Salon Look From Home HELP! (long)

[ThinNnappy]

(hi everyone i'm new-it took me 4ever to figure out how to subscribe)
I started in January to try and grow 6" this year and its been crazy

Okay, im trying to start fresh in April and grow my hair with little to no salons and heat-but still look nice
I have everything the salon has & carasuco rollers, coconut oil ( plan on gettin castor oil, MTG & NTM) and the entire keracare line & UPH & SoftNBeat ( i stick to 1 product line at a time)...but when i try to mimic what the salon does at home instead of shiny, sleek, and silky hair....i have smooth & soft but poofy looking hair.

I shampoo and condition with and use keracare settin lotion, then moisturize/oil -I wrap my hair in silk scarf, and go to sleep, wake up, moisture and do the carasuco rollers, but it still looks like junk-its the same even when i dont air dry and use my salon dryer-

I dont know what im missing or not doing, i dont want to use heat or go to the salon because they dont care about my hair and i recently lost alot messin with them. I dont know if a difference will be a leave in like NTM with a setting lotion or in place of a setting lotion...
I have chin & bottom of neck length relaxed dry/coarse yet fine hair...Its healthy and i keep it moisturized, i wash it 1-2x per week, I clarify and protein etc. when needed...at night i wrap my hair and thats it
...i take vitamins, antioxidants, eat healthy-so i know its not anything im doing wrong its something im not doing
Everyone on here has healthy pretty hair and i know you guys dont go to the salon 1-2x per week . Sorry for this being so long and thanks for reading.
Any suggestions or comments would be wonderfull

 

[HoneyDew]

I had the same problem as you and this was actually one of the main reasons why it was hard for me to give up getting braids and weaves over the years.

It has taken time, trial and error to find the equation that makes my hair look sleek and shiny and I never go to the salon. Now that I have more length it has become easier to style, as well.

Honestly, I have taken many ideas from this board but others just don't work for me. Some of the very popular styling/care techniques just don't give me the results that are good for my hair, lifestyle, schedule,etc. , i.e no heat, airdrying, rollersets, co-washes, daily creamy moisturizing, caruso rollers etc.
Everytime I stray away from my routine I get bad results.

For that reason, I feel that I have no place to really give someone lots of specific advice, because my routine seems to be fit for my hair, you know. I would hate to give advice that does not work for you or that gets shut down by the majority.

I think you are going to have to take some trial and error time, as well.

One thing, since you want to avoid heat, you may want to try no-heat styles or learn how to master a rollerset. Although, they don't work for me, MANY people get great results from these, especially rollersets.

When you go to the salon, do you normally get roller sets?

 

[ThinNnappy]

I kinda dont know what a roller set is
They wrap set me under a dryer, then use those thermal heat curlers on me and boom...beauty

HoneyDew ( or anyone!?!) i know all hair is different but can you tell me some of the things that you tryed or what you do now because right now i have no clue at all for what to change and do so any ideas would be good because im willing to trial and error the problem is i just dont know what to do

 

[ThinNnappy]

bumping

 

[Miss*Tress]

Have a look at macherieamour's album for pics of a roller set. Her password is in her profile I think which you can find by going through the member list.

I highly recommend roller sets for getting hair smooth and silky. It's far less damaging than blow drying and using a flat iron. Also with your length you could wet set your hair at night and by morning it would be dry w/o heat. To do so, wire rollers would be best - magnetic rollers are too hard to sleep on.

ETA: Another link to roller sets (no password required).

Hope this helps.

 

[baglady215]

I think it may be the heat. A lot of ladies here get silky, shiny, flowing hair without heat, but I'm not one of them. If I want a salon look, I pull out my flat iron. Not often though... only for special occasions. I'm going to try to master rollersetting though. With the right product combination, I think I can get pretty close.

Maybe for your wraps you could try a creamy leave in instead of setting lotion. Setting lotion can leave the hair a little dry.

BTW, a roller set is when your hair is rolled (wet) on those magnetic rollers, then you dry under the dryer or airdry.

Also, welcome to the boards!

 

[ThinNnappy]

Thank yall SOOOOO much!

 

[LovelyZ]

ummm, when I first started doing my own hair, it never came out right. It sounds like you are fairly new at homestyling, but expecting for it to look like you went to a stylist with years of experience. It takes practice before you are able to get a good look with at-home styling and even then it may not look exactly the way it does when a professional does it.

 

[ThinNnappy]

LovelyZ

-----ummm, when I first started doing my own hair, it never came out right. It sounds like you are fairly new at homestyling, but expecting for it to look like you went to a stylist with years of experience. It takes practice before you are able to get a good look with at-home styling and even then it may not look exactly the way it does when a professional does it.-----

Thats true- but it doesnt take years of experience for a assisant to wash and wrap my hair just like i do with the same products then a stylist who hardley gets up to slap some kemmi oil and a curling iron on my head....
its just i think maybe they have more heat or something, i dont know but what they do defitnely doenst require experience i could do the exact same thing as them...i just dont want to use the heat and am trying to find something that comes close but still looks nice and is healthy.
But i think i found my answer

 

[Jbirds1]

Bumping!
I'm on that quest for salon looking hair at home as well! I've become better at rollersetting but I"m still not all the way there.

 

[ravensunshine]

Hi ThinNnappy, Welcome to the board!
I've been homestyling for many years now and what I recall that helped me the most was taking a long weekend to figure out my hair. I recall having a four day weekend where all I did was pllay and practice in my head with different products and styles.
Even after all these years I'm still learning something new every week on these boards. Heck I still can't rollerset worth a hoot! But my Spring goal is to practice this until I get the hang of it.
Also, it sounds like you're getting all the best products for your hair and that's the strongest start you can have! Good luck!