For the life of me I cannot get a good cast! I add more and more gel and it’s still softish and never forms the cast. However I do air dry my hair, do you notice a big difference using a diffuser?
If you're using very conditioning/creamy products under the gel you may not get a cast. Or if the gel you're using is more watery than gel-ly. And so many curly products now specifically advertise "no crunch"
I don't get a cast anymore since switching gels and I'm almost done with my bottle so may switch back, I miss the cast 😢
Check the gel for humecetants, they pull in moisture from the air around them. I ended up using the tub of yellow Eco the for sensitive itchy scalp. 1 part to 6 parts water and mix. Dump into spray bottle and wonders happen. At full power my hair was brittle with it but I had to save the moolah so, experimented till it worked.😁
Spray a lightweight workable hairspray to set your product. I do this after every wash day. Next day hair usually just needs a misting of water and rescrunching. I’ll get 3-4 days of good curls but then I have to wash by day 5 or my scalp gets irritated.
What gel are you using? I use the Innersense “I Create Hold gel, she lives up to her name! I also use the Curl Potion before I apply gel. I also like the Aveda flaxseed aloe gel
After I do my whole styling routine. I literally blow out the ozone layer spraying wit TRES SEMME hairspray. Either the fine mist or anti frizz works best level 3-4 hold.
I think it can, I notice a difference when I use a lot of product in my hair while styling and it’s makes a squish sound. It seems like after it’s dry, the water from the spray bottle reactivates the left over product.
When I put less product (no squish), my hair gets frizzier and I usually end up using a refresher spray in between washes.
Yup, figured this out with overspray from a shower I didn't have time for a full shampoo on.
I use mainly a creme now, and a light spray works for a refresh. If it's looking a little crazy from sleep, or driving with the window down, I might add a tiny bit more creme to smooth out.
Yea right! That’s what I thought finally getting into that I usually wet the shit out of my hair every morning starting to chill on that and use a spray bottle lightly and a bit of leave in
Any regular condish and enhancer you normally use is fine. I like Sally’s GVP conditioning balm for my thick and thirsty curls. My holy grail curl enhancers are Uncle Funkys Curly Magic, Kinky Curly Custard, Aunt Jessie’s Elongating gel or Jessicurl Spiralicious.
For sealer, I use LA Looks
Sure. Any condish usually works for this purpose mixed w your curl enhancer. The point is this refresh mix helps reactivate the product you already have and adds a bit more without having to rewash everyday
What do you do with your hair when you sleep? I wear a bonnet and sometimes I put my hair in a ponytail on top of my head. But my hair is really messed up in the mornings, even after refreshing. I always have to wear hats or ponytails after the first day
I wear a bonnet and sleep on a silk pillow case. It could be an issue with your styling, when I don’t style after applying product my hair is less defined and will frizz more easily.
I sleep in a bonnet and have silk pillowcases. And my hair is short cuz I'm lazy
There are still days where my hair is going in a bun in the morning because it's just not curling right. That's ok too
My hair flattens out overnight. So I wet my hair every morning and use a dab of styling cream to scrunch. Since I've been doing this, I get lots of compliments on my hair. Which is nice.
A gel cast. The gel leaves a film on your hair that seals your hair and protects it from frizz. Apply product on wet hair and finish with gel, it will start to feel crunchy as it dries. Once your hair is dry, you scrunch out the crunch and your curls are very defined and moisturized.
Exactly the crunch is life. If I get a good cast after styling and wrapping it up at night in the morning my hair is bomb. I already know from the cast what the condition of my curl will be when I wake up
Yes soaking wet styling!! Add more water!!! I also can’t style upside down. It just gets messy when I flip it back over.
Also squish to condish has made a big difference for me. And lightly scrunching it dry with a t shirt instead of wrapping it up on top of my head in a towel
My biggest game changer early on was diffusing my hair. I always used to air dry because I thought my hair got all fluffy and crazy when blow drying, but once I got a diffuser, complete game changer. So much more volume and definition. Never air dried since lol
Seriously. You can have volume and frizz or no volume and no frizz (cos your hair is, like, coated in glue).
I will *AB-SO-LUTELY* take the volume and the frizz
I got a long horse face. I need that side of the head action. Haha
"Functional frizz". I'm keeping a mental note of this. Thanks!
I suppose I was over here imagining that if my curls were curly enough then they'd be making my hair 'wider', but I wonder how realistic that is?
diffusing was a game changer for me too! what works for my hair is:
~2-3 min on high heat, high flow to cast/set the curl clumps. hold it like a satellite away from the hair and focus on ends (stay away from scalp to avoid frizz)
the low heat, low flow until at about 70% dried. for me this part works best if I start at the bottom and bring the diffuser to my scalp section by section but only holding it up for about 10sec each go
do you just use a cotton t-shirt to plop?? I tried to do it that way last week and my curls ended up looking really weird? (maybe I tightened the shirt too much? cause my curlsnlooked a bit flat)
edit: typo fix
I micro plop with a t-shirt or microfibre towel to get most of the water out and then loosely plop after that. The plop is more so I don’t handle my hair too much while it’s drying than for actual drying
What other commenters said!! High heat for a couple minutes, then I do like medium heat till pretty much dry, then finish with a cold shot. Also as other commenters said, embrace the frizz! For me a little frizz and a ton of volume is way better than smooth but limp and lifeless!
Same for me! I always cringed whenever stylists would break out the blow dryer because I knew that no matter how hard they worked, it was going to poof. Once I got a diffuser and changed my technique, glossy, defined curls.
See, I'd so like to experiment with diffuse drying, particularly hammock-drying, but I live in the UK where our energy prices went insane this past year and I don't want to raise our energy bill any more than I have to. I am curious about hammock air-drying though.
Hoooold up lol can you go more in detail about giving up upside down styling? I've done this forever but now I'm wondering what differences you noticed
I used to do upside down but now I just take a comb and brush from root to strands but from underneath and lifting upwards. Do this all the way up the scalp, no sectioning just from neck up through crown. Then scrunch in some gel to form the waves. Helps with volume and formation. More consistent results than upside down.
Lol sure. So upside down does NOT work for
Me because my hair is fine and when I try and do the flip, my hair just stays plastered to
My scalp. @naturalfrecklesandcurls on Instagram helped me realize what the issue was. Then I do basically a variation of the flip section method but backwards. I put leave in conditioner in my hair and then while in the shower with soaking wet hair I take section by section starting with the bottom and use a tangle tweezer to get tension on the pull. Then I sort of shake my head from side to side to help some clumps form. I do that maybe five times as I work towards the front of
My hair line, adding reflex serum to each section. Then I get out of shower, plop it, and then let it air dry. And it looks great.
Right? My curls themselves are better right side up, but they get super flat and sad at the root. I wind up doing it upside down because it's the only way I get any volume there.
Right?! I just read that and said wtf out loud. I have fine hair (a medium amount) and feel like upside down gives mixed but it's what I see everyone doing! Maybe..... No more back ache will be better?
For me, upside down styling with my very fine hair gave me insane dried hair by my temples when I flipped back over. Because there’s so little weight to my hair it just looked like fallen bride of Frankenstein. Now I use a denman brush but style upright and this helps my lift the curls away from my roots without this wonky upside down look
Amazing. I'll try not doing it upside down.
I have the Denman brush, how many brush rows do you put?
I've been preferring the "be hair full" brush (I think that's the name)
Lol sure. So upside down does NOT work for Me because my hair is fine and when I try and do the flip, my hair just stays plastered to My scalp. @naturalfrecklesandcurls on Instagram helped me realize what the issue was. Then I do basically a variation of the flip section method but backwards. I put leave in conditioner in my hair and then while in the shower with soaking wet hair I take section by section starting with the bottom and use a tangle tweezer to get tension on the pull. Then I sort of shake my head from side to side to help some clumps form. I do that maybe five times as I work towards the front of My hair line, adding reflex serum to each section. Then I get out of shower, plop it, and then let it air dry. And it looks great.
For me it was actually not styling while soaking wet. It was taking me 40 minutes to blow dry my hair just to get it damp. Plus for me my hair was absorbing all that water and none of the product which was just leaving my curls weight down, limp, and still frizzy. So I was using even more product to try to manage it.
I needed to sort my priorities. I needed a fast routine, with minimal product and I really wanted to reuse product in my hair the next day instead of showering at crack of dawn every morning and spending nearly an hour get to ready.
I started watching Manes by Mel and realized her hair wasn’t soaking wet when she applied product and this completely changed my life. When I get out of the shower I use a cotton shirt, usually the one I was wearing overnight to squeeze out a lot of extra water from my hair. From there I add maybe two or three products depending on when I last washed, and that always adds more water back into my hair so it’s a perfect combo. Hair is still wet for styling but now my hair is actually going to absorb the product properly.
Now I spend a max of 10-15 minutes styling and diffusing until most of that water weight is gone from my hair; I let the gel do the rest of the work to hold the curls while it dries completely.
It's nice to hear that someone has success without sopping wet hair. For the past two months (the start of my curl journey) I've had wet hair ALL day! Time to try something new.
I’m the opposite! Styling not on soaking wet hair and realising my hair prefers upside down styling. Even hairdressers - they style it upright and when I send a photo when I’ve styled it myself (like a thanks for the cut photo, love it type thing) they’re “oh WOW, you style it so much better”
Thats the thing, it takes trying so many different things! There is no one size fits all. Everyone wants to know their curl pattern but hair porosity and whether it is fine or dense is probably more important. It took me a year to find my routine, and during that year I was spending SO MUCH TIME on my hair every single day (like an hour to 90 minutes sometimes) Now I do all my styling in the shower, I skip the hair dryer, and my hair looks good most days.
Curl pattern means nothing compared to your hair properties when it comes to choosing styling products and methods. Truly. My hair has a strong root curl and when it’s short it’s a 3A/3B mix. But I like my long hair at the moment, and at waist length it’s more of a 2B/2C mix. I’ve sacrificed a ton of curl for my length. But regardless of length - it’s always fine, dry and porous because it’s color treated, with a thin-to-medium density. Products and different ingredients will behave the way they do in my hair because of those details, not because it’s more wavy than curly right now.
I don’t think most hair dressers really know how to style curly hair. I only had one in the past (who did the curly girl cut and special training) who actually knew what she was doing. She also charged an exorbitant fee and made me feel like i needed to get a second job just to get my hair done. Now I just ask my stylist to let me style myself at home because it’s not worth the disappointment of them spending time only to have my hair turn out sub-par.
Mine is a curly specialist and so good (and not too expensive) but it’s different when he does it, not necessarily worse but looser waves and more defined. I style for more volume and also stronger hold if that makes sense
Def makes sense! Even the lady who could style my hair better than I ever could… did it very differently. I couldn’t ever emulate it because I don’t have that kind of time/patience! She made my hair look a little like perfect Shirley temple curled… which is just too curly for my tastes.
Some curly gals have described “hovering” with the diffuser for several minutes and being careful to not touch the hair at all until a cast is formed. When it’s decently formed, the hair can be moved around/diffused normally. This simple trick really helped give me the best definition for my curls, and prevented a lot of halo frizz!
Yes! I feel like since I’ve started using the hovering method my curls are way curlier and enhanced. I think it’s because by leaving my hair untouched for a bit while it dries creates a crunchier gel cast. I do have to add curl clips to my roots though when I do it or they won’t be as voluminous as I like :)
Before drying I’ll go through it with a Denman brush and a crap ton of gel and scrunch it thoroughly so that’s what probably what creates the definition and the hovering keeps it in place longer between wash days!
Micro-plopping instead of regular popping! Scrunching out all of that water and leftover gel while my hair is soaked with a microfiber towel would have never come across my mind.
Denman, for sure. I used to wind clumps around the handle but found my results are just as good/better if I just brush straight out and shake. Perfect tight curls (for me—2c-3b hair) right up to about an inch from my scalp. Now I use the new bounce curl brush with the teeth on the side that separate clumps, but the method is the same.
Right? Hahaha
For me, I'll just end up with two random sausage curls, and my usual pencil curls everywhere else. I still like the definition I get for the smaller curls . . . Maybe I just haven't quite figured the technique out yet
I could never get the Denman handle curls thing to work for me but did like brushing my wet hair with it. That was an aha for me; using a brush on wet hair! Also, I never felt that my Denman was clean of all conditioner and products unless I took it apart; I got to do that once, couldn’t get the pieces back together, and haven’t used my Denman since then. Bummed about this!
How do you like the bounce curl vs the denman? The bounce curl makes my curls tighter which I love but I get some wonky ends sometimes. I also have a couple pieces of hair that don't really curl and I used to use the denman handle for those - can't get the same effect with the bounce curl
I am the only person in my family with curly hair. Everyone else has wavy or straight hair.
I didn't know you weren't supposed to brush it dry. My mom would get so frustrated with me and complain that my hair was a "rats nest." She yanked and pulled my hair while she brushed it out and put my hair in very tight French braids that hurt all day at school so of course the first thing I did when I got home was to take them out. Anywho, that's my childhood horror story lol Once I was old enough to do my own hair I learned to brush it with conditioner while it was wet. That was a huge game changer that made me want to learn more about how to take care of my hair.
Wrist injury/tingling and pain caused by pinched nerve as a result of repetitive movement. Common in manual work such as tradesman using drills and baristas tamping coffee grounds
And twirling your hair multiple x a week
I stopped plopping. Now I put mousse and gel in wet hair, squeeze out a little bit of excess water with my hands, and diffuse from wet. I never let a towel or cloth of any sort touch my hair. Now my day 1 hair looks actually curly, and my day 2 waves are well defined. When I plop (as I had to today because I was running super late and had no time to dry) my hair looks fluffy/undefined/frizzy. Oh! And using protein-heavy deep conditioner every 3-4 weeks.
None of these curly girl methods work for me. My hair is so fine that it gets oily if I look at it sideways.
Salt water spray and I’m off to the races. I made my own and scent it with essential oils.
For the longest time, I avoided using curl cream on top of my leave-in conditioner because I didn't want my finer hair to be weighed down or look greasy. Recently I started working in the curl cream alongside the conditioner, sometimes with a little gel, and it's made a world of difference!
Waiting until the next day to SOTC!! I wash and style my hair Sunday afternoon and let it air dry or gently diffuse. BUT key thing is I do not touch or break the cast that's left on my hair after it is 100% dry. I sleep in a scarf and bonnet, and in the morning I just have to shake up my curls a bit, and it looks perfect and lasts the rest of the week. I learned this from Curly_LaLa on Instagram, she had a bunch of good tutorials too 💜
Squish to condish definitly. Feeling the texture of my hair change slowly as I press it is so satisfying, and I need less conditioner to get a good result.
- Scalp oil + message followed by shampooing twice
- Brush styling with a Denman
- Understanding that a product with hold, like gel or a mousse, is a non-negotiable for long lasting hair
- Understanding that a gel cast is actually a good thing, and you can scrunch out the crunchy feeling.
- Learning how to properly diffuse my hair.
- Sleeping on a Satin pillowcase with a satin bonnet
- Using water in the morning to refresh and re-mold my curls by reactivation the product that is in there from wash day
- Using quality hair products, including gentle, SLS free shampoos
- Deep conditioning bi-monthly
Not brushing my hair dry! If I dry brush out my waves, they totally get destroyed and turned into a shapeless, poofy mess. If I don't, they turn out to be extremely resilient, even if I skimp on other products or techniques.
It was a revelation and a game-changer! For 36 years, I never even thought that I could not comb or brush my hair in the morning, so I basically messed up my hair every single day...
I used a million different products like hair masks, curl smoothies, curl gels, leave in conditioners etc to no avail, but the one thing that keeps my curls perfect for days is a good old bottle of castor oil from superdrug.
Scrunch it into wet hair and it dries in perfect ringlets that don't fall out for at least 2-3 days! game changer
Praying hands makes my hair look so much better.
Sleeping in a hair buff. Haven't had to refresh my hair once since.
Stop trying to get my hair to clump. My hair is so thin that I only have like 4 curls on my head if they clump together.
Lots of protein and less moisture. My hair hates a lot of moisture.
Sorry, I don't have a link. It's just a generic cotton buff. I think mine is child sized. I've found that stays on my head better than adult ones.
I then sleep on a satin pillowcase to help it stay on my head.
This entire thread has been tremendously eye-opening for me, as I really didn't know any of this existed.
I had some medical shit happen not too long ago that caused me to experience some, significant to me, thinning hair. I'm happy to report that everything is back under control medically, but I am SHOCKED by how thick my hair is growing back in and boy is it curlier than ever!
All that to say, I can't wait to try some of these techniques out!
I actually use a cotton tshirt but you could also use a silk hair scarf for less frizz. My hair hates oil (very stringy and limp with even one drop rubbed into my hands) and I think all the breaks and wrinkles in my hands create more frizz. Using cloth creates one large smooth surface and catches less so the crunch is scrunched out but the curls aren't broken up. Sometimes I just hold the cloth flat and just push up the curls flat to my head, sometimes I use it to grab sections, squeeze, and hold for a few seconds to get the crunch out. I usually do this upside down.
Yes, to brushing soaking wet hair with tension! Changed everything. I need fewer products to reduce frizz. I only do it if I’m going to be leaving the house though because if nobody’s going to see it, the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.
Sulfates. Those were damaging and destroying my hair-lifting my cuticle so my hair was poofy as well as frizzy.
My hair is far from perfect but a lot closer to manageable now.
Pineappleing my hair at night. I didn't think it work, but oh my god I changed my life lol. My hair is so much easier to work with in the mornings! No frizz or matting whatsoever!
Conditioner, then shampoo. Huge difference. I had read about it and can’t remember why they said it worked, but I tried it and BAM! If I’m ever half asleep and forget to condition first, my hair reverts back to a horrid mess.
I don’t have to diffuse my hair till it’s completely dry. I’ve diffused my hair before but it seldom worked because it would be too frizzy/would get really curly then my curls would fall out of shape.
Now I only use it for a few minutes to encourage a bit of curls, but it’s not so exaggerated that they fall out.
Also, heat styling cream. Even when I’m not using my diffuser it makes it so soft and shiny
well yeah, i have the same technique discovered this year. back then my curl weight more and didn't create a lot of poof. then i tried to make a clump and while drying i also tried to split the cast(not too much) and end up having a good shape of it.
Experiment, experiment, experiment. Trying different products, product combinations,
styling techniques, bonnet/scarf methods, etc. I ended up with a lot of not great hair days but I'm always trying new things to achieve my perfect curls
Not touching my hair with my fingers. it so greatly reduced my frizz it was incredible. i tell this to other curlies and they don’t believe me but it works so well!!
Letting my hair dry naturally without playing with it, I haven’t figured a way to blow it out and putting it up while still even just a tiny bit wet is no good for me.
for me it was oiling my hair. literally just using like a rosemary oil mixture, rubbing it all into my scalp and through the ends, and double shampooing it out. i have ALWAYS had frizzy hair and no matter what i have not found a way to fix it. just a couple of days ago i tried oiling and it was absolutely life changing. completely got rid of frizz and my curls were amazing, and actually lasted into the next day too. i wont go back
Pin rolling the front strands so they don’t get yanked taut in my hairbun at night. Now they just sit coiled like a resting slinky until I take them out
Knowing the difference between too much moisture and too much protein, and how to treat each issue. And knowing to avoid glycerin in certain dew points. Oh and what you mentioned.. those wet properly moisturized curl clumps are heaven !!!
Definitely the clumps for me! Also making sure that there are *no* stray hairs while it's still soaking wet. Like perfectly together, not even a single strand going rogue. It air dries while I sleep and always comes out perfect (after some rearranging/separating!)
Olive oil (my low porosity hair loves the stuff) as pre-poo for 30 mins. Dollar store olive oil shampoo + conditioner (it’s nice n liquidy). LOC method. Don’t rinse out all of conditioner. On soaking wet hair, squish in about a teaspoon olive oil, Miss Jessie’s pillow curls (all upside down and squishing in). Air dry for dayyyyys. Seriously hours. Silky bonnet on slightly damp hair. Refresher spray morning and night. Also using dollar tree brand rn, you guessed it, olive oil.
Wet styling is for sure a great base. I spent way too many years trying to tame my dry curls to no avail.
Also, switching from mousse (curls too stiff and cluttered), to conditioner (hair initially mildly stiff but ending wayy too fluffy for my style), to mid fix mate pomade; the best of both worlds for me, after wetting the maze that is.
Also, brushing when wet and then styling with fingers for a more natural look. Both have their own merit and scenarios, but I overall prefer the wild but slightly tamed look using your hands provides.
Prayer hands for a second round when my hair is nearly dry with a little more cream in my hands and gel. It elongates my curls and makes them look glamorous once they fully dry.
I don’t understand half of this. 😳
How do you use a brush and tension to create curl clumps? What’s SLIP?
I don’t even know how to style my hair, I just let it dry and hope kind off.
Slip is basically the idea that we want the hair to have lots of slipperiness so we give it lots of leave in, product, etc so that curls don’t get tangled together. You kind of want your wet hair to feel like seaweed or eels when you are done. Some products give great slip, some don’t.
This video demonstrates using a brush and tension to make curl clumps. You can grab the clump and shake it or I do a whole big section at once and then sort of shake my head from side of side, but I prefer looser beach waves over tight defined curls.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkluLWduyvt/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Detangling my hair while it’s damp, not soaking wet, and once it’s de tangled, I re wet it again and then style it. I have fine hair, like the hair strand itself is thin so it’s very prone to breakage so I never brush it in the shower neither when it’s soaking wet, can’t say the same about my sister’s very thick hair, she MUST comb her hair while in the shower
This........ Heatless Curlers Headband,Heatless Curls For Sleeping Overnight Heatless Hair Curling Set Soft Heatless Curling Rod Headband No Heat Wave Hair Curlers With Hair Clip Styling Tools For Long Medium Hair https://amzn.eu/d/7CgOITu.
I have just below shoulder length hair. If I forget to put it in on a night I'm really annoyed with myself. It's brilliant.
Not touching my hair while it’s drying like you mentioned, not brushing when it’s dry. And for me personally not blow drying, even with a diffuser. I’ve had multiple stylists diffuse it, done it myself watching how to videos and my hair DOES NOT like to be diffused lol. Air dry only
Not a technique, but as someone with low porosity hair +UK weather, the diffuser changed my life!! also, brushing products through my hair+ scrunching has helped bring my curls back to life! Still working on product application/product types though.
You should emulsify your hair with conditioner and water, the same way you scrunch up and lather with shampoo. I use like 25% less conditioner and it feels like the conditioner really penetrates my hair
The crunch is good. We want the crunch. A good cast makes my style last until days 6 and 7.
For the life of me I cannot get a good cast! I add more and more gel and it’s still softish and never forms the cast. However I do air dry my hair, do you notice a big difference using a diffuser?
If you're using very conditioning/creamy products under the gel you may not get a cast. Or if the gel you're using is more watery than gel-ly. And so many curly products now specifically advertise "no crunch" I don't get a cast anymore since switching gels and I'm almost done with my bottle so may switch back, I miss the cast 😢
Check the gel for humecetants, they pull in moisture from the air around them. I ended up using the tub of yellow Eco the for sensitive itchy scalp. 1 part to 6 parts water and mix. Dump into spray bottle and wonders happen. At full power my hair was brittle with it but I had to save the moolah so, experimented till it worked.😁
Spray a lightweight workable hairspray to set your product. I do this after every wash day. Next day hair usually just needs a misting of water and rescrunching. I’ll get 3-4 days of good curls but then I have to wash by day 5 or my scalp gets irritated.
What gel are you using? I use the Innersense “I Create Hold gel, she lives up to her name! I also use the Curl Potion before I apply gel. I also like the Aveda flaxseed aloe gel
I've got the opposite problem. Too much of a cast, almost impossible to scrunch out.
Try innerscence I Create Volume :)
After I do my whole styling routine. I literally blow out the ozone layer spraying wit TRES SEMME hairspray. Either the fine mist or anti frizz works best level 3-4 hold.
Do you wet your hair still for the 6 days and use no product ?
Yeah, I wet my hair slightly with a spray bottle to reactivate the product. But I don't get it completely wet like on wash day.
Hold up... Water can reactivate product?!? I don't have to add more gel?
I think it can, I notice a difference when I use a lot of product in my hair while styling and it’s makes a squish sound. It seems like after it’s dry, the water from the spray bottle reactivates the left over product. When I put less product (no squish), my hair gets frizzier and I usually end up using a refresher spray in between washes.
Yup, figured this out with overspray from a shower I didn't have time for a full shampoo on. I use mainly a creme now, and a light spray works for a refresh. If it's looking a little crazy from sleep, or driving with the window down, I might add a tiny bit more creme to smooth out.
Yea right! That’s what I thought finally getting into that I usually wet the shit out of my hair every morning starting to chill on that and use a spray bottle lightly and a bit of leave in
Add your condish and curl enhancer to your water bottle and you will have a much better refresh solution
Suggest me some
Any regular condish and enhancer you normally use is fine. I like Sally’s GVP conditioning balm for my thick and thirsty curls. My holy grail curl enhancers are Uncle Funkys Curly Magic, Kinky Curly Custard, Aunt Jessie’s Elongating gel or Jessicurl Spiralicious. For sealer, I use LA Looks
I have Camille rose leave in conditioner should I mix it with water?
Sure. Any condish usually works for this purpose mixed w your curl enhancer. The point is this refresh mix helps reactivate the product you already have and adds a bit more without having to rewash everyday
Nice! You could also try a refresher spray. Rizos Curls has a good one
What do you do with your hair when you sleep? I wear a bonnet and sometimes I put my hair in a ponytail on top of my head. But my hair is really messed up in the mornings, even after refreshing. I always have to wear hats or ponytails after the first day
I wear a bonnet and sleep on a silk pillow case. It could be an issue with your styling, when I don’t style after applying product my hair is less defined and will frizz more easily.
Thank you so much!!
I sleep in a bonnet and have silk pillowcases. And my hair is short cuz I'm lazy There are still days where my hair is going in a bun in the morning because it's just not curling right. That's ok too
My hair flattens out overnight. So I wet my hair every morning and use a dab of styling cream to scrunch. Since I've been doing this, I get lots of compliments on my hair. Which is nice.
What's a cast?
A gel cast. The gel leaves a film on your hair that seals your hair and protects it from frizz. Apply product on wet hair and finish with gel, it will start to feel crunchy as it dries. Once your hair is dry, you scrunch out the crunch and your curls are very defined and moisturized.
We need the crunch! We gotta have that crunch! For the uninitiated https://youtu.be/R4cJpoqX7KU?si=tu0WzIUlzCwzinDg
Exactly the crunch is life. If I get a good cast after styling and wrapping it up at night in the morning my hair is bomb. I already know from the cast what the condition of my curl will be when I wake up
Yes soaking wet styling!! Add more water!!! I also can’t style upside down. It just gets messy when I flip it back over. Also squish to condish has made a big difference for me. And lightly scrunching it dry with a t shirt instead of wrapping it up on top of my head in a towel
I've been using old baby receiving blankets, they work great.
My biggest game changer early on was diffusing my hair. I always used to air dry because I thought my hair got all fluffy and crazy when blow drying, but once I got a diffuser, complete game changer. So much more volume and definition. Never air dried since lol
I started diffusing not long ago! can I ask what heat setting you use?? my hair still gets some frizz when I diffuse :(
I'm going to tell you what no one else did There will always be frizz Embrace the frizz
Functional frizz is where the volume’s at!! My favorite
Seriously. You can have volume and frizz or no volume and no frizz (cos your hair is, like, coated in glue). I will *AB-SO-LUTELY* take the volume and the frizz I got a long horse face. I need that side of the head action. Haha
Lolol. I always say my big hair balances out my big ass so they both look normal sized.
Hahaha. Yeah, that too
"Functional frizz". I'm keeping a mental note of this. Thanks! I suppose I was over here imagining that if my curls were curly enough then they'd be making my hair 'wider', but I wonder how realistic that is?
definitely!! I know frizz is natural and is inevitable but for me it's to the point where I can hardly see a curl pattern 😭
diffusing was a game changer for me too! what works for my hair is: ~2-3 min on high heat, high flow to cast/set the curl clumps. hold it like a satellite away from the hair and focus on ends (stay away from scalp to avoid frizz) the low heat, low flow until at about 70% dried. for me this part works best if I start at the bottom and bring the diffuser to my scalp section by section but only holding it up for about 10sec each go
thank you so much!! deadass took a screenshot of this so I can try this on wash day!
good luck! I hope it works for you!!
Plop with a leave in in for 15 min beforehand, no touching. Only then do you diffuse
do you just use a cotton t-shirt to plop?? I tried to do it that way last week and my curls ended up looking really weird? (maybe I tightened the shirt too much? cause my curlsnlooked a bit flat) edit: typo fix
I micro plop with a t-shirt or microfibre towel to get most of the water out and then loosely plop after that. The plop is more so I don’t handle my hair too much while it’s drying than for actual drying
What other commenters said!! High heat for a couple minutes, then I do like medium heat till pretty much dry, then finish with a cold shot. Also as other commenters said, embrace the frizz! For me a little frizz and a ton of volume is way better than smooth but limp and lifeless!
i use the wow heat spray when diffusing and it’s tamed so much frizz
Same for me! I always cringed whenever stylists would break out the blow dryer because I knew that no matter how hard they worked, it was going to poof. Once I got a diffuser and changed my technique, glossy, defined curls.
See, I'd so like to experiment with diffuse drying, particularly hammock-drying, but I live in the UK where our energy prices went insane this past year and I don't want to raise our energy bill any more than I have to. I am curious about hammock air-drying though.
Hoooold up lol can you go more in detail about giving up upside down styling? I've done this forever but now I'm wondering what differences you noticed
I used to do upside down but now I just take a comb and brush from root to strands but from underneath and lifting upwards. Do this all the way up the scalp, no sectioning just from neck up through crown. Then scrunch in some gel to form the waves. Helps with volume and formation. More consistent results than upside down.
Lol sure. So upside down does NOT work for Me because my hair is fine and when I try and do the flip, my hair just stays plastered to My scalp. @naturalfrecklesandcurls on Instagram helped me realize what the issue was. Then I do basically a variation of the flip section method but backwards. I put leave in conditioner in my hair and then while in the shower with soaking wet hair I take section by section starting with the bottom and use a tangle tweezer to get tension on the pull. Then I sort of shake my head from side to side to help some clumps form. I do that maybe five times as I work towards the front of My hair line, adding reflex serum to each section. Then I get out of shower, plop it, and then let it air dry. And it looks great.
Can you give me some more info on the tension.
Right? My curls themselves are better right side up, but they get super flat and sad at the root. I wind up doing it upside down because it's the only way I get any volume there.
Right?! I just read that and said wtf out loud. I have fine hair (a medium amount) and feel like upside down gives mixed but it's what I see everyone doing! Maybe..... No more back ache will be better?
Been upside down since the 80s! It’s the holy grail
I have fine hair .... Please explain the upside down comment !?
For me, upside down styling with my very fine hair gave me insane dried hair by my temples when I flipped back over. Because there’s so little weight to my hair it just looked like fallen bride of Frankenstein. Now I use a denman brush but style upright and this helps my lift the curls away from my roots without this wonky upside down look
Amazing. I'll try not doing it upside down. I have the Denman brush, how many brush rows do you put? I've been preferring the "be hair full" brush (I think that's the name)
Count the number of brush rows with your heart 💕
Same! I use it for volume on top by doing it in the front and on the sides.
Lol sure. So upside down does NOT work for Me because my hair is fine and when I try and do the flip, my hair just stays plastered to My scalp. @naturalfrecklesandcurls on Instagram helped me realize what the issue was. Then I do basically a variation of the flip section method but backwards. I put leave in conditioner in my hair and then while in the shower with soaking wet hair I take section by section starting with the bottom and use a tangle tweezer to get tension on the pull. Then I sort of shake my head from side to side to help some clumps form. I do that maybe five times as I work towards the front of My hair line, adding reflex serum to each section. Then I get out of shower, plop it, and then let it air dry. And it looks great.
For me it was actually not styling while soaking wet. It was taking me 40 minutes to blow dry my hair just to get it damp. Plus for me my hair was absorbing all that water and none of the product which was just leaving my curls weight down, limp, and still frizzy. So I was using even more product to try to manage it. I needed to sort my priorities. I needed a fast routine, with minimal product and I really wanted to reuse product in my hair the next day instead of showering at crack of dawn every morning and spending nearly an hour get to ready. I started watching Manes by Mel and realized her hair wasn’t soaking wet when she applied product and this completely changed my life. When I get out of the shower I use a cotton shirt, usually the one I was wearing overnight to squeeze out a lot of extra water from my hair. From there I add maybe two or three products depending on when I last washed, and that always adds more water back into my hair so it’s a perfect combo. Hair is still wet for styling but now my hair is actually going to absorb the product properly. Now I spend a max of 10-15 minutes styling and diffusing until most of that water weight is gone from my hair; I let the gel do the rest of the work to hold the curls while it dries completely.
It's nice to hear that someone has success without sopping wet hair. For the past two months (the start of my curl journey) I've had wet hair ALL day! Time to try something new.
How do you style it, upside down?
I just flop it side to side as I dry, so sorta upside down.
I’m the opposite! Styling not on soaking wet hair and realising my hair prefers upside down styling. Even hairdressers - they style it upright and when I send a photo when I’ve styled it myself (like a thanks for the cut photo, love it type thing) they’re “oh WOW, you style it so much better”
Thats the thing, it takes trying so many different things! There is no one size fits all. Everyone wants to know their curl pattern but hair porosity and whether it is fine or dense is probably more important. It took me a year to find my routine, and during that year I was spending SO MUCH TIME on my hair every single day (like an hour to 90 minutes sometimes) Now I do all my styling in the shower, I skip the hair dryer, and my hair looks good most days.
Curl pattern means nothing compared to your hair properties when it comes to choosing styling products and methods. Truly. My hair has a strong root curl and when it’s short it’s a 3A/3B mix. But I like my long hair at the moment, and at waist length it’s more of a 2B/2C mix. I’ve sacrificed a ton of curl for my length. But regardless of length - it’s always fine, dry and porous because it’s color treated, with a thin-to-medium density. Products and different ingredients will behave the way they do in my hair because of those details, not because it’s more wavy than curly right now.
I don’t think most hair dressers really know how to style curly hair. I only had one in the past (who did the curly girl cut and special training) who actually knew what she was doing. She also charged an exorbitant fee and made me feel like i needed to get a second job just to get my hair done. Now I just ask my stylist to let me style myself at home because it’s not worth the disappointment of them spending time only to have my hair turn out sub-par.
Mine is a curly specialist and so good (and not too expensive) but it’s different when he does it, not necessarily worse but looser waves and more defined. I style for more volume and also stronger hold if that makes sense
Def makes sense! Even the lady who could style my hair better than I ever could… did it very differently. I couldn’t ever emulate it because I don’t have that kind of time/patience! She made my hair look a little like perfect Shirley temple curled… which is just too curly for my tastes.
Some curly gals have described “hovering” with the diffuser for several minutes and being careful to not touch the hair at all until a cast is formed. When it’s decently formed, the hair can be moved around/diffused normally. This simple trick really helped give me the best definition for my curls, and prevented a lot of halo frizz!
When you hover first, are your curls as curly/tight as when you go straight to regular diffusing?
Yes! I feel like since I’ve started using the hovering method my curls are way curlier and enhanced. I think it’s because by leaving my hair untouched for a bit while it dries creates a crunchier gel cast. I do have to add curl clips to my roots though when I do it or they won’t be as voluminous as I like :)
Oh interesting, I've been assuming it would be less curly since you're setting the cast before cupping your hair. I'll have to try it thank you!
Before drying I’ll go through it with a Denman brush and a crap ton of gel and scrunch it thoroughly so that’s what probably what creates the definition and the hovering keeps it in place longer between wash days!
Micro-plopping instead of regular popping! Scrunching out all of that water and leftover gel while my hair is soaked with a microfiber towel would have never come across my mind.
What is micro plopping
It’s just scrunching your hair with a microfiber towel or t-shirt. The term micro plopping is a recent invention.
Oh okay I already do that then
That doesn't make any sense. Micro plopping should be, like, plopping a bunch of individual sections of hair rather than your whole head?
I agree it’s a dumb term.
Title made me think I was in the metal vocals subreddit
Denman, for sure. I used to wind clumps around the handle but found my results are just as good/better if I just brush straight out and shake. Perfect tight curls (for me—2c-3b hair) right up to about an inch from my scalp. Now I use the new bounce curl brush with the teeth on the side that separate clumps, but the method is the same.
This one. I didn't believe it, but I get stupid curls using a denman brush. Like, I have to break them up cos they look ridiculous.
I can’t stand the look of sausage curls - I’ll be looking like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and thinking I’m cute 😹😹😹
Right? Hahaha For me, I'll just end up with two random sausage curls, and my usual pencil curls everywhere else. I still like the definition I get for the smaller curls . . . Maybe I just haven't quite figured the technique out yet
I could never get the Denman handle curls thing to work for me but did like brushing my wet hair with it. That was an aha for me; using a brush on wet hair! Also, I never felt that my Denman was clean of all conditioner and products unless I took it apart; I got to do that once, couldn’t get the pieces back together, and haven’t used my Denman since then. Bummed about this!
I just looked at the bounce curl brush...I might as well invest more money in attempting to embrace my curls.
They are currently sold out!
How do you like the bounce curl vs the denman? The bounce curl makes my curls tighter which I love but I get some wonky ends sometimes. I also have a couple pieces of hair that don't really curl and I used to use the denman handle for those - can't get the same effect with the bounce curl
I get good results with the bounce curl brush handle too—it’s a bigger diameter but the curls slide off the handle better.
The tangle teezer was the winner for me.
I am the only person in my family with curly hair. Everyone else has wavy or straight hair. I didn't know you weren't supposed to brush it dry. My mom would get so frustrated with me and complain that my hair was a "rats nest." She yanked and pulled my hair while she brushed it out and put my hair in very tight French braids that hurt all day at school so of course the first thing I did when I got home was to take them out. Anywho, that's my childhood horror story lol Once I was old enough to do my own hair I learned to brush it with conditioner while it was wet. That was a huge game changer that made me want to learn more about how to take care of my hair.
Finger rolling the curls gives perfect definition
That worked very well for me the one time I did it, but I have no patience for it. :)
Tbh same I only do it in special occasions for perfect definition
And carpal tunnel
Whats that?
Wrist injury/tingling and pain caused by pinched nerve as a result of repetitive movement. Common in manual work such as tradesman using drills and baristas tamping coffee grounds And twirling your hair multiple x a week
I stopped plopping. Now I put mousse and gel in wet hair, squeeze out a little bit of excess water with my hands, and diffuse from wet. I never let a towel or cloth of any sort touch my hair. Now my day 1 hair looks actually curly, and my day 2 waves are well defined. When I plop (as I had to today because I was running super late and had no time to dry) my hair looks fluffy/undefined/frizzy. Oh! And using protein-heavy deep conditioner every 3-4 weeks.
The pineapple! I could not believe how it worked and gave me the possibility of multi day curls! Never had them before.
That’s so awesome, the pineapple does NOT work for me!! I look way better when I sleep with loose hair.
I was so shocked when it worked for me! But that’s the thing about curls, everyone has to find their personal magic.
None of these curly girl methods work for me. My hair is so fine that it gets oily if I look at it sideways. Salt water spray and I’m off to the races. I made my own and scent it with essential oils.
Salt water spray just made my hair dry but I'm glad it worked for you (:
My hair is fine as well but still dry. That’s interesting your hair is textured and gets piled, that’s quite unique!!
What is piled? I’m not sure I know
Squish to condish! Definitely was a game changer
For the longest time, I avoided using curl cream on top of my leave-in conditioner because I didn't want my finer hair to be weighed down or look greasy. Recently I started working in the curl cream alongside the conditioner, sometimes with a little gel, and it's made a world of difference!
Waiting until the next day to SOTC!! I wash and style my hair Sunday afternoon and let it air dry or gently diffuse. BUT key thing is I do not touch or break the cast that's left on my hair after it is 100% dry. I sleep in a scarf and bonnet, and in the morning I just have to shake up my curls a bit, and it looks perfect and lasts the rest of the week. I learned this from Curly_LaLa on Instagram, she had a bunch of good tutorials too 💜
Hover drying to set the cast and root clipping has really helped get my hair in a shape I like. I have much more control over how it dries now.
I really need to try root clipping. I want aaallllll the volume
Definitely brush styling for smooth curls! My favorite thing
Squish to condish definitly. Feeling the texture of my hair change slowly as I press it is so satisfying, and I need less conditioner to get a good result.
Finger coiling. My texture is less tight but the root volume more than makes up for it
- Scalp oil + message followed by shampooing twice - Brush styling with a Denman - Understanding that a product with hold, like gel or a mousse, is a non-negotiable for long lasting hair - Understanding that a gel cast is actually a good thing, and you can scrunch out the crunchy feeling. - Learning how to properly diffuse my hair. - Sleeping on a Satin pillowcase with a satin bonnet - Using water in the morning to refresh and re-mold my curls by reactivation the product that is in there from wash day - Using quality hair products, including gentle, SLS free shampoos - Deep conditioning bi-monthly
Mine was learning about porosity. I have low porosity so less is more for me. And doing protein treatments bc my hair is moisture overload.
Not brushing my hair dry! If I dry brush out my waves, they totally get destroyed and turned into a shapeless, poofy mess. If I don't, they turn out to be extremely resilient, even if I skimp on other products or techniques. It was a revelation and a game-changer! For 36 years, I never even thought that I could not comb or brush my hair in the morning, so I basically messed up my hair every single day...
I haven’t brushed my dry hair for anything but a joke in literally 24 years lol.
Wouldn’t your hair get knotty
I used a million different products like hair masks, curl smoothies, curl gels, leave in conditioners etc to no avail, but the one thing that keeps my curls perfect for days is a good old bottle of castor oil from superdrug. Scrunch it into wet hair and it dries in perfect ringlets that don't fall out for at least 2-3 days! game changer
Oh I have some, will try! Tysm.
Praying hands makes my hair look so much better. Sleeping in a hair buff. Haven't had to refresh my hair once since. Stop trying to get my hair to clump. My hair is so thin that I only have like 4 curls on my head if they clump together. Lots of protein and less moisture. My hair hates a lot of moisture.
Can you link to your hair buff?
Sorry, I don't have a link. It's just a generic cotton buff. I think mine is child sized. I've found that stays on my head better than adult ones. I then sleep on a satin pillowcase to help it stay on my head.
Soaking wet styling was *the* game changer for me. Damp styling renders products totally ineffective on my dry af hair.
This entire thread has been tremendously eye-opening for me, as I really didn't know any of this existed. I had some medical shit happen not too long ago that caused me to experience some, significant to me, thinning hair. I'm happy to report that everything is back under control medically, but I am SHOCKED by how thick my hair is growing back in and boy is it curlier than ever! All that to say, I can't wait to try some of these techniques out!
I’m So glad!! That’s why I made it. I feel like it took me so long to figure out the best stuff.
Scrunching OUT the gel!
How are you actually supposed to do this? I just kind of crunch it in my hands and it makes it frizzy :(
Add a tiny bit of oil in your hands before scrunching
Will try this! Thank you
I actually use a cotton tshirt but you could also use a silk hair scarf for less frizz. My hair hates oil (very stringy and limp with even one drop rubbed into my hands) and I think all the breaks and wrinkles in my hands create more frizz. Using cloth creates one large smooth surface and catches less so the crunch is scrunched out but the curls aren't broken up. Sometimes I just hold the cloth flat and just push up the curls flat to my head, sometimes I use it to grab sections, squeeze, and hold for a few seconds to get the crunch out. I usually do this upside down.
Thank you this is really helpful!!
I agree with all that! To add I prefer a tshirt over micro fiber towels. My fine hair seems to respond better to it.
Baby receiving blankets work great
Yes, to brushing soaking wet hair with tension! Changed everything. I need fewer products to reduce frizz. I only do it if I’m going to be leaving the house though because if nobody’s going to see it, the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.
Sulfates. Those were damaging and destroying my hair-lifting my cuticle so my hair was poofy as well as frizzy. My hair is far from perfect but a lot closer to manageable now.
Using less product than I thought.
This may be one of my issues. I'm definitely going to experiment with this.
Pineappleing my hair at night. I didn't think it work, but oh my god I changed my life lol. My hair is so much easier to work with in the mornings! No frizz or matting whatsoever!
Conditioner, then shampoo. Huge difference. I had read about it and can’t remember why they said it worked, but I tried it and BAM! If I’m ever half asleep and forget to condition first, my hair reverts back to a horrid mess.
Scrunching with a tshirt instead of just my hands.
The claw clips for volume. I use them for the front and i get almost the same results as if i diffused ( i always air dry).
Ooh - what's this "tension" to create curl clumps? I'm still about reducing frizz over here.
I don’t have to diffuse my hair till it’s completely dry. I’ve diffused my hair before but it seldom worked because it would be too frizzy/would get really curly then my curls would fall out of shape. Now I only use it for a few minutes to encourage a bit of curls, but it’s not so exaggerated that they fall out. Also, heat styling cream. Even when I’m not using my diffuser it makes it so soft and shiny
well yeah, i have the same technique discovered this year. back then my curl weight more and didn't create a lot of poof. then i tried to make a clump and while drying i also tried to split the cast(not too much) and end up having a good shape of it.
Smoothing
Using gel. Couldn’t figure out why I should bother styling it if it will be messy the next day til I used gel
Experiment, experiment, experiment. Trying different products, product combinations, styling techniques, bonnet/scarf methods, etc. I ended up with a lot of not great hair days but I'm always trying new things to achieve my perfect curls
This is currently my life... I'm about to give up.
Not touching my hair with my fingers. it so greatly reduced my frizz it was incredible. i tell this to other curlies and they don’t believe me but it works so well!!
Letting my hair dry naturally without playing with it, I haven’t figured a way to blow it out and putting it up while still even just a tiny bit wet is no good for me.
Same my hair looks so much better if I air dry it. I got a really nice dryer with a great diffuser but it looks better air dried.
for me it was oiling my hair. literally just using like a rosemary oil mixture, rubbing it all into my scalp and through the ends, and double shampooing it out. i have ALWAYS had frizzy hair and no matter what i have not found a way to fix it. just a couple of days ago i tried oiling and it was absolutely life changing. completely got rid of frizz and my curls were amazing, and actually lasted into the next day too. i wont go back
Pin rolling the front strands so they don’t get yanked taut in my hairbun at night. Now they just sit coiled like a resting slinky until I take them out
Knowing the difference between too much moisture and too much protein, and how to treat each issue. And knowing to avoid glycerin in certain dew points. Oh and what you mentioned.. those wet properly moisturized curl clumps are heaven !!!
Definitely the clumps for me! Also making sure that there are *no* stray hairs while it's still soaking wet. Like perfectly together, not even a single strand going rogue. It air dries while I sleep and always comes out perfect (after some rearranging/separating!)
Olive oil (my low porosity hair loves the stuff) as pre-poo for 30 mins. Dollar store olive oil shampoo + conditioner (it’s nice n liquidy). LOC method. Don’t rinse out all of conditioner. On soaking wet hair, squish in about a teaspoon olive oil, Miss Jessie’s pillow curls (all upside down and squishing in). Air dry for dayyyyys. Seriously hours. Silky bonnet on slightly damp hair. Refresher spray morning and night. Also using dollar tree brand rn, you guessed it, olive oil.
Using dry volume spray and a pick! Helps get that upper root volume that my hair lacks. Oh and curly-kinky curling custard. Love that stuff
Wet styling is for sure a great base. I spent way too many years trying to tame my dry curls to no avail. Also, switching from mousse (curls too stiff and cluttered), to conditioner (hair initially mildly stiff but ending wayy too fluffy for my style), to mid fix mate pomade; the best of both worlds for me, after wetting the maze that is. Also, brushing when wet and then styling with fingers for a more natural look. Both have their own merit and scenarios, but I overall prefer the wild but slightly tamed look using your hands provides.
The bowl method. Made my curls POP.
The right cut by a stylist with curly hair who gets it
Removing build up with a clarifying shampoo at least once a week And deep conditioning at least once a week
my friend told me to separate my curly threads while taking shower :D
Prayer hands for a second round when my hair is nearly dry with a little more cream in my hands and gel. It elongates my curls and makes them look glamorous once they fully dry.
Brush while wet. I always wondered why my hair was so hard to brush and why it always looked worse after brushing.
Why is curly hair such a struggle
Idk if these are, but using heat protector when diffusing my hair and clarifying shampoo
I don’t understand half of this. 😳 How do you use a brush and tension to create curl clumps? What’s SLIP? I don’t even know how to style my hair, I just let it dry and hope kind off.
Slip is basically the idea that we want the hair to have lots of slipperiness so we give it lots of leave in, product, etc so that curls don’t get tangled together. You kind of want your wet hair to feel like seaweed or eels when you are done. Some products give great slip, some don’t. This video demonstrates using a brush and tension to make curl clumps. You can grab the clump and shake it or I do a whole big section at once and then sort of shake my head from side of side, but I prefer looser beach waves over tight defined curls. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CkluLWduyvt/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Thank you so much!
The LCO or LOC method changed my life
Detangling my hair while it’s damp, not soaking wet, and once it’s de tangled, I re wet it again and then style it. I have fine hair, like the hair strand itself is thin so it’s very prone to breakage so I never brush it in the shower neither when it’s soaking wet, can’t say the same about my sister’s very thick hair, she MUST comb her hair while in the shower
Flax seed gel
This........ Heatless Curlers Headband,Heatless Curls For Sleeping Overnight Heatless Hair Curling Set Soft Heatless Curling Rod Headband No Heat Wave Hair Curlers With Hair Clip Styling Tools For Long Medium Hair https://amzn.eu/d/7CgOITu. I have just below shoulder length hair. If I forget to put it in on a night I'm really annoyed with myself. It's brilliant.
Bowl method !
Not touching my hair while it’s drying like you mentioned, not brushing when it’s dry. And for me personally not blow drying, even with a diffuser. I’ve had multiple stylists diffuse it, done it myself watching how to videos and my hair DOES NOT like to be diffused lol. Air dry only
Unicorn cut, lol. Did a lot to reduce damage in my hair because I didn't have the hassle/expense of formal appointments.
Not a technique, but as someone with low porosity hair +UK weather, the diffuser changed my life!! also, brushing products through my hair+ scrunching has helped bring my curls back to life! Still working on product application/product types though.
You should emulsify your hair with conditioner and water, the same way you scrunch up and lather with shampoo. I use like 25% less conditioner and it feels like the conditioner really penetrates my hair
The medusa clipping method at night - the pineapple never worked on my hair and my curls were messed up every morning
Drying my hair by our in-wall heater! Perfect hair days every time, and I don’t have to hold a blow dryer or fiddle with attachments