It's been one whole month since I decided to put down my hot tools and let my hair be naturally curly. A whole month is sleeping with shirts on my hair, "plopping", looking up hints online, and early morning showers. You know, you think when you leave your hair natural there should be less work to it. But nope.
At first, I just decided to forgo the hot tools and leave it at that. I continued my routine as normal, only leaving my hair to air dry because if I blow dry then I look like a lion. This quickly did not work. My hair was frizzy and half curly and all mess.
So I needed to change the routine.
I can't tell you how many different products I bought to get my hair less frizzy. I even gave up drying my hair with a towel and had to start drying it with cotton shirts to prevent frizz. I couldn't sleep with my hair loose or else I looked like medusa in the morning. I hate sleeping with my hair in a ponytail so this was the WORST.
No more combing. No straightening or curling.
So first, I asked for recommendations. I ordered a few different anti-frizz and hydrating products since my hair is bleached. First was this Original Sprout Curl Calmer that was recommended. I would put a bit in my hair after the shower and then put my hair up in the shirt wrap.
Next I got the SheaMoisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I tried not to put too much so my hair didn't feel greasy, mostly putting a bit on my hands when my hair was dry and smoothing it on.
Trying to find a balance with my hair though was driving me nuts. Sometimes I'd try a new product or try too many at once and my hair felt gross and I'd have to rinse it all out at the end of the day. I was washing my hair almost daily because there was too much product in it. I either put too much or too little in my hair and would just throw it up in a ponytail to avoid dealing with it.
I was remembering why I preferred straightening it.
And then I got recommended to do conditioner cleanser or going No-Poo.
Yeah, it sounds weird. Basically you give up shampoo and go for a conditioner cleanser. Shampoo apparently has really harsh detergent in it and can strip out all the oil in your hair and your head tries to make up for it by producing more oil. By doing conditioner cleanser, it's gentler, doesn't completely strip out the oil so your scalp doesn't overproduce it.
I was super skeptical. I hate my hair being oily and greasy. It makes me breakout and dry shampoo feels crunchy. But I quickly got tired of frizzy messy curls so figured why not. I ordered Deva No-Poo conditioner cleanser and tried it out.
And it's actually not that bad. It took a while to not add a ton because I felt like I wasn't clean enough but my curls weren't that frizzy and were really soft. You don't get that squeaky clean sound when you rub your hair but apparently you're not suppose to. It means it's too clean. It still took 3 days before my hair got oily but even then it wasn't that oily and I could use dry shampoo to make it last another day.
The downside is that bottle of conditioner cleanser costs $15. That's a lot for me to spend. Plus Rony is using it now so the bottle is emptying fast and it ain't that big.
But my hair is finally curling nicely and is less frizzy although it is now huge when dry.
I trimmed it a bit and got some dead ends off and then my hair got even better.
Now am I completely in love with my curls? Honestly, not always. I feel like the curls aren't uniform enough for it to look really nice and not just a tangled mess. That or I just don't have the knowledge to make them nice looking. But sometimes they turn out good and I don't mind them. It also doesn't help that the bleached ends don't curl that well anymore.
I'll still probably straighten them every now and then, but I think I'll try and leave them natural more often than not. I wish it was less effort to take care of them because I'm way too lazy for this life, but if I can get a routine down then it might get better.
I've learned to like my wild curly look more than before as long as the curls don't get too crazy.
PS. Bangs are the worst when you have curly hair.
-Sam <3