Why I started loving my curly hair and how I took care of it.
To all my friends who have curly hair, I am sure once in your lifetime you must have heard “ your hair is so dry, why don’t you apply some oil or conditioner” or “ you have a bird’s nest on your head”.
Yes, we all have heard some embarrassing things about our hair in our lifetime. I listened to many taunts from my aunties and friends about my hair and what they expect from me is that somehow I change my curly hair pattern to straight hair. Which, my friends, is next to impossible until and unless I use some heat on my hair.
When people don’t understand a hair texture, they start finding flaws in that. That’why the concept of rebounding and smoothing became such a trend. Because people started hating their curly/ wavy hair.
So, as insecurity, I started doing some harsh things to my hair that I am sure most of my curly hair friends must have done. I started straightening it, applied some random hair gel to make it look starighter, and as a matter of fact, I got a lot of compliments from people, which made me continue doing these harmful things to my hair and as a result, my hair started falling out, it turned grey in some parts. And let me tell you, I had voluptuous curly black hair which now became a disaster. I was always so insecure and stressed out about my hair.
But thanks to the internet, I understood that I am not the only one on this journey. Many curly-haired girls in YouTube and Instagram started using the curly girl method. To know more about the curly girl method, go check out an amazing website called Naturallycurly.com
You can learn a lot about curly hair using this website. After watching some videos and reading more about curly hair, I understood that we are in a new era which is accepting curly-haired people and there are a gazillion products in the market for us. But still, in India, beauticians and hairdressers are not trained on how to manage curly hair. They don’t use curly hair products. And on top of that, they discourage you by saying that you have such lousy hair. So, naturally, I had to find ways to take care of my hair and that too in a budget.
So let’s talk about the products I use for my curly hair. I don’t wholly follow curly girl method because I have more of wavy hair texture. So using too many products in my hair can cause build-up, dandruff and make my scalp too oily. And to be very honest I can’t afford that many products either, because curly hair products are pretty expensive.
So my rules are very simple:
- Cleanse your scalp thoroughly
2. Retain the moisture in your hair
3. Don’t let your curl pattern distort
4. Don’t use too much heat on your hair
So if you have a wavy hair texture like me, I believe these rules will work for you.
- Cleansing my scalp
In the curly girl method, you should not use shampoos which have sulphates in them. Sulphates are not very harmful, but they are the cause of dryness in your hair. So the common sulphates found in shampoos are sodium lauryl sulphate and ammonium lauryl sulphate. So make sure to buy shampoos which are free of these chemicals. But once in a month, I do use a shampoo with sulphates in them so that I can remove all the excess oil in my hair. The shampoo I use is “mama earth happy heads shampoo.”
The ingredients in the shampoo are mostly natural and are safe to use. It’s cruelty-free that means it’s not tested on animals and it is hypoallergenic. It has a gel like consistency, almost like aloe vera gel.
2. Retaining the moisture in my hair
There are two ways to keep moisture in your hair. Either by using oil or by using a conditioner. If you have extremely dehydrated hair, then I would recommend using both, but my scalp is already pretty oily, so I alternate between using conditioner and oil. It’s important to understand that when you are choosing an oil, make sure it doesn’t have mineral oil mixed in it. And when you are selecting a conditioner, use a silicone-free conditioner. The oil I use is “mama earth Onion hair oil”.
It has onion oil, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, olive oil and redensyl, which is an excellent ingredient to control hair fall. It is dermatologically tested and is mineral oil free.
The conditioner I use is “Best Life: Intense hydration Argan Nourish conditioner”
It has a cream like consistency and it is free from any harmful chemicals. It has argan oil, cetyl alcohol and cetrimonium chloride which are really good conditioning agents.
3. Don’t let your curl pattern distort
So the one of the mistakes that we do is to comb our hair after it dries out. You don’t have to comb your hair at all after washing it. Otherwise, you will ruin your curl pattern. You should comb your hair when you apply oil or conditioner and then leave your hair as it is.
To enhance the curl pattern in your hair, you should use the technique of scrunching. Here is how you do it.
You use a cotton t-shirt(make sure it cotton) and keep scrunching your hair until you see defined curls. Then you let it air dry. Flip your hair after every 15 minutes to get volume in your hair.
4. Don’t use too much heat on your hair
I won’t say that you should completely stop using hair straightener or hairdryer. You can use it, but please use a heat protecting serum before that. Because what you are doing is burning your hair. So keep the frequency of using heat as minimum as possible.
Bringing these changes in your hair care routine will make your hair greasy initially, but then everything good takes its own time. The important thing is to have patience and keep loving your self and your hair. Because curly hair is beautiful.☺
