Getting discouraged

Jacqueline.S

I have lost count of how many hours or research, product trying, and failed attempts to manage my curls. It's getting to the point Ime debating giving up and just accepting I can't have pretty hair like everyone else. I dunno what happened or what I need to do. I use to have super curly hair! Now it's like dad frizzy waves with a few ringlets here and there. And the more I try to define what I do have the frizzier it gets. It makes it harder thay I have allergies too.
Anyways, if anyone can help me, please do... I've tried everything. I live in NE Texas with 2c/3a I'm guessing thin hair.
I've done a clarifying shampoo.
My regime currently is
Wash 1x a week with SM high porosity shampoo and masque
Cowash 1-2x a week with Quidad curl immersion
Gel is SM high porosity gel
and I've been expirementing with tons of creams etc.

rbb

it might be helpful to learn your hair properties, the texture and the porosity, as that determines more than anything what type of ingredients will work best.
i can give you two places to start. hopefully, in spite of the major hassle to post on this forum, others will come in.

a great blog website with tons of useful info, this one specifically on properties:

Curl Junkie - Natural Hair Care for all types of Curly Hair!: My 2 cents on Protein/Texture/Porosity/Moisture Balance! :-)

the other thing you can do is go to the science-y hair blog.com and look on the home page for 'goosefootprints' as she offers hair analysis, which is very helpful. in addition to telling you what your hair properties are, she will give you helpful info on ingredients that would work for you, then you look for those in products.

once you understand your hair's needs and find the products that work, it dos make it all worthwhile.

Therese1

What did you use for your clarifying shampoo?

Jacqueline.S

Therese1 wrote: »

What did you use for your clarifying shampoo?

I was using a hypoallergenic shampoo and conditioner from my pharmacy for a long while. But I also used the Shea moisture clarifying shampoo and conditioner. The one in the gray label I think. It actually messed my hair up pretty bad. I used it one time and it was like I roughed up my cuticle so bad. It Frizzed and looked dry and awful. I did a deep treatment for high porosity hair a few days later and started using the high porosity line of SM and it helped a lot. Adding the Quidad co wash fixed it to where now it's actually soft.

I was given a recommendation to try bantu's curl activating cream, and la looks gel on blue. I can't use the cream Cuz it has jojoba in it. Though I'm tempted to try since it's low on the ingredient list.... worst case, I get hives. Lol
But the gel alone actually helped significantly. It cut down on prob 90% of the frizz yestrrday when I used it. That's just 1 day so we'll see today.
I also bought a diffuser I'm going to try. If anyone has tips or advice on thay I'm all ears. I've never used a diffuser...

Guide 65

Instead of the Bantu cream, you could try using a little leave in conditioner. You don't have to buy anything new, just don't rinse out your conditioner completely. Or rinse it out, then add a little bit back in. And then use your gel on top. Another tip I have, is to do all of this while you're still in the shower, adding everything into drippy soaking wet hair. This makes a HUGE difference for me.

When you diffuse, keep the heat and speed on low, and move like you're in slow motion. The more your hair moves, the more it's going to frizz. It takes a looong time, so be patient. I combine diffusing with air drying. I start off diffusing for about 5-6 minutes after my shower (I don't plop, so this is just to jump-start the drying process). Then I air dry while I'm putting on makeup, getting dressed, etc. Then before I leave, I'll diffuse some more so my hair is completely dry when I leave the house - another 5-6 minutes. It's still super cold here, so I don't want it to freeze when I go outside.

Jacqueline.S

janiegirl wrote: »

Instead of the Bantu cream, you could try using a little leave in conditioner. You don't have to buy anything new, just don't rinse out your conditioner completely. Or rinse it out, then add a little bit back in. And then use your gel on top. Another tip I have, is to do all of this while you're still in the shower, adding everything into drippy soaking wet hair. This makes a HUGE difference for me.

When you diffuse, keep the heat and speed on low, and move like you're in slow motion. The more your hair moves, the more it's going to frizz. It takes a looong time, so be patient. I combine diffusing with air drying. I start off diffusing for about 5-6 minutes after my shower (I don't plop, so this is just to jump-start the drying process). Then I air dry while I'm putting on makeup, getting dressed, etc. Then before I leave, I'll diffuse some more so my hair is completely dry when I leave the house - another 5-6 minutes. It's still super cold here, so I don't want it to freeze when I go outside.

I just started doing that with the Quidad co wash. I don't rinse it out 100%
My hair drys FAST. I apply my products to dripping wet hair, praying hands then scrunching. Then I have been letting it air dry. It's dry in about 1 hr. Then I scrunch and break the cast. The last 2 days I started using the LA Looks blue gel and after my hair drys the 1st time I add a little more water and gel and scrunch again. I finish with scrunching with my microfiber towel then off to work. After about another hour when it dries again I scrunch and break the cast again. This looks better than it has been. So I think I'm moving in the right direction. I'm slightly worried about diffusing. Does it damage your hair at all? I Def want more volume on the top.. where I'm thinning out some. My diffuser should be here today hurray!
Is there some kind of product to help encourage more curl formations?

Therese1

When it comes to clarifying shampoos, I think that poos with sulfates are best. Many people on this forum use a sulfate shampoo to clarify every now and then (some, once a week; others, once a month or less frequently). Some people's hair really accumulates buildup, and the sulfate shampoos do a good job of stripping that away. Lorraine Massey, creator of the Curly Girl method, doesn't like sulfates because they strip the hair and dry it out, but if you don't use them all the time but only as needed to remove build-up, they are beneficial. I would deep condition after doing a sulfate wash.

Another thing you could try is Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo, which has C14-16 olefin sulfonate, which is a chemical that removes certain types of buildup that sulfates alone can't remove. There are not a whole lot of additives in Kink Curly products, so maybe you could tolerate them (?).

As for diffusing damaging your hair, all types of heat tools will damage your hair somewhat. But you can minimize the damage by drying your hair on warm instead of hot. (Some dryers even have a cool setting, which I'm guessing wouldn't damage the hair at all.) Using a shampoo or conditioner with protein in it will help restore any damaged areas. I have not found diffusing to be that damaging on the hair. Most of us on this forum diffuse, I would wager. If you go online to YouTube and do a search for "diffuse curly hair," you will probably find a lot of videos showing different techniques.

You will probably just have to experiment with different products to find out which ones will help encourage curl. Magnesium sulfate in a product can help encourage curl, but some people find it drying. And I'm sure that various hair care companies have their own ingredients that they have found for encouraging curl. So you'll just have to experiment, I think.

I would head over to the Science-y Hair Blog, as rbb suggested. There is a ton of information there.

Therese1

When it comes to clarifying shampoos, I think that poos with sulfates are best. Many people on this forum use a sulfate shampoo to clarify every now and then (some, once a week; others, once a month or less frequently). Some people's hair really accumulates buildup, and the sulfate shampoos do a good job of stripping that away. Lorraine Massey, creator of the Curly Girl method, doesn't like sulfates because they strip the hair and dry it out, but if you don't use them all the time but only as needed to remove build-up, they are beneficial. I would deep condition after doing a sulfate wash.

Another thing you could try is Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo, which has C14-16 olefin sulfonate, which is a chemical that removes certain types of buildup that sulfates alone can't remove. There are not a whole lot of additives in Kink Curly products, so maybe you could tolerate them (?).

As for diffusing damaging your hair, all types of heat tools will damage your hair somewhat. But you can minimize the damage by drying your hair on warm instead of hot. (Some dryers even have a cool setting, which I'm guessing wouldn't damage the hair at all.) Using a shampoo or conditioner with protein in it will help restore any damaged areas. I have not found diffusing to be that damaging on the hair. Most of us on this forum diffuse, I would wager. If you go online to YouTube and do a search for "diffuse curly hair," you will probably find a lot of videos showing different techniques.

You will probably just have to experiment with different products to find out which ones will help encourage curl. Magnesium sulfate in a product can help encourage curl, but some people find it drying. And I'm sure that various hair care companies have their own ingredients that they have found for encouraging curl. So you'll just have to experiment, I think.

I would head over to the Science-y Hair Blog, as rbb suggested. There is a ton of information there.