Wavy Hair Basics Archives - Page 2 of 14

How To Make Wavy Hair Less Poofy or Fluffy

September 13, 2020 by Emily Evert 2 Comments

Throughout most of life, the top complaint I’ve had about my hair has been “My hair is so poofy!”. My boyfriend has straight hair, but when his hair reaches a certain length it gets poofy for a week or so until it gets just long enough to lay flat. He’s always called it ‘fluffy’ instead of poofy. Whichever word you prefer, this post is for you if you want to know how to make your wavy hair less poofy or fluffy.

How To Make Your Wavy Hair Less Poofy

Making wavy hair less poofy is all about letting your waves stay defined in “curl clumps”. Use gel or mousse to define your clumps, and avoid using a brush or comb to keep it from getting poofy.

That’s the quick and easy answer. When I was new, I needed a lot more information so let’s dig a lot deeper!

How To Fix Tangled Wavy Hair & How To Prevent Knots

September 10, 2020 by Emily Evert 5 Comments

There are affiliate links in this post.

Tangles in wavy hair are a common problem. The curly girl method advises only brushing or combing your hair while in the shower with conditioner in your hair. For most with wavy hair, that’s twice a week or less. That leaves a lot of time between wash days when we want to try to avoid brushing. So, let’s talk about what can we do to deal with tangles, and how can we prevent them.

How To Fix Tangles In Wavy Hair

If your hair is badly tangled, use a pre-poo about half an hour before showering. Once in the shower, add conditioner and then gently detangle. Finger-tangle as much as you can, working from the ends on up to your roots. Then move on to a wide tooth comb, then denman brush if needed.

Try to be as gentle as possible while detangling your hair. You don’t want to tear your hair while dentangling it. Doing a pre-poo should help soften your hair and reduce friction while detangling. Oil can be especially helpful with detangling “pixie tangles” which are tiny knots that are made up of a single hair.

Brushes For Detangling Wavy Hair

These are four of the more common tools for detangling. They’re well known for helping to remove tangles in wavy hair . It’s advised that they’re used in the shower when your hair is well-conditioned.

Extra tangle tip:

Never use boar bristle brushes on wavy or curly hair when wet! Boar bristles can cause breakage when used wet.

How To Get Naturally Wavy Hair To Last Longer

September 6, 2020 by Emily Evert 8 Comments

Naturally wavy hair tends to be more delicate than naturally curly hair. It’s easy to accidentally damage or destroy your waves if you aren’t careful. If you’ve been struggling to figure out how to get wavy hair that lasts longer, this post is for you!

How To Get Naturally Wavy Hair To Last Longer

To make your naturally wavy hair last longer, use gel or mousse after washing your hair. The additional hold that gel or mousse provide will help your waves last longer. After your hair is dry, you can “scrunch out the crunch” to make your hair feel soft and look more natural.

My naturally wavy hair loses definition very quickly without gel or mousse.

I know for some, this may not be the answer they were hoping for. If you’ve never used styling products, it may sound offputting. When I first started the curly girl method, I tried to avoid using gel. I don’t like my hair feeling really ‘producty’ or looking wet. I thought gel would make my hair look wet and stiff, or feel stiff.

Many styling products will give you that look – at first. However, once your hair has dried, you can “Scrunch out the crunch” which is basically scrunching your hair to break the cast that has formed over your hair. It might literally sound like crunching! Once you’ve scrunched out the crunch, your hair will feel and look soft again. However, it will maintain “hold” thanks to the gel or mousse being in there.

For many with wavy hair, using a styling product with hold can also provide them with dry-hair results they haven’t seen before. If I don’t use a gel or mousse, my hair dries much straighter than the texture I have when wet. When I use gel or mousse, it helps maintain that natural texture I have in the shower. Styling products with hold are often key factors to reducing “frizz”.

If your individual hair strands are fine, this often causes hair to have a weak shape. As a result, people with fine hair strands can benefit a lot from products with hold because they essentially give a ‘backbone’ to your hair strands to help them hold their natural shape more easily.

I really thought I would hate using gel, so I avoided it for the first couple of months. Once I gave it a try, I knew there was no going back. I’ve since switched to primarily using mousse. Using some styling product with hold is such a helpful part of maintaining naturally wavy hair! I see it as essential.

How To Sleep On Wavy Hair

August 30, 2020 by Emily Evert 20 Comments

There is an affiliate link in this post. All opinions are my own.

How to sleep on wavy hair over night without ruining it or getting frizz — How To Sleep On Wavy Hair

To sleep on wavy hair without ruining it, put your hair up in a very high and loose bun using a scrunchie. Your hair bun should rest on top of your head, not behind it. Sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase or wearing a satin bonnet will help reduce breakage.

If you have wavy or curly hair, then you know that sleeping with your hair down can have you waking up looking a bit like medusa. Or maybe you look like you walked through a hurricane. When I sleep with my waves down, the back often gets flattened, too.

Sleeping your hair in a “pineapple”, or loose ponytail or bun on top of your head at night, will keep your head from smashing your waves while you sleep. Use a scrunchie loosely instead of a traditional pony tail holder, and you won’t get indents in your hair.

The material of the scrunchie you use to pineapple with matters! Try to find one that is really smooth, satin or silk are great options. They will introduce less frizz vs scrunchies that are more textured. My top choice is silk or satin scrunchies, then ‘regular’ scrunchies, and I avoid scrunchies that are velvet, terrycloth, etc at all costs.

Another key aspect to sleeping on wavy hair without ruining it, is making sure your hair has good hold. If you wash your hair and don’t use a styling product with hold, your hair will fall flat pretty easily. If you use a product like gel or mousse that has hold, that will help protect your hair pattern while you’re sleeping. Using a product with harder hold may result in hair that is harder to ruin.

What about long, short or thick hair?

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