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.
