Trying to simplify / getting tired of all the steps
 

Do you ever feel exhausted with all the steps it takes to get your hair to look great? I think in our curly world, we feel like we have simple routines and then I watch my friends with straight hair and I just have to laugh at my detailed step by step process!

I definitely don't want straight hair but I want to cut down the steps so it's less fussy. Curly hair has the appearance of being free and wild and spontaneous and yet so many of us use a rigid routine to get it to look like that.

I currently do the following routine every 2 or 3 nights...
- wash with Curl Junkie Daily Fix
- condition with Elucence MB
- put in KCKT and TJ Nourish as a leave in (rake heavily)
- quickly rinse under water to spread the conditioner
- apply KCCC
- quickly rinse to spread
- apply more KCCC
- blot with a T-shirt
- plop for 15 minutes
- let air dry as long as possible
- diffuse until almost all dry

I try to do this at night because otherwise I have wet hair until lunch time...annoying and I look like a drowned rat. But, there are nights that are busier than others and the last thing I want to do is all of the above. I am sorry I sound so whiny but I am trying to simplify everything in my life and my hair is definitely a part of me!

So...are there any of you who simplified your routine successfully? Are there steps that can be cut out without much difference? I am willing to lose some definition or gain some frizz (a little) if it means cutting my time.

Thank you in advance for reading all this!

Wish I had advice:( I have to start over every morning (I diffuse to dry)

My routine is pretty simple. I am an early riser, I love mornings! Two to three times a week, at 6:00 a.m. I co-wash and detangle in the shower. I apply sealer oil and one drop of honey (nothing else) to hair that has been patted dry, flipping upside down to make sure to get my nape. Then I turban for 20 minutes while I dress and relax (browse the internet). I take down my turban and clip up my roots. Then I dress, drink coffee (and browse the internet) then drive to work.

At work I take out my clips and allow my hair to continue to dry. That's it. From Start to finish 2 hours, but my hair stays damp for an additional two hours which I don't mind - my hair actually looks best when it is damp - mostly dry.

Of course any routine will vary due to style, length and curl pattern. My hair is long enough that I hardly notices a wonky curls, and there basically isn't any "shape" to maintain, AND I don't even mind a bit of frizz, it gives me volume.

I think the answer the question about simplifying, it is becoming very comfortable with the curl you have, then with a minimum amount of manipulation it becomes defined and something of beauty. It might not be like everyone's idea of beauty, but it is your own particular, natural you.

I think this is exactly what I wanted and needed to hear. I just have to let my hair be my hair...whatever that means. I wonder how many of us on this site actually know what our hair looks like when it's left without any or hardly any product. We claim that we love our curly hair but we douse it in a variety of products and manipulate it through a number of techniques...are we really naturally curly? Are we the hair equivalent of slapping on layer after layer of thick stage makeup?

Okay, I have gotten a little too deep, here, but you've made me really think...THANK YOU!!:thumbright:

I was just gonna post the same question! I cut my hair so it's cut back on the time/product (since it's a TWA), but even when I had shoulder length hair I felt like it took sooooo long to do my hair and I wasn't even doing half the stuff I was reading other posts do for their routine. I think it's about being okay with less than perfect hair, and maybe skipping a step or product and see how your hair reacts. If you notice minimal difference, you can probably skip that step or product.

I agree with the above posters. Simplicity comes from contentment. If you're okay with what your natural hair wants to do naturally, then you'll be okay with the results of a simplified routine. After years of following this site and experimenting with scads of products and techniques, I've banished my inner-PJ and learned to be happy with the natural results I can easily achieve with minimal effort, using the products in my signature. For me, a few products + minimal styling time = a simple routine for my naturally curly hair.

I did this to become simplified!! I wa spending 50 minutes to get pretty good straight hair. Now I cowash in the morning, throw it in a towel, dry with a diffuser and I'm good to go. Well add product and everything. But letting my hair do what it wants vs trying to force it makes me happy. Sometimes I notice people's hair rituals are so elaborate, but I wonder how necessary all the steps are. If they just kind of tested what happened when they didn't use stuff. You know.

all i do is every 2 to 3 days a week, co wash, shampoo once a week, i don't bother detangling or anything, then i get out the shower, wring my hair out with a cotton t shirt, put in a lot of condish as a leave in, and then mousse. i braid my bangs to make them looser, leave it, and then diffuse dry. the rinsing to spread seems uneccessary to me! of course, my curls aren't perfect, but i can't be bothered to put in too much effort.

I agree with everyone who says you just need to accept your hair the way it is naturally, curl pattern-wise at least. My main concern is just preventing dryness and frizz, I don't need much clumping, or too much definition. Just soft, non frizzy curls. My routine is pretty simple, I wash, condition, rake in leave in, rake in curl creme, all while combing my hair with a wide toothed comb, then I wrap my hair up in a microfiber towel and leave it up until it dries a little, then take it down, comb it again, and go! If I don't have anywhere to go and don't mind soaking wet hair, I skip the towel.

Thank you everyone for all the thoughtful and heartfelt responses! I think I needed to hear from people that just because we're on this website doesn't mean we have to have crazy product-laden, multi-stepped, time consuming routines. We can if we want to but we don't have to.

I just laugh sometimes when I log on and the website is called naturallycurly and all the posts on the General Discussions page are about the gazillions of products we use to achieve our "natural" hair. I am starting to lean towards the idea that natural isn't just about being curly vs. straight but also about being natural in our own unique non-drenched in product curls.

Thanks everyone! You have given me a lot to think about! :blob4:

Wow. That's a lot. I think that routines do get hectic when we try to make our hair be something else. I have learned to embrace my hair the way it is. It's now way easier to deal with. I think it just takes time to learn your hair. We have to stop with the curl perfection obsession a little frizz is ok with me. I just don't want to walk around with dry and damaged hair.

I wash....condition.....then put regular conditioner in and leave it in.....then use AOMMJ.....let it air dry.
I don't do that everyday....the next two nights I put a little conditioner in and put it in one or two braids.

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Don't laugh.. But I like to apply my conditioner on dry hair.. It feels like my hair is more.. conditioned that way.

I sometimes go the simple routine. Just use a bit of leave-in condish and nothing else. No special routines, just maybe diffuse a bit so it's not sopping wet. More leave-in if there's frizz. And off I go. I find my curls are less defined this way, but my hair looks longer, more "gypsy girlish". I don't mind it.

Sometimes, I purpose use shots of undiffused air to give a longer, wavier look.

Those simple leave-in days are very freeing, but not as curly and more tending to frizz.

Great thread! :toothy8: I started a thread a while ago I can not find [unless my 'name' was diff't...] regarding how your hair looks product free.

My question is: Are all the steps necessary? I guess it depends on what beautiful is to you (?) Product or no, your hair would be still curly, right?

I, too, got tired of the steps...mostly cuz I like to play in my hair. I experimented this week with trying a change up...but my basic reggie works okay. then again, I am not too hooked on rigid, super defined hair. I am subcribing to this...

I love your hair and regimen. Your regimen is about the most similar to mine I have seen thus far. I think many would be surprised at the natural gorgeousness of their 'naked' curls...to all the hair styling companies' dismay LOL

We are routine twins :) Except I use KC Come clean to cleanse. However, yesterday I tried condish only styling (with Shea moisture deep treat) & I actually really liked it, aside from a little looser canopy, it felt soooo good. Next time I'll try it with my KCKT instead of the thick SM :)

I do not like to put a lot of product in my hair. I was a member on here many years ago and tried so much stuff... I feel like my hair gets dirty feeling from it all. Now, I try for simple too. Cleanse, condition, leave-in and then one more product for definition and then air dry. I am thinking this all shouldn't get MORE complicated than before "going natural".

LOL good point! I've always been pretty much a minimalist when it comes to makeup and hair. After I moved from NY and FL, my hair started to change for the worse, sending me to the 'net in search of help, leading me here. I would read all these raves about various products and go on a spending spree, convinced that Curl Junkie/Jessicurl/Curly Kinks/etc etc was going to be the silver bullet to fix my hair issues.

Many dollars and disappointments later, I've settled on a handful of products that work well for me. I still feel that temptation to buy the latest and greatest product whenever I read glowing reviews, but I'm much better at resisting that urge.

My daily routine is:
1. Low-poo with AG re:coil
2. Slather AG re:coil conditioner
3. Detangle with a wide tooth comb
4. Rinse with cold water
5. Scrunch in product (subject to change; at the moment it's Botticelli Botanicals Styling Mudd)
6. Plop in Diva Dryer for 25 minutes
7. Clip with CHS roller jaw clamps until I have to leave the house
8. Air dry

Most days, I get good curl definition and volume with minimal frizz and effort. Of course, YMMV :iconbiggrin:

I agree with everyone else, our hair is as complicated as we want to make it. For me i'm ok with a looser pattern if it means I don't have to sit there and scrunch forever and add so many products and plop....ugh too much. There are times when I do all that if I want to make the effort, but usually I just don't lol. A lot of times it all sounds like a lot of steps but it's really not. Even straight haired girls apply oils and cremes sometimes to keep the frizz down and then blowdry their hair before going to work/school. My steps are simple I think and not as time consuming as it sounds:

I cowash/lowpoo, condition and detangle, squeeze some water out, apply leave in, apply oil to ends, rake in some curling creme and then some gel, scrunch once over with a tshirt and diffuse on high warm for ten minutes or so and then on high cold for another two to three minutes to settle my hair back down. I have a lot of hair lol. Other times I just let it air dry if i'm not going out right away.