The journey of transitioning to natural hair can be a bumpy ride. One of the most common issues new naturals run into is dealing with multiple textures at once. It can be stressful to style and care for multiple textures and many curly girls end up frustrated, rocking the same style for weeks because it’s the only look that seems to work. Change up your rotation and find love for your mixed texture curls with these 5 styles:
1. The Twist Out
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The Twist Out is a must for transitioning and curly girls. As your hair grows, this is a style that grows with you. However, a lot of us struggle with this style because it requires some patience so your look doesn’t end up too chunky or too frizzy. Watch India of My Natural Sistas as she masters the twist, the takedown, and the picking of her voluminous Twist Out and shows you how to keep your ends in check. For a smooth finish, she recommends CURLS Blueberry Bliss Twist-N-Shout Cream.
2. The Three-Strand Twist
Just like the twist out, a three-strand twist should definitely be in your bag of tricks. This look is easy to create, lets you hide some mixed texture, and protects your ends. This quick guide from Samantha Harris of Ahfro_Baang will show you how to get that not-frizzy, not-flat three-strand twist that will even out your various textures and help you achieve mega-sexy volume.
3. Cocoon Curls
If you really want to embrace your textures – however they’re developing – and let your hair run wild and free, try cocoon curls! This is a look with a lot of body and attitude but if you’ve got it, why not flaunt it? Using the Camille Rose Twisting Butter – which we LOVE – Christine Amor shows us how to achieve cocooned twists. These loopy little slipknots seem more complex to create than they really are – give this one a try. Your end result will feel retro-inspired and chic.
4. The Flat Twist
If you really want to camouflage your multi-texture look, the Flat Twist will help you mask the varied pattern of your curl, root to end. Lianne at Chronicurls makes this style look super easy but if you’re new to it, take it slow and section your hair carefully for best results. Lianne is using the Mielle Organics White Peony Leave-in Conditioner, Edge Gel, and Brazilian Curl Cream to achieve this smooth, stylish look.
5. The Chunky Twisted Updo
This updo is an any-texture favorite that works well for date-night, the office, or casual outings. Because it’s so versatile, it’s essential to master this style especially once your hair has grown fairly long. Starting with stretched hair, TJ shows us how to section, twist, and secure this look into place.
Which of these styles are you going to try this week?
Tag us on Instagram and show us your mixed texture style wins! We can’t wait to see you shine.
Let’s play a game. What do you think of when you hear the word “mousse?” If you’re anything like me, it may bring up associations with crunchy curls, the 80s, and drying alcohols, but you should know that things have changed. Hairstyles, techniques, brands, and product formulas have all evolved since the days of teased, crispy curls. But because we still get flashbacks when we pick up a bottle of mousse, we spoke with a few curly hair experts about when to use mousse, who should be using mousse today – and who shouldn’t.
Why use a mousse?
Brooke Michie, curl stylist and owner of Lyric Salon in Austin, Texas, first made me reconsider mousse when she used it in Grace’s wavy hair transformation. She loves using mousse on her curly haired clients because it’s “easy to apply, economical per use, has buildable coverage and hold, and can be layered with so many other types of products.”
Maya Smith, International Master of Natural Curls and founder of The Doux®, a haircare line she created specifically for naturally curly hair, says mousse can be used for “any style that requires definition and light hold. It can be used not only to set wash & go’s, but for twist outs and rod sets as well.”
As I’ve been starting to experiment with mousse more, I’ve wondered if I can use it on my dry hair as a refresher on second-day hair. According to Maya, “Mousse is best applied to wet hair for Wash & Go styling, but it can also be used to set a dry twist-out and to redefine the curl pattern. I wouldn’t recommend using it to replenish moisture on next-day hair.”
What causes that crunch?
Maya says, “It’s common for mousse to be combined with gel or cream because most mousse on the market contain alcohol to make the hair dry faster. They are also polymer-rich, which creates a sticky coating on the hair, much like a hairspray. This can leave hair feeling dry and stiff. We formulated our Mousse Def as an all-in-one solution for this problem. It creates the shine and definition of a mousse, yet leaves hair soft and touchable with no flaking.”
Maya recommends watching out for ingredients such as sodium laurel sulfate (SLS, Isopropyl, and Prolyene, which “have been found to cause breakage and dry out your hair). The best way to achieve healthy hair is to have that balance between protein and moisture.”
Brooke says it depends on the mousse, “lightweight, airy mousse or foam is great for wavy hair. Denser mousse is great for 2s and 3s and as a thin layer of added hold for more definition over a moisture foundation for well-hydrated 4s even!” For Maya, it depends on the hairstyle: “I recommend mousse for hair up to Type 4B, depending on the desired results.”
But before you rule mousse out for your Type 4C coils, Gerilyn Hayes, NaturallyCurly Senior Copywriter, loves using mousse on her 4C wash and go (like Camille Rose Spiked Honey Mousse). “I use about 5-6 pumps of mousse in my hair after shampooing and conditioning. I do this because I want to make sure that I’m starting with a clean scalp and curls that are free from any other previous products. And because my curls are very coarse and need lots of hydration, I make sure that my curls are soaked with water (which is why the shower is great for applying mousse to my hair).
To avoid product and water getting into my eyes, I flip my head over and scrunch my curls’ ends to my scalp. Although I do not have a lot of length, I still use this ends-to-root scrunching method to get the optimal curl definition. Sometimes I rake the mousse through my curls and then wrap them in a scarf, giving them more shine. Although rake versus scrunching may look similar to any onlooker, the textural differences are apparent to me!”
Who shouldn’t use mousse?
“Curls with moisture as the number one priority,” says Brooke, “or those who don’t need a product with general hold, but seek more of a product/product combo to hydrate than seal.” So if your curls are thirsty and your top priority is moisture, then you may want to opt for something like the LOC Method, which layers a leave-in for moisture, an oil to seal in the moisture, and then a cream for hold.
When to use mousse
Brooke prefers “the lightest weight mousse (she loves Bread Beauty Supply Hair Foam) in wavy hair for primary, general hold,” and this is how she recommends applying it:
On freshly rinsed detangled hair in the shower, glaze a small amount over the surface area of the hair.
Then flip and glaze another small amount over the underneath surface area.
Then, apply the majority of it via scrunching and distribute it in your palms, making sure not to flatten the airiness of the foam.
Before scrunching the ends of the hair up toward the scalp with a flat palm into a clenched fist motion, rotating your head to reach curls on either side.
Once a leave-in or moisture foundation is either combed through or scrunched in sopping wet hair.
Then add a little denser mousse by finger combing detangled sections, or for longer curls, scrunching as above.
“This will create a cast of hold,” says Brooke, but before you worry about the crunch, remember you need to break that cast by scrunching out the crunch. “Release the cast once hair is fully dry by touching curls gently, or scrunching once more to release the wet-looking hold that was necessary during the drying process to maximize definition.”
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