Wavy Hair Help Archives - Page 2 of 8

How To Get Naturally Wavy Hair To Last Longer

September 6, 2020 by Emily Evert 8 Comments

Naturally wavy hair tends to be more delicate than naturally curly hair. It’s easy to accidentally damage or destroy your waves if you aren’t careful. If you’ve been struggling to figure out how to get wavy hair that lasts longer, this post is for you!

How To Get Naturally Wavy Hair To Last Longer

To make your naturally wavy hair last longer, use gel or mousse after washing your hair. The additional hold that gel or mousse provide will help your waves last longer. After your hair is dry, you can “scrunch out the crunch” to make your hair feel soft and look more natural.

My naturally wavy hair loses definition very quickly without gel or mousse.

I know for some, this may not be the answer they were hoping for. If you’ve never used styling products, it may sound offputting. When I first started the curly girl method, I tried to avoid using gel. I don’t like my hair feeling really ‘producty’ or looking wet. I thought gel would make my hair look wet and stiff, or feel stiff.

Many styling products will give you that look – at first. However, once your hair has dried, you can “Scrunch out the crunch” which is basically scrunching your hair to break the cast that has formed over your hair. It might literally sound like crunching! Once you’ve scrunched out the crunch, your hair will feel and look soft again. However, it will maintain “hold” thanks to the gel or mousse being in there.

For many with wavy hair, using a styling product with hold can also provide them with dry-hair results they haven’t seen before. If I don’t use a gel or mousse, my hair dries much straighter than the texture I have when wet. When I use gel or mousse, it helps maintain that natural texture I have in the shower. Styling products with hold are often key factors to reducing “frizz”.

If your individual hair strands are fine, this often causes hair to have a weak shape. As a result, people with fine hair strands can benefit a lot from products with hold because they essentially give a ‘backbone’ to your hair strands to help them hold their natural shape more easily.

I really thought I would hate using gel, so I avoided it for the first couple of months. Once I gave it a try, I knew there was no going back. I’ve since switched to primarily using mousse. Using some styling product with hold is such a helpful part of maintaining naturally wavy hair! I see it as essential.

How To Sleep On Wavy Hair

August 30, 2020 by Emily Evert 20 Comments

There is an affiliate link in this post. All opinions are my own.

How to sleep on wavy hair over night without ruining it or getting frizz — How To Sleep On Wavy Hair

To sleep on wavy hair without ruining it, put your hair up in a very high and loose bun using a scrunchie. Your hair bun should rest on top of your head, not behind it. Sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase or wearing a satin bonnet will help reduce breakage.

If you have wavy or curly hair, then you know that sleeping with your hair down can have you waking up looking a bit like medusa. Or maybe you look like you walked through a hurricane. When I sleep with my waves down, the back often gets flattened, too.

Sleeping your hair in a “pineapple”, or loose ponytail or bun on top of your head at night, will keep your head from smashing your waves while you sleep. Use a scrunchie loosely instead of a traditional pony tail holder, and you won’t get indents in your hair.

The material of the scrunchie you use to pineapple with matters! Try to find one that is really smooth, satin or silk are great options. They will introduce less frizz vs scrunchies that are more textured. My top choice is silk or satin scrunchies, then ‘regular’ scrunchies, and I avoid scrunchies that are velvet, terrycloth, etc at all costs.

Another key aspect to sleeping on wavy hair without ruining it, is making sure your hair has good hold. If you wash your hair and don’t use a styling product with hold, your hair will fall flat pretty easily. If you use a product like gel or mousse that has hold, that will help protect your hair pattern while you’re sleeping. Using a product with harder hold may result in hair that is harder to ruin.

What about long, short or thick hair?

What If My Wavy Hair Really Likes Silicones?

April 25, 2024 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

When people with wavy hair first start embracing their waves, it’s often because they’ve stumbled across the curly girl method online. They were taught that they needed to throw out any hair products that contain silicones, and start using a gentler shampoo, among other changes.

For some people, maybe even many, it works fine! I was able to find curly girl approved products that worked well for me with very little problem. However, not everyone is so lucky. Some of them eventually come to ask me or others the following question…

“What If My Hair Just Seems To Really Like Silicones?”

Others would give you a different answer, but I personally say – then use them! Are they curly girl method approved? No, they aren’t. However, if they work well for you then that’s what should matter in my opinion.

For some, they might appreciate learning that the curly girl handbook does not list any research or cite any sources. It is not a method or theory that is based in any science. Or at least, if there is any related science, they did not bother to explain it or cite it…which would be really strange.

What Do Silicones Do For My Wavy Hair?

Silicones create a very thin coat or film over your hair strands. This helps smooth the exterior which is wonderful for damaged or higher porosity hair which may be rough or uneven on the outside due to cuticle damage. This also smooths the hair and reduces the appearance of frizz. When hair is smoothed in this way, it makes hair feel better, align better, and can reduce tangling.

Silicones got popular in haircare for a reason – they help hair look good and act more manageable, especially if your hair is damaged or higher porosity. There are natural ingredients that do the same thing. You might think of these as curly girlmethod silicone alternatives. When I say that they ‘do the same thing’ I mean they coat the exterior of the hair to make it less frizzy and more manageable. However, the natural alternatives are ingredients like plant oils which tend to be heavy. Heavy ingredients often weigh-down wavy hair, while silicones are often designed to be lightweight. This can result in silicones being a really effective ingredient for damaged wavy hair.

What’s The Difference Detween Water-Soluable Silicones and Non-Water Soluble Silicones?

Even those who follow the curly girl method and dislike some silicones, may admit that they don’t see all silicones as equally ‘bad’. Some see water-soluable silicones as just fine, and they only dislike non-water soluble silicones. What does that mean?

The main reason why the curly girl method suggests avoiding silicones is because they claim that you need a really strong shampoo to remove the buildup from silicones. However, some silicones are water soluble, meaning they will dissolve in water without any cleanser being needed at all! These silicones can be used and can be removed from the hair without the use of strong shampoos.

So, some say that water-soluable silicones are safe to use while abiding by the curly girl method. As a result, if you’d like to stick with part of the curly girl method but feel your hair needs some silicones, you might choose to use water-soluable ones but continue to avoid non-water soluble ones. The science-y hair blog has an article sharing which silicones are water soluble.

Special-Case Non-Water Soluble Silicones

Also, some silicones are not water soluble, but behave in really specific ways that lead some to see them as ‘better’ silicones. A popular example would be Amodimethicone. This silicone is not water soluble but it does not attach to or coat all of your hair. Instead, it specifically attaches to damaged portions of your hair. So if you have sections of your hair cuticle that are damaged and that has left a ‘hole’ in your hair’s surface, and you use a product with Amodimethicone, the Amodimethicone will specifically stick to that gap in your hair, creating a smooth surface. However, it will not bind to the healthy or undamaged portion fo your hair, so buildup should not occur.

What if I Get Build up From Using Hair Products With Silicone Ingredients?

You can remove build-up by using a clarifying shampoo. Even when avoiding silicones, most people will find that they get some buildup over time. As a result, I suggest that everyone use a clarifying shampoo periodically. If you find that using silicones seems to require you to use clarifying shampoos too frequently and that is harsh on your hair…then you may have to choose which is more important to you. However, others will find that they can use clarifying shampoos pretty frequently without it drying out their hair. It may depend on how naturally moisturized your hair stays.

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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