Sticky, frizzy temperamental curls!

girlywhirly · 07-20-2012, 03:47 PM

Hello curly girls!

I've been reading this site for over 3 months now, soaking in (and trying to put into practice) all of the great techniques, advice, information and science out there. Now I am finally going to reach out and seek the help I so desperately need from you wonderfully knowledgeable curlies!

I started the CG method about 2 months ago. Before I started, I had been seriously damaging my hair for about 4 years with blow dryers and flat irons. Needless to say my hair is extremely damaged. Therefore I know that I need to be patient, and treat the CG method as a process, but my hair still seems to be reacting badly 2+ months in (and reacting more badly than others that are in the same position as me - my mom started it at the same time, with very similar hair, and hers looks fab).

From what I can tell my hair is 2c/3a, depending on the section of hair. It is fine, medium density, and high porosity. I have been low'pooing (once every week or two) with devacurl low poo. CO with suave naturals coconut, and RO with Aubry GPB. I use a micro fibre towel to scrunch my hair and use Devacurl light defining gel as a styling product (and occasionally also suave as a LI). Even though my hair feels lovely and soft when wet, after it dries it feels relatively sticky and dry (mostly at the top). It also dries far more curly at the roots through to about 4 inches down, and then after that it is almost wavy. Put all of this together and people have referred to my hair as looking like dreadlocks (that is not the look i'm going for!). I've questioned whether this is protein insensitivity, however from what I can tell it is not since that would mean my hair would be more extremely dry and tangled (whereas mine is relatively dry-frizzy but sticky and soft at the tips).

I should also add that I live in Toronto, where the dew point is very high in summer (right now)!

I hope I am making sense, as it is a bit hard to describe! Any help would be beyond appreciated. Currently I cannot even wear my hair down as it looks so bad, and have to wear it up everyday (which doesn't make me feel too hot when I go out for a girls night out).

Thank you!

curlypearl · 07-22-2012, 08:14 AM

Hi Girlywhirly,
Unfortunately, you may have to cut off some of your hair if it is very damaged. Have you had a good cut recently?

Also, try using completely different products if your pocketbook can stand it. You might want to pm Kathymack so that you can try a bunch of samples for very little $, or just go to a drugstore and try some from there. Have you tried a curl creme instead of a gel? Are you leaving in a good amount of a nice conditioner that has good slip but isn't too rich? Some people find it helpful to scrunch in a small amount of conditioner after rinsing and leaving it in, on the parts that get dry.

Also, it sounds as though you could benefit from a deep treatment like Curl Junkie Curl Rehab.

HTH!! Post back and let us know how it is going. I hope you seen improvement.

Gretchen · 07-23-2012, 07:08 AM

Hi girlywhirly! Welcome to NaturallyCurly and CurlTalk.

You'll find tons of great info and advice and curl love all around the site... have fun digging around!

girlywhirly · 07-24-2012, 08:59 AM

Thank you curlypearl!

Yes i've had a good cut to start off CG. I actually went to a place called curl ambassadors which was great.

Re: products. I made the mistake of investing in more expensive products to start out, not realizing originally how much stuff can vary and work/not work for different hair types.

For now i've started leaving in Suave coconut more often, because i think it has good slip (although, i'm not sure what i'm supposed to be experiencing to call it slip?). I think I will invest in a curl cream too, if you could recommend a good one that would be great! I've actually started combing my hair through when i have my RO in, and right before adding my styling product because I find my hair is so fine and low density that it needs to actually be broken up a bit before clumping to look more voluminous and less stringy/dreadlock-y!

It's still not great, but definitely looks a bit better now, so thank you!

P.s. Thanks for the welcome too, Gretchen!

Gretchen · 07-24-2012, 11:09 AM

You'll get there; bit by bit!