Styling hair damp, upside down, and raking?

emmaraldgreen

Hi curlies!
I've been searching the boards trying to find an answer to my question and can't seem to find anything similar to it...
I'm low porosity, and I'm realizing that if I style with my hair soaking wet, then everything just kind of drags down and I get loose curls and waves. So I've been experimenting lately with applying some of my RO as a leave in in the shower and then stepping out, drying my body and doing all that kind of stuff, and styling after. My problem then is that styling upside down seems to give me the best volume and root curl and raking seems to give me the best product distribution. Trying to comb my fingers through my hair to get it to lie down properly while upside down, however, breaks up the curls so much, since the hair is already slightly dry, that I just sort of end up with a mess. Hopefully this makes sense to people...
I was wondering how people deal with situations like this? When doing a final rinse in the shower, should I sort of finger comb my hair back away from my head, without a part, to make it lay more naturally when flipped upside down?
The strange thing is that I remember that I used to style this way in the past and it resulted in way curlier hair then, so I'm wondering what's changed in that time? It just seems like trying to manipulate around a part in damp hair by raking upside down is difficult when the roots have already started to dry a bit and the remaining dampness is concentrated in the ends. I don't particularly care about a hair part, as I sort of just let my hair settle into that once it's dry.
Hopefully you guys can visualize what I mean!

SereneCurls

Hey. I don't have a solution, but I wanted you to know I definitely get what you're talking about and have had the same problem. My compromise, since I haven't been able to solve it, is to lean my head way over to each side while applying my gel and diffusing. This way my roots get some of the benefit they would have from upside down styling, but the clumps stay intact. Hopefully that makes sense, it's worth a try. If you still want more volume or to support the curls so they don't get as stretched out while drying, you can always clip the roots as well.

emmaraldgreen

Can you tell me a little more? Is this method you are talking about on soaking wet or damp hair? If damp, are you walking out of the shower without a part in your hair and flipping your head side to side without a part? Or are you merely scrunching one side of a part and then another?

I have no problem raking my fingers through my hair when it's soaked, but then I get clumpier curls or just weak waves. And I've tried doing the side to side scrunching with one half of a part and then another, but my roots just lie flat. Like it seems like that final rinse in the shower just plasters my roots to my head and then I'm stuck with that

SereneCurls

I'll describe what I do, and I can suggest alternatives later if any of these things doesn't work well for you. I apply my leave in still in the shower to soaking wet hair, then use a wide tooth comb to distribute it. Now my curls are clumped the way they'll stay while styling and drying. I use the comb at my roots, leaning to each side to comb the roots away from my scalp to avoid that plastered look you mention. At this point you could create your part, mine is very persistent and difficult to change so it's already there. Then I lean to each side and scrunch handfuls of hair up from the ends to get a bunch of the water out, more of a scrunch up and hold firmly since I don't want quick light scrunches to break up the clumps. Now the hair shouldn't be dripping, but the clumps should remain intact. I get out of the shower and dry off, then divide my hair into left and right sections to apply stylers. I lean to the left to rake product into the left section, also leaning forward slightly so my raking doesn't drag the roots down any further. Then I scrunch the same way I did before, leaned forward and to the side scrunching from the ends upward and holding each scrunch a couple seconds. Repeat for the other side. Then I glide my hands over the canopy of my hair just to smooth any styler left onto the surface, most of the styler I've already applied is focused on the length so the roots won't get pulled flat. I then diffuse in the same way, leaning to each side and cupping the hair from the ends upward in the bowl of the diffuser.
If you want smaller clumps but are having trouble with frizz, I'd still style in a way similar to this, and just gently separate the curls after scrunching out the crunch when your hair's dry. You can then lean to the sides and fluff the roots by sliding your fingers beneath the hair if you want to add more volume without frizzing everything up.

GoldenMedusa63

Hi!

Hopefully you have found a solution, but if not here is my routine. I have strong 3A/Botticelli/Corkicelli curl units and this is the routine I use to help good units form. My hair has a tendency to have higher porosity so it can often be a bit dry.

1. Soak down hair thoroughly from the front in the shower.

2. Apply a generous amount of shampoo to scalp and massage to cleanse. Rinse ASAP

3. Apply generous amount of conditioner to the canopy of hair and then use my favorite wide toothed comb to evenly distribute.

4. Pump water into my curls upside down. I lean forward in the shower and let water run down my back into my hair. I catch and gently squish water into my hair without washing out the conditioner. I can feel my curls juicing up and forming units better because of this step. I leave my hair like this while I do my other shower things like shave, occasionally feeling for dry/ less pumped sections and add water if need as I go. Rinse from the front and DON'T remove excess water. I find the more water in the next step the better.

5. Upside down, I spread gel into palm and fingers (I try to get some on each side of each finger), I "ice" (spread with open palm) and "rake" (gently run my fingers between curl units) to help cover most of the hair. Then I gently scrunch to even distribute the gel. I then scrunch out excess moisture and product.

6. Scrunch more moisture with my microfibre (Aquis brand) towel.

7. Stand up and shake into place, air dry to finish.

I hate fiddling with products and supplies too much so I don't clip or plop. Very wash and go style for me.

Hope that helps! I found I had to develop this method after lots of reading. No one methods works for each head of curls.

Marci Pie

I can end up looking like a brillo pad if I dry my hair or style after getting dress. I have to apply products on soaking wet hair.


In the shower on wash day I apply my LI in and then I flip my head upside down and finger comb or use a denman brush. Then I scrunch in the gel. Then I air-dry.


If I don't scrunch I lose my volume. I love volume with curl definition which sometimes is like catching a unicorn.


This method works the best for me. However you have to keep experimenting to see what works best for you. Sometimes the same products with different methods on damp or dry hair will produce different results.