Wavy Hair Care

Identifying Protein Hair Products

September 3, 2022 by Emily Evert 1 Comment

Once you’ve learned that your hair needs protein, it can still be confusing to figure out how to incorporate it into your routine. If you’re new, it can even be challenging to figure out which hair products have protein and which don’t! Thankfully, you don’t really need to learn every hair product ingredient out there in order to learn to detect protein-based ingredients in hair products. You can make an educated guess based on how the product is marketed.

Signs That A Hair Product Has Protein

The product describes itself as…

Repairative
Strengthening
Fortifying
For bleached hair
For damaged hair
Restoring
Renewing
Reconstructing

Protein is not just for damaged hair, but damaged hair does need protein so most protein products are marketed at damaged hair. In a nutshell, protein-containing hair products will market themselves as lending strength to your hair.

Ingredients that are protein

Signs & Causes Of Damaged Wavy Hair

August 27, 2022 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

Signs That Your Wavy Hair Is Damaged

Split ends. These are a giveaway that your hair is definitely damaged. It’s best to have them trimmed because while splits will start at the ends, if left untreated they can continue to split up the hair shaft.

Unexplained texture change. Texture can change due to hormonal changes so if you’ve gone through puberty, pregnancy, or changes in hormonal medications that could be the cause. Keep in mind that hair grows about half a inch per month, or six inches per year. So it may be several months or even a year after a hormonal change before you may really notice the change. If you have seen a texture change with no clear cause, it could be damage.

No elasticity. If you pull on your waves and they don’t spring back at all, that’s a lack of elasticity. It can be a sign of needing protein or using products that are too heavy…but it also can be a sign of damage.

Your hair feels dry compared to your norm.

Tangles. Tangles are normal for many hair types, but if your hair has become much more tangly this can be due to damage.

Breakage. If you see lots of broken pieces of hair happening, that’s a sign that your hair is likely weak due to damage.

Lots of frizz. All wavy hair has some frizz, some more than others. In general, there are many, many causes of frizz and most aren’t a sign of damage. But if yours has gotten really frizzy vs your usual that can be damage.

Your hair is rough feeling. Some hair types are naturally less soft than others. For example, really thick hair strands are often rougher feeling than fine hair strands. So this is another one that you should base on your norm.

High porosity hair is usually a sign of damage. Gets soaked easily but dries fast too. Feels rough after your hair dries unless you use leave in.

Your hair looks matte or dull rather than shiny. Hair type can make a difference in natural shine, but if your hair used to be shinier and has gotten more dull, that’s likely damage.

Longer hair is always going to be a little damaged because even gentle grooming and ordinary living life in the world causes some damage to hair. So the longer you grow your hair, the older your hair ends are, and the more time they’ve had to get damaged by life. Here is a quote about ‘natural’ (non-chemical or hair dye-related) damage in hair.

“Cuticle damage evidenced by broken scale edges can usually be observed a few centimeters away from the scalp. Such damage is caused by weathering and mechanical damage from the effects of normal grooming actions, such as combing, brushing and shampooing. In many long hair fibers (25 cm or longer), progressive surface damage may be observed (illustrated by Fig. 1.23). Stage 1 shows intact smooth scale edges and scale surfaces; stage 2 contains broken scale edges; in stage 3, the scales have been partially removed, and in stage 4 the hair splits indicating extensive cortical damage. ” quote is from Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair by Clarence R. Robbins.

Causes Of Damage In Wavy Hair

Lazy Curly Girl Method Routine For Wavy Hair

August 5, 2022 by Emily Evert 7 Comments

What is the easiest wavy hair routine?
Do you have any advice for how to do the curly girl method if you don’t have much time to do your hair?
What can I do with my hair on days where I am really busy?
I am a mom of two under two and I can’t spend an hour on my hair on wash day. Do you have tips for how to do this in as little time as possible?
I have a chronic illness. Do you have a routine that I might be able to do on a low spoons day?

These are all samples of a type of question I’ve received that in my mind, ultimately boil down to “How can I embrace my wavy hair with less effort or less time?”

Let me add the disclaimer that I am not saying that opting for a lower maintenance or less time-consuming routine means you are being lazy. I used that in the title because it’s a way that people commonly describe easier hair routines, and I thought it would help people find this post. There are endless reasons why you may choose to go for a routine that is simpler or faster, ad there is no shame in any of those reasons in my opinion. Nobody should feel obligated to spend a lot of time on their hair in my opinion!

Anyway, back to the topic of so-called lazy wavy hair routines. I didn’t feel great about my answer to people who were asking me for quicker or easier hair routines until recently.

Over the last several weeks, I’ve been trying to find a routine that took less of my time, but gave me results I was comfortable with. I’ve found a routine that I’m shockingly happy with. I started out trying to find a routine that might be “acceptable” for people who needed or wanted an easier route, but I expected to have to sacrifice the tightness of my wavy curls quite a bit.

In the past I had tried to compare air drying and diffusing, and my air drying results were never satisfying to me. I’ve always felt like I pretty much have to diffuse my hair to near-dry to get results I was happy with. That isn’t the case, though!

Simplified Curly Girl Method Routine For Wavy Hair

Wavy Hair Content Creators | Insta, TikTok, YouTube & Blogs

July 12, 2021 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

I believe that the best way to learn about your hair and what works for you, is to try differet techniques. I often do “experiments” with my hair and compare/contrast the results I get, to determine what works best for me. I have many posts sharing these types of experiments. Some examples:

I’ve learned a ton through just trying things on my own hair. I often find that what works for others doesn’t work for me. One of the things this whole wavy hair or curly girl method ourney has tuaght me is that hair varies a LOT.

It’s wild how different my hair “behaves” vs someone else’s. Sometimes even if somene’s hair looks fairly similar to mine, it may behave a lot differently.

Factors such as proosity, thickness, and density all can impact what works for your hair. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other factors that make a difference somehow, too. I know that I sometimes see things work for others who have the same hair properties as me, but my hair doesn’t react the same way when I try to do what they do.

When I was new to the curly girl method, I followed a YouTuber with low density hair and over time, I learned that was part of why her techniques and products weren’t ideal for my hair type.

In part, I think it’s great to try to find people with your hair type. Yet, I think we can also learn from people with different hair properties. In my case, I like to experiment on my own hair.

If I follow someone with a similar hair type and they show a new technique that works for them, I’ll test it myself, rather than assume it will definitely work for me. I can do the same thing when discovering new techniques or ideas from people with different hair types.

Overall, I think what I am really after is just things to try out on my own hair.

I sometimes hear from people who tell me my blog posts have helped them find solutions for their own hair. I love getting emails like that! I know that what works for me won’t work for everyone, though. I also know that it’s helpful to hear a wide range of opinions and experiences. So, here are other resources for learning from others about wavy hair.

Why follow content creators with wavy hair rather than curly?

It’s common for people who are new to embracing their waves say something like “What is the best routine for someone with 2b wavy hair?”. In response to questions like that, I often point out that your curl pattern doesn’t realy make a whole lot of differece in how you should care for your hair.

So if curl pattern doesn’t determine how we care for our hair..why follow wavy accounts rather than curly accounts, right?

My reasoning is twofold. While I don’t think that whether your hair is 2a or 2b makes much difference in how you care for your hair, I do think that wavy vs curly has some common differences.

For example, hair products that work well for “type 3” wavy hair are often too heavy for people with wavy (type 2) hair. I have a blog post about how to modify the curly girl method for wavy hair that goes into more of the common differences between how to care for wavy vs curly hair.

The other reason is about mental health or self-image. It’s common for people with wavy hair to feel like they need to make their hair curlier. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to enhance your curl pattern if that’s what makes you feel best.

At the same time, I think it’s important to remember that waves are not failed curls (nor are they failed straight hair!). I think it’s probably best for our mental health to keep expectations for our hair based on the hair that we naturally have.

If we have naturally wavy hair but follow a lot of curly accounts, it’s easy to accidentally find yourself feeling insecure about your waves.

Perhaps it’s not entirely unlike how if we only see very thin people in advertising, it can lead to us seeing ourselves as too big…if we only consume content for people with a differet hair type than we have, it can make us feel like ours is somehow ‘wrong’ or not good enough.

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