clarifying Archives - Wavy Hair Care

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?

Wavy Hair & Hard Water

October 21, 2022 by Emily Evert 1 Comment

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What Is Hard Water?

Magnesium and calcium are the most abundant metals found in tap water. When we talk about hard water it’s usually high calcium and magnesium. Approximately 85% of homes in the US have hard water.

Why Is Hard Water Bad For Wavy Hair?

Hard water is rough on hair in general, but it isn’t worse for wavy hair than other types of hair. Instead, it’s particularly bad for damaged hair.

Hard water can be especially hard on damaged hair because damaged hair allows hard water to bond to it better than healthier hair. It can also cause more trouble for fine hair that is prone to buildup, or hair that is naturally dry like curly or coily hair. Causes buildup which can lead to dry hair or hair that feels producty, and greasy while also feeling dry.

Hard water can do more damage if the PH level of your water is higher. The higher the PH, the more minerals can bond to your hair.

Hard Water Doesn’t Mean (Just) Well Water

What Does Your Wavy Hair Need? Moisture, Protein Or Clarifying?

October 14, 2022 by Emily Evert Leave a Comment

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If you’ve had a basic wavy hair routine down for a while and then suddenly you’re struggling to get a decent hair day…you’re probably asking yourself what your hair needs now.

Usually if your hair suddenly starts acting different, it needs one of three main things. It either needs more moisture, or more protein, or it’s time for a clarifying shampoo or chelating shampoo. It can be a bit challenging to figure out which of those to try first though. Let’s go over the signs of all three.

Signs That Your Hair Needs Moisture

Wet Frizz In Wavy Hair

March 29, 2022 by Emily Evert 4 Comments

What Is Wet Frizz?

Wet frizz is when hair is frizzy while still wet. Rather than forming “clean” curl clumps, the curl clumps will have strings of hair sticking out. A small amount of wet frizz is normal, but having a lot of we frizz can be a sign that your har isn’t getting what it needs.

If your hair is really frizzy while wet, it will likely dry very frizzy, too. If you struggle with frizz and that frizz is present even when your hair is soaking wet, your core issue may be wet frizz rather than regular frizz.

What Causes Wet Frizz?

Wet frizz can be caused by a lack of moisture or conditioning, product build-up, having high porosity hair, flash drying or moisture overload.

If your hair is frizzy while it’s wet, it’s usually lacking moisture and needs to be better conditioned.

In some cases, wet frizz may be caused by build-up. If your hair has significant build-up, it may disrupt your hair from clumping “nicely” in its normal way.

High porosity hair is more likely to experience wet frizz due to the raised cuticles making nearby hairs tangle rather than align together. If you’re new to the concept of hair porosity, I’d recommend checking out my blog post how to determine your wavy hair type.

For some people, moisture overload can include wet frizz. If your hair feels really soft (almost mushy?) and has lost its ‘strength’, gotten very poofy/fluffy or lost its regular definition, and your curls are looser than usual, these are signs of moisture overload and you may benefit from doing a protein treatment.

Flash drying causes wet frizz for some. Some people have hair that responds poorly to certain ingredients. If you find that your hair is soaking wet, and you apply a product and your hair instantly frizzes up while feeling like it got drier – that’s flash drying. In this case, you’ll need to learn what ingredient your hair has flash drying from and avoid that ingredient in your hair care products.