I have never wanted that sleek, straight look that so many people seem to love.
Instead, I constantly tried to get my hair to be curlier. I have tried curling irons, sock curls, and simply putting my hair into braids when it was wet to try to coax something out of it. For a long time, I did not believe I had wavy or curly hair, I thought I was just cursed with poofy frizz.
A few years ago, I had the thought that maybe I wasn’t alone on my curl quest. I started searching for the secrets to frizz free hair. I managed to stumble across The Curly Girl Method which has completely changed my hair’s life. This discovery opened a whole new world to me of curl patterns, hair porosity and products I should and shouldn’t be using. I began binge reading articles on sulfates and silicones, became fascinated with finding a moisture versus protein balance, and found myself immersed in a world with so many hair products I never knew existed.
I soon went through all my old products and started to eliminate sulfates and silicones from my hair routine and threw my brush far away.
I was able to instantly see a change in my hair. While it wasn’t absolute perfection I knew that the curly girl method was the right one for my hair. I began to see curls forming naturally out of what I previously thought was just a frizzy mess. I started to notice my hair feeling stronger when wet and not like straw. I felt more confident in my hair and so dug deeper into the curly girl method to see what else I could learn.
After about a month or so I started to notice build-up on my scalp that seemed to stay even after a thorough co-wash. I frantically checked all of my hair products to verify again that there were no pesky silicones hiding in any of them or any other type of offender but found nothing. From there I started to research sulfate free shampoos and thought that may be the better route for me. I tried quite a few that left my hair feeling just as stripped as normal shampoos before I found shea moisture shampoos. They felt like a co-wash yet had enough cleaning power to get rid of the buildup that I experience naturally.
I was disappointed that simply co-washing did not work for my hair but was very happy that there were more options for people who needed something more.
Another important part of succeeding in the Curly Girl Method is finding the right balance in your hair between the proteins you add and the moisture. When I first started my journey my hair was so dry that all I did was pump moisture into it. I tried DIY hair masks, I purchased hair masks and worked to get my hair as absolutely moisturized as I could. My hair did become moisturized as I had hoped but it quickly became overly so.
My hair began to feel mushy when wet and I worried that I was going to stretch it when I was in the shower. I found many articles talking about how wonderful of a product coconut oil is for the hair and decided to give it a shot in hopes that it would repair what I had done to my hair. After an overnight treatment with the oil I could pretty quickly notice a huge difference and learned how necessary a good balance between the two is.
The Curly Girl Method not only showed me how to care for my hair more appropriately but it helped me learn how to style it as well to help bring out my curls.
I discovered that the shower was not just the place to wash your hair but was also where you can start to encourage and style your curls. The squish to condish method is a way of applying your conditioner that has help bring out the definition of my curls and something that I now use for every shower. I also found that towel drying is nothing but drying and damaging to curls and have since switched to using a T-shirt for drying and plopping my curls.
Finding The Curly Girl Method gave me curl peace.
While it did not give me type 3 or 4 curls that I still admire, it showed me the beauty of all wavy and curly hair. The curly girl method has provided me with all the information that I need to be able to make informed decisions about my hair and products that I purchase. While I am still a product junkie (maybe even more so than before”> I rarely purchase something that I don’t use up completely. Now I feel proud of my hair and love to wear it down rather than hide it in a ponytail like I have for so many years.
Update
Since this article was originally published, Becky got a gorgeous short cut that’s longer in the front and cropped at the nape. We love the shape and how healthy her curls look, “Ahhh guys I’m so happy with how it turned out! I look forward to another two years of growing it out! #yay #awesome #worthit” Becky said.
Becky, AKA The Polished Curl has an obsession with all things naturally curly hair and nail polish. Follow her on Instagram@thepolishedcurl and subscribe to her YouTube channel.
