CURLY LOCKS

Your head is full of curls that rise like the living dead and seem to have a mind of their own. You’ve tried everything from straightening your hair to blowdrying it till it’s fried, but it’s still the same frizzy mess you started out with. What should one do?

First of all, there’s good news for curly heads. Ringlets are back with a rage. So instead of burning out your hair with frustrating attempts to straighten it, here’s what you can do to control those curls.

Curl Care

Getting curly hair to behave begins in the shower. Wash your hair every third day. On days you are not washing your hair, wet it and apply conditioner. Don’t wash your hair everyday if you have curly hair, even if you are using a mild shampoo that claims it is suitable enough for daily use. Of all hair types, curly hair is the driest and most brittle.

Always follow up with a conditioner. Concentrate conditioner on ends, which are the most dry, and rinse out. Towel dry hair and apply a leave-in conditioner. If you don’t have any, moisturising lotion is a good substitute! It keeps the frizz at bay and controls the curls. You could also apply a couple of drops of oil to your hair when wet. Remember, when towel drying frizzy hair, pat it down, don’t
ruffle it.

For a quick fix for damaged, weak, dull or dry hair, work in a good healthy dose of conditioner on wet hair and expose it to steam for 15 minutes. Then lightly shampoo and rinse.

Curly heads need to apply more styling products, conditioners and oils to control their mane. This leads to build up. Once a month mix an equal amount of baking soda with your shampoo and wash your hair. This removes build up and residue and leaves your hair squeaky clean.

Comb your hair with a wide toothed comb when it’s damp and not dripping wet as wet hair breaks easily, especially if it is tangled. Apply a good conditioner and using a wide tooth comb start from the ends. Take as much time as is necessary to avoid stretching or breaking your hair. Never comb curly hair when it is dry and never, ever brush your curls. They’ll just open up into frizzes.

When blow drying your hair, use a diffuser attachment. Don’t dry it completely; leave it slightly damp or you run the risk of over-drying your hair.

Perfecting the Curl

If you’re letting your hair dry naturally, try this: Apply gel or leave-in conditioner to towel dried hair and create curls by twisting locks of hair around your fingers or by scrunching your hair. Or twist sections and clip them up with butterfly clips. Once dry, take them down. Loosen the curls with your fingers.

Wash your hair at night, apply gel or mousse and braid it. The next morning, open out your braids and finger comb your hair for lovely, natural curls.

Fed up with hair that zooms out at the sides as if you’ve been electrocuted? Pull your hair taut and secure it into a ponytail when it’s drying. This way your hair will tend to fall down instead of spreading out.

Frizz Busters

If you tie up your hair in a silk, satin or velvet scarf at night, it will kill some of the frizz.

If you catch a case of the frizzies, simply wet your hair. Your mane needs to be kept megamoisturised to fight frizz.

So there you have it. In a world of people with flat, limpy hair that just hangs down, your curls set you apart. Just one out of twenty have curly hair, so count yourself lucky and chuck those straightening irons where they belong. In the bin.