“What does ‘plop’ mean?”
This was my first-ever comment on this blog. I immediately thought, oh my gosh, I have to do a post about that! It’s a strange term, and something that I am sure literally every person with wavy or curly hair has asked before, if they have come across it.
It’s a made-up word, so of course we all have to learn what it means. I just am so used to the curly girl method communities that I take part in, that I had to be reminded to go back to the basics!
So, this post is for those of you who are new and wondering what the heck plopping is!
What is plopping hair?
Plopping your hair means to wrap your wet hair in a cotton t-shirt in a way that preserves your natural curl pattern. The goal is to allow your hair to dry (partially or all the way) while holding onto its natural pattern, and keep it from being stretched out.
Typically plopping is done after showering when hair is wet. For many with naturally wavy hair, our hair will be really wavy while in the shower. However, if we just step out of the shower and do nothing else, our waves may flatten quite a bit, especially towards the roots of our hair.
In some cases, it may flatten so much that it looks straight – especially if we brush or comb our hair, too. This happens because the weight of the water in our hair can weigh down our hair before it has a chance to dry. The weight of our hair pulls from the roots down, which is why the roots can be flattest.
So, plopping is something that we do to try to reduce this effect, and keep our curl pattern from being stretched out while it begins to dry.
