Curly Hair Chat 👩‍🦱

Hi Fanny, thanks I went to a specialist curly hair place in Birmingham before lockdown with my cousin whos curlier than me - it cost us ££££s and although it looked nice afterwards - it seemed like a lot of faffing around with clips - I felt slightly cheated. But we did have a nice day out in Birmingham 😀

www.cantubeauty.com/

Cantu curling cream from the Afro-Caribbean hair care section at Boots works for me and my curly hair of fine texture.

Wash with shampoo every other day to avoid getting too dry or too greasy, but rinse every morning for easy styling. No conditioner because it weighs it down.

Wrap in towel to dry.

A finger tip sized dab or blob of curling cream rubbed between your hands to distribute before finger combing your hair.
Leave to air dry unless it’s a freezing cold day and you want to dry it with a diffuser attachment on a cheap hairdryer.

The less you handle curly hair, the less it frizzes.

You may want to detangle with a brush or finger comb it or use a hair pick 🪮 before bedtime, but I rarely bother.

Go to hair dressers who know how to cut curly hair. Certain styles and techniques work well like graduated bobs but with some stylists you need to watch you don’t end up with a big triangle or 80s look like Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.

Strongcoffee I’ve finally discovered a couple of hair dressers who can do a cut that suits me. Basically, it’s no layers! I have a bob style, without fussy layers. The weight of the full length of hair stops it from frizzing so much and keeps it in place.

Having said no layers, the hairdresser does cut a layer or two at very ends, as that stops the hair from turning outwards and it curls under more tidily.

I’ve just booked an appt to get mine cut this week. I hope my stylist never leaves her job!

Thanks SueDonim and Greensmufl. I’ve started googling hair dressers who can work with curly hair in my area - anyone in East Midlands want to add one? I’m going to check some of them out. I’ve had hairdressers who are older and know about the old perms and therefore good with curly hair but they then retire sadly for me, not them. I’ve got a medium layerd bob. I noticed that the stylist had cut into the back too much though. No one seems to able to sort my cow lick of a fringe out.

I have really thick type 2b/2c red curly hair. I have had a specialist curly cut previously which was cut dry and looked really nice when I came out of the hairdressers but when I tried to style it myself it looked nothing like the professional cut. I recently found a smoothing treatment (done at the hairdresser) which helps with the frizz and seems to define the curls.
I couldn’t get on with co washing but use the Cantu cream and curl refresher when my hair is wet using the praying 🙏 hands method of pushing the cream into the hair and use a micro fibre towel and a diffuser as it’s really too long and thick to leave to air dry. I do tend to put it up into a messy bun with bungee type hair ties as they don’t seem to flatten the curl out.
It does just seem to have a mind of its own though 😠

Strongcoffee12 I don’t know if you’re near Loughborough but there’s a good salon there called hair magic who specialise in curly cuts.

I haven't heard of salt spray, but might look out for it. I find that just water (with a tiny bit of product) works as a refresher, and the misting bottles are good as they don't drench the hair. would kitchen salt dissolved in the water work, or is that way off beam?

Mine's not curly enough to be pretty, not straight enough to be lovely and the waves are all in the wrong place so it sticks out everywhere.
Think Boris but thicker, longer and much worse except for about an hour after it's been pulled out in a blow dry.

No-one here seems to grasp how to cut it; I don't want short because it looks like an old lady's perm, longer means it's a straggly mess (like today).

I need a style that is not too short but neat.

Help!!

If there is some wave in your hair, would a light perm work to tame it? What used to be called a demi wave? My hair used to be dead straight and wouldn't hold a blow dry for long, but with a demi wave on it I could blow dry it and it did as it was told between washes.

Doodledog

I haven't heard of salt spray, but might look out for it. I find that just water (with a tiny bit of product) works as a refresher, and the misting bottles are good as they don't drench the hair. would kitchen salt dissolved in the water work, or is that way off beam?

I think that it’s actually quite drying
Without sounding dismissive to the lady who suggested it, I haven’t seen it recommended on the umpteen Curly Girl sites / forums that I’m on.
I definitely wouldn’t advocate introducing actual salt onto your hair!

I've taken photos to hairdressers of shortish, layered bobs then they seem to get scissor-happy and I end up with very short layers.

They then say "Oh! Your hair is so curly when it's short!

I haven't been for four months because I couldn't get a styling brush in it last time.
Definitely living up to my username 🤔

Mine is just a frizz if I do it myself. I've given up and go to the hairdresser every week. He smooths it with a mixture (don't know what it is) and then blow dries. Very happy with this, but I still wear a hat in humid weather.

I've tried everything on my frizzy curly hair.
I 've come to the conclusion that I'll have to live with it .
I've tried all sorts of hairstyles and products .
It's usually long and in some sort of bun or French pleat . I wash it once every three days and comb through conditioner allowing it to dry naturally .

The only person , who has been able to create any sort of successful style is my daughter .
She's not a hairdresser , but an artist .
Otherwise , I've come home in tears from the hairdressers .

It takes a very short cut well , but I feel I don't feel feminine .

It's just me .

I could always get in a Tardis and go back to the Victorian period and have ringlets - curly hair was celebrated and desired then !

I must admit that I love straight shiny hair that swishes when it moves then I recall the hours wasted as a teenager trying to achieve the Cathy McGowan look !

I had two totally bald friends and whenever I felt sorry for myself I thought how silly I was .

@Lizzie54 thank you. I live about 10 miles from Loughborough so I will check them out

I have thick wavy hair, which I have been keeping short the last few years after going from coloured to natural grey.

I bought a diffuser attachment for my dryer and it works well. I use John Frieda Dream Curls Styling Spray on damp hair, and some days leave it air dry, sometimes use the diffuser. I find some mousses leave hair a bit crunchy, but this spray doesn't, it just adds a bit of body and shine.

The right cut makes a huge difference though. I've got waves over my ears that will stick straight out if cut at the wrong length.

I am not blessed with naturally curly hair, I was as a teenager but hated it and used to iron it flat, yes I regret that now.
I have tried and been burnt physically by a myriad of heated hair curling devices on the market but my best tip is this.
I wash my hair once a week using a really good quality shampoo and conditioner. I then sit for an hour in front of a mirror putting my hair in rags, my mum used to do it to me and my sister when we were going to a special occasion.
I cut up an old cotton tee shirt into six or seven inch strips, then taking my hair in sections about 2/3 inches wide I wrap my hair around the cotton strip and then tie it in one loop through. I usually spend the rest of the day doing household jobs and by the evening take all the strips out and those curls and there's lots of them make my fine hair look awesome and easily last a week a quick comb through each morning with a brush or wife tooth comb. I can even pin it up in an amazing top knot and when I take it out at the end of the day my curls and volume still there.
My adv look on YouTube there's loads of videos and advice for curling hair and curly hair. I could if I wanted to dry my hair on the day I wash it but I generally pick a day I don't go out so it saves on electric too and we all know how much electricity a hairdryer uses!

Pjcpjc77 I pin curl mine 😁 Every two nights, quick mist with water (if I haven't washed it), pin curl and a satin cap on top (to stop any pins falling out overnight and stabbing me in my sleep), pins out the next morning, quick shake and I'm done. Curls drop slowly over the next two days. My hair is almost at my waist so it takes me 40 minutes to pin curl but it's worth it not to have to do anything else for two days.

I have thick natural curly hair between 2c and 3a. Didn't like it when I was young spent forever trying to straighten or cut short (think young man cut). Quite a few years ago after various issues I decided to go natural. Came across the original British Curlies forum and never looked back. It's important to clarify the hair to get rid of product build up. To find which products to avoid (no sulphates etc) and use natural shampoos and conditioner which suit your hair. Took a while but now my hair virtually looks after itself. I wash once a week at most. Use nothing but natural shampoos and conditioner. Wrap it afterwards in a cotton T (old camisole). Never use a dryer or diffuser just add a tiny bit of argan oil to my hands and scrunch it in then leave to dry. After daily shower I spray water over with a de-mister with a tiny amount of conditioner added, run fingers thru and I'm good to go. For info mine is cut in layers on top which is what my hair needs otherwise it gets too heavy. Once you find the right products and style it's easy to look after.

I gave up straightening my hair about 14 years ago. I used to straighten it religiously. Now when I look back of old pics of me with straight hair it looks horrible. Now I embrace the curls and just wash and go. The only thing that annoys me is that the curls don't seem to start from the roots. So I've got a flat bit at the top. We're never satisfied, are we?

Woe is me - after years of keeping my curly hair pixy-cut short I decided to let it grow this year. I was just getting it to a good length for a reshape so found a new hairdresser who seemed to know exactly what I wanted. Well, she nodded in all the right places. Sadly I’ve ended up with another pixi-cut with the top layer longer. It’s a mess. All my lovely curls gone so back to square one. I should have said something at the time - I was just glad to leave - but once it’s cut what can she do? I hate feeling a mess but I hate hairdressers too.

Hi there. Little late to the party but I had a really busy day yesterday. I am a major curly person. I suffered greatly in the 60s when I was in high school. Right now I'm part human part French poodle. I let my hair grow out, no more coloring it's all white and I really do like it. It took me forever to figure out what is right for my particular kind of hair which is kind of like walking to a spider web. It is fine. The weightless, it gets stuck on my lips and it tickles my face and pokes me in the eye. Sometimes I don't know if I should go to a hairdresser or groomer. I do need products that weigh down my hair. I recently found them in the aisle where they sell African American hair products. They work the best for me. Seldom wash my whole head I usually just put a little bit of purple shampoo in my hand and I scrub my roots and my scalp and then I rinse it out. I have Not combed it or brushed it in years. Once again, as a lot of people had mentioned, it all depends on the type of curls you have. There are a couple of websites that can help you with this.

Some years ago I was getting keratin treatments, and I was quite enamored with what it was like to have poker straight hair. I loved my haircuts I loved this straight hair that looked the same in the morning as it did when I went to bed at night. Keratin treatments are expensive and straight hair is just not me, so I gave it up

Strongcoffee I’m in Derby.
Please let me know how you get on 😊

Sunbar I love your post! Your hair sounds amazing

I use mouse for curls, Kirtin shampoo & cond. I leave mine to dry naturally in the warm months, curl the bottom bit for the sea wave look, once dry I use Argan oil and fluff/rough it up, then a little Kirtin hair spray, I sometimes straighten the fringe bit with straightening iron. In the winter I use a diffuser, but I feel it dries out the hair. I moved about 17mnths ago and although the saloon is lovely, I've yet to have a good cut for curly hair, so may key in 'hairdresser for curly hair' as mentioned up stream.

Sorry: Keratin by TRESemme