too much info! where does a girl start?

jewelsf

lately I have been really disappointed with my hair. I know I am in need of a cut but it seems like more than that. I had a baby a little less than a year ago, so perhaps some of my hair issues might be relating to hormones? I'm not sure. I have 3B curls with low porosity, and quite desnse. Lately it seems like my hair is super weighed down and I don't even get a good second day. This is just NOT GOOD! I think perhaps I am not using appropriate cleansing and styling methods for my hair. I generally clense with conditioner and then follow that with a leave-in. I style with a gel or cream. I've read a little about cleansing with baking soda and following up with ACV rinse, so I might try that. I have also read about the LOC and LCO methods and am a little confused about those. So where do I start? I want lovely fluffy curls but I don't want tangly frizz. How do I get my hair to form nice curls without frizz, but do so without weighing it down? What is a good basic routine for 3b low porosity hair? BTW I do not use a hair dryer, and I use all natural products - I am very picky about that! I don't want a fussy routine, mama does not have time for extended beauty hijinks!

anonymous_150263

My kids are 6 and 8 and I can definitly sympathize. I don't remember my hair being so difficult before children.. then again before children I didn't check ingredients, i just used whatever worked well. I suspect attempting to use more natural products does make things more difficult in addition to hormonal changes. You have to make some time to take care of yourself though or you will go nuts. When my kids were babies I admit i mostly did ponytails because people don't realize curly hair does take time and attention to make it look good.

I ABSOLUTELY hate when people say "oh I wish I had curly hair so i could just scrunch it and go"... they seriously think its that easy. For me, product application is critical and takes time to make sure the products are evenly distributed. And then getting a good curl pattern and clumping. My underlayers form beautiful ringlets effortlessly but will frizz, and my top layers take some attention to get to curl without looking stringy or limp. I have to wash or wet each morning as well to style. Its an ongoing battle.

SereneCurls

jewelsf wrote: »

lately I have been really disappointed with my hair. I know I am in need of a cut but it seems like more than that. I had a baby a little less than a year ago, so perhaps some of my hair issues might be relating to hormones? I'm not sure. I have 3B curls with low porosity, and quite desnse. Lately it seems like my hair is super weighed down and I don't even get a good second day. This is just NOT GOOD! I think perhaps I am not using appropriate cleansing and styling methods for my hair. I generally clense with conditioner and then follow that with a leave-in. I style with a gel or cream. I've read a little about cleansing with baking soda and following up with ACV rinse, so I might try that. I have also read about the LOC and LCO methods and am a little confused about those. So where do I start? I want lovely fluffy curls but I don't want tangly frizz. How do I get my hair to form nice curls without frizz, but do so without weighing it down? What is a good basic routine for 3b low porosity hair? BTW I do not use a hair dryer, and I use all natural products - I am very picky about that! I don't want a fussy routine, mama does not have time for extended beauty hijinks!

I know feeling stuck in a hair rut can be overwhelming, especially when life is hectic, but I'm sure we can help you figure this out. A few questions. Which products are you using right now? That might help to figure out what's causing you trouble. When was the last time you did a wash with a sulfate shampoo? Many of us need this from time to time to get rid of the product buildup we can get. Do you have any special water circumstances, such as very hard water or a well? These factors can all contribute to the hair symptoms you mention.

kathymack

Totally agree with the above advice on the haircut and clarifying. Both really "freshen" up your curl and lets you start with a good foundation.

If your hair is truly low porosity, one of the methods that layers straight oil probably isn't good for you. Most people originally use the float test to determine porosity. It's notoriously unreliable--everyone is low porosity! Without having it microscopically analyzed, dry time is a good indicator. Naked hair drying in under 2 hours is porous, 6+ is low and in between is regular.

I can't use straight oil/butter, but can use it in minute amounts in well formulated products. Frequently, my hair is dry before all the product is absorbed.

My hair prefers the more natural products. I stay away from a lot of chemicals, especially polyquats 4, 7 & 10. I use curl towels to remove a lot of the water and do diffuse with a professional dryer (I find that makes a BIG difference on minimizing frizz.)

Reservechic

jewelsf wrote: »

lately I have been really disappointed with my hair. I know I am in need of a cut but it seems like more than that. I had a baby a little less than a year ago, so perhaps some of my hair issues might be relating to hormones? I'm not sure. I have 3B curls with low porosity, and quite desnse. Lately it seems like my hair is super weighed down and I don't even get a good second day. This is just NOT GOOD! I think perhaps I am not using appropriate cleansing and styling methods for my hair. I generally clense with conditioner and then follow that with a leave-in. I style with a gel or cream. I've read a little about cleansing with baking soda and following up with ACV rinse, so I might try that. I have also read about the LOC and LCO methods and am a little confused about those. So where do I start? I want lovely fluffy curls but I don't want tangly frizz. How do I get my hair to form nice curls without frizz, but do so without weighing it down? What is a good basic routine for 3b low porosity hair? BTW I do not use a hair dryer, and I use all natural products - I am very picky about that! I don't want a fussy routine, mama does not have time for extended beauty hijinks!

Thanks for coming here for help with your curls. You did mention about your current regimen. However, it would be awesome if you could share with us, exactly what products you are exactly using. As, you mentioned about your hair feeling super weighed down, frizzy, and your not being able to get good 2nd day hair. The products that you are using, even though they are natural may contain ingredients that may be contributing to what you have been experiencing with your hair. I recently had begun experiencing issues with my own curls. As, my hair was feeling dry in some places, while being limp and weighed down in others. The culprit behind such, I came to find out was Oyin's Hair Dew, which was not reacting well in my hair, during this Spring weather. It has been in the 80s for High's where I live at with 90% humidity on just about a daily basis. The more that I kept using Oyin's Hair Dew, the more my curls was left feeling both dried out and appearing limp at the same time, and I came to a point where I could no longer deal with such, and knew that a change definitely needed to be made. Since Spring had come in, I had been using it as a leave in (on wet hair) and as a daily curl refresher (on dry hair) and it would take me having to use quite a lot of this product just to get my curls to look decent in the mornings. When it comes to any product, I don't like having to use a lot of any product, just to get decent results from it. Plus, my hair cannot take a lot of layering of products in it either. Which is why, I am a minimalist, when it comes to the amount of products that I actually use in my hair on a daily basis. I have since switched out Oyin's Hair Dew for another Leave in+styler altogether, which is working much better for my hair at this point.

jewelsf

Ok so I did do a float test for the porosity. I don't usually go with naked hair (ha!) but I know it would take at least a couple of hours to dry, so maybe I'm in the medium category.
The last time I washed with a sulfate shampoo - the shampoo I currently have contains Olefin Sulfonate so would that count?
This is my second baby and I don't remember having quite so much trouble a year after the first, but I was also 7 years younger and my hair was extremely long then, so I typically wore it up anyway.
Products I'm using:
conditioner is "Earthly Delights", a not well known brand I get at whole foods. It is the only conditioner I've ever found that doesn't leave my hair feeling worse than it did before I conditioned.
For leave in and styling I have been flip-flopping between Alaffia beautiful curls, and Kinky Curls.
I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to using a hair dryer, but when I was a teenager if I used a dryer on my hair even with a diffuser, within a few days of use my hair would be extremely dry and frizzy, so I just decided the dryer had too much of a negative impact on my hair. Perhaps the right products could negate that?
J

jewelsf

I should add that we don't have hard or well water, just regular city water. Also a while back I used a homemade shampoo that was basically black tea, baking soda, and castile soap with some xanthan gum added for thickening, and I added rosemary, lavender, and tea tree oils. The first time I used it I felt like it made an amazing difference on my hair, but through the rest of the batch I felt like it didn't last.

Suzybgirl

Hi jewelsf. I would definitely start with a clean slate and clarify your hair. I clarify my hair (once a month) with baking soda followed by an apple cider vinegar rinse and my curls pop before I even condition it. You can also buy clarifying shampoos (just do a search on the net) if you don't want to do the baking soda wash. If you see a difference then maybe you need to clarify at least once a month. If you don't see any difference then do a search for other products that are suitable for your hair's porosity. Hope this helps and good luck. :smilebox:

jewelsf

Ok so I did the baking soda and ACV cycle this morning and I don't feel it made a difference. So where do I start, in looking for new products? What am I looking for? In a lot of ways I feel like this website is great but also it is overwhelming - I don't know how to sift through everything I see here to figure out what is useful for me.
If I don't use gel or cream on my hair I get much better volume and curl, but too much frizz and instability. I want the same volume but I need to control the frizz. It seems like the gel or cream just weighs things down and makes my hair limp and crunchy. My hair seems to like Kinky Curly's "Spiral Spritz", which contains aloe, glycerin, and various herbal extracts, but again this product is not quite strong enough to control the frizz alone.

anonymous_150263

I love the kinky curly spiral spritz as a Styler but they dont sell it at my target anymore. your correct it isn't good for hold. You need something stronger in top to hold. A lot of people like kinky curly curling custard. You could also try a homemade flaxseed or gelatin hair gel. Asiam curling jelly might be too oily for your hair. Garnier fructis pure clean gel stinks like a citronella candle but used sparingly is working for me at the moment.

SereneCurls

It definitely sounds as though your hair would benefit from a quick sulfate wash. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a cheap sulfate shampoo without any silicones will do the trick. You can even dilute the shampoo if you like to make it gentler. As far as stylers go, it sounds like your hair prefers film forming humectants and isn't as much of a fan of heavier ingredients like oils and butters. One suggestion is to make yourself some flax seed gel, there are recipes on the board, or if DIY isn't your thing you can order some from Etsy venders like Sweet Curls Elixirs. I'm not sure from the products you've mentioned how your hair feels about protein, but hydrolyzed proteins in stylers can really benefit curl and reduce frizz. If you're not averse to ordering online, Curl Junkie gels are really popular choices with great ingredients, and you can even order a sample pack if you're not sure which ones to try. Someone mentioned Kinky Curly Custard already, but it's worth mentioning again since it features humectants and natural hold that wouldn't weigh down your hair. As for the volume versus frizz war, you can join all of us there. lol I've found styling technique makes a lot more difference there than anything else, so you can experiment with styling upside down to see if you like that, or clipping your roots while the hair dries, or plopping, all those sorts of things. I find personally that letting the hair dry as frizz free as possible is best, even if I have to sacrifice volume, because I can use my fingers to fluff the roots from underneath once it's dry. This gives me some volume without creating frizz.

Suzybgirl

Hi jewelsf. I'm not busy doing stuff today so I did some searching on youtube and the web for products and maintenance for low porosity hair. I also looked up the L.C.O method (think it's last video) as some low porosity girls say this works great to seal in the moisture and not weigh your hair down better than the L.O.C method. All you have to do now is decide which products to try out. Don't forget to check the ingredients. Hope you find the solution for your hair. I know if my hair is not happy, I'm not happy! :love4:
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10 Products To Help Maintain Low Porosity Natural Hair | StyleBlazer
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jewelsf

Ok so I went and bought some new products today, so we'll give that a try. I know that a big part of my issue is that I'm in that weird growout phase that comes after the post-pregnancy hair shed. Also I desperately need a cut so I finally scheduled one today, but it's not until the end of the month so I may be wearing a lot of ponytails until then... so I also bought a new package of ponytail holders.

Suzybgirl

Good luck with your new products and your haircut. Hang in there, your hair will come right again.:happy7:

sixelamy

Regular city water is usually hard water, unless you live in NY city and have soft water without a machine.

I highly recommend Sally's ION Crystal Clarifying Treatment. No need for a shampoo when you use this. Also, the Olefin Sulfonate is still harsh. You need to find something with cocamidopropyl betaine in it. Some good shampoos containing this are Yes to Cucumbers (the one labeled sulfate free), Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat. If you'd like to continue to cowash, I would recommend a conditioner that has cocamidopropyl betaine in it. A couple would be any of the Kiss My Face conditioners and Curl Junkie Daily Fix (online). CJ Daily Fix also has Tetrasodium EDTA which will break up minerals in your water.

Nix the baking soda and ACV, not everyone's hair will do well with that way of cleansing. Baking soda is ultra harsh on the hair, and while balancing it out with ACV, it can still cause problems for some. I personally completely dried my hair out with that stuff. Diluted ACV on it's own for chelating is really good though - but again, not everyone's hair does well with it.

You also need a good leave in conditioner and a styler. You may want to try drugstore brands first (in case you don't like them, then you're not out $20) like Yes to Cucumbers, Blueberries, or Carrots, Tresemme Naturals silicone free, V05, or Suave. If you do indeed have low porosity hair, I'd go with a jelly product for a styler. Something like Spiral Solutions Curl Enhancing Jelly (Etsy), Ouidad Climate Control gel, Kinky Curly Curling Custard, or one of the Jessicurl (online) jellies. You can also make your own flax seed gel - but if you don't use a preservative, make sure you wash it out after a couple of days (ask me how I know lol).

AngelaE8654

sixelamy wrote: »

Regular city water is usually hard water, unless you live in NY city and have soft water without a machine.

Or if you live on the Coast of Washington or Oregon. I am on Washington State's Coast and our water is VERY soft here.

jewelsf

Ok next time I come on here whining I want you all to give me a virtual slap in the face and tell me to suck it up and go buy some new products.
I gave my hair a nice deep condition today using Shea Moisture "Tahitian Noni & Monoi Smooth & Repair Nourishing Hair Masque". I chose it because it said "Wavy, Curly, & Frizzy Hair" and I thought, hey, I have all three of those! This was a new product. A little stinky but not horrible. The Shea Moisture products tend to be overperfumed for my taste.
Once I rinsed that out I followed up with my usual KCKT leave in, and tried some of the KC Curling custard, and may I just say, why did I wait so long to try the custard?! It has only been one day, but what a good result I had today! Like, best hair ever. shiny, no frizz, lovely defined curls, not smushed down on the crown. wonderful! I am hopeful. We'll see if we can keep it up.