I am always striving to achieve the ultimate volume and definition with my curls. While I had heard of plopping, I had never actually tried it until a couple of months ago. I have been plopping my curls ever since, in addition to making a slight alteration to the way that I style my curls. From the combination of the two, I have learned that even the tiniest alterations to your styling routine can have very powerful and noticeable results. Here is what I have found in regards to plopping with my curl texture. (I’m a Type 2c/3a”>.
### Styling when sopping wet
Before I get into sharing my experiences with plopping, I made a slight alteration to when I apply my products after showering. Before, I used to style my hair at a different stage of wetness. I have recently discovered that for my texture, I get the most definition when I apply my products to sopping wet hair, as compared to just wet hair. Before I tried plopping, after I got out of the shower, I would gently scrunch my curls with a t-shirt and then apply my products afterwards. While I would still get great volume and ok definition, my curls would not be as defined as I would have liked. (As you can see in the image below”>.
(No plopping”>
After a while, I decided that some things needed to be changed. I then began to apply my products right out of the shower when my curls were sopping wet instead of getting rid of the excess water first, and then applying my products. I began to apply my products right out of the shower without plopping. While my definition did improve, it still could have been better. That’s when I decided to take my styling routine one step further by trying plopping.
What I did was after applying my products to sopping wet hair, I gently scrunched my wet hair with my hands before using my t-shirt. With my products in my hair, I then used the t-shirt to scrunch out the excess water, gently wrapped my curls up in the shirt, and let them sit for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes were up, I gently took my curls out and scrunched them a little more with the t-shirt before I diffused.
Read more: Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to plop curly hair.
Results:
What I discovered was that, with the combination of applying my products to sopping wet hair and plopping, I not only got much better volume, but also better definition as well. My hair had never looked more voluminous and defined — all thanks to some slight styling alterations.
(After plopping”>
Conclusion:
I have learned that applying my products to a very specific level of wetness (sopping wet compared to just wet”> gives me noticeably more definition. In addition, plopping gives me more curl, and for that reason, I would definitely choose to plop over not plopping. While plopping works for me, it might not work for your curl texture. I find that it is important to experiment with whether or not plopping works for you, as everyone’s curls are different.
When do you get the best definition? Do you apply your products right after showering or do you wait and apply to just wet hair? What do you think of plopping? Does plopping work for you? Let me know in the comment section below!
