There are so many techniques that curly and coily women swear by that do not work for me. Either my hair did not respond well, did not respond at all, or my lifestyle and preferences changed. I love hearing about new bandwagons but sometimes my hair does not share the excited. Here are the things I wanted to love but my hair hated.
1. Apple Cider Vinegar
Curly bloggers and vloggers always rave about the shine that ACV (apple cider vinegar”> gives their hair. When I rinsed my hair with ACV, all I was left with was hair that reeked. There was no softness, no shine, and not enough essential oils to mask the lingering odor. I followed the exact recipe and even altered a few things yet nothing would mask the smell.
2. Coconut Oil
It appears that every curly girl loves coconut oil except me. I tried using it as a sealer, pre-poo, and hot oil treatment, but I always ended up with the same results, absolutely nothing. Pure coconut oil leaves my hair greasy and dry. My coils love it when it is formulated products but using it alone does nothing for my hair.
3. Silicones
I really want my hair to love silicones. Most of the affordable, drugstore products under $10 are chock-full with silicones. Even though I wash my hair twice a week, when I use products with silicones my hair always becomes dry the next day. To make matters worse, conditioners with silicones agitate my skin and cause my back to break out in acne. I just cannot win with silicones. Dry hair and acne scars are not worth a $5, 16 oz. bottle of conditioner.
4. Finger detangling
When the focus of my hair care journey was to retain length, I was being mindful of all the ways I could be causing breakage. The first area to address was finger detangling. Finger detangling is ideal for two people: those who have the time and those who are not rough. I have neither the patience nor gentleness for finger detangling. I was losing more time and losing hair more hair in comparison to using a detangling comb. Breakage and exhaustion was all I felt so I retired my fingers in exchange for a wide tooth comb.
5. Twist outs
A flat-twist out was my go-to style for two years. I loved the definition and the elongation, but I dreaded the nightly twisting. Nightly twisting only led to wisps of hair from breakage. No, you do not have to re-twist your hair nightly but I did because my definition would not be well preserved solely from the pineapple. By simply doing a pineapple, my hair would be more shrunken, lose more definition, and become more tangled in comparison to preserving a wash and go. Stretched styles require more time for overnight preservation than a wash and go so I gave up. It just became mundane and annoying. Now, the only time I style my hair is on wash day and I love it!
What does your hair hate?
