• What if I’m going on vacation and can’t bring my diffuser with me. Can I take a break from styling my hair wavy?
• I’m pregnant and the morning sickness has been lasting all day, I don’t have the energy for my full wavy curly hair routine. I don’t want to lose progress with embracing my waves. What can I do?
• I’m in a wedding and the bride has asked us all to straighten our hair to coordinate. Am I doomed to lose all of my progress?

I Stopped Styling My Hair Wavy For 3 Months

I’ve seen questions like these all over wavy and curly hair groups, and I’ve received them in my blog comments and email inbox as well. A lot of people worry about taking a break from styling their hair wavy. Some worry about skipping it even one wash day, and others are worried about managing their hair during longer periods, such as during a pregnancy.

Regular readers may have noticed that I had a longer gap between posts than usual. The last few months, I’ve been really busy with my other blog and I’ve been really focused on putting all of my emotional energy into therapy. I have found it hard to find motivation to do my hair a lot of the time. It’s just not been as high on my priority list. So, I thought it was the perfect time to show you what happens if you take a break from styling your hair wavy.

I’d estimate that over about a 3 month period, I styled my hair wavy about 5 times. Is my hair now straight? Nope!

 

Here is my hair earlier this week. I styled with a medium hold gel in this photo, where I usually go for hard hold. I believe this is the primary reason why my waves weren’t as tight as they usually are. Also, I am in pretty bad need of a haircut.

Here are two photos from days in the last couple of months where I styled my hair wavy after days or weeks without.

Do you always have to style hair wavy to maintain your waves?

You can take a break from styling your hair wavy and your waves will come back as soon as you style it wavy again.

There is a myth that floats around which talks about ‘curl memory’. It claims that the more you style your hair wavy curly, the more your hair will ‘remember’ its shape. People then assume that if you take a break from styling your naturally wavy hair, that it will stop being as wavy. This just isn’t true as far as I can tell. I have attempted to find any sources for these claims of ‘curl memory’ and have found no research or even really well respected sources talking about this. It seems to be a commonly repeated concept on social media only.

Do You Always Have To Style Hair Wavy On The Curly Girl Method?

You can take a break from styling your hair wavy while following the curly girl method. If you use curly girl method approved products while not styling your hair wavy, you won’t need to clarify or do a reset wash. However, if you use non-CGM products during your break, the curly girl method book says you should use a clarifying shampoo when you go back to following the curly girl method. Check out my blog post on clarifying wavy hair to learn more.

Is Curl Memory Real?

I have tried, but have been unable to find any evidence to support the concept of curl memory. I have instead found that hair texture (meaning straight, wavy, curly or coily) is determined by the shape of your hair follicles. Hair texture sometimes changes with age (often around hormone changes such as puberty, pregnancy or menopause) but generally speaking, you can’t “train” your hair to be a certain texture.

The hair you have is the hair you have. You can use methods that embrace or enhance your texture (such as using gel and diffusing in naturally wavy hair) or you can use methods that stretch out your texture (such as brushing it before letting it air dry). Different types of treatment or styling like this can make your hair look wavier or straighter, but it doesn’t change your hair itself. It’s just a difference in styling technique.

Choosing to wear your hair straighter for a while, or choosing to wear it wavier for a while, won’t change what your hair is capable of doing after your next hair day.

Why Does Hair Get Wavier The Longer You Style Your Hair Wavy?

If curl memory doesn’t really exist, why do so many people see their hair get wavier or curlier the longer they follow the curly girl method or otherwise style their hair wavy?

Lots of reasons! For many people, they learn how to treat their hair more delicately when they start embracing their waves, so their hair grows out healthier and less damaged. For many, when their hair is healthier, it gets wavier or curlier.

There can be a pretty big learning curve to learning the techniques and products that work best for your exact hair type. I don’t mean straight vs wavy vs curly, but instead things like hair porosity and thickness. If you aren’t sure of your hair type, check out my how to determine your wavy hair type blog post.

Want to maximize the tightness of your waves? I have a whole blog post covering how to make your hair curlier.

The benefits of taking a break from styling your hair wavy

The benefits of taking a break from styling your hair wavy can largely vary from person to person. Here are a few to consider though!

Mental health. If you find that styling your hair wavy is stressing you out, you are likely to see a mental health benefit from taking a break.

Feeling for build-up. If you always use a styling product on wash day, then you won’t know exactly what your hair is feeling like when it is product-free. This can make it harder to catch on to build-up, to see how healthy your naked hair looks and feels, and so on. Occasionally washing your hair and just letting it air dry without any intentional styling can give you great insight into how your hair is doing.

Variety. Sometimes it’s just fun to have a variety of looks! Not always styling your hair wavy leaves you room to add some variety.

Save time. For most of us, styling our hair naturally wavy is more time consuming. Diffusing my hair takes almost an hour, while blow drying my hair when I don’t use any styling products takes maybe 20 minutes. Taking a break from styling my hair wavy saves me time.