Hey guys! Last week I mentioned on Instagram stories that I’ve always wanted to embrace my natural wavy/curly hair more, and I was keen to get your tips and ideas on how to do it.

As a bit of background, the reason this has come up for me recently is that my current routine is either all or nothing – a top knot or a heat styled waves process that takes the better part of half an hour. What I was really hoping existed, is a product that I could use straight out of the shower to bring out my natural curls, without any heat styling whatsoever. In some ways I know it might be a bit of a pipe dream, but with a bub on the way and foreseeably wayyyyyyy less time on my hands, I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask.

Well, well, well. It seems I’m not the only one for whom natural curly hair you want to (or have) conquered. I was blown away by the deluge of incredible tips, ideas and product recommendations, and lots of hacks for how to get the best curls. You guys know how much I love a good hack! A lot of you wanted me to share what I learnt, and I thought the best place for it to live was here on the blog. Today I’ll be sharing a run down about what you guys recommended, and over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be testing some of the products and techniques you gave the thumbs up.

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Your Tips and Tricks for Natural Curls

Learn Your Curl Type

Ok so (whilst being quite obvious) this was a major revelation for me, in that everyone has different curls and you need to work out what your curl type is before you work out the best process for making them work naturally. Soooo many of you recommended this website and the great infographic they have there to determine your curl type. I love it (and think I’m a 2B). A few of you also mentioned this book (although I think a lot of that info is around online).

Avoid Towels

WOW! So many of you agreed that towels are the devil when it comes to curls… WHO KNEW?! There I was, rubbing away with my towel, completely unaware I was committing natural curl sacrilege! So many of you felt that towels promoted frizz and as well as separating the curls. There were plenty of recommendations for what you use instead including a soft t-shirt, and microfibre towel. A few of you mentioned the ‘plopping’ method of rather than drying your hair, tying your hair up to dry in a t-shirt and letting it dry that way, which looks just the right kind of lazy for me (Youtube vid here)! Definitely trying that out.

‘No Poo’ Method

You’d be forgiven for thinking this was a side effect of all that immodium you took on holiday in India, but no, it’s apparently a method where you go completely without shampoo. I’ve actually read about this the past, and more than a dozen of you reported having great results with it. Many of you felt this was the best way to combat frizz. Interesting! But sadly I’m not particularly into this one (feel free to let me know why I should try it if you have experience!)… I’m so sorry to all of you who are staunch ‘no poo’-ers. I’m addicted to that squeaky clean feeling of shampoo, even though I am 100% aware that it might be what’s ruining my curls.

Apply Light Heat

Ok so although this goes against my whole focus of having a no heat styling option in my arsenal, lots of you mentioned that you often twist your hair and apply light heat using a hairdryer and diffuser to promote a great curl without the frizz. This is something I agree with completely and I’ve been doing for years. It totally works.

All Nighter

While I’m lazily just snoozing, so many of you have worked out how to multitask by washing your hair before bed, then putting it in buns or plaits overnight so that in the morning… Voila! So smart. And something I wish I could do! But having grown up the daughter of a doctor of Chinese medicine (where hot and cold rules) I’ve had it drummed into me, the perils of sleeping with wet hair. These basically boil down to getting a cold but out of my father’s mouth, it always seems soooo much worse.

Products

As I mentioned you guys gave me soooo many incredible product recommendations, I mean who knew there were so many great ones on the market. I’ve listed here some DIY product ideas and also the ones that were mentioned heaps of times, and all the way at the bottom, have listed the rest. It’s a long list!

DIY Products

• Put 1:1 conditioner to water in spray bottle, section off and twirl hair into several parts and spray the solution on each section. When 80% dry, tousle twirls lightly to create volume.
• Diluted apple cider vinegar and wash through hair, apply argan oil through tips (takes a few months for hair to get adjusted to).
• Lots of you loved coconut oil! One of you recommended applying coconut oil before a shower, then put on a shower cap during the shower (the heat from the
  shower helps lock in moisture) and then wash hair with good products.

Over the counter products

The following products were recommended again and again by you guys.

• Argan Oil
• Miracle Hair by Eleven
• Bumble Bumble Curl Creme
• Deva Curl Heaven (Apply on damp hair)
• Ouai Air Dry Foam
• Kevin Murphy Motion Lotion/ Killer Curls / Defying Curls
• John Masters Volumising Foam

A HUGE thank you to all of you that made suggestions and recommendations, it was so so so useful. If you have any further recommendations please drop them into the comments below, I’m so excited to get started on my naturally curly journey. Will be sharing a few thoughts/experiences soon!

FYI these products were recommended once or twice:

R + Co Twister- Curl Primer • Thick by Rusk (Spray on wet hair, finger comb and air dry) • Proof Curl Range • Ouai Hair Spray • Oribe Curl Control Silkening Creme • Klorane Leave in Cream with Desert Date • L’oreal Curling Foam (Massaged into half wet hair) • L’oreal Professional Mythic Oil • L’oreal Liss Control (Apply on wet hair) • Moroccan Intense Curl Cream • Colab Dry Shampoo (Brings volume to roots) • Aveda Shampoo and Conditioner • Aveda Curl Controller • Aveda Humectant • Marc Daniels go curly • Chi Straight Guard • Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum • R&B Lush Hair Moisturiser • Small Talks By TGI • Bumble Bumble Curl Spray • My Curls- Super curly leave in Conditioner • Living Proof- Perfect Hair Day • Living Proof No Frizz Shampoo & Conditioner • Monat • Miss Jessie’s- Pillow Soft Curls • Organic Hair Co (Vegan & Organic) • Redken Curl Refiner • OGX Coconut Dry Oil • Avalon Organics • TRESemmé Mousse • TRESemmé Volumising Cream • Schwarzkopf Extra Care Curl Flex Creme • Ouidad Curling Creme • Evo Lock Down Smoothing Treatment Serum • Matrix Air Dry Chill Boho • Aussie Turn up the Curl Mousse (apply on top where most frizzy) • Hemp Seed Oil (After shower massage into scalp) • Oribe Super Shine Moisturising • Gold Lust Nourishing oil (1-3 pumps) • Kérastase Discipline Range- Shampoo Mask and Taming Milk • Moogoo Shampoo & Conditioner (Sulphate Free) • Tigi Catwalk Curls • Goldwell Rich Repair Seru

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