The Curliest Girl

For those of you who know me in person, you probably know that I have rather explosive hair. It's something I have only recently begun to accept. Having curly hair is not easy. Curly hair is often often also means uncontrollable frizz, aggressive thickness, and a dull brittle look exaggerated by the hair's attempt at a spiral pattern. This is usually because most people with curly hair simply do not know what to do with it. It took me 16 years to figure out. Yet once you find out what to do it's actually very simple but very effective. Here is what I have learned so far:



Myth #1: Curly hair can be combed
Your curls follow a specific pattern, one lock of hair curls one way and another lock curls another way, straight hair also does this as well but since straight hairs all fall in the same direction combing it out doesn't make much of a visible difference. When you comb curly hair you disrupt the curl pattern by splitting the curls and either making more curls or wayward frizz.

Myth #2: Curly hair can be shampooed everyday
Well, it can, if you want to party like it's 1989, in which case I advice you to also pick up some mousse. However, if you want each curl to be neat your hair needs to have some oil. The best way to do this is to shampoo at most once a week. This allows the sebaceous gland to produce sebum to moisturize your hair and allow individual strands to stick with other stands forming one curl. You can also deep condition with oil to speed up the process however this can sometimes look overly greasy. Sebum is built up gradually over time so after a while you hair has just the right amount. I condition often in the winter months and wash about once every week or two.

Myth #3: If you have curly hair you cannot leave the house without a million different products
Whenever I wear my hair curly, the only product I put in it is conditioner overnight, which is washed out first thing in the morning. Otherwise I don't use anything. Depending on the ingredients, multiple hair product assault usually throws off the oil balance in your hair either making it too dry or too greasy. Many products used to contain frizz or hold hair in place contain alcohol or silicone. Alcohol products, like hairspray, tend to dry hair out because they absorb natural oil. Silicone products, like frizz controlling serums, tend to over moisturize hair causing curls to clump together more than they should.