Curly hair is not easy to maintain. Lots of people will argue against this statement. Still, as a multi-racial woman who has African American and Filipino genes, I tend to have more than just one curl pattern sitting on my head, which I have found hard to maintain. I’ve spent most of my teenage years and now adulthood trying to figure out how to take care of my hair properly. There is so much information on how to maintain your curls, which can easily get overwhelming, so hopefully, in this article, you’ll be able to take away something new on how to maintain your own curls!
1. Understand That Not Every Tutorial Is For You
Before I actually get into some of the advice, I believe that the main thing everyone has to understand when it comes to curls is that everyone’s curls are super different from one another. For example, if we’re looking at curl pattern-wise, my head has a mixture of 3A, 3C, and some 4A/B curl patterns, meaning when I take care of my curls, I can’t necessarily follow any tutorial to the exact letter because the majority of people tend to have only one hair pattern. This might be the same for you. While you might watch a video of someone who has the same curl pattern as you, their routine might not work for you because of how much oil you naturally produce, how well your hair can retain moisture, and what you do day to day.
You don’t ever have to follow someone else’s routine exactly and instead pick and choose different aspects that work for your lifestyle and hair.
2. Figure Out What You Want Out Of Your Hair
Curls are a very versatile partner. However, sometimes you can’t have it all. So ask yourself, do you want mainly volume? Definition? Length? A mix of the two, or maybe all of them at once? I ask you this because, depending on what you’re aiming for, your routine will vary slightly. The way someone would take care of their hair when they’re only aiming for volume is that a 4C curl pattern would look different than someone who’s only aiming for definition with the same curl pattern. And the same is true if two people are only aiming for definition, even if they have different curl patterns.
So before we start going into even more tips and tricks on how to manage your hair. Figure out what you want, of course can change day to day, but for right now, choose only one or two aspects you’re aiming for, and then we can carry on.
3. Understand What Your Hair Needs and Doesn’t Need
As I’ve been drilling it over and over again throughout this article, everyone’s curl is different. Right now, I want you to figure out and get more intimate with your own hair and figure out the parts of what makes your hair, yours. Some people’s curls has issue with retaining moisture, others have breakage issues, and others might have issues with definition. This is mainly when curl pattern, porosity, and density come into play. Once we are able to figure out those aspects of our curls, then we are able to help narrow it down even further to products.
First, let’s figure out how much protein/moisutre does your hair has. Grab a strand of your hair and make sure it’s dry. Gently pull it the same way you would tug a string. If you find that your hair stretched slightly and bounces back with no issue, then your hair is balanced well in regard to protein and moisture. However, if you stretch it and it simply keeps stretching, you might need some products with protein. If the strand snaps almost as soon as you stretch it, then you will need products with moisture in them.
Second, we will be testing your hair porosity. This is the main player when hunting down products because it will determine how well your hair can take those products and the moisture in itself. Next time you wash your hair, let it air dry with no products and observe how fast it dries and takes in water. If you notice that when you wash your hair, your hair immediately gets soaking wet with no issue and also dries super quickly once you get out, there’s a chance you have high porosity hair. This means you will be needing some more heavy protein-rich products with moisturizing benefits. If you notice that it takes a while for your hair to get soaking wet and also dries slowly, your hair is most likely low porosity. This will mean you need lighter products and warmth to open up your follicles to allow moisture to flow through. You could also have medium porosity, where your hair doesn’t absorb water too fast nor too slow, and also tends to hold styles well since the hair doesn’t take either super fast or super slow to dry. This is considered the balanced porosity.
Lastly, we need to find out the texture of your curls, which is how thick they are. An easy way to know yours is by taking a strand and rubbing it between your fingers or holding it up against a sewing thread. If you can barely feel the strand between your fingers or the hair is thinner than the thread, your hair is fine. Or if you hold it up against the light, it appears translucent. The opposite will be true for coarse hair. The density of your hair will simply be found by feel. If you have a lot of hair, then you have a high density, the opposite is true of lower density.
4. Find the Right Products
This is the section of the article where I can not tell you exactly which products will work for you. But this is also the most important section. Once you know all of the tiny details of your hair, you start researching different products that will work for you and your desired look. Since everyone’s hair will require a different combination, I sadly can not give you an exact list of which products will work for you and which products won’t. Even if I do provide a list, the products might have the opposite effect, so I highly recommend looking up and reading the reviews of different products to see which might work for you and what might not.
However, I still highly recommend everyone to follow the LOC. Leave in/Liquid, Oil, and Cream. If you’re confused about what products to begin searching for, then start by looking for three different products. A leave-in conditioner, or some sort of water-based moisturizer, will be where your hair will be gathering the majority of its moisture from. I personally use Mielle Avocado Moisturizing Hair Milk as someone who has low porosity hair that tends to lean on the fine side of things, and struggles with moisture. Second, I recommend gathering an oil to lock in the moisture; this could be a heavy oil if you have high porosity or a lighter oil if you have lower porosity. I tend to reach for jojoba oil and occasionally castor oil. Lastly, if you desire to style it, get a cream to lock everything in. I personally do not use creams as I find some of them too heavy for my hair, but it might benefit you greatly. After this, it is up to you if you want to add mouse or gel for further definition, these products are viewed more as optional compared to LOC.
This is, sadly, where the majority of the trial and error comes in with finding products that mix well together and provide what your hair is missing. This aspect is very personal to each person, so allow yourself to try products that you believe will benefit you rather than blindly following someone’s routine.
5. Remember It’s Not A Race
Look, taking care of curly hair can be tricky, and while today I only gave you the bare basics of how to start taking care of your hair, remember that curls are simply a long trial and error. Some products that might have worked for you yesterday can suddenly not work for you tomorrow. Curly hair structure can change as we age due to our lifestyle changing. Do not be discouraged if it takes you some time to find the routine that gives you the exact results you wanted, because at some point, you’ll find that routine with time.
Everyone’s curls are beautiful, and I hope to one day be in a world where people embrace their curls with so much pride that it’s normal. I trust that you will find a way that works for you and makes you feel beautiful and confident in your own hair.