Search Results: Tasha Swearingen

By Tasha Swearingen · Published July 13, 2012

No matter what your hair type is, you need to moisturize your curls! Many curlies have a hair care routine that includes using moisturizers such as leave-ins and curl creams. Depending on the length of your hair, its porosity, and your budget, using such products can be costly. Did you know that you could make your own homemade hair moisturizer for a fraction of the cost? As a bonus, you’ll be able to whip up a batch on an as-needed basis (or give some away as gifts!”>, and you can apply your moisturizer generously since you can always whip up some more! If you like to cook things up in the kitchen, these hair moisturizer recipes are for you.

Gentle Glycerin

Glycerin comes from the liquid and fats of vegetable oil. While it can be tricky to find, I’ve found it in the grocery store near rubbing alcohol and facial astringents. It’s a great ingredient for adding moisture to your skin, and you can use it as a detangler as well! Bev from The Make Your Own Zone shared a glycerin-based detangler complete with before and after pictures that are astounding. Stir together 1/4 cup glycerin with 1 cup distilled water. Then add in 1 tsp of your favorite essential oils. Keep the mixture in a spray bottle for easy detangling, and you’re set!

Coily Conditioning

For you type 4s out there wondering how these treatments will work in your hair and if they will have any effect on the things you struggle with, fear not! Natural hair blogger TheMBess has a recipe that is just the mixture she needs to keep her hair moistened and dandruff-free. Combine 1 cup purified water with 1/2 cup aloe juice, 1 tbsp melted coconut oil, water from a can of coconut milk, about 3 tbsp lime juice, 5 vitamin E capsules (just pop with a needle and then squeeze into your mixture”>, 2 tbsp glycerin and a couple tablespoons each of essential oils that you know work well with your hair. Once mixed, you can store it in a spray bottle. She likes using this on hair at night before bed so that her hair can soak in the moisture overnight.

Just Add Water!

We know that for some of you, gathering up all of these ingredients can be near impossible if you don’t already know where to go to get them. For you curlies, there is something a little easier for you to do at home. MoTown Girl’s leave-in conditioner is just for you, curlies! All you have to do is add some distilled water to a few ounces of your favorite conditioner. You’ll need about 2 oz. of a store-bought conditioner, 1 – 1/2 oz. of distilled water, 1/8 cup olive oil and 1 tbsp glycerin (which is optional if you’re using a thick conditioner”>. If you want, you can add in 1 tbsp silk peptide powder and some essential oils, but these are not necessary.

Final Thoughts

Keeping curly hair moisturized is an absolute must, especially during the summer months when our hair sees hotter temperatures than its felt all year. This summer have fun with making your own moisturizer!

Have you discovered any homemade moisturizer recipes that work well for your hair type?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published July 11, 2012

Whether you’re a low-poo, co-washing, or regular wash-and-go kind of girl, you’ll need something to clarify and remove products and excess oils that build up in your hair. Finding the right one, however, can prove to be challenging. You might find one that cleanses well but dries your hair out or you may have found one that is gentler but leaves your curls limp. One solution to finding the best hair cleanser is to make your own! You’ll know exactly what goes in into your homemade hair cleanser and control the amount of ingredients your hair needs.

Flowery Fresh

Castile soap comes in a variety of mixtures, some from olive oil and others from jojoba oils. Whatever your preference, you’ll need about 5 tbsp of chamomile flowers, which you’ll add to a pot and cover with about 4 cups of boiling, distilled water. Cover the pot and let the flowers steep for about half an hour. Strain the flowers, preserving the water, and pour in 1/4 cup of Castile flakes into the water. After the mixture cools, pour it into a plastic container and keep it in the shower.

If your hair is on the dry side, mix together 1/4 cup of the Castile mixture, 1/4 cup aloe vera gel, 1/4 tsp avocado oil and 1 tsp vegetable glycerin. Store this mixture in a plastic container so it’s handy in the shower.

Naturally Clean

Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile soap is useful for a variety of things. If you’ve been into natural cleaners for any amount of time, you may have used some of his soaps for anything from house cleaning to washing cloth diapers. (Peppermint scent is my favorite for cloth diapers!”> But, did you know you could use Dr. Bronner’s Castile for your hair too? Lindsay, from Passionate Homemaking, has developed a great homemade hair cleanser using Dr. Bronner’s and a few other ingredients. Just mix together 1 cup Dr. Bronner’s (in your favorite scent”>, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 3/4 tsp tea tree oil, and 1/4 cup water.

Alternatively, you can mix in 1 cup green tea, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp honey with your Dr.Bronner’s soap. Either way, stir it up really well and store in a spray bottle so you can spritz it on your hair for cleansing.

Final Thoughts

If mixing up a new shampoo sounds overwhelming to you, just add some baking soda to your current shampoo. This will help remove product buildup, especially hair gels and holding sprays.

What successes have you had with homemade hair cleansers?

Want More?

• Find More DIY Hair Cleansers in our Recipes Section
• Shampoo-Free With Cleansing Conditioners
• Curlies: How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published July 9, 2012

Like many curlies, you’ve most likely developed a hair care regimen that you’re comfortable using on a daily basis. Additionally, if you leave your house every day, you’ve almost certainly come up with a routine that lets you look your absolute best as often as possible. But does constantly applying products to your curls do more harm than good? Should you skip the products from time to time and give your curls a chance to breathe?

Product Buildup

Styling products such as gels and leave-in conditioners are often a curly girl’s best friend! Without them, we might have a tough time handling our curls. They’re so important that many of us have different styling products to accommodate different occasions, seasons and types of weather. Despite the benefits of styling products, however, there is one disadvantage to using them: product buildup.

Most of us curlies don’t need to wash our hair every single day. But to keep our style looking fresh, we may add a small amount of product to our hair each day. As a result, we end up with hair that carries products around for days. After a few days, our hair may start to appear lifeless due to the added weight of these products. This is why you should use clarifying shampoos to remove the products you’ve been applying without damaging your curls.

Skip the Extras

No curly wants to feel uncomfortable with her looks if she has to interact with people! However, if you don’t actually have to look presentable for the day, like on your day off, consider “airing out” your hair by skipping the styling products. Let your curls rest! Shampoo, condition, and dry as usual, then pull your hair back into a simple braid, puff or ponytail for the day. Since you’re used to wearing hair weighed down with products, you’ll probably notice that your hair feels much lighter. It’ll also be more likely to frizz, especially if you have fine hair, but that’s okay since you’re not leaving the house! The next day, you can resume your normal hair care routine, gels and all.

Final Thoughts

We won’t argue that gels and leave-in conditioners are pretty much a lifesaver for curly girls! Still, while we may swear by some of our favorite styling products, we can do our curls a favor by letting them rest without the extras now and then. Have you come up with a way to make your hair look great even without styling products?

What are some of your styling secrets that don’t involve using styling products?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published June 12, 2012

As curlies, we’re always trying to find the best way to keep our tresses looking their very best. Part of this usually involves regular trims, haircuts and new styles. These days, straighties have many options for trimming their hair, such as having a blunt cut, razors and the twist-cut method, which involves twisting the hair in order to get an angled haircut. But is this method that works so well on straight hair really something we curlies should pursue?

The Technique

Twist-cutting is a great way for a stylist to do an angled haircut, such as for bangs or an inverted bob. To do a twist-cut, a stylist will gather a section of the hair that she will twist then cut. The trick is to twist with the hair in one hand and then take over halfway through with the opposite hand, freeing up the dominant hand for cutting. She can then cut straight across — at a predetermined length — but the result will be two angled sections of hair that are even. Alternatively, some stylists twist the hair and then run the blade up and down the twist, similar to using a razor.

The Appeal

From a stylists’ point of view, the twist-cut is effective and fast. Rather than cutting one section of the hair at an angle and then trying to match up the other side just right, the twist-cut allows a stylist to cut just once and obtain the same results. For clients, the twist-cut takes up less time and keeps them moving, rather than tying them to a salon chair for an unnecessary amount of time.

Curly Considerations

When you want your curls trimmed or styled, you’ll definitely want to see someone who really knows how to work with curly hair. After all, curly hair has so many different variations, from type and porosity to shrinkage levels and curl definition. For instance, while using a razor results in a natural looking (read: not blunt and choppy”> trim on straight hair, it can actually break apart our curls and damage the hair shaft. On the other hand, some curlies say that using the razor can work wonders if you’re trying to thin out your hair.

The same is true of the twist-cut method. It’s a great choice for straighties, but curlies might need to think twice about it. For one thing, cutting our curls at an angle may result in “pyramid head.” As a result, our hair can look frizzy even when it isn’t and we might even look a little top-heavy in the hair.

Have you considered having a twist-cut done to your curls? Better yet, were you brave enough to have it done? If so, what were your results?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published May 1, 2012

Many hair care products geared toward the curly community boast of having added protein. This is good, as we curlies do tend to need the added protein, especially if we have porous hair. However, with a couple of ingredients and a little bit of extra time, you can actually give your hair a protein boost at home with this rum and egg porous hair treatment.

Getting Started

To get started, you’ll need some clear alcohol such as rum or vodka and two eggs. This depends on the length of your hair, though, and those of you with chin to shoulder length hair could probably get away with just one egg. I opted to double the recipe to be sure I had enough for my hair which is several inches past my shoulders. None of my mixture went to waste.

Since I didn’t have any rum on hand (we only drink one maybe two times a year”>, I rummaged up some leftover vodka from New Year’s. Before doing so, I researched this to see if there would be any difference between rum and vodka and there did not appear to be any difference. The important thing seemed to be having a clear alcohol that is fairly strong and “dry.”

Read More: How Does Hair Porosity Affect Your Curls?

Creating the Mixture

I mixed together three tablespoons of vodka per egg yolk, so this meant six tablespoons of vodka and two egg yolks for my length of hair. The mixture was kind of gooey, even though I whipped it with a fork several times. It actually was smooth-looking, but once you stick your hands into it, you can see it’s kind of goopy.

Next, it’s a good idea to detangle your hair. Alcohol isn’t exactly a natural detangler (quite the opposite, actually”>, so do what you can beforehand.

Note that I started out with third-day hair, pretty dull at this point, with all sorts of crazy things going on. My hair was in a ponytail and some of the hair was straight-ish with spirals at the end, while other parts were just coily (especially near the nape of my neck”>. So I let it down and detangled before putting the mixture in my hair. Yep, that’s my combed-out frizz-happy hair.

At this point, you just dive right into the ooey-gooey mixture and start applying it to your hair.

I have to say, the mixture left my hair feeling kind of parched, rough and smelly. Then again, I can’t stand the smell of alcohol CONSTANTLY in my face, though this may not bother some people. While I let it set on my hair for approximately 20 minutes, I was nearly nauseous as I kept getting whiffs of the vodka around me. Bleck! I could’t wait to hop into the shower!

Read More: Quick & Easy Hair Porosity & Density Tests

Rinse & Repeat

Finally, it was time to wash it out of my hair! When I stepped into the shower, I rinsed my hair with just plain water at first. I was already amazed at how my hair felt surprisingly soft, considering the alcohol made it feel so straw-like as I was applying the egg mixture. I’m guessing this was a result of the egg sliding out of my hair.

Next, I shampooed my hair as usual. When I rinsed out the shampoo, I was still shocked at how SOFT my hair felt. Of course, I still wanted to follow it up with conditioner, so I did.

While researching for this article, before daring to apply this to my hair, I found that many people followed up this porous hair treatment with an ACV (apple cider vinegar”> rinse. Should you choose to do that, you’ll want to add about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to two cups of water. Some complained of the vinegar smell (even after their hair dried”>, while others said it was barely noticeable. This must depend on how much you dilute the vinegar as well as whether you’re using apple cider vinegar or plain vinegar. Alternatively, you could use lemon juice in place of vinegar.

As for me, I didn’t use either because I didn’t discover that I had no vinegar in the house until the egg mixture was whipped together. Frantic, I did some more research to find out what the vinegar is for and whether or not it was truly necessary. As far as I can tell, it’s supposed to help make your hair soft when you finish shampooing out the egg mixture. Since I planned to follow this up with conditioner and my usual detangler, I figured it didn’t matter all that much.

Read More: Why Hair Porosity & Density Matter

Final Thoughts

Here’s a shot of my hair after rinsing and detangling. It doesn’t look a whole lot different here than it did when I first applied the porous hair treatment, probably because my hair is still wet. This is also pre-scrunching, which is what I do to get defined curls. My hair is actually fine and is extremely porous, which means water weighs my hair down tremendously. Had I planned to go anywhere other than to bed, I would have hit it with some holding gel or hairspray and would have done a scrunch-and-pump!

As I sit here typing this, over an hour after getting out of the shower, my hair is drying somewhat. Since it’s very porous and traps in water, it’ll be awhile before it’s completely dry! But at this point, I’m not noticing a whole lot of difference. I did notice a huge difference while in the shower as my hair was really soft hair, but I’m still thinking that could be just from the egg yolk.

The verdict: would I do it again and is this something I simply MUST incorporate into my hair care routine? I’m going to have to say….probably not. But it was still fun to try!

Read More: Is Water Damaging my Hair?

Are you thinking of whipping up some alcohol and eggs to treat your porous curls?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 30, 2012

Usually when we think about matted hair, the first thing that comes to mind is a homeless dog in desperate need of a grooming. Unfortunately, this situation isn’t limited to our canine companions. It’s not even limited to curlies since our straight-haired comrades can easily get matted hair too. While having matted hair can be horrifying, it is possible to detangle matted hair out without reaching for the scissors.

Loosen the Locs

Recently one of my daughters came to me with a ponytail that was evidently hiding a matted mess within. After taking the ponytail holder out, I was horrified at the huge mat buried inside her waves. Cue the lecture on coming to me sooner with problems, yada yada…and then I set out to get that ratty mess out of her hair. Thirty minutes and two very sore arms later, it was out! It took patience and little bit of know-how, but we managed to remove it with no need to trim. That’s not to say she didn’t lose some hair in the process, but there was no chopping involved. Here’s what we did:

1. Wet the hair very well, or hop into the shower, but skip the shampoo. In our case, since she was already dressed, I drenched her hair with a spray bottle.
2. While the hair is still wet, apply generous amounts of a good detangler (something that should be a staple item in any curly girl’s bathroom”> to the matted hair and the chunks of hair around it.
3. Brace yourself and dive into it with a wide-toothed comb. Make sure you hold onto your hair near the root for the chunk you’re working on, or it will hurt VERY badly. The goal at this step is not to get the mat out completely (purely wishful thinking”> but to loosen the surrounding hairs, sort of isolating the mat as best you can.
4. Apply even more detangler to the mat and surrounding hairs, and massage it into the mat.
5. Working with the comb and your fingers, separate more of the hairs around the mat. If needed, you can hit it with a detangling brush to encourage that stubborn knot to loosen. In my daughter’s case, I found that the detangling brush really helped. Mind you, I usually do not brush wet hair — but I also wouldn’t usually have a daughter with matted hair. Desperate times…
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 as needed until the mat comes loose. Alternate using the comb, your fingers and a detangling brush if you’re using one. Again, it took us a good half hour to get through her large knot. I remember having to rest my arms halfway through, because holding your arms up starts hurting after about 15 minutes.

Have you run into this problem before? How do you detangle matted hair?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 26, 2012

What causes gray hairs in the first place? Your body produces a protein called melanin, which allows your hair to grow in (at the root”> through melanin-filled cells. At some point (usually in your early 30s, though it can happen much sooner”>, your body stops producing this protein, resulting in a lack of melanocytes. Your melanocytes share melanin with keratinocytes, which produce keratin. When the keratinocytes die off, they still hold onto the melanin, which means they’re hanging onto your hair color. As a result, new hair that grows in has no pigment and presents itself as gray or white.

In laymens terms: your hair passes through melanin-filled cells as it comes in. When those cells no longer retain melanin (because it’s being hogged up by something — keratinocytes — that is dying”>, the hair has no pigment to pass through as it comes in, so it comes through gray. (This means that your hair doesn’t suddenly “change” into a gray shade; your new hairs are growing in gray.”>

This gray hair, lacking in melanin and keratin, is very dry and coarse. For straighties, this often means they suddenly get hair that sticks out, flies away, or curls near the roots. For curlies, it usually means having hair that gets bumped up a level in type (i.e. type 3s start growing in hair that more closely resembles type 4″>. However, some curlies get shocked with gray hairs that are nearly straight and look nothing like the hair they’ve come to know and love!

Embrace the Gray?

Some people, usually men, view gray hairs as a sign of seniority and say that it gives them a “distinguished” look. Women, on the other hand, are usually horrified. Tolerating gray hair is one thing, but embracing gray hair is quite another! Nonetheless, at some point you’ll have to accept what you cannot change. Remember, chemical hair dyes are not natural!

Glowing in Gray

The solution for your newfound grays depends on what you’re dealing with once they make an appearance. If you’re going from wavy to curly or from curly to coily, consider adding more moisture-rich products to your hair care routine. The more curl your hair has, the more porous it tends to be. Gray hairs are more dry on their own, regardless of curl pattern or lack thereof. Additionally, some curlies seem to have the frizzies under control until the gray hairs takes over the majority of their hair. However, until your whole head is gray, which can take decades, you probably don’t need to go on a full-on quest to find a totally new regimen.

If you’re now dealing with random straight hairs or patches of somewhat straight hair, try scrunching it along with your regular hair. Treat it the same way you do the rest of your hair and see if you can’t convince it to cooperate.

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 25, 2012

Ask any curly about the most annoying part of her hair, and she’ll probably tell you the little kinks at the nape of her neck that seem to just never go away and are always frizzy. Those pesky nape hairs are always getting in knots, no matter what you do with your curly hair. They are especially irritating because they’re usually too short to actually do anything much to them. What’s a curly to do about those blasted nape hairs?

Why They are Bothersome

Growing up, I didn’t really know what to do with my 3c/4a (current”> hair. One thing I could always count on, though, was getting huge knots at the nape of my neck. Sometimes I’d detangle them by rubbing in gobs of conditioner and slowly and gently undoing the knot with my fingers. Other times, I’d just chop it right off. I wouldn’t recommend the latter, especially if you’re working toward growing your hair.

The hairs at the nape of our necks tend to be fine, so those huge knots REALLY stand out and just look gross — especially if you’re trying to wear your hair in a cute ponytail. Additionally, if you’re trying to comb through your hair, it’s very painful to smoothly go through with a wide-toothed comb and then SNAG right at the neck.

What To Do About Them

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to get a knotted nape. When this happens, use a detangler (conditioner works well also”> and coat the nape. Working in sections, start detangling your hair. When you come to a snag, separate the hairs a few at a time so that you’re pulling the hairs away from the knot. If you get enough hairs away, you’ll just be left with a teensy tiny knot that should just come right out in your finger tips.

If the hairs at your nape are more matted, this strategy will take more time but will still work. You’ll have to work at parting the matted knot, which may require adding more conditioner and massaging it into the knot before you can separate the hairs. Don’t fret — it WILL come out. It may take several minutes, but it’s possible!

How to Prevent Nape Hair Knots

The best thing you can do for your nape hairs is to prevent them from knotting up in the first place. To cut down on the problem, try these simple tips:

• Avoid collars that rub on the nape of your hair. A collar that constantly brushes your little nape hairs is almost asking for knots to form. If your shirt collar is pushing those soft hairs together all day, the result will not be nice!
• Brush them! Sometimes when we brush our hair, we actually forget to brush the hairs at our nape. We’ll hit the sides, front, top, back and everything else, but brushing up against our neck seems to escape our memory. If you want to keep those hairs under control, you’ve got to detangle them often.
• Condition your ENTIRE head of hair. Just like with brushing, we sometimes forget to apply conditioner and to detangle that small section of our hair. In doing so, we make that hair susceptible to breakage, plus it tends to get rough and dry. There’s a reason you don’t skip conditioning the rest of your hair, so don’t forget your nape!

How do you take care of your nape hair?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 25, 2012

Many women opt to wear a sew-in as they let their natural hair grow out. Sew-ins let you go natural without sporting a super short hairstyle you may not be comfortable flaunting. They also allow you to slowly adapt to your natural hair, which is good when you’re in the middle of testing products to find a regimen that works — a process that could easily take months or even years. But are they good for your hair, especially if your ultimate goal is to be natural?

What Are Sew-ins?

Sew-ins are a form of weave for the hair that you can actually sew into your hair rather than glue onto your scalp. If you’re going to wear a sew-in while you transition, you’ll want to wear one that covers all of your hair and leaves none of it exposed. This will also save you from having to worry about blending the sew-in with your natural hair color, type and texture.

Who Should Use Them?

In the past, it may have been more common for coilies to opt for a sew-in, but wavies and curlies get them done as well! In the natural hair community, we all go through the same issues, and many of us are transitioning, which isn’t limited to any particular hair type — and neither are sew-ins!

Benefits

Choosing to wear a sew-in while transitioning has many benefits. If you recently did a big chop, you might be self-conscious about short hair. A sew-in will let you “hide” behind the façade of having longer hair. In addition, sew-ins are available in a variety of colors, textures, and hair types. This means you can change your hair color or type without the risk of over-processing your natural hair and stunting its growth. If you are accustomed to wearing your hair straight (relaxers”>, you can purchase straight-haired sew-ins. On the other hand, if you think you might like to start getting used to curly hair, go for a curly sew-in! Since you’ll want to change your sew-in every couple of months at least, feel free to try a straight one the first time and go curly or wavy the next time.

Considerations

The most important thing to remember when you have a sew-in is to care for your natural hair. Don’t think that just because your hair is covered in a sew-in that you can just let it go and ignore it! Quite the contrary, you’ll actually need to pay MORE attention to your hair with a sew-in. This is because the added weight can cause damage and stress to your hair that you otherwise wouldn’t have if you didn’t have a sew-in.

Also, when you’re in between sew-ins, you’ll want to let your hair “breathe” a little after covering it completely. The time you’ll need to do without a sew-in really just depends on how your hair reacts, which you won’t know until you take it out. If you have a lot of breakage after you’ve taken out the sew-in, you might consider leaving it out for a few weeks while you work to replenish the moisture your hair needs.

Almost as important as caring for your natural hair while wearing a sew-in is finding a stylist who knows how to properly apply a sew-in. Don’t assume that just because someone “does weaves” that she knows HOW to do them well! Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. While you may find a “hair dresser” who will do your sew-in for $50-60, it might be worth paying closer to $80-90 to have it done by a stylist who will not leave you with a cone head, bald spots when you remove the sew-in, or overall just looking wrong. A good stylist will also take her time on you. Ask for references from friends, and look at a potential stylists’ portfolio of work to see what she’s done and how she does sew-ins. Bottom line: it might be worth the splurge to have your sew-in done right.

What do think about using sew-ins to grow your natural hair?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 13, 2012

Many naturally curly girls believe that in order to have straight hair, either chemicals or heat must be involved, but this just isn’t true! As a curly girl, you may have recently figured out how to enjoy wearing your hair curly, which is great. However, if you prefer to wear it straight, that’s fine too.

We’re all about doing YOU over here at NaturallyCurly, and if doing YOU is doing your hair straight, too, then go for it. But at least let us help you stay perfectly healthy and natural in the process.

Many webpages have techniques of straightening hair without chemicals, but it always involves heat from either a blow dryer or flat iron. This will definitely work, but there are better ways to straighten without either or these. Of course, if you’re not using chemicals, your straightening won’t last long. But if you just want straight hair for that one special occasion, try this all natural hair straightening treatment from BlackHairInformation.

Does it Work?

Before I lead you on a wild goose chase for all the products mentioned below, and send you off into the kitchen to make yourself some hair straightening gravy, let me tell you this: I’m not so sure it works. See, all the comments on BlackHairInformation state that the mixture does result in soft, defined, looser coils, but not anything that is necessarily straight.

However, if the treatment loosens the coils of type 4s, then it is likely that for wavies and curlies (type 2 and type 3″>, it will straighten your tresses. So, textured hair community, we turn to you. Is the all natural hair straightening treatment merely myth or Mary-sent magic?

To the Kitchen!

1. In a saucepan, pour the coconut milk and olive oil together and whisk until smooth. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and fresh lemon juice until there are no lumps. You can start with a few tablespoons, but you may need all four.
2. When you’re finished, whisk the cornstarch mixture into the coconut milk mixture and put the saucepan over medium heat while continuously whisking. Just like when you’re making gravy, the heat and whisking will liven up the cornstarch, causing it to thicken the liquid. You’ll want to do this until your mixture reaches the consistency of conditioner.
3. Working in small sections, apply a liberal amount of the mixture to your hair to ensure that all hair receives the treatment.
4. Cover your hair in a shower cap and wrap sit under a hood dryer. If you don’t have access to a hood dryer, you can also wrap your head in a hot towel. Just put a towel in a microwave-safe bowl full of water and heat it up for a few minutes, then — using gloved hands — wring out the excess water. Wrap the towel around your covered hair for about 30 minutes.
5. Shampoo your hair as usual and follow it up with a deep conditioner. Then, set your hair with large rollers, cover it with a shower cap and sit under the dryer. Alternatively, you can let it air dry.
6. If you’re not opposed to using a flat-iron, doing so will give your hair the most sleek finish. Just be sure you use a heat protectant!

BE FEATURED: The first lady to send in before and after pictures of the treatment will be uploaded to the article and have her story featured on the site!

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 11, 2012

Wavies need to be extra careful when stepping under a stream of water. If the water pressure in your shower is too forceful, it can leave your hair looking limp when you get out.

On the other hand, a stream of water coming out too slowly may not thoroughly rinse out conditioners, resulting in waves that looks weighed down.

Granted, it isn’t only wavy girls that have issues with water pressure. The problem exists for all hair types. However, because type 3 and type 4 gals often have thicker heads of hair, they can use a particularly bizarre, but useful, tool in the shower to protect their texture: hair nets.

Join the Conversation: CurlTalkers on Hair Nets

The premise behind using hair nets in the shower is that it helps to keep texture undisturbed from too much water pressure. In other words, if you have a high pressure shower, using a hair net will help to keep your hair in place, without disturbing the curl pattern, so that you can experience more texture and less frizz.

While the outcome sounds ideal, wavies often find pitfalls in the hair net usability realm.

Waves & Nets Don’t Mix

Much of the curly hair information out there focuses on those with defined curls or ringlets (type 3″> or coily (type 4″> hair. While this information may be useful for girls with super curls, those with wavy hair are wondering what they can do. One such piece of advice is the suggestion of using a hair net in the shower, which doesn’t leave any room for wavies to detangle and can result in a matted mess.

Wavies often need to be able to apply generous amounts of conditioner and detangle with fingers or a wide-toothed comb in the shower. With a hairnet on, this is obviously impossible. On top of this, hairnets can just sag with the weight of the water since wavy hair tends to be lightweight, which would rather defeat the purpose of using one. Additionally, the small strands of hair that come through the holes in the hairnet leads to frizzy-looking hair when wavies step out of the shower.

Hair Net Alternatives for Waves

By Tasha Swearingen · Published April 3, 2012

Many naturals like to avoid adding chemicals and other unnatural things to their hair as much as possible. At the same time, they might need something to add depth and color without causing harm to what they’ve worked so hard to obtain. Luckily, mixing henna and indigo can do this and will provide fantastic results if done correctly. Bonus: it’s also a helpful way for naturally curly girls to cover up grays!

When using henna to dye your hair, avoid prepackaged “henna hair dyes.” While it may seem easier to use something that is ready-to-go, you’ll pay for the convenience. Many of these ready-to-go henna hair dyes have ingredients besides henna mixed into them. Additionally, since you have no control over the henna mixture, you risk your hair coming out a different color that you may anticipate. Often, you will see these listed as “natural” or “herbal” henna hair dyes.

The following is known as the “two-step” henna hair-dyeing technique, though there are clearly more than two steps. The “two steps” refers to doing henna and following it up with indigo for dark brown/black curls.

How To Mix Henna & Indigo

• Step 1: Protect your workspace! Indigo will dye surfaces blue, and the henna-indigo mixture can turn surfaces any shade of orange, red, blue, green or black. Cover your countertops, floors and any other area you think might get a drop of the mixture during the process. Also, don’t use your best towels (it’s a good idea to have “hennaing towels””> and put on some old clothes. This is also the time to make sure your hair is free of tangles.
• Step 2: For shoulder-length hair, put 200g of henna powder in a bowl. For dark brown curls, a good mixture would be 100g of Jamila or Rajasthani Twilight plus 100g Dulhan. You can double the amount of henna (400g total”> if you’re unsure about how much you’ll need for the length of your hair. It would be best to make too much — and know to adjust the amount next time — than to not have enough!

• Step 3: Bring about three cups of distilled water to a boil, then toss in three bags of green tea and allow that to brew for a few minutes. Let the tea cool to room temperature. Then, slowly pour the tea (bags removed”> into the henna powder using a wooden or plastic spoon until the mixture is the consistency of a thick batter.
• Step 4: Cover the bowl and seal it tightly, then let it set in a cool, dark place for 12 hours. If you later find that this quantity of henna is too much for the length of your hair, then you can separate the henna into two parts after it has set for 12 hours. Wrap one part in clear plastic wrap and wrap it up in aluminum foil, store it in a freezer bag, then place in the freezer for your next use. Just let the mixture thaw out, and then jump right into step 5!

• Step 5: Add 4 tbs of honey and approximately 1 and 1 1/2 cups of your favorite moisturizing conditioner. A good choice would be CURLS Coconut Sublime Moisturizing Conditioner for dry hair or Curl Junkie’s Curl Assurance Smoothing Conditioner for curly hair that tends to frizz.

Slowly pour the tea (bags removed”> into the henna powder using a wooden or plastic spoon until the mixture is the consistency of a thick batter.

• Step 6: Separate hair into four sections, put on some gloves, and dive right into the henna mix! Start at the roots and apply with hands the same way you would any hair dye.
• Step 7: Wrap your hair in plastic wrap, then wrap with a towel to catch any drips and allow the henna mixture to sit on your hair for four hours. Note that this length of time varies depending on your hair type and porosity. Type 2s may find that three hours is sufficient while more dry hair, such as type 4 coils, may need to wait the full four hours. Some curlies prefer to leave the henna mixture on overnight so as not to deal with waiting, watching and rinsing immediately.
• Step 8: Put on a new pair of gloves, then dunk your hair into a filled tub to remove most of the henna mixture. You can get the remaining henna out in the sink. Then, mix together 50g of indigo powder, a dash of salt and enough water to make a very thick paste.
• Step 9: Using glove-covered hands, apply the indigo mix to your hair. Adding indigo to henna’ed hair is what will give your hair that dark brown/black color!
• Step 10: Wrap your hair in plastic wrap and cover with a shower cap. Then sit under the heat for one hour.
• Step 11: Finally, hop into the shower and rinse everything out of your hair! It may take a few rinses before everything comes out completely. Follow this up with a deep condition.

How do you mix henna for fabulous color?

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 30, 2012

You know your hair is a decent length when it’s wet, but somehow, once it dries it loses several inches. If you’re growing your hair out naturally, this can be somewhat discouraging — especially if you took the plunge and did a big chop. The truth is, ALL curlies experience some type of hair shrinkage. However, if you’re a type 4, you’re particularly prone to a lot of shrinkage. So how can you accurately measure the length of your hair and your overall growth progress?

What is Hair Shrinkage?

Shrinkage is the difference between what your hair looks like when it’s wet and gently stretched to its maximum length and what it looks like when it’s dry. It happens to all curls, from type 2 to type 4. However, it’s definitely more noticeable in type 4 coils because type 4s have tighter curls. For type 2s and some type 3s, shrinkage is hardly noticeable, since the hair won’t look all that different dry than it does when it’s wet. For type 3s with super-coils, it’s pretty noticeable as well. Some type 3cs and type 4s have even reported losing as much as eight inches once their hair dries!

Generally, type 4s have a lot of shrinkage. In fact, type 4s can look like a type 3 when wet! As a child, my hair was more type 4 and I longed to have it look the way it did when wet (like a type 3″>. I had no idea how to lock in that look, but I probably would have given anything to get it! As an adult who has gone through years of relaxers, my hair is now wavy/straight when wet and type 3c/4a when dry.

How to Measure Hair Shrinkage

Step 1:

When your hair is wet, separate your “tester” section from the rest of your coils and secure the rest of your hair in a clip. You’re going to measure just a small part of your hair and you don’t want the rest of it getting in the way as you do.

Step 2:

Gently hold the tester section as straight as it will go to get maximum length, then measure the length from root to tip. You could also do two or three “tester” sections, which will give you an idea of what parts of your hair tend to shrink more/less.

Step 3:

When your hair is completely dry, measure its length from root to tip. The difference is the amount of shrinkage you have.

Why Knowing Your Amount of Shrinkage is Important

If you are new the world of natural hair, let me let you in on a little secret: a lot of us are length obsessed! We look at women like Corinne Bailey Rae, Solange and CurlyNikki and dream of one day having manes as long as theirs. In doing so, we use healthy products, eat healthy diets and take as much care as possible to not damage our coils, in order to encourage growth.

Understanding the amount of shrinkage that occurs from wet to dry on your coils helps to avoid becoming discouraged. Coils grow just as quickly as other hair types, but because they shrink up when they dry, it is often hard to tell. Continuing on the natural hair journey, and avoiding reverting back to creamy crack or heat processing, is a lesson is learning to love and understand your body the way that it naturally is. Shrinkage is part of that process, but discouragement shouldn’t be!

Combating Hair Shrinkage

Unfortunately, there really isn’t anything you can do to stop the shrinkage completely. It’s pretty much just the nature of having coily hair. However, you can do a couple of things to at least slow it down or lessen the amount of shrinkage.

Try putting your hair in bantu knots while it’s still wet. Alternatively, you could put it in twists. Let it dry this way and then shake it out when it’s done. By doing so, you’ll give your hair a great new look while keeping some of your true length.

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 16, 2012

If you’ve ever tried scrunching your gelled waves while they are wet, you may have been disappointed watching them just flop back down on your shoulders.

Additionally, if you didn’t distribute the gel throughout your hair completely, you’ll notice two different hair textures when the hair dries: one decently scrunched, the other dry and somewhat frizzy.

What can you do to make sure that ALL of your hair scrunches together in gorgeous clumps and defined curls? Try pumping them while you scrunch!

What It Is

We first heard about the scrunch ‘n pump method from one of our CurlTalk users, CSteen85. Her initial post spawned four pages of replies, so we knew she had to be onto something! CSteen85 explained how when she pumped, with a specific regimen, she was always very happy at how defined her curls looked and at how all of her hair was gelled:

“When I take my hand away, I’m left with a really soft-looking clump! I did this all over my head to apply the gel and diffused and got gorgeous clumps!”

According to our CurlTalk users who participated in the forum discussion, the scrunch ‘n pump method prevents frizzies. It also helps to keep your hair detangled as it won’t be intermixing all day.

How to Scrunch ‘n Pump

To do the scrunch ‘n pump, shampoo and condition your hair according to your usual method (co-washing, no-poo, shampoo & condition, etc.”>. Then, coat your hands with your favorite hair gel and scrunch your hair by the handful. You’ll want to do your hair in medium sections to be sure the gel gets incorporated. Pump each handful eight times. Why eight? We don’t know, but it’s what our scrunch ‘n pump inventor recommended!

Another CurlTalk user, Jillipoo, recommends holding each handful a couple of seconds before releasing. She says it really helps to define your curls. “It’s like the curls need to be “started” or something,” she added.

What You Need to Know

The time it takes to do the scrunch ‘n pump depends on a couple of things. The length of your hair will determine how many sections you’ll want to divide your hair into. In addition, the smaller the sections, the longer it will take. This method works best with curlies who don’t have super long hair since medium length hair will let you grab the entire section from tip to root in one palmful.

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 13, 2012

Scrunching is a term used to describe what many type 2s and 3s do to their hair when they apply product. The process involves coating the hands with hair gel or mousse, then grabbing the hair into your palm, making a fist and holding for a second. Curlies and wavies do this two or three times per section of hair, and they find the technique produces amazingly defined curls.

Type 4s, on the other hand, really don’t need anything to give their curls definition. Type 4 IS definition! Type 4 curls are usually very tight curls, which means you don’t need to do anything to make them even tighter. So how do type 4s apply hair products?

Ignore all the “scrunch it in” reviews you see on YouTube from type 3s, even type 3Cs. Type 4 girls find the “shake and go hair” method works well for them most of the time. After you do your washing routine, section off your hair into about four different quadrants. Be sure that hair is soaking wet, then section by section apply a leave-in and then a gel. As you apply the product, finger comb or rake it through the section beginning at the root. As your reach the ends of your hair, lightly grab your hair and shake. This “shake and go hair” technique allows for the product to set within your curls.

How to Apply Gel

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 12, 2012

Clipping your hair is a great way to give it instant lift at the roots where it might otherwise be flat. Curly hair looks great, but has a tendency to fall flat at the roots for type 2 waves due to gravity. Fortunately, you can offset gravity’s force and add body back to limp roots quickly and easily by using jaw clipping.

What You’ll Need

To start, you’ll need some jaw clips. You can either use the small ones or regular sized ones, depending on your hair density. If you want a ton of volume, and have a ton of hair, go big! Smaller clips will give you some volume, but not an overpowering amount.

The number of clips you’ll need depends on the size of the clips as well as how much volume you’re looking to add. If you just want a little volume in the front, you’ll only need a few clips. If you’re looking to add volume to the front and crown of your hair, you’ll want extra.

Also, be sure that your hair is damp when applying the clips. As hair goes from damp to dry, its shape is determined. Adding jaw clips to dry hair will only disturb the curl pattern.

What to Do

Comb through your damp, towel-dried hair as you usually do either using your fingers, a wide-toothed comb or whatever you usually use. Separate the hair that you want to clip. For most people, this means sectioning off from temple to temple with a part going through the crown area. Secure the rest of your hair so that it isn’t caught up in the hair you’ll be clipping.

Separate the top part of the hair that you sectioned off into at least five sections with a part going from the front of your hair toward the back of it. Alternatively, you can separate the front part of your hair into two sections, then clip off to the sides of that part.

If you have a product that you like to use for added volume, now would be the time to apply it. In fact, if curls tend to slump by midday, it would be a good idea to apply a volume-enhancing curl cream. You’ll then clip off the sections that you’ve divided your curls into, then let it air dry. If you’re in a hurry, you can dry it with a diffuser.

Once you remove the jaw clips, the look isn’t that impressive. But after you flip your hair upside down, give it a shake, then stand back up, you’ll be amazed at the volume your hair has.

Additional Benefits

In addition to the added volume you’ll notice immediately, you’ll also notice that your hair will now have root curl. Instead of coming out at the roots straight and curling somewhere down the hair shaft, your hair will show an instant curl straight from the scalp. For wavies, this means more curl, and for curlies, less triangle head. It’s a win for everyone!

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 6, 2012

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

Now that we’ve given you the information on your hair type, how about diagnosing the types of frizz you’re having? Different products and techniques work to control different types of frizz, so the first thing is figuring out your frizz type.

Surface Frizz

This type of frizz only occurs on the surface of the hair. That is, it’s on the outer layers of your hair, but not on the layers underneath. Almost any Curly has dealt with this type of frizz. If you live in a humid climate, you probably deal with this all the time since humidity can definitely “activate” surface frizz.

Poof Ball Frizz

As the name suggests, the poof ball frizz looks like a giant poof ball. Curls are nearly unrecognizable once they’ve reached this state. To be blunt, it looks like a hot mess.

Application Frizz

This type of frizz results from over-applying products, thus touching your hair too much.

Spider Web Frizz

This type is very much like Fly-a-way Frizz, except it tends to linger around the top of the hair. Different strands of hair separate from one another, creating a “web” look on the surface of the hair. Causes for this type of frizz range from the wind to not enough hold. Additionally, Spider Web Frizz can be the result of a bad reaction to hair products.

Halo Frizz

Frizz that centers on the crown of your head.

In-The-Curls Frizz

Just like it sounds, this type of frizz occurs within the curls. In-The-Curls Frizz takes away from the smooth look of your curls. Some of your hair will look great while other parts are frizzy.

Frizzy Tubes

These types of curls are both good and bad. The good: they tend to prevent the rest of the hair from frizzing. The bad: they also prevent the rest of the hair from looking good. Usually curlies with spiral “tubes” (often our Type 3s”> have this issue.

Frizz At The Ends

Just the opposite of Halo Frizz, this type of frizz occurs at the ends of the hair.

Product Frizz

This type of frizz is the direct result of product. You can usually see this on curls who have loads of envy-inducing shine. Not all curls with perfect shine have this issue, but for those who do, it detracts from the pleasant shine. Unfortunately, the products used to create shine often make Product Frizz more apparent.

Crimped Frizz

This type of frizz happens when individual pieces of hair have a sort of “crimped” look to them. It’s generally a result of suffocation, heat and humidity combined.

Dry Frizz

This type of frizzy hair is essentially bone dry. It both feels and looks extremely dry.

Fluffy Frizz

This is very similar to Poof ball Frizz. The difference is that where Poof ball Frizzy hair is together in one massive poof, Fluffy Frizz means your hair has separated into individual poofs. It’s generally the result of a lack of moisture.

Photo Courtesy of Getty Images

Frizz Solutions for All Textures

Now that you’ve pinpointed the type(s”> of frizz you’re experiencing, what can you do about it? Since all types of curls have, undoubtedly, experienced one or more of the different types of frizz, it’s hard to say which products will work best for specific types of frizz. There are too many variables to consider.

Are you a type 2 with Poof ball Frizz? Perhaps you’re a type 3 with a mixture of Fly-a-way Frizz and In-The-Ends Frizz? Or maybe you’re a type 4 with In-The-Ends Frizz? Thankfully, there are products that tend to work best for certain hair types.

Type 2: Wavy

Curl Junkie’s Curls in a Bottle ALWAYS gets amazing reviews from all types of curlies, many of whom are 2s and 2/3 combos. Coffee-Coco’s Curl Creme Lite is another great choice for type 2s who tend to have finer hair that cannot tolerate anything that will weigh it down. In addition to adding moisture (a major cause of frizz”>, this product will kill the frizzes and give your hair some definition.

Type 3: Curly

Blended Beauty’s Curly Frizz Pudding gets rave reviews from our 3b and 3c curls. It’s an aloe-based curly pudding that helps define and shape curls while controlling the frizz. Curlies also report getting fantastic results from AG Hair Cosmetics’ Curl Trigger Curl Defining Spray. This spray helps eliminate frizz while trapping in moisture and shine.

Type 4: Coily

Carol’s Daughter’s Hair Milk Curl Perfecting Shampoo is a great choice for type 4s who often have a lot of product buildup. This shampoo gets great reviews from our type 4s who need something to break through dirt and product while, at the same time, controlling frizz. You can combine this with their Macadamia Heat Protection Gloss, which will strengthen the hair and leave it soft while keeping the frizzies under control. Remember that Type 4 hair tends to be naturally frizzy and that is no indication of health, especially if you do not have natural curl definition. These tips are more applicable for tighter textures that do have curl definition, which can be observed while the hair is wet.

By Tasha Swearingen · Published March 2, 2012

If you were born in the 80s, you’re probably cringing at the thought of something you did being “retro.” After all, “retro” is, like, stuff your PARENTS did.

We children of the 80s are now in our late 20s and 30s, but calling 80s hair styles “retro” is going too far, right?

Well, maybe not. You remember the big hair, the fluff chick, the perms and the purple streaks? If you haven’t been keeping up with the MTV Awards, or any award shows recently, these styles are coming back – with a vengeance!

The texture revolution sure is taking off, but let’s take a look back at the celebrities and styles that inspired the very beginnings of this grass roots movement.

Gnarly Curly Celebrities

Curlies of the 80s had some icons we admired, in part because they weren’t afraid to rock their bodacious locks. Some of our favorites are Lisa Lisa (from Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam”> who had long, dark curly hair. She often wore her hair clipped at the top with the rest flowing down in a massive wave.

And who could forget our favorite material girl? That’s right, Madonna totally rocked the headbands and bangles with her edgy (well, relatively speaking”> fashion sense.

Then there was the infamous and beloved Whitney Houston. We’re still getting chill bumps having to write in the past tense about her. But truth be told, the woman was an idol and in the 80s, her hair had a voice all its own.

Getting the Throwback Look

In the 90s, you never would have believed that a decade in to the new millennium you would want to rock the same textured styles you did in middle and high school. But trends have a way of coming back like that, and those of us involved in the texture revolution like to think that this time around, it isn’t just a trend!

So how can you get these throwback, curly, 80s hair styles? Easy!

For all hair types, consider teasing your hair. You can tease it and wear it up in a Madonna-inspired updo that’s really easy to do.

Simply gather your hair into a ponytail in the back of your head. Working with small, ½” wide sections, curl your hair into several ringlets. You’ll then spray the curls with hairspray to help them hold in place. When you’re done, lift the ponytail up some, from the bottom up, and clip it into a bun/very messy ponytail using just a few bobby pins. You aren’t going for perfect here; actually, the idea is a messy shortened ponytail. Top it off with a headband and you’ll look so diesel!

Imogen from Bubble Dreams has a good tutorial on just how to do this, and she looks adorable! Plus, her style is inspired by Rihanna, meaning that even RiRi has jumped on the 80s hair styles bandwagon. Or, perhaps she’s leading it?

What do you think? Are the textured hair trends of the 80s back in vogue?