.
Other days I use Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine serum and then sometimes the Garnier Fructis Smoothing Milk just to mix it up. I don’t like the latter as much but I bet it’d be better on loose curl hair like yours.
John Frieda has a line available at Target that is good for curly wavy hair and is CHEAP, the Friz-Eaze stuff - I use the dream curls curl perfecting spray
Infusium 23. Best stuff ever invented for curly hair. ( a little mousse wouldn’t hurt either)
Just leaving in a little conditioner can help too, if all you are trying to do is tame some frizz
Be aware that if you start using products with silicone, like Frieda Frizz-Ease, you will need to use shampoo to get it out of your hair. I very rarely use shampoo and am diligent about avoiding products with silicone for that reason. The condition of my hair is much better than it was when I regularly used shampoo.
I’ve had great results by using Deva gel on soaking wet hair and then using the plopping technique–shoulder length, very curly, baby thin, but tons and tons and tons of hair. The key is to not fuss with it once you have the curls set. This gives me nice, defined un-crunchy curls.
I use Wen by Chaz Dean, which has saved my hair. I have thick, dry, frizzy hair that was brittle and breaking off. I mainly use Fig which is the most moisturizing, but there are other flavors.
Echoing the rec for Carol’s Daughter - I like the hair milk. A nickel-to-quarter-sized bit fingercombed through after showering does quite a bit to aid curl definition.
I like Redken’s Fresh Curls Curl Boost. It’s a spray-on product. When my hair was longer, I would spray a total of 20ish squirts (5 at a time) onto my hands and scrunch it through my hair, then allow to air-dry. Had glossy, pleasing results.