Resources

The best defence is a water-soluble conditioner and a swim cap of the lycra variety. Wet your hair with fresh, non-chlorinated water, apply your conditioner to your hair, and tuck your curls into a swim cap. After your swim, rinse out the chlorinated/ sea or river water and the conditioner with fresh water, and apply your usual curl-friendly styling products, but with a mind to perhaps add in a small amount of leave-in conditioner also if that is not in your usual styling product line-up.

While curly hair is naturally more thirsty than other textures, the level of hydration on the day your are cleansing and hydrating it, to the last day before your next session, can be determined or impacted by a variety of factors (eg; product choices, damage, your cuticle layer, the environment).

Are you using products which dry it out, or are they truly suited to your hair’s needs? Maybe they are silicone-based, heavy in oils, or maybe you are using direct oils and butters on your hair?

Is it environmental factors? Heat pumps, dehumidifiers, very dry environments…these can all impact on the way your hair gets and holds on to hydration.

In saying that, sometimes the topic of ‘dry hair’ can also be about our expectations and definitions. Therefore, knowing your hair is going to really help. I would highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of my E-Book, which helps you understand your hair and how it presents itself to you, and why it does that.

Lots of ideas here, some you may already have tried. First of all, detangle only when wet and with conditioner on the hair. Secondly, regular trims help. See my other FAQ addressing that. Thirdly, pause the lathering shampoo for a while, you might find you simply don’t need it.

Use a quality water-soluble conditioner with ‘slip’. The feeling that the conditioner on the wet hair make things slippery is your goal here. I recommend the Clever Curl Fragrance-Free Light Conditioner.

I really recommend learning to finger detangle, rather than reply on a brush for any child’s hair that is very fine in strand width.

If your little curly person has tight curl texture, you may prefer to use a detangling brush, but you need to learn how to do it gently. I recommend the Felicia Leatherwood ‘Brush with the Best’ detangling brush for this process. If they are also high density, you may like to use sectioning clips to hold sections aside while you concentrate on one area.

Finally, as soon as they are old enough, get them involved applying water, from a Continuous Mist Spray bottle, or drizzled on from a scoop in the bath or shower. Then get them involved in applying a small amount of conditioner, and then learning how to detangle each section.

And finally, stay on top of this aspect of your little one’s grooming as much as you can, detangling daily if need be, so that a little tangle doesn’t become a matted section.

As a passionate Curl Specialist, I am definitely two feet firmly in the space where natural texture is honoured, worked with, understood and not judged. And I am not alone.

Since 2019 in the USA, there is the CROWN Act (which stands for Create and Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), which legislates against discrimination based on hair texture and hair style. (Please see my other FAQ touching on the Natural Hair Movement).

But as for deciding on how best to present your unique natural texture to the world, there are many options. Develop a repertoire of styles to wear your natural texture in, with some suited to your workplace (perhaps up-do’s, a decorative clip or scarf, or perhaps a particular gel), others for days off (maybe just a leave-in conditioner, no product at all, and free and loose!), and maybe others for special occasions.

Defining professionalism for the workplace should never include the conversation about changing your natural texture to straight. Your hair texture does not define your professionalism. Your ability to perform and uphold your responsibilities defines your professionalism. And while that does often entail and include upholding a level of personal presentation and grooming, that does not mean ‘straighten your hair’!

It differs in many ways, but this quick summary may help you understand on a surface level what the difference is, and why that difference is important.

The natural hair movement is a powerful statement of reclamation of identity, expression and redress to historical and perpetuating inequalities and injustice based on history, ethnicity and culture. Building momentum within the USA, the conversation applies the world over. For people, and women in particular, from communities who’ve experienced displacement through historical practises, marginalisation, and racial prejudice, the conversation around hair texture and the non-acceptance of or acceptance of, remain an issue connected to history but for which they have faced an unequal and disadvantaging burden of its effects. To this end, since 2019 in the USA, the CROWN Act (which stands for Create and Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), legislates against discrimination based on hair texture and hair style. This conversation will continue to reverberate in to all societies.

The curly hair information that you find on the internet is designed by content creators to offer hair care advice and styling tips. They may or may not have direct roots in the natural hair movement, and may or may not be specifically addressing hair care topics for those with textures that have historically been politicised or discriminated against.

This is often the first thing that a new curl friend will have on their mind. Understanding the different types of frizz will help you understand what practises you may be doing (or need to stop doing) to eliminate or mitigate uninvited frizz. Click Free Downloads above…there’s a whole topic I’ve created that will walk you though this commonly discussed topic.

Often the success of your curls lasting is determined by a few things.  Firstly, is your hair texture the type that will get to and beyond a Day three? Mine is not that kind of texture sadly, for example, so I need to wear my hair up on Day three, sometimes Day two, and definitely on Day four. Other textures can manage an excellent Day three and after that the curl forms start dispersing and stretching out too far. Others can go much longer and are fine. It all depends on the hair type and how ‘strong’ your curl is. Secondly, the products and the health of your hair impact on achieving Day three, assuming you have suitable texture to realistically attain a great Day three. I can help with product advice, but you’ll see from my reply that it’s not all about the product, huh! And thirdly, the technique in applying product and drying your hair, and the overnight and day time maintenance of your ‘set’ from Day one, will be the other factors that contribute to a good Day three. Are you wearing a silk cap for sleeping? A satin or silk pillowcase on your pillow? Are you refreshing on Day 2 or 3? Are you able to spot refresh in just the areas that are frizzy and knotty? What other factors are present in the garden … any chemical treatments? Heat damage? Colour damage? Build-up from oils and buttery product lines?  Start having a think about a few of those factors above and see if they help you to troubleshoot at all.

Yes I do!

I think if you can get some of the sample sizes I sell on my site at Curls Naturally, then you can have a play with what you enjoy using and what seems to be good for your hair and scalp. Most items I sell on the site are available in sample sachet amounts. Just go to the Add to Cart area and make your size selection.

Yes! It’s a term for when you place your wet or damp curls into a bonnet/shower cap and have them sitting there for a time. You can do this either with or without styling product applied to your curls. It can be a useful step to take when you’re too busy to attend to your wet hair straight after washing it, or it can be a method you use to see if you get any increase in your definition or texture’s pattern. The downsides may be that you find it flattens your curl or wave forms at the scalp, creates unnecessary frizz, or twists the forms too much. In that case, this technique may not be for you!

It’s what you do when you place your damp or wet curls into a t-shirt ‘towel’. This technique is intended to remove some of the excess moisture in your hair if you prefer to style your hair while it is damp rather than dripping wet. It can also assist to create more definition and ‘pop’ from your curl forms.