People with curly hair almost feel like all the hair treatment products out there will never work on them. They tend to think that they have the type of hair that requires way too much work to become clean. However, this is far from being true. Whereas people with curly hair go through unusual difficulties which straight-haired people might not understand, curly-haired people still have hope for beautiful hair these days. This is also true in the case of washing curly hair.

The starting point of a good hair routine is to understand the type of hair that you have. Part of this routine also means that you will need to understand what hair issues you need to focus on, and knowing what ingredients/products to use and those to avoid. The basis of a proper hair care regiment is washing curly hair.

 

Thus, before you decide to go out there and spend a lot of money buying hair products that could be or not be effective to you, you will need to take out time to understand the subject of curly hair, the best method of washing it, and how to make it look its best all year long.

 

Knowing your type of hair curl and its importance

In terms of curly hair, there are numerous categories to group this type of hair into. Hair curls can range from densely packed coily kinky curls to soft waves with a wide variety of curl diameters and textures between them. However, an important thing about the whole range of hair curls is that the moment that you understand the type of hair that you have, you would know the overall concerns that your type of hair usually have and then you will be able to select superior products and the best hair care methods to make your hair look perfect.

 

However, you should know that it is not sufficient to solve all your hair care problems by just understanding your type of hair. some people feel that if they have the same type of hair as certain people, they can tame their manes by using similar products as those people. Therefore, you do find out the type of hair that you have.

How to determine the type of hair that you have

To do this, you will find the Andre Walker Typing System chart very useful. It is among the most reliable systems for determining your type of hair. This celebrity hairstylist, who has Oprah Winfrey as one of his numerous famous clients, describes the different types of hair into four primary categories which also comes with further subcategories like Types 2 to 4.

  • Type 1 is meant for straight hair which does not come with any subcategories.
  • Type 2 designates people with wavy hair which comes with subcategories like 2A, 2B, and 2C.
  • Type 3designates the “conventional” corkscrew-looking type of curls which is divided further into subcategories 3A, 3B, and 3C.
  • While Type 4 designates the tightly coiled curls which usually range from the miniature corkscrews through to the zig-zag curled hair types and this comes with further subcategories like the 4A, 4B, and 4C.

 

What type of hair is important?

Generally, curly hair tends to become drier when compared to straight hair. thus, this dryness in curly hair increases with increasing curliness. Therefore, while someone that has Type 2A wavy hair could only be struggling with hair dryness some of the time, somebody that has a 4C kinky curly hair who may not have a distinguishable pattern of curl could have a daily struggle of hair dryness. This is because people who have curly hair have a problem with their hair getting nourished – the scalp-produced natural oils find it difficult to go down the shaft of the hair where it nourishes the whole hair.

Excessive dryness could result often to a hair that is brittle hair prone to breaking, dry hair, and split ends. Therefore, anytime that you need to wash out the curly hair, you should ensure that you use hair care products that reinfuse moisture into the hair. You might even need to add methods that become gentler on the hair to reduce too much hair breakage. However, you cannot just select the right type of products for your hair just by judging off your hair type alone. Neither can this help you understand the right way to wash curly hair?

 

Density and Porosity

People who feel overloaded do not have to feel worried. Curly hair does not have unusual characteristics that need you to change up the way that you wash your hair, however, the moment that you know all about the basics, you will find it pretty easy to keep on doing.

 

Density and porosity are two important properties that help you understand easily the way your hair can hold up moisture and the number of hair strands on the scalp of the hair. the thickness or density might not be easy to get because it is almost not possible to count the strands of hair you have. This is technically determined by estimating the number of hair strands that are found in a square inch area of the hair scalp.

 

The hair porosity test

You can judge your hair porosity with the use of two basic tests conducted at home. Technical, the porosity of the hair is determined by the closeness of the overlapping of the hair cuticles on a hair shaft. This can be referenced in three ways: high, normal, or low porosity.

To understand the porosity of your hair, after getting it washed, you will need to blot it dry. Try to feel the hair texture as it is damp. If the hair feels rough, this means that the hair comes with low porosity. If the feel of the hair is wet, then this means that you have hair with normal porosity, this means that you do not need to change up your hair care or routine products. Then again if it feels like it is sticky and looks like there is a hair product on it, then your hair is the type with high porosity.

 

However, if you feel that the “hand feel” is not your thing, then you might want to take the second porosity test. Use a glass cup of water and pour this into a clear cup or glass. Get a hair strand after you have recently cleaned off the hair and drop the hair into the glass of water.

When porosity and hair density becomes important

People whose hair have either low or high porosity seem to find maintaining the moisture of the hair challenging. Thus, they will need to concentrate on hair treatment products, even in the process of washing, to ensure that the hair gets the required moisture. Similarly, this hair wash routine will have to be altered to stop the curly hair from getting damaged further.

 

The understanding high porosity of the hair

People often associate a hair with high porosity with a hair that has been damaged, however, there are certain people whose hair comes with naturally high porosity. If the damage causes our hair to become highly porous, the causative effects could be from chemicals like relaxing or bleaching the hair to environmental culprits such as swimming in water infused with chlorine.

 

Depending on your reason, an important part of a hair with high porosity is in the washing of the hair that is curly, the cuticles in the shaft of the hair will be open continuously, this will then enable an in-flow of moisture. Other signs of hair that may have high porosity are tangling and frizziness in humid conditions.

 

People whose hair are highly porous will have to concentrate on products that are rich in moisture. Particularly, leave-in hair conditioners instantly after hair wash or deep hair conditioning routines will certainly make it easier to help moisten the hair as well as be able to fight off tangles or frizz.

 

The highly porous hair can also be helped by pre-poo which is based on oil and can help to prepare your hair to help lock-in moisture in the hair. Similarly, it is also suitable to choose a shampoo that is a non-sulfate material.

Hair with high porosity is associated with hair that has been damaged due to the effect of getting treated with chemicals, excess sun exposure, or colouring. Therefore, it is best to stay away from shampoos with comes with extreme action cleansers which could weaken the hair further and become prone to getting increasingly damaged.

Things to know about hair with low porosity

Hair with low porosity unlike those with high porosity has cuticles that are overlapped tightly up to the extent that they become flattened. Whereas this is typically connected with hair that is healthy, hair with low porosity does not let in the air down the shaft of the hair.

 

The primary things that people with curly and low porous hair could contend with include the building up of products, therefore you will want to ensure that you make clear steps in cleaning the scalp and the strands. due to this, people whose hair have low porosity should stay away from conditioners that have excess protein because they can cause the build-up of hair products and might make the hair stiff.

 

Similarly, you should do not frequently use leave-in conditioners because they might also make the hair stiff. It has been recommended by experts that conditioners that are free from protein can have natural humectants such as glycerine or honey which are commonly seen.

 

Since hair with low porosity come with closely tight cuticles which are along its shaft, it can be difficult to add moisture. Hairstylists have recommended that hair with low porosity can get more nutrients from the pre-poo step that is based on oil since this adds moisture like avocado oil. Pre-pooing is used to prep your hair in such a way that when it meets up with water, it can effectively soak in and hold the amount of moisture that it needs.

What about the hair that has hybrid porosity?

To make matters worse, some people seem to have hair that has hybrid porosity. This means that their curly hair in its entirety has both high and low porosity. At times, the cause of this could be as a result of hair that is damaged, like over-processing the hair during the relaxing or bleaching process of the hair. Then again, other causative factors can be damage from the sun or something like gray growth of the hair. This can have a different porosity in comparison to the remaining parts of the hair of the person.

 

People with curly hair of hybrid porosity may want to add steaming the hair into their washing routine to help them completely open up cuticles of the hair right before they begin the part of the conditioner.

 

One other smart way of doing this involves the use of the heat cap to help in the opening up of the cuticles of the hair during the deep conditioning process of the hair. Furthermore, you should pay more attention to applying conditioner to the tip of the hair – this part of your hair (which for all types of hair) have the tendency to become dry. However, many experts have recommended that when you have hybrid-porosity, you do not need to excessively use your conditioners, shampoos, or other products for hair care.

In terms of hair wash frequency

The frequency of washing for people with curly hair (known as wash frequency) is not a generic concept that works for everybody. Some people might get the best results when they wash their hair daily, whereas other people might decide to wash less frequently to stop them from stripping or washing moisture off the hair.

 

Depending on the type of hair, and if you are quite concerned about how dry or fine the strands of your hair is, it may not be possible to wash the hair on a daily basis. This will depend on the composition of the hair and any problems that they might be facing since there are no defector rules that hair types that are coily kinky will need to be washed less often, plus all wavy types of hair should be washed on a daily basis.

 

Similarly, changes in lifestyle like enhanced exercise training could require that you wash more frequently. But people who find hair dryness such a struggle should minimise their frequency of washing their hair daily, maybe two times, or thrice in a week, which could be a great idea. This, certainly, works along with having to choose the proper wash and hair styling products for the right type of hair as well as the level of porosity to help retain the moisture present in the hair between days of washing.

 

However, if you do not know how often you should wash your hair, the general rule is the fact that people who have curly type of hair should refrain from washing their hairs over twice or thrice per week. You should begin with this objective, and then based on the way that your hair reacts, either continue this routine or step-up or step-down the frequency of washing your hair per week.

Adjusting the routine used in washing your hair

Adjusting your hair wash routine is one more method that is not quite certain; this is more of a trial-and-error method. As we have mentioned here severally, we do not know of any magic routine or product that will solve all the hair problem that people with curly hair have. Whereas people should concentrate on products that are designed purposely for the type of curls that they may have, they will also need to think about the porosity of their hairs.

 

People who are yet to conduct the hair porosity test should ensure that they do so when next they wash their hair, plus they will have to look for hair products that are meant to challenge whichever problem that they may be facing with their hair.

 

However, they should not forget that if your hair is coloured or treated with chemicals, these are elements that will be important in helping you decide while you buy the right conditioner and shampoo. You do not want to select a hair colour fading product after you have successfully coloured your hair.

Getting ready for the day to wash your hair

You do not have to wash your hair every day, even though you may have natural tresses. However, you could apply certain tips and techniques to ensure that your hair washing day is a lot easier.

 

You should know that you will have to perform a little trial and error process to know the proper hair treatment routine as well as the line-up of products that are effective for your type of hair as well as the level of porosity. We will detail every one of the steps which you might need when washing your curly hair, however, some of these steps can be optional.

Begin by detangling the hair

Anybody can experience hair tangling; however, you could have curly hair which ranges from slightly to seriously tangled and this depends on the type of hair that you have, the frequency of using styling tools, or even when you are looking to take off your protective hairstyle such as braids. There are no laid down rules that mandate you from detangling your hair right before getting into the shower to wash off the curly hair.

 

People with Type 2 hair, may never manage their detangling hairs separately.

However, in comparison, people whose hair comes with curl patterns that are tighter or those looking to get rid of their hair extensions should ensure that they first get rid of the tangles to prevent accidental knotting before they begin the step on cleaning when they have to wash their hair.

 

During the process of detangling your hair, ensure that you always work with curly hair only when it is wet or damp. Even though the hair might become more fragile technically as it is wet, it also comes with additional elasticity. Therefore, it is a lot simpler to gradually work through the knots. Detangling of dry hair is a disaster-prone method that can improve hair breakage as well as split ends.

 

If you have mild tangles, your hair could be simply spritzed out with water and then you may now use your favourite wide-toothed comb or a detangling brush. In the case of other people, they could use their fingers to detangle their hairs without having to use a comb or brush, however, this will depend on the person’s readiness to stay calm during the entire process.

 

In case you need serious knots, you should ensure that your hair is completely saturated with the use of water as well as a solution that detangles the hair to help you get extra slip when working through the knots. However, people who are not sure of the perfect detangler for their hair can create a solution that comprises an equal mixture of water and a conditioner. They can then put this solution either in a squeeze or spray bottle.

 

You should work with your hair through the different parts that are sufficiently manageable to use either your comb or brush to ensure that you effectively work through the lengths of the hair. Start at the tip of the hair and work it up slowly towards the roots of the hair to stop the hair from pulling out unnecessarily.

 

Deciding on whether you need pre-pooing or otherwise

Whether or not you need pre-poo

Pre-pooing or applying a certain type of treatment for hair before you begin to wash the hair – is not a step that is needed; however, this can be useful in helping you to concentrate on getting the scalp cleansed. This will effectively lift off the dirt, infuse moisture, or you could decide not to remove excess sebum or removal healthy oils in the hair or the scalp.

 

We have a broad collection of pre-poo products in the market, however, some of these common products include mud washes, oil treatments, and apple cider vinegar.

Pre-pooing is usually done before you get to shower and this is a step that is done during pre-cleansing. This is such a simple process and needs you to get a squirt or spray bottle to help you focus on a pre-cleaning product that is used on the scalp directly.

 

With your finger pads, you can gradually work this solution up the scalp of the hair to get the dirt agitated. This is an effective step and works as a solution for clarifying that allows people with the Curly Girl Method to use in the place that is forbidden to use shampoo where it could be a lot of concern to have the build-up of products on the hair and the scalp.

 

Easily manage your wash day

Your curly hair could become voluminous, this means that it could be difficult to completely attempt all the parts of your hair if you get to wash the hair like somebody that has straight hair. A lot of curlies expect people to section their hair into manageable parts. This is used to ensure that you get to effectively detangle, cleanse, and shampoo all of the hair without leaving any strands on it.

 

To control the sections, you could make use of duck or banana clips to help keep the sections in their place as this helps you to effectively detangle, cleanse up, and properly condition every part of the hair. This is an important tip that is very effective among those that have excessively coiled hair that if “the whole head” method were applied, this could leave out hair patches that have been ignored accidentally.

The Curly Girl approach

Most people do not like to use this Curly Girl Approach – most especially when you struggle to get a build-up. However, this needs to be mentioned since it is very common as an approach for the washing of curly hair, and a majority of people who have tried these hair procedures  are very happy about the results.

 

What method is the Curly Girl Approach?

This Curly Girl Method (CGM), is a variety of steps for hair care that is meant to get the hair looking its best. This is connected to you washing your curly hair and has its primary focus on trying not to use shampoo to help get the hair cleansed since most shampoos tend to come with toxic ingredients which gets to strip off the hair of important oils and make it vulnerable to getting damaged.

 

Particularly, somebody that knows a lot about CGM products needs to – plus avoiding shampoo stop using products which have:

  • Silicones,
  • Sulfates,
  • Mineral Oils.

Rather than using shampoo, you could just focus on washing your curly hair by using either the low-poo shampoo which does not have any toxic ingredients or you could get the co-washing conditioner to gradually take off dirt and build-up of products without getting the hair stripped off. Depending on your product type that is regularly used and how often you wash your hair, you will have to decide on the best choice for your type of hair.

Do all Curlies use the Curly Girl Method?

This is not the necessary thing to do. Certain hair professionals tend to think that the CGM only works for those people between Type 2A and 4A, and means that heads with very kinky coily 4B as well as 4C will not get the complete benefits knowing that this approach is meant for naturally enhancing hair curl patterns, as well as the higher Type 4s will typically need more styling to get the best curl definition.

 

But there are lots of people that are between 4B and 4C who religiously use the CGM, therefore you may want to try this first if you are among the category of these people.

 

Important things to note

People who have curly will essentially find the CGM incredibly useful, however, if you search among the community of those with curly hair, you will know that there are widely various strategies and methods of approval. While loyal fans like to perform their cleansing just once per week, some other people tend to wash more often.

 

Depending on the amount of hair styling products that you make use of, plus the amount of oil which your hair scalp creates naturally, plus your schedule, you could find out that stretching out per week or doing this more between days of washing may not be your thing.

 

Furthermore, it could take a lot of time to transition into the CGM product, since a lot of people think that this could last between four and six weeks to get the right wash routine for the curly hair and a line-up of products that are effective for this set of people. There is no single conditioner or shampoo that is more effective for all types of hair, level of porosity or get the damage corrected in everyone.

 

But we certainly recommend that when you use only the conditioner to wash off the curly hair, you will need to concentrate on adding an excellent clarifying pre-poo phase, like the cleansing of the hair scalp plus the hair strands with the use of the apple cider vinegar before you wash off the hair to suitably get rid of any given oils or dirt, to help them get washed off with the use of a conditioner.

 

When you do not perfectly take off grime and dirt from the hair, you might be encouraging certain other hair care problems such as product build-up and flaking. Every one of these translates into curls that do not just pop and need further effort when styling.

 

The Process of Washing

In addition to choosing suitable products, it is also important to look at the technique too. You should also know that there are certain things that you will need to tweak for a wash routine for the curly hair for it to work well for the strands of your hair.

 

The Cleansing part

People with curly hair will not approach their hair wash day in a similar fashion to that of somebody with straight hair. This depends on the curliness of the hair because they will need to adjust the washing routine of the hair to help avoid tangles or frizz.

 

For example, you may not want to create suds vigorously when doing the shampoo step through roughly working through the scalp and hair. rather, you could work through your hair length through a gradual massaging of the hair instead of roughly scrubbing at the hair.

 

Furthermore, you could discover that your head will need further products as recommended by the packaging. Depending on how long the hair is, you will need to apply a sufficient amount of the curly hair shampoo, the cleanser, or you could just co-wash as needed by your hair roots and work this to go downwards the hair length.

 

Experts have recommended that you spend a minimum of 60 seconds getting the products to get into the hair roots to ensure that your roots and scalp gets cleansed completely. However, ensure using the finger pads to make sure that you do the right thing.

 

Gradually massage your hair while moving downwards the hair length. This depends on the hair shampoo, and you may experience a typical sudsing effect or otherwise. For instance, co-washes and cleansers which gets promoted in the form of an EDTA or sulfate-free will not cause the formation of any soap suds. EDTA is the primary ingredient that needs lathering.

 

Furthermore, you are not expected to use the hottest temperature of water, because this can help increase the dryness. Rather, when you need to wash off the hair, you could bring down the temperature to a warmer level which is comfortable however, is not streaming hot. This is what opens up the hair shaft to allow moisture to go into it.

 

Certain people will want you to choose the two cleansing rounds, beginning with the clarifying shampoo while you are expected to follow up with a shampoo that moisturises the hair. However, this will depend on the performance of the hair or the particular problem that you aim to solve.

 

Whereas people that have excess dirt and product build-up could benefit by using the clarifying step, somebody that washes more often or might not have a serious build-up might not want it.

Get the conditioner step prioritized

 

The Curly hair is vulnerable to becoming damaged since it gets dry more easily, this can easily cause hair breakage. Therefore, the conditioner step is also essential just like choosing a suitable shampoo for curly hair. Similar to the shampoos, it is better that you prioritize your alternatives which are both free from sulfate and paraben+ and also concentrate on hydration.

 

Conditioner placement needs to concentrate on the real hair instead of pinpointing the scalp of the hair. you could also moisturise the hair scalp immediately after washing the scalp rather. Typically, you will need to allow the conditioner to settle in for between 5 and 10 minutes or whichever the time duration that is stated in the directions of products. You could get the hair rinsed by using cool water to ensure that you close out the shaft of the hair and to trap moisture.

The Deep Conditioning

In terms of hair that are already damaged or one where you are looking to add more moisture and hair softening, it could an excellent idea to apply the deep conditioner. However, note that it is important for you to adjust your chosen deep conditioner, which depends on the porosity of the hair. those that have a low porosity should stay away from deep conditioners that are heavy in proteins since this could make the hair appear drier.

 

However, depending on your hair type. There would have to be an adjusted application. For instance, curl types that are looser will concentrate on the conditioning of the ends and the mid-length. In comparison, people with types of coil that are kinky, they will need to apply a deep conditioner throughout the full hair length.

 

For you to deep condition the hair, you will need to apply the hair conditioner in the whole hair area, and then by using a wide-tooth comb or using the hands ensure that the conditioner gets evenly distributed around your hair.

 

Now based on the product that you choose to use; you might need to wait anytime between two and 15 minutes before going ahead to rinse it out. For you to have a truly intense deep conditioning regimen, put some heat into the process. You could add heat to the process either by putting on a cap or getting a plastic bag as a means to retain the heat coming from the scalp while helping the product spread out evenly throughout the hair.

 

Using the deep conditioner in the leave-in

This step is of course optional, however, one way to get a quick hair leave-in solution is to leave out a few amounts of the hair conditioner in the hair rather than washing it out totally. Manageability is quickly improved when you leave a few conditioners in the hair.

 

When trying to achieve this, you will not be expected to leave out a large quantity of hair conditioner in the hair. rather, you could get it rinsed out so that your hair has a tiny amount of slip to indicate the presence of some conditioner in the hair. however, you could also get single leave-in conditioners which should be used immediately after the hair has been washed.

 

Drying time

Dealing with the first things in the first place, you should forego using the terry cloth hair towel. Rather, the minimum that can be done is to use the microfiber towel. The microfiber has a gentler effect on the curls which enables the blotting out of too much water while not causing any damage to the hair. However, most other people tend to an old jersey knit home T-shirt to gradually dry out the curls.

 

When following a stringent no heat routine or CGM procedure, you should choose to airdry your hair. therefore, you want to avoid using your blow dryer – despite if you need to use this with the diffuser attachment – because damage to heat should be the main concern.

 

Since you have damp hair, now will be right to apply your hair styling products. The reason for this is that a lot of products for curly hair are produced to be applied to damp hair.

 

Based on your personal needs, certain naturals like to stretch their hair by opting for no heat treatment procedures as braiding, banding, or twisting the hair and allowing it to dry out. However, for those who need to depend on the blow dryer, you could invest in a brilliant diffuser and heat protectant. Heat protectant makes sure that tools used for hot styling will not damage your hair, whereas the diffuser stops hair frizz by keeping airflow from disturbing the curl patterns of the hair.

 

Important tips to remember

It is important to be flexible

You never have any two curl heads that are similar. Even the beauty guru that you might fancy have a similar hair type as you, there are lots of factors that determine if or not certain products will affect your hair. you should be ready for some trial-and-error procedures as you try to see which best conditioners and shampoos work more effectively for you or getting the right frequency of wash for the curls in your hair.

 

Moisturise the hair from the internal parts

The hair is dead tissue. Therefore, you could not do more without externally applying conditioners to impact the growth of the hair. however, drinking a sufficient amount of water will be useful in improving the health of the hair. Researches have unearthed that drinking of much water can help stop split ends, improve the texture of brittle hair, as well as keeping the scalp healthier.

 

Be gentle all the time

Naturally, curly hair is more vulnerable than normal straight hair. Regardless of whether you are washing or detangling the hair, you need to be gentle all the time. When you rip through the hair, you tend to cause tangling of the hair or breakages.