Brand New Curly Girl!

wootena

I just got the curly girl book for my b-day on Saturday and after reading the entire thing I realized that I needed to make a lot of changes to my routine. I've been on NC for a few weeks and have not used shampoo for about a week. I know it takes patience and time but I wanted to get some opinions from girls who have been doing this a while.
Am I supposed to co-wash everyday? My hair isn't dry at all, but my scalp is and usually a leave-in weights down my hair with a greasy feeling, but without the leave-in it's has no definition. I also use a gel on top of the the leave-in.
Also, getting rid of the blow dryer is going to be hard. I love when my hair has a ton of volume and the only way I can get it to have volume is to blow dry it in the morning. . .every morning. I've tried washing it at night and letting it air dry only to wake up in the morning with hair that looks like its squished to my head. Am I doing this right?
Will my hair have more natural volume once it gets used to the new routine? Maybe I use too much conditioner. What do some of you do to get more volume? I know this is a lot of questions but I'm kind of confused.

curls 2nv

hey first of all congradulations on becoming a curly girl!!! i know you will eventually love it. as for co- washing, its basically up to you how long you wait until your next co- wash. i wash once or twice a week, but some people on this site will wash their hair everyday, so its more of a preference thing.

your hair may get more natural volume once it gets used to the co- washing routine. some people get tighter curls and more curls at the roots, making their hair look thicker. but if it doesnt and you just cant stand how flat it looks, you can use a diffuser but just use it less often. i know that a lot of people on here still use diffusers.

i kind of like my hair with not a lot of volume, but if it looks too flat, i will lay on my bed with my head upside down and kinda tug at my roots and shake my hair a bit so it doesnt look plastered on my head. i use gel in my hair so i can do this without my hair getting frizzy. but this is just what i do, i know other people on the site may have a different solution. hope this helps.

wootena

That helps tremendously, thank you. I've decided that my hair is just to thin and fine to let it air dry right now. It's really curly but not thick at all, probably from all the damage. I'm definitely going to stick it out though because I'm really excited to see how it's going to change. Maybe after a couple months it will re-gain it's strength and I can throw out the dryer. Just last night I tried air drying it again, I woke up this morning with still wet hair (it takes forever to dry) and oily residue. I'm not going to give up! Thanks again!