Hey Lorraine, I have medium long, coarse hair that is highly porous. I'm also medium to high density. I'm anywhere from a 2C with a 3A underlayer unstyled (or on a less curly day) to a 3A with a 3B underlayer styled (or on a very curly day).
So everybody's hair is different even if they have similar properties but I honestly cannot go on without mentioning that I used to use Wen too exclusively for five years and thought it was a dream come true. However I've since come to realize that silicones, even medium ones like amodimethicone which Wen contains, can give me those stringy curls you're talking about. Also I still had my share of frizz. So I would style my hair straight even though I was using it. Up until the point of discovering it Wen was the only thing I'd ever found that could actually permit me to detangle in the shower so I'm not saying you should drop it. it's a great product. However, if I were still using Wen I think I'd want to clarify every 2-4 weeks because despite what they say amodimethicone does cause buildup, which can lead to less than stellar curl formation since it weighs down the hair and can cause frizz since the hair might not be getting enough moisture. See it's so hard to tell when you're porous whether or not your hair has buildup because it always feels dry.
Anyways, my hair is pretty frizz free these days. Aside from avoiding silicones and sulfates- here's what I do. I sleep on a silk pillowcase which helps
a lot with frizz. I don't use terrycloth towels, just microfiber ones and t-shirts to dry my hair. So long as it's a flat surface, you're fine. My hair likes oils. I deep treat with them often: coconut, olive, avocado, castor and grapeseed oil. My hair likes them all. I take a tsp of each along with a tbsp of honey and mix them with a couple of tbsp of a moisturizing conditioner. Then I put the mixture on wet hair, throw on a shower cap and let sit for a while before washing it all out. You could do that after you clarify to ensure full penetration on the hair shaft or before you clarify to ensure the hair doesn't get dried out. People do different things. Like I said my hair is highly porous so I don't tend to clarify afterwards and I'm fine. It doesn't get greasy.
If you're not sealing with oils, you might want to try it because it does help lock moisture inside your hair. You want a lighter, non penetrating oil to seal because if the oil you use to seal is penetrating it's not going to sit outside the hair shaft and prevent moisture from coming in or out. (Sealing really helps protect you from the extremes of the weather so I think it's really valuable.) What I do is mix a few drops of either jojoba or grapeseed oil with my leave in conditioner and put it in my hair.
That's another thing. If your hair is dry, frizzy and stringy you'll want a good moisturizing leave in. It's a must. You might want it to be protein light or free since you're coarse-haired and you might be protein sensitive. My favorite leave in so far is Kinky Curly Knot Today since it's light but moisturizing. The close runners up are Shea Moisture's Curl & Style Milk and Curl Enhancing Smoothie. Both contain silk protein but that doesn't seem to bother me even though I'm coarse-haired. (Maybe because I'm porous too.) Also when I use those Shea Moisture products I don't tend to add jojoba oil or grapeseed oil to seal since they're so moisturizing on their own, I figure.
If you're having a problem with stringy curls and frizz it sounds like you need a heavy duty hard hold gel to define and contain the curl. I personally don't like mousse since I have big hair and it tends to give me bigger but a hard hold mousse would work too, I'm sure. If you're porous though you have to be careful since lots of gels and mousses tend to have ingredients that are very drying. Some of the favorite gels I keep seeing people mention and recommend on the board are Biosilk's rock hard gelee, LA Looks Sports Gel, Ecostyler, and Aussie Instant Freeze. I personally do better with light hold gel such as Curl Junkie Pattern Pusha or a gelly like Kinky Curly Curling Custard. The reason why is I really don't like crunch and my hair doesn't need that much assistance for it to curl these days since it's gotten really healthy. Also the weather. I live in a semi-arid climate so there's not much moisture in the air causing frizz. Okay sidetracked again. . .
To help with clumping the only time I really detangle my hair is in the shower when there's a lot of conditioner in it. Once I'm certain I've sufficiently detangled I rinse all of it out and the water just seems to promote my clumps all by itself. Either when I'm still in the shower or back in the bathroom (it depends on where my hair products have migrated to) I take my leave in and then the few drops of oil, mix in my palm and apply it all over my dripping wet hair until my hair feels hydrated and has the consistency of seaweed. Then I take a microfiber towel or t-shirt and scrunch squeeze out as much dripping water as I can. That gives my hair a jump start on drying and also I find it easier to distribute finishing product on hair that isn't completely wet. For some people it's the opposite but again, just me. So then I take a finishing product (KCCC or CJPP) and apply all over my damp hair and scrunch up. Then I typically let air dry. I just got a blow dryer with a giant bowl diffuser though so I'm trying that out. When you diffuse do you do the pixie curl method? They say that causes the least amount of frizz. I tried it yesterday and got a teensy bit of frizz on the crown but I stopped when my hair was 80% dry and smoothed down the frizz with some curl & style milk. It looked as good as if I'd air dried.
So I don't do the supersoaker method since my hair is pretty clumpy but a lot of people swear by it for both clumps and more even product distribution. From what I understand it can be as simple as applying your styling products, hopping back in the shower for another quick rinse/soak, then hopping back out. Seems like it would increase drying time though and I wonder if I'd have to reapply extra product afterwards. Let me know if it works for you since we have such similar properties.
I hope this helps and just keep experimenting because so many different things work for different people. If you haven't already, check out livecurlylivefree.com. It might help you pick products in accordance to your properties. Also you could check out this styling routine which is similar to mine:
Curly Hair Styling Routine 2012 - YouTube
I'll admit I kind of just copied and pasted. Worked for me!
Product for hair that isMedum Porosity, Course, long, medium/high density
Linear Mode
