Can't get my hair to look good
 

I have very few days where I am happy with my hair.
It's flat on top to midway down and then gets some curl/wavy the rest of the way. My hair goes to just at shoulder.
I am currently using Devacurl no poo, the One conditioner, and then the AnGel.
I scrunch with microfiber towel and then defuse with dryer. I can get nice looking curls while wet, but doesn't stay. In less than a hour my curls will fall flat and just look messy. Plus I get a helmet hair feel to my head. Like I sprayed a bottle of hair spray all over.
All I want are nice looking curls that are soft to the touch. My hairdresser can get my hair looking amazing. But I just can't seem to do it myself at home.
Any suggestions???

Oh lord I completely sympathize with you although I can't help much. It seems to me that when I didn't try, my hair looked so good, and now that I'm actively seeking out gorgeous curls I can't get them!! My hair is also flatter on top and it drives me crazy. I wish I could help you but I need help just as bad as you do!!

For me and a lot of other people on this board, Deva products really just aren't that good! I personally find them drying and not very curl enhancing. I suggest looking into different products that will work better for your hair :) What are your hair's properties? Fine, thin, thick, coarse, low porosity, high porosity? Stuff like that is the most important in choosing what kind of products to use to make your hair reach its maximum awesomeness!

Most of us start out with Deva, think we like it and move on to other products. Determining you hair properties will definitely help you and help people on nc.com assist you. Here's a link to help: Live Curly Live Free - Home Struttwife's (Tiffany's screen name on nc.com) ebook is a good investment. Nothing you can't find here, just all of the information in one place.

Once you determine your properties, you can look for folks with hair like yours and see what they use (in signatures) and what they do. My hair prefers the more natural products from the online, boutique companies. My current favorites are in my signature.

My hair is fine and very thick. Not sure about the porosity of it.

Density doesn't play as much of a role in things as texture and porosity. This is just quick, not at all scientific, but could give you a starting point until you really do figure it out (you can pay for an analysis through the website I gave you.) If your hair takes HOURS to dry (mine used to be 5-6 even after diffusing for a bit) it's low porosity. If it dries quickly--say an hour or two, it's probably porous. Anything in the middle would be medium, LOL!

My hair is fine and low porosity. It never met a protein it didn't like. I do at least one PT a week and use a lot of products with protein.

LOL...My hair does take forever to dry. So I guess that makes me low porosity.

With curly hair, LONG is relative. If it takes you a long time to dry, then your hair is not porous. So, you have a starting point.

I've only been using products for 4 years. Once I found out what my hair likes, by experimenting with just about every CG product discussed on nc.com and finding the right techniques, my winter wavy/summer 3a hair became more consistent (it looks like my signature picture every day.) My hair prefers the more natural products. It's all about getting the protein/moisture balance right.

If you are getting great curls after you hairdresser styles, then you probably have a good haircut--the foundation to everything. Now it's just learning about your hair, what it likes and experimenting to find what works for you.

Wow I wish my hair would stay wet that long! It dries so fast that normally I get outta the shower, get dressed(20 min at the most) and most.of my hair is already dry

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