Wavy Hair Problems Archives - Page 2 of 11

How To Fix Tangled Wavy Hair & How To Prevent Knots

September 10, 2020 by Emily Evert 5 Comments

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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 Much Gel To Use On Wavy Hair

May 8, 2024 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

A really common question I get from people who are relatively new to the curly girl method or embracing their wavy hair, is how much gel should I use? Also, how to tell if you’re using too much gel or not enough!

It’s a really great question to be asking, and it has a little bit of a complex answer. I recently did my hair with too much gel, and then again with not enough gel, so that I could show you through images what each of those look like.

How much hair humans have REALLY varies

First though, I wanted to give a visual for why it is so challenging to know how much gel to use on wavy hair. It’s because how much hair you have on your head can be VASTLY different from how much hair another person has on their head, even if their hair is the same length as yours and even if neither of you are experiencing hair thinning or baldness at all. I’ve read that people with dense hair can have 6x as many hairs on their head as someone with low-density hair. That sounds a little hard to believe, but the tiktok embedded below helps illustrate this fact.

@ciera.hamilton No wonder people always confuse us for twins 🥰 #braid #twins #fyp #foryoupage #thickhair ♬ Ice Age – B

What If My Wavy Hair Really Likes Silicones?

April 25, 2024 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

When people with wavy hair first start embracing their waves, it’s often because they’ve stumbled across the curly girl method online. They were taught that they needed to throw out any hair products that contain silicones, and start using a gentler shampoo, among other changes.

For some people, maybe even many, it works fine! I was able to find curly girl approved products that worked well for me with very little problem. However, not everyone is so lucky. Some of them eventually come to ask me or others the following question…

“What If My Hair Just Seems To Really Like Silicones?”

Others would give you a different answer, but I personally say – then use them! Are they curly girl method approved? No, they aren’t. However, if they work well for you then that’s what should matter in my opinion.

For some, they might appreciate learning that the curly girl handbook does not list any research or cite any sources. It is not a method or theory that is based in any science. Or at least, if there is any related science, they did not bother to explain it or cite it…which would be really strange.

What Do Silicones Do For My Wavy Hair?

Silicones create a very thin coat or film over your hair strands. This helps smooth the exterior which is wonderful for damaged or higher porosity hair which may be rough or uneven on the outside due to cuticle damage. This also smooths the hair and reduces the appearance of frizz. When hair is smoothed in this way, it makes hair feel better, align better, and can reduce tangling.

Silicones got popular in haircare for a reason – they help hair look good and act more manageable, especially if your hair is damaged or higher porosity. There are natural ingredients that do the same thing. You might think of these as curly girlmethod silicone alternatives. When I say that they ‘do the same thing’ I mean they coat the exterior of the hair to make it less frizzy and more manageable. However, the natural alternatives are ingredients like plant oils which tend to be heavy. Heavy ingredients often weigh-down wavy hair, while silicones are often designed to be lightweight. This can result in silicones being a really effective ingredient for damaged wavy hair.

What’s The Difference Detween Water-Soluable Silicones and Non-Water Soluble Silicones?

Even those who follow the curly girl method and dislike some silicones, may admit that they don’t see all silicones as equally ‘bad’. Some see water-soluable silicones as just fine, and they only dislike non-water soluble silicones. What does that mean?

The main reason why the curly girl method suggests avoiding silicones is because they claim that you need a really strong shampoo to remove the buildup from silicones. However, some silicones are water soluble, meaning they will dissolve in water without any cleanser being needed at all! These silicones can be used and can be removed from the hair without the use of strong shampoos.

So, some say that water-soluable silicones are safe to use while abiding by the curly girl method. As a result, if you’d like to stick with part of the curly girl method but feel your hair needs some silicones, you might choose to use water-soluable ones but continue to avoid non-water soluble ones. The science-y hair blog has an article sharing which silicones are water soluble.

Special-Case Non-Water Soluble Silicones

Also, some silicones are not water soluble, but behave in really specific ways that lead some to see them as ‘better’ silicones. A popular example would be Amodimethicone. This silicone is not water soluble but it does not attach to or coat all of your hair. Instead, it specifically attaches to damaged portions of your hair. So if you have sections of your hair cuticle that are damaged and that has left a ‘hole’ in your hair’s surface, and you use a product with Amodimethicone, the Amodimethicone will specifically stick to that gap in your hair, creating a smooth surface. However, it will not bind to the healthy or undamaged portion fo your hair, so buildup should not occur.

What if I Get Build up From Using Hair Products With Silicone Ingredients?

You can remove build-up by using a clarifying shampoo. Even when avoiding silicones, most people will find that they get some buildup over time. As a result, I suggest that everyone use a clarifying shampoo periodically. If you find that using silicones seems to require you to use clarifying shampoos too frequently and that is harsh on your hair…then you may have to choose which is more important to you. However, others will find that they can use clarifying shampoos pretty frequently without it drying out their hair. It may depend on how naturally moisturized your hair stays.

Causes and Solutions for Hair Build Up in Wavy Hair

March 2, 2024 by Emily Evert 3 Comments

What Causes Hair Build Up?

Hair build up is caused by hair products, your natural body oils, skin cells, hard water deposits, and even pollutants building up on your hair or scalp. At any given time, it’s natural for us to have tiny amounts of hair products, oil, pollutants and/or hard water deposits in our hair, as having 100% clean hair is nearly impossible. However, when we get ‘too much’ hair products, scalp oils, pollutants or mineral deposits in our hair it can start to cause problems with how our hair feels, acts or responds to styling. In severe cases it may even cause our scalp to feel irritated or itchy! So, it’s important to find a haircare routine that keeps build-up at a low level.

Does Hair Gel Cause Build Up?

Any products that you use on your hair or scalp can cause build-up, including shampoo! Yes, even shampoo. The more products you use, the more likely you are to get build-up. However, people often think that if they avoid using products like gel, mousse, curl cream, etc then they won’t get build-up, which is not the case. Everyone gets some amount of build-up, it’s just a matter of how much they get and how strong of a shampoo they need to use to clean their hair.

Not all shampoos are made equally, some are stronger than others, or work to remove certain types of buildup better than other products. You may find that some shampoos are not well-suited to remove build-up from certain products. The curly girl method attempted to simplify this by stating that if you avoid silicone products in your haircare products, then you don’t need to use a sulfate-containing shampoo. While this is commonly believed, it is not backed up with research or science (the curly girl method book sites no sources at all!).

Also, these days, there is a wide range of different strengths of shampoos even when looking at sulfate shampoos or non-sulfate shampoos. Meaning, even if you use all silicone-free products and use a sulfate-containing shampoo, you still may get build-up that needs to be removed with a stronger shampoo periodically.

Does The Curly Girl Method Cause Build-Up?

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