Sucking it up and learning to love and adore your curls, despite popular media, isn’t really all that bad of a task. In fact, most curlies love it! Embracing your type 3 curls and finally letting them do as they wish and be who they are allows you to do what you wish and be who YOU are too. It’s freeing and fabulous, but it can also be a bit of a major FAIL.
No worries, though, because with a few tips from those who have gone before you, you can avoid these curly hair care fails and start seeing the fabulous!
The Accidental Chop
If you are the average curly you know exactly what I am talking about. You did your research, perused the blogs, and Googled how-tos, but once those scissors got in your hands, a trim turned into a chop, and a chop turned into lopsided hair. Then you grab the scissors again to “correct ” your mistake. Now your hair isn’t just lopsided, but the progress you made in the last grow out challenge has now all been undone.
Don’t do it, curlies. Just don’t. Cutting curly hair is for the professionals. Find out. You’ll be happy you did!
Layering
Picture this: Black Friday has just passed and you ordered everything that was recommended by your curl buddies. The package arrives and even though you just did your hair yesterday, you hop in the shower to wash it and try out your new stuff.
But the problem is you just can’t decide what to use first, so the logical thing to do would be to use all at once. You split your hair into quarters and use all four leave-ins you bought and grab random sections just to try out that new gel even though you’re doing a twist out. It doesn’t hurt to use both stylers, right?
Wrong. Layering product on product will only result in you having to wash your hair again — and this time with shampoo! Remember, the less product the better because the less you shampoo the better! Don’t let product goop gather on your scalp. You’re reading product labels and avoiding silicones for a reason, ladies!
Tunnel Vision
As curlies, we often tend to form cliques and groups with women who share our struggle. Wavy haired women who plop together stay together, and nothing can bring kinky-curly haired women together more than the trials and tribulations of curl defining. But sometimes we get so caught up in curl typing that we completely forget about the other aspects of our curly hair care that are far more important.
Try ignoring curl size and shrinkage for just one moment and see what you have to learn from women whose hair could not be more different than yours.
Over-styling
I get the need to have hair that’s on point 24/7. It’s a diva thing. However, the need to have perfectly defined hair with just the right amount of volume and no frizz is probably costing you. It had to have crossed your mind that the daily wash and go, constant manipulation and overuse of the comb and brush was the reason behind all those single strand knots and splits. But what are deep conditioners for if not to help our hair withstand our constant abuse?
Stop the the over-styling and take the time to develop good curly hair care. Deep condition on a regular basis and be sure to properly detangle (which is by not ruining the curl pattern in the process”>. Simply doing those two things will help your hair look fab without all of that glab (aka, too much product or touching!”>.
Want More?
Final Thoughts
What curly hair care tips and tricks of the trade have you had to toss because they just were NOT working?
