Please advise me on styling my natural hair.

[CaraWalker]

Background: I've grown my hair out, natural, twice now. The first time once it was a decent length, I straightened it too often and damaged it. The second time I'm not going to do that. This is what my hair looked like in May of 2012.

I wore sew ins back to back since then, and this is where I am now.

Now I am about two inches from bra strap. I am fairly happy with the length but I want to work on thickness and fullness. I have a lot of hair, but when it's straightened or laid down in any way, it becomes very fine and flat. Otherwise it's very cottony and fluffy. And these are not ideal styling conditions.

My biggest problem, I think, is that I would lose a lot of hair when I shampooed. I would shampoo and condition, then detangle in sections with a denman brush, use a leave in, braid it, and let it air dry. It dried hard, and I'd throw away dog-toy sized balls of hair every time.

Now I do the shampooing process with steam every step of the way, and detangle with a medium tooth comb. I have no tangles and lose very few strands. But I still braid in sections and air dry because I don't know what else to do with it. I don't use the denman anymore because I think it messed up my ends and pulled out a lot of my wet hair.

Now I think I will at least be able to manage the texture of my hair. My shampoo routine is smooth now, and I think I can only do it every three weeks to a month. I think that will be the key to retention for me.

Questions if you can answer any of them.

Maintenance questions:

1. Do I need to moisturize every day? My hair seems to be normal texture by the end of the day, not necessarily soft or hard, but I would prefer it soft. What should I use and how should I put it away at the end of the day?
2. Is there something better to do with hair after shampooing than braiding and letting it air dry? If I blow dry it, it often looks like carpet by the time I'm done, and isn't sustainable for more than a day.
3. This is what my hair looks like after wash day. I detangled with a comb. It may not look like it, but it is very manageable in that state. It mostly lies limp/wavy and for the most part the curls are only visible at the ends. It can coil up the shaft but for some reason it doesn't? Any ideas of what I could do for a wash and go?
4. I think it just generally kind of looks dry, even though it feels like it's in ok condition and is not tangled. What can I do to give it shine and smoothness?

Style questions:

I will not be straightening my hair on any kind of regular basis anymore. At the same time I do not want to lose all of my length to shrinkage. So I want to wear stretched styles.

1. How do I stretch my hair after shampooing? Braiding doesn't work.
2. My hair gets very frizzy when it dries. How do I make it smoother? It's usually like a puff, even if it's been braided.
3. My hair is very cottony and fluffy like I said. I think it's because it needs to be weighted down with a heavy product. Any suggestions and how it should be applied?
4. What sort of styles can be maintained? So far the best I can come up with is ponytails that look like crap, because my curls are frizzy and undefined and I can't really anything else.

Please help!

 

[hnntrr]

Background: I've grown my hair out, natural, twice now. The first time once it was a decent length, I straightened it too often and damaged it. The second time I'm not going to do that. This is what my hair looked like in May of 2012.

I wore sew ins back to back since then, and this is where I am now.

Now I am about two inches from bra strap. I am fairly happy with the length but I want to work on thickness and fullness. I have a lot of hair, but when it's straightened or laid down in any way, it becomes very fine and flat. Otherwise it's very cottony and fluffy. And these are not ideal styling conditions.

My biggest problem, I think, is that I would lose a lot of hair when I shampooed. I would shampoo and condition, then detangle in sections with a denman brush, use a leave in, braid it, and let it air dry. It dried hard, and I'd throw away dog-toy sized balls of hair every time.

Now I do the shampooing process with steam every step of the way, and detangle with a medium tooth comb. I have no tangles and lose very few strands. But I still braid in sections and air dry because I don't know what else to do with it. I don't use the denman anymore because I think it messed up my ends and pulled out a lot of my wet hair.

Now I think I will at least be able to manage the texture of my hair. My shampoo routine is smooth now, and I think I can only do it every three weeks to a month. I think that will be the key to retention for me.

Questions if you can answer any of them.

Maintenance questions:

1. Do I need to moisturize every day? My hair seems to be normal texture by the end of the day, not necessarily soft or hard, but I would prefer it soft. What should I use and how should I put it away at the end of the day? You should moisturize and seal. It does have to be EVERY day. Some people get away with 2-3 times a week. Whatever works best for your hair, that includes using moisturizers, just using water and sealing etc. If you are going so long without washing 3 weeks, I believe you should be doing some kind of moisturizing so your hair doesn't dry out, which can contribute to breakage and tangling/matting
2. Is there something better to do with hair after shampooing than braiding and letting it air dry? If I blow dry it, it often looks like carpet by the time I'm done, and isn't sustainable for more than a day. Try banding, you can find tutorials on youtube, basically its putting your hair in a pony tail and then using ouch less hairbands every 1in or so down the length of your hair. it stretches it and it allows you to air dry
3. This is what my hair looks like after wash day. I detangled with a comb. It may not look like it, but it is very manageable in that state. It mostly lies limp/wavy and for the most part the curls are only visible at the ends. It can coil up the shaft but for some reason it doesn't? Any ideas of what I could do for a wash and go? What kind of conditioners are you using? Are you deep conditioning? A protein conditioner will help your curls pop, and using a gel or curl activator will work for wash and go's you just have to figure out the right combination for you.
4. I think it just generally kind of looks dry, even though it feels like it's in ok condition and is not tangled. What can I do to give it shine and smoothness? My hair is the same way, generally it looks dry but it feels good, is moisturized and is not tangled. I just have dull colored hair. If you are not using a sulphate free shampoo, things with silicones will help brighten and shine up your hair. If you do decide to use those however, you may end up needing to wash more often as build up can contribute to dryness....actually when have you last clarified your hair with a clarifying or chelating shampoo?

Style questions:

I will not be straightening my hair on any kind of regular basis anymore. At the same time I do not want to lose all of my length to shrinkage. So I want to wear stretched styles.

1. How do I stretch my hair after shampooing? Braiding doesn't work. try banding
2. My hair gets very frizzy when it dries. How do I make it smoother? It's usually like a puff, even if it's been braided. try using a gel or curl activator. you may also experiment with diffusing. My hair tends to frizz easily and I have diffused a few times and it helped a lot!
3. My hair is very cottony and fluffy like I said. I think it's because it needs to be weighted down with a heavy product. Any suggestions and how it should be applied? Someone else may be able to help you for this. I have a different texture so too my heaviness just makes my hair limp
4. What sort of styles can be maintained? So far the best I can come up with is ponytails that look like crap, because my curls are frizzy and undefined and I can't really anything else. Try bantu knots, twist outs, banding, braids, extensions, there are lots you can do. Personally I would do a good protein treatment and follow up with moisturizer and then like a eco styler or a curl activator and see if that give you the results you want. One thing I noticed when I started shingling was that it took a few times for my curls to form just because they weren't used to it. It took me about 3 times before my wash and go's were workable...and even know my curl pattern has changed as my hair is getting longer so my hair doesn't coil so much in some places but waves.

Please help!

Hope that helps!

 

[DarkJoy]

Are those flat iron pics? Do you have any in its natural state?

Also a list of the brand names of the products will help.

From the looks, I see no protein or reconstructors in your reggi. Sounds like you like your hair TOO soft which is a mistake I made all my life. It needs a little 'backbone' feel to it. Protein use helps that.

 

[CaraWalker]

Hope that helps!

thanks for the info! this is a lot of tips, im going to study these.

Are those flat iron pics? Do you have any in its natural state?

Also a list of the brand names of the products will help.

From the looks, I see no protein or reconstructors in your reggi. Sounds like you like your hair TOO soft which is a mistake I made all my life. It needs a little 'backbone' feel to it. Protein use helps that.

the last one is my hair still wet from a shampoo. i use a humectant to detangle, then shampoo with a clarifying shampoo, then use moroccan oil conditioner in a steam room. youre right i dont have any protein...

also, if you look at the second pic, look at the top of my hair - that's what it looks like when it's dry after a shampoo... not very pretty

 

[CaraWalker]

A protein conditioner will help your curls pop, and using a gel or curl activator will work for wash and go's you just have to figure out the right combination for you.

would a keratin conditioner be good for this? i am scared of adding too much protein.

 

[hnntrr]

Are you protein sensitive? Any conditioner that says repair, reconstructing etc is usually a protein conditioner.

Have you had a protein overload before?

There is really no way for me to say if keratin would be good for your hair, there are tons of types of protein, (keratin, whey, silk, etc) so its really a trial and error type thing. I was really nervous to try protein conditioners too because I am protein sensitive. I heard that a good one to start with is 4 Naturals, thats what I started with and I really only leave it on for 5 minutes at a time. Giovanni 50/50 is a good balanced moisture and protein conditioner.

You can also try egg and honey masques. I would also find threads that talk about the different proteins and what they do that may help.

 

[CaraWalker]

is there a way to define curls without using the denman?

 

[virtuenow]

Could you post the pictures in this thread? They are not showing up when I click. Darkjoy said it in a nutshell: it sounds like your hair needs some backbone. Regular weekly reconstructor DC's have become my hairs best friend. I use Aubrey Organics GPB. The affects last for about a week. Also, I think water should be touching your hair everyday. So yes, moisture is better on a daily basis...Specifically, the LCO method is my favorite. You seal each layer of moisture in. Lastly, on wash day, apply a lot of leave-in lotion. Several squirts per section-- I say, be generous. And always seal in w/a penetrating oil.