In this post
I never imagined I would ever fall in love with my hair, let alone have healthy curly hair!
Hello and welcome, I am Bee and this is my blog, I cover lifestyle, home organising, chronic pain and home education, and today I want to share with you my healthy hair journey and how I came to fall in love with my healthy curly hair and how you can too!
A little background
I just want to share a little background, because I am sure you can relate and I want you to know that If I can go through this healthy hair journey then so can you.
When I was little I had wavy hair, and like most of you, I spent hours trying to make my hair straight, only to end up with a kink again an hour later.
I hated my hair with a passion.
I would put it up in a ponytail most of the time because I just couldn’t stand my hair never looking the way I wanted.
It wasn’t fair that all the other girls had beautiful, volumounes, healthy hair and I had a weird uneven patterned, lackluster, frizzy mess on my head.
As I got older I tried hair extensions, plaiting, curling ion, straighteners and dying my hair just to feel confident and semi-like my hair to leave the house.
Unfortunately, this never worked for long.
My healthy curly hair journey begins
It was a warm August 2020 and it had been just over a year after my grandad had passed away.
Since he passed, I have been looking into what consists of healthy hair and more specifically healthy curly hair.
I needed to know everything about what hair was made up of, what made it strong, weak and so on.
It took me months of research before I had what I deemed enough knowledge to begin my healthy curly hair journey.
Facebook curly groups, YouTube videos and blogs were what I used to find out what I needed.
I stopped brushing my hair (it never really needed brushing anyway) stopped using curlers, and straighteners, and dying my hair. (only ever did it for fun)
To begin with, I absolutely hated it, hated my hair, the feel, the way it looked and felt. Just awful, as you can see from this image. Cringe.
Every day I tried and every day I hated what I saw.
Always trying different methods and doing more research. I only bought one to two products and not very expensive ones either.
This went on like this from August 2020 – March 2021.
In 8 months I saw little change but one thing I had read was that people seemed to regret not taking pictures of their progress, so I didn’t want to make the same mistake.
That is how I know I made progress.
Come March my hair looked like this.
My hair had uneven curls, mostly waves and little volume but more than I had previously.
It was now that I started to play around with products and different techniques.
After another 4 months, I started getting a more even curl pattern, more volume and actually starting to like my hair.
I was starting to understand what it needed and looking at it in a different way.
A year on and by March 2022 My hair looked like this.
I loved how I was in tune with my hair on a daily basis.
It felt like I was spending less time styling and figuring out what it needed but rather keeping an eye out and noting down changes and possible reasons.
Don’t get me wrong even now sometimes I wonder “What’s up with you” and it doesn’t matter what I try, nothing helps.
Sometimes it just needs a trim.
I’m now 4 years into my healthy curly hair journey and I haven’t looked back.
I actually do love my hair, every day my hair looks different, it has a mind of its own and I love that too.
It’s natural, un-processed, with no heat damage, and a little frizzy but it is healthy curly hair.
HOW YOU CAN GET HEALTHY CURLY HAIR TOO
- Keep photos of your healthy curly hair Journey, you will be so pleased you did this!
- Decide from the beginning what you want to achieve, do you want to carry on dying your hair but not use any heat? If you do you will need to take into consideration how dying strips the moisture from your hair and temper your expectations accordingly.
- Figure out what budget you allow yourself for products, maybe a curl-by-curl cut or maybe you save some pennies like me and learn to cut your own hair.
- Do some research to find out what style you want. Obviously, this can change as your healthy curly hair journey changes too.
- Keep a note of the products that work, why and when, and what method you used. There is nothing worse than saying “Yes I love it but I can’t remember what I did or used”.
- There is only so much you can take from others, listen to yourself and do what works for you.
- Join support groups on Facebook, they are super helpful especially when you have tried it all and still can’t figure out what to do to fix the problem.
- Watch out for hair myths, do your own research, and don’t believe everything someone tells you.
- Frizz is natural, embrace it.
- Enjoy it and please share with me your healthy curly hair journey!
Find out your hair texture
The most common ways to describe hair texture are by saying fine, thick, and coarse.
When I first started out on my healthy curly hair journey I didn’t understand a lot of these terms and I often followed what others did before really getting to know my own hair texture, porosity and balance.
Understanding your hair texture will help you gain knowledge about your hair and how to take care of it.
This will be different from others so it is important to understand this before you run off to the shops and grab a bunch of products only to discover your hair doesn’t like it.
https://eu.curlsmith.com/blogs/curl-academy/everything-youn-need-to-know-about-hair-texture
Understand hair porosity
So hair porosity is how your hair handles absorbing and maintaining moisture.
https://www.byrdie.com/hair-porosity-test-5070329
https://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/wavy-hair-type-2/hair-porosity-and-density
Understand the differnce between moisture overload and protein overload
Ok, so this one took me some time to get used, to but it is very important you understand the difference and what to do about it.
Why does curly hair need more attention?
In straight hair, the moisture can go in a straight line but with curly hair, it has lots of bends to navigate meaning it doesn’t always make it or takes longer.
Breakage is more common along with dryness and frizz, which is natural by the way.
It’s good to get to know your hair and you will find you have different curl patterns at the back to underneath and at the front.
All of this is natural and normal too. I have more waves at the back of my head but tight curls at the front.
What curl pattern do you have?
Knowing what curl pattern you have will help you understand what affects it, and how much moisture you get and you can connect with others in the same or similar curl patterns for advice.
WET WET WET
Always use lots of water and I mean lots like drench your hair when styling to help curls clump together and to avoid wet frizz.
Cotton t-shirt or silk
You can either use silk or a cotton t-shirt (which I use) to squeeze out excess water just before drying.
Use clips
Using clips once your hair is 80% dry can help lift the roots and give it volume while it is drying.
Drink and eat healthy
This is a no-brainer, right?
Drinking and eating healthy foods helps create strong nails, hair and brighter-looking skin.
We notice the difference in our spotty skin, dark spots and dryness when we don’t eat and sleep well.
Take care of yourself and your body will repay you with strong, healthy shiny hair.
Try to drink at least 8 glasses of water each day, If you are like me this is a challenge but I really notice how much my body approves when I treat it to good food and lots of fluids.
Don't touch your hair
So many people touch and play with their hair all day and wonder why it’s greasy and needs washing so often.
When you are styling your hair, don’t scrunch it, just use the dryer without touching it, this will help reduce frizz.
The curly girl method may not work for you
One thing I thought when I started my healthy curly hair journey was that I could follow the curly girl method like so many others and I would get results like them.
No, that didn’t work and the reason that didn’t work was because I have fine, low porosity, type 2b-3b curl pattern and not a lot of hair, hair. Lol
This means that my hair doesn’t do well with “low-poo” shampoo or not washing it at all. It also does not do well with heavy products, oils or creams but it does like a clarifying shampoo when it needs it.
I am not saying don’t give it a go because you should, you need to try for yourself as some bits or the whole things may be exactly what you and your hair have been looking for.
Just don’t think this is the only way.
Join Facebook groups, I love the not curly girl one, helpful real-life tips and you won’t be told off for using certain products or ingredients.
What ingredients to avoid on your healthy curly hair journey
You will see everywhere that you should not use products with Sulphates, Silicones, fragrances or alcohol.
I actually don’t use those in my products either because that works well for me, in fact, that has been the biggest thing I cut out that really made my hair, healthy and I would strongly encourage you to try too.
That being said there are so many beautiful healthy curlies out there that use combs, use sulphates, do shampoo, do dye their hair and they are happy, they have found what works for them and their hair.
It really is trial and error.
I don’t know if I’ve helped or just confused you more. Lol
My healthy curly hair routine
Please bear in mind this is my personal routine that works for me and my hair. This may or may not work for you.
- I wash my hair every day 4 on average, in the shower, upright.
- My favourite is Faith in Nature.
- Once I am all squeaky clean and my hair is all shampooed and conditioned I wrap it in my cotton t-shirt whilst I get dressed.
- Next, I remove my t-shirt, and grab the products my hair needs for that day (I’ll leave a list at the end)
- Having my head upside down, I wet my hair again and rake my fingers through to get my hair off my scalp.
- I also put my head and hair from left to right doing the same thing.
- This is when I put a pea-sized amount of product in my hands, and spread it evenly through my hair, again raking and using prayer hands, moving my head from side to side.
- At this point I add more water and start squeezing water gently into my hair, continually moving my head from side to side etc as before.
- If I start getting wet frizz I add more water.
- When I am satisfied I have nice curl clumps and no hair is stuck to my scalp, I use my cotton t-shirt again to squeeze gently and slowly any excess water out of my hair.
- This is my favourite bit because I can really see the curl definition.
- Now is the time when you want to apply heat protection.
- Time to get out the dryer. I use my Dyson hair dryer with the big diffuser attached, I will link my hair dryer below if you are interested.
- Without touching my hair I place a section of my hair in the diffuser put it on my scalp and then turn it on, hold for approx 40 seconds, turn it off, release my hair slowly and repeat on all sections of my hair.
- You may do this as many times as you need to get to whatever dryness you prefer. Of course, you can just let it air dry but I get more volume this way plus I don’t like wet hair on my neck.
- Pop my clips in and leave for approximately 30-60 minutes depending on what time I have and go about my day.
- Remove clips and using a silk cloth I scrunch out any crunch.
That’s me done.
You can also see the video of my routine here.
I love hearing from you guys so please keep in touch via commenting below, social media or email with any questions and to let me know how you are getting on with your healthy curly hair journey.
Thanks for reading.
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By Bee's Inspired Living
Hi, I’m Bee, the founder of Bee’s Inspired Living. I am a Mumma, Wife, Home Educator, Blogger and lastly a Chronic Pain Sufferer. I love a good laugh, watching films, family days out, reading, tea, exploring the world, summer and of course, tidying my house. 🙂 As someone who has always been passionate about health, personal growth, and creating a balanced lifestyle, I started this blog to share my journey, insights, and experiences with you.
