Start with freshly washed hair and thoroughly detangled hair. Then, apply product to your hair. Start by “raking” any leave-ins or creams evenly throughout your curls – but start from the ends of the hair, and move up!
After showering, lightly comb through your hair to get rid of the tangles. Then, apply a quarter-sized amount of your chosen curl cream through your hair. Rub the product between your palms, cup your curls, then scrunch them upwards to encourage curl definition. Use a hair mask or hair oil once a week.
It depends on your hair of course but most curly girls don't need to wash or co-wash anywhere close to every day. In fact, it's too drying for most of us. If you can find a good routine that works for your hair, you should only need to use most of your products on wash days, 1-3 times a week.
However, for optimal results, consider applying curl cream to damp or wet hair. This allows for better product distribution and absorption, ensuring that your curls are hydrated and bouncy.
Your hair should always be completely dry before using a curling iron. Hot tools, like curling irons, apply heat directly to the hair, and using any heat tool on wet hair is going to be more damaging because the hair cuticle is open and exposed.
THE PERFECT COMBINATION. Using mousse and gel in combination when styling your wavy hair is sure to be the perfect dream-team double act! Apply your mousse first, then apply your gel for voluminous waves that will stay alive all day long.
While both a curl defining cream and curl mousse will help define curls and protect from frizz, a mousse for curly hair will give your hair more volume, especially at the roots.
Apply Curly Products
This could be a lightweight curl cream, a leave-in conditioner or a styling gel, depending on the curly hair type you're working with. You may want to lightly wet strands first, so keep a spray bottle with water to hand.
The recommended order of products for curly hair is typically pre-shampoo treatment, shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioning treatment, and leave-in conditioner. Lastly, styling products and oil or serum should be used.
Hair mousse is a super versatile foam that you can use to give some hold and definition to strands, as well as protect and tame your hair and give unruly curls some control. Mousse helps keep frizz in check and helps make your curls bouncier. Using the right amount of hair mousse can really make a difference.
Brushing wet hair makes it easier to maintain the integrity of the curl's shape since the water creates a slick surface to detangle any knots. Anyone who's ever tried brushing out dry curls knows an undefined, frizz-filled look may follow. The ultimate goal of brushing your hair is to get out knots.
Your heat protectant is typically applied before rather than after mousse and other styling products like volumizing sprays. Liberally apply your heat protectant from root to ends to ensure that your hair isn't damaged by heat styling.
For those dealing with dry hair, leave in conditioner can be a fantastic solution to make your curls feel soft, hydrated, and refreshed. This added moisture from the conditioner also has detangling properties to help make your hair more manageable and many will help protect the hair from heat styling damage.
Differences between using hair mousse and gel for curls
A mousse offers light definition for loose, bouncy curls — but the hold may not last long.By comparison, a gel often offers strong definition and long-lasting hold which is great for sleek styles.
Start with a quarter-sized amount of leave-in conditioner or curl cream. Moreover, work it through your hair in sections. Start at the crown and work down to the roots, concentrating on the dry ends of your hair. If you find that your curls are still dry or frizzy, you can add more products as needed.
Co-washing is short for "conditioner-only washing." It means skipping shampoo and relying solely on conditioner, whether you're a daily or a weekly washer. Most conditioners contain trace amounts of detergents called cationic surfactants, or "quats" for short.
For hair care products to be considered as Curly Girl-friendly is their ingredients to avoid in the INCI list of the hair care products. A Curly Girl-friendly hair care product must not contain sulfates, silicone, drying alcohol, parabens, and certain waxes and mineral oils.
It works by layering 3 different gels, a light, medium and strong hold. I prepped my hair for styling with the weightless air dry cream then applied three gels from lightest to strongest hold. After diffusing I used the shine oil to break up the gel cast to reveal soft and defined curls that'll last days!
crunchy? Don't worry, this is actually a sign that the styling product has done its job. The way that many gels or mousses work is to create a layer of product, or cast, around each curl to fight frizz and boost definition. It's this layer that makes your hair feel crunchy, and the good news is that it's easy to fix!