Beauty

[seaswirl]

To all the curlytops: My hair is almost shoulder length in front, a bit longer in back. My problem area is what would be called the bang area, which if I pulled it straight down forward comes below my nose. I just don't know how to style this. I style it to the side, but I end up having to wear a headband or my glasses on top of my head to keep it held back.

Any suggestions, i.e. let the top grow longer? Get it cut shorter? What do you all do with that part of your hair?

[havetoshop]

Congratulations on your progress.

I had Hodgkin's last year and lost 90% of my extremely curly hair to chemo. It is growing back straight!

I was Deva girl- had my hair cut there and worth every penny. They really teach you to work with the products ( which I cloned at Sally's). I used the Sally's clips and they worked fine for me.

You have had great advice here. Good luck and stay healthy!

[Funloving]

On 4/8/2014 seaswirl said:

To all the curlytops: My hair is almost shoulder length in front, a bit longer in back. My problem area is what would be called the bang area, which if I pulled it straight down forward comes below my nose. I just don't know how to style this. I style it to the side, but I end up having to wear a headband or my glasses on top of my head to keep it held back.

Any suggestions, i.e. let the top grow longer? Get it cut shorter? What do you all do with that part of your hair?

seaswirl: Try either the Deva Curl type double duck bill clips to maneuver your bangs while wet or damp to add some body and style back to that area that seems to dry without blending. Our hair lengths sound somewhat similar.. mine might be a little longer and my bangs hit right below the ear. If I can develop more of a curl pattern I can tousle those bangs back to blend with the rest of my curls- if you like that same look. (I think cutting might make it worse unless of course you want shorter bangs) .. and then I'd seek out a top notch curly hair cutter/stylist.

I bought the cheaper brand clips at Sally's and they work the very same I'm told-- but save $ sans the Deva Curl name. Or, my favorite is the claw clips like pictured above. It really picks up the hair and helps add volume to roots and you can fix your bangs with those too.

Thanks to the ladies here I'm learning a lot. Stuff I wish I'd known as a teen with unruly curly hair I wrestled with to keep straight. If your bangs aren't cooperating you could do some finger curls in that area.. still use clips for the crown if that's a problem while the rest of your hair is drying so they blend without having to pull them back. The last thing you want is frizzy straighter bangs. I face the same and it's starting to take shape with these clips. I wear them to the side, but like to take them off my face some for more natural height and blending with the rest of the curls. Add aloe gel on the clips for added hold while the bangs take shape, and blend without having to pull them back with bobbi pins, sunglasses or a band. I think patience is key though. It's retraining your hair in spots.

As far as my own bangs, I don't want to cut them shorter.. only trim with the rest of my curls and train them to work with the rest of my hair since my curl pattern is weaker at crown and bangs. A good styling product will help too. This is what I'm trying to decide on now... but I still don't really know my hair type. My point is if you add styling hold to the bangs you can scrunch them then pull them apart when 100% dry so they blend.

[Funloving]

On 4/8/2014 havetoshop said:

Congratulations on your progress.

I had Hodgkin's last year and lost 90% of my extremely curly hair to chemo. It is growing back straight!

I was Deva girl- had my hair cut there and worth every penny. They really teach you to work with the products ( which I cloned at Sally's). I used the Sally's clips and they worked fine for me.

You have had great advice here. Good luck and stay healthy!

havetoshop - You're a sweetheart. Who knows - that straight newer hair might turn to curls again. Mine started coming in straight- which didn't last long.

You stay healthy too!

[Funloving]

Hate to admit I'm more confused than ever after reading the Curly Girl book... it's a wealth of info, but couldn't really relate to any of the hair types. Plus couldn't get the %&*! companion DVD to play in my laptop- which I'll try in my blue-ray. Possibly chemo brain.. plus admittedly, I read through the book quickly.

I did take the density test on a hair strand w/o product which sunk to the bottom of the cup.

Maybe I can learn more about the number, letter system such as 3a, 4 etc I see you guys using by reading the curly sites I've joined.

Amazon had the Deva towels at a good price which came a few days ago. The towel isn't meant to wrap your head. It aids in cupping sections of hair to gently soak up excess water vs. the old towel drying method. I learned about tee-shirts a long time ago from Chaz who encourages ALL hair types to avoid towels which rough-up the hair cuticle. He suggests either a pillow case or t-shirt. I wish he'd develop a no cones CC & products for CGs because I love most of the products & was thrilled to find my oils, and various CCs I boxed during those bald months. With all this 613 recently purchased (but past 30 day return) I discovered it makes a BRILLIANT face wash.. I mean excellent!.. & I'm sure a good body wash too. I also bought 613 styling cream and mousse.

Anyway, without still really knowing my hair type I'm not sure I can get the right products.. I guess this curly adventure takes a lot of trial and error regardless, not to mention re-training the thought process in caring for hair.

All of your input has been outstanding. I've learned more right here than any other source. I do wish we could have a thread like this to trade information.. new discoveries, etc. to help other curly women. There are probably many who mirrored my war against them, when for me, that takes MUCH more time and effort than wash and air dry. For wavy women, they could bring out the real beauty of their hair with the methods learned from the book.

What I'm doing now works quite well- but in the long run I'd rather get rid of the cones and make sure my hair stays healthy and retains moisture.

So, plan to go to Ulta this evening before the 20% store-wide ends. I'll at least pick up some Recoil. That product seems to universally work for several curl types. Hopefully someone in the salon by the hair products is knowledgeable enough to recommend products by eyeballing my hair.

I have a Sally's card again. I rarely used, yet renewed when I bought the clips & before I saw babs post for the Coconut co-wash which gets great reviews & I plan to try at some point. The SA was pushing their special.. an argan oil product line. She said she used it all the time. This woman had stick straight hair.. so I passed until I do the research. The last thing I need is another WRONG product full of cones. I have plenty of those.. thank you very much.

I went through an embarrassing amount of hair products the other night. I'm sure ALL have some degree of silicone. I've started tossing stuff I know I'll never use and have scaled back to the "maybe" products.

Thanks jazzbabe, Catstamper, suzyQ, rac71, WenGirl42, babs, shoekitty, littleblueparakeet, azterry, curlywhitedog, knmt, Kathleen, 4doggies, va603, FUTURE (for your good wishes) seaswirl, havetoshop, my supreme enabler buddy betteb & anyone else who chimed in.

For those on the other side of chemo I wish YOU continued good health!

And my apologies for this novelette. Good grief.

[jazzbabe]

Funloving, don't worry too much about curl type - the typing system is not an exact science (lol) and many curlies have several types of curls. I go back and forth all the time as to what type of curls I have. Finding what works for your hair is a process of trial and error and you may find different products work/don't work depending on the weather, the humidity, the dew point, etc. Curls aren't always predictable, but that is part of their beauty. Good luck and be well.

[suzyQ3]

On 4/9/2014 jazzbabe said:

Funloving, don't worry too much about curl type - the typing system is not an exact science (lol) and many curlies have several types of curls. I go back and forth all the time as to what type of curls I have. Finding what works for your hair is a process of trial and error and you may find different products work/don't work depending on the weather, the humidity, the dew point, etc. Curls aren't always predictable, but that is part of their beauty. Good luck and be well.

ITA.

None of this is an exact science.

[Funloving]

On 4/9/2014 suzyQ3 said:

On 4/9/2014 jazzbabe said:

Funloving, don't worry too much about curl type - the typing system is not an exact science (lol) and many curlies have several types of curls. I go back and forth all the time as to what type of curls I have. Finding what works for your hair is a process of trial and error and you may find different products work/don't work depending on the weather, the humidity, the dew point, etc. Curls aren't always predictable, but that is part of their beauty. Good luck and be well.

ITA.

None of this is an exact science.

I get what you mean. My hair underneath at the nape has an extra curly pattern, while other sections of my hair aren't the same.. and finally the crown and bangs are just slightly wavy- thanks to, maybe in part, all the hot tool abuse.

Thanks ladies

[ChynnaBlue]

If you haven't yet, visit the naturallycurly.com website. It's a wealth of information and you can check forums and product reviews by curl pattern type.

I sometimes use the duckbill clips for volume in the crown. I bought some of the frizzoff clips, but I don't think my hair is curly enough for them and find the clips work better for me. I do think there's a difference in quality of the duckbill clips, not necessarily by brand, but the cheaper clips do have rougher edges that can pull at hair and cause breakage or frizz. I buy the Ouidad duckbill clips when they go on sale at Hautelook.

I did conditioner only washing for a while before switching to WEN and I really like not using shampoo. If you don't want to switch to CO-washing or WEN, I definitely recommend the WEN Remoist deep treatment and the WEN oils. Ouidad and DevaCurl also make great deep treatments. Using the oils as an overnight scalp treatment really makes a difference, as does the Remoist. Curly hair loves to be hydrated!

My favorite styling products are Curl Keeper, by Curly Hair solutions. I also love AG:Recoil and use a dab of Recoil or a Ouidad gel over my Curl Keeper for extra hold. I apply all my styling products on soaking wet hair while I'm still in the shower and then blot dry with an old cotton t-shirt. I used and loved microfiber towels for years, but once I switched to the old t-shirt and the Curl Keeper, I noticed a big difference in the amount of frizz I would get. Frizz is the biggest problem I have because I'm wavy-curly and wavy hair loves to frizz. I always air dry. My bangs hate to cooperate, so I roll them over a large Velcro roller and use a duckbill clip to keep it in place while I eat breakfast. If they're too went to stay in place before I need to leave, I'll zap with my my dryer for 30-60 seconds.

For second day hair, I use a spray bottle of water to get my hair a little damp, then I spray it all over with Ouidad's Botanical Boost (I also order several of those at a time when they go on sale at Hautelook.com) or a DIY version of WEN's Replenishing Treatment Mist. Once my hair is damp all over but not soaking wet, I scrunch some more Curl Keeper in, clip the Velcro roller back in and air dry again.

[Funloving]

On 4/10/2014 ChynnaBlue said:

If you haven't yet, visit the naturallycurly.com website. It's a wealth of information and you can check forums and product reviews by curl pattern type.

I sometimes use the duckbill clips for volume in the crown. I bought some of the frizzoff clips, but I don't think my hair is curly enough for them and find the clips work better for me. I do think there's a difference in quality of the duckbill clips, not necessarily by brand, but the cheaper clips do have rougher edges that can pull at hair and cause breakage or frizz. I buy the Ouidad duckbill clips when they go on sale at Hautelook.

I did conditioner only washing for a while before switching to WEN and I really like not using shampoo. If you don't want to switch to CO-washing or WEN, I definitely recommend the WEN Remoist deep treatment and the WEN oils. Ouidad and DevaCurl also make great deep treatments. Using the oils as an overnight scalp treatment really makes a difference, as does the Remoist. Curly hair loves to be hydrated!

My favorite styling products are Curl Keeper, by Curly Hair solutions. I also love AG:Recoil and use a dab of Recoil or a Ouidad gel over my Curl Keeper for extra hold. I apply all my styling products on soaking wet hair while I'm still in the shower and then blot dry with an old cotton t-shirt. I used and loved microfiber towels for years, but once I switched to the old t-shirt and the Curl Keeper, I noticed a big difference in the amount of frizz I would get. Frizz is the biggest problem I have because I'm wavy-curly and wavy hair loves to frizz. I always air dry. My bangs hate to cooperate, so I roll them over a large Velcro roller and use a duckbill clip to keep it in place while I eat breakfast. If they're too went to stay in place before I need to leave, I'll zap with my my dryer for 30-60 seconds.

For second day hair, I use a spray bottle of water to get my hair a little damp, then I spray it all over with Ouidad's Botanical Boost (I also order several of those at a time when they go on sale at Hautelook.com) or a DIY version of WEN's Replenishing Treatment Mist. Once my hair is damp all over but not soaking wet, I scrunch some more Curl Keeper in, clip the Velcro roller back in and air dry again.

Great info ChynnaBlue. I have Curl Keeper and ReCoil coming. I've been reading a lot on the naturally curly website. Kind of obsessive with this right now. I thought about making my own gel with non-alcohol aloe vera gel, some natural oils- like jojoba, plus distilled water.

Those duckbill clips are genius. I bought the cheap version @ Sally's. I never thought something so small could redirect the curl and lift the crown so brilliantly.