Growing up with curly hair was one of my biggest struggles. Like most curly-haired girls, I grew up wearing ponytails because I didn’t know how to style them (a canon event). However, in my case, I went even further and got six keratin treatments over the years because it felt easier to keep my hair straight than actually learn how actually to take care of it.
This experience was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing? It made me realize straight hair just wasn’t me. The curse? My hair was completely damaged, and I honestly wasn’t sure if my curls would ever come back.
After some “research” (TikTok doomscrolling), I started experimenting with different products to figure out what actually worked for my naturally curly hair. I was lucky enough to find a content creator, Curlswithkeish, who’s given me so many pieces of advice to really see a change in my hair.
That’s when I realized curly hair isn’t “difficult,” it’s just misunderstood. If you’re just starting your curl journey, here’s everything I wish someone had told me sooner.
- LEARN YOUR CURL TYPE
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Knowing if you’re 2C, 3A, or 3B can help you find creators and products that actually match your texture. These letter and number combinations represent different types of curly and wavy hair. Understanding my hair and the different techniques that work for it saved me a lot of time and money on routines that just aren’t meant for my hair.
- MOISTURE IS EVERYTHING
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Curly hair is naturally drier than straight hair, which is why it gets frizzy so fast (especially here in Florida). For me, finding moisturizing leave-in treatments, hair masks, curl creams, and deep conditioners changed the softness of my curls completely.
I learned that if my hair feels dry, it doesn’t need more products; it just needs some rehydration. This goes both ways; ensuring that your hair isn’t over-moisturized is just as important.
- CLARIFY IT
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This is a piece of advice that took me a while to hear about, but once I figured it out, my hair changed completely. When you start using curly hair products, they build up fast. What this means is that when you do a curly hair routine, which usually involves more than one product, those products can begin to build up on the scalp, and normal shampoo can’t always wash them well enough.
After a while, your curls might feel flat, greasy, or dry, even though you’re doing the same routine. That’s not your hair “acting up,” it’s buildup.
- TECHNIQUE
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Expensive products and using high-end brands don’t always guarantee the best results, at least in my experience. While using the right products for your hair is important, what’s even more important is how you style it. Try styling on soaking wet hair, scrunching, finger-coiling, using a special brush, or using a diffuser.
- BE PATIENT
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Damage doesn’t disappear overnight. It took years for my curls to fully come back and look healthy. Some days will look amazing, other days it’ll look like a mess. That’s just part of the process. For me, I found it important to learn to love the process instead of trying to achieve perfection.
Most importantly, stop comparing your curls to someone else’s. Your hair isn’t supposed to look like theirs, it’s supposed to look like yours.
Learning how to care for my curls honestly felt like learning how to accept myself. The more I stopped fighting my natural texture, the more confident I felt. Now my curls feel less like a problem to fix and more like a part of me I actually love.
So if you’re at the beginning of your curly hair journey, consider this your sign: put down the straightener, and give your curls a chance — they might surprise you. Trust me, it’s so worth it.
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