Wavy Hair Basics Archives - Page 3 of 14

Is Your Hair Straight Or Wavy? Signs Of Naturally Wavy Hair

August 22, 2020 by Emily Evert 61 Comments

Wavy Hair Before And After Curly Girl Method

This is my wavy hair before and after the curly girl method. Before starting the curly girl method on the left in both photos, and 2 years into the curly girl method on the right in both photos.

The curly girl method isn’t magic or anything. In my experience, it certainly has helped to make my hair healthier. It feels softer, stronger, and looks shinier than it used to. My hair became wavier.

All of these photos were after starting the curly girl method. From the very beginning on the left, working up to the current day on the right.

I realized my hair was wavy when I was 26. How can you live 26 years without realizing your hair texture? Well, I was brushing my hair as soon as I got out of the shower, and letting it air dry. I also kept my hair very long from the time I was in my late teens.

As a preteen and teenager, I straightened my hair daily. I remember people asking me “why do you straighten your hair when it’s already straight?” and my answer was “it makes it less poofy!” or “it makes it sleeker.” I never really understood why using a flat iron on my hair made it sleeker, or less poofy.

Now I realize that the poof was brushed-out waves, and straightening my hair removed that remaining bit of wave, which is why it became sleeker once fully straight. This was a sign that my hair was actually wavy.

How Much Gel To Use On Wavy Hair

May 8, 2024 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

A really common question I get from people who are relatively new to the curly girl method or embracing their wavy hair, is how much gel should I use? Also, how to tell if you’re using too much gel or not enough!

It’s a really great question to be asking, and it has a little bit of a complex answer. I recently did my hair with too much gel, and then again with not enough gel, so that I could show you through images what each of those look like.

How much hair humans have REALLY varies

First though, I wanted to give a visual for why it is so challenging to know how much gel to use on wavy hair. It’s because how much hair you have on your head can be VASTLY different from how much hair another person has on their head, even if their hair is the same length as yours and even if neither of you are experiencing hair thinning or baldness at all. I’ve read that people with dense hair can have 6x as many hairs on their head as someone with low-density hair. That sounds a little hard to believe, but the tiktok embedded below helps illustrate this fact.

@ciera.hamilton No wonder people always confuse us for twins 🥰 #braid #twins #fyp #foryoupage #thickhair ♬ Ice Age – B

Short Or Long Wavy Hair? The Pros And Cons Of Each!

April 5, 2024 by Emily Evert 4 Comments

I recently had my sister help me perform an at-home bob haircut. I flimed the process for my YouTube channel if you want to check it out.

Since she did this cut for me, I have really loved having my hair shorter again, but at other phases in my naturally wavy hair journey I have really loved having longer hair. I thought I’d share the pros and cons of short and long wavy hair, from my perspective.

Why short wavy hair is better

Less likely to tangle as shorter hair is younger hair that tends to be healthier
You have less hair so you’l use less conditioner, gel, mousse, etc which can save money over time.
Can feel cooler in hot or humid weather
Dries faster
May get tighter curls
Can look thicker/fuller

Why longer wavy hair is better

Causes and Solutions for Hair Build Up in Wavy Hair

March 2, 2024 by Emily Evert 3 Comments

What Causes Hair Build Up?

Hair build up is caused by hair products, your natural body oils, skin cells, hard water deposits, and even pollutants building up on your hair or scalp. At any given time, it’s natural for us to have tiny amounts of hair products, oil, pollutants and/or hard water deposits in our hair, as having 100% clean hair is nearly impossible. However, when we get ‘too much’ hair products, scalp oils, pollutants or mineral deposits in our hair it can start to cause problems with how our hair feels, acts or responds to styling. In severe cases it may even cause our scalp to feel irritated or itchy! So, it’s important to find a haircare routine that keeps build-up at a low level.

Does Hair Gel Cause Build Up?

Any products that you use on your hair or scalp can cause build-up, including shampoo! Yes, even shampoo. The more products you use, the more likely you are to get build-up. However, people often think that if they avoid using products like gel, mousse, curl cream, etc then they won’t get build-up, which is not the case. Everyone gets some amount of build-up, it’s just a matter of how much they get and how strong of a shampoo they need to use to clean their hair.

Not all shampoos are made equally, some are stronger than others, or work to remove certain types of buildup better than other products. You may find that some shampoos are not well-suited to remove build-up from certain products. The curly girl method attempted to simplify this by stating that if you avoid silicone products in your haircare products, then you don’t need to use a sulfate-containing shampoo. While this is commonly believed, it is not backed up with research or science (the curly girl method book sites no sources at all!).

Also, these days, there is a wide range of different strengths of shampoos even when looking at sulfate shampoos or non-sulfate shampoos. Meaning, even if you use all silicone-free products and use a sulfate-containing shampoo, you still may get build-up that needs to be removed with a stronger shampoo periodically.

Does The Curly Girl Method Cause Build-Up?

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