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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Au Natural Hair!

Hey guys!!

I thought today I would show you what products I use to style my hair naturally.

I actually have pretty curly hair, so sometimes it can be a bit of a problem with either frizz, or days it just doesn't want to curl itself properly, etc... You curly hair people know what I'm talking about here. Depending on the weather, I may let it dry naturally (usually only happens on hot summer days), or use a hair dryer to speed up the process when its colder out or I'm in a rush and don't want to look as if I just exited the shower. Having thick, curly hair means it takes hours to dry naturally unless its at least 25+ degrees outside.

To begin, here are recent pictures of my hair left alone. In these, I let my hair dry naturally (it's actually still a bit wet as you can see). At the end of this, I am going to show you guys a quick picture of how long my hair actually is when I blow-dry it straight and what I use for that - the length difference is crazy. (Click to enlarge these).


















































This all starts in the shower. To be honest, I've never noticed much difference between a "curl" shampoo and any other formulation, so I just use whatever I have on hand - lately thats been the Clear for Color and Damaged hair. Maybe I just haven't found any curl shampoo/conditioner combo thats great yet - but of the ones I've tried, my end results do not differ. When I'm in the shower I brush the conditioner through my hair with a wide tooth comb; when doing this, I make sure to comb my hair the way I would part it. When rinsing my hair I try not to tangle it up or anything a whole lot- Basically, my goal is to not have to brush/comb my hair once I get out of the shower. This helps my natural curls stay in together and not separate them too much.
Next, I just squeeze my hair with a towel to get any excess water out (my hair retains water really well, so this is crucial). I part my hair and depending on how I am going to dry my hair (naturally or not) depends on what goes on my hair.
Here are the products that I use.
Catwalk Curl Collection Curlesque creme
AG Re-Coil Curl Defining Creme
Pantene Mousse for curls, hold level 4
Hair Dryer Diffuser

Drying my hair naturally
Separate my hair into 4 sections (one on each side and 2 for the back). Apply very small amount of AG Recoil to hands, rub together, distribute onto section- repeat with each section. This is seriously the holy grail for naturally curly hair. It makes my curls even curlier and I can not rave about this stuff enough.
Afterwards, I apply a small (quarter sized) amount of Catwalk Curlesque to my whole head and just crunch my curls a little to encourage them to twist more. Thats it!
The reason I apply both products when letting my hair dry naturally is that I find my hair can get a little separated and frizzy without the Catwalk, but my curls are as bouncy without the AG; therefore, I feel I need both. I don't apply the mousse when I dry my hair naturally as I feel it leaves my hair hard and crunchy.

Drying my hair with a hair dryer
When drying my hair with a hair dryer I first apply the AG Recoil as I previously explained. After that is when I put a palm-full of Pantene Mousse all over my hair. Stick the Diffuser onto my hair dryer (EXTREMELY important) and flip my hair upside-down while drying it. I find flipping my hair over adds more volume to the roots. I always put my hair dryer setting to low (so yes, this can sometimes take a while) and carefully hold pieces of my hair so the blowing air doesn't cause the curls to separate too much (this is why the low setting is so important, otherwise it will end up frizzy). When its dry, I give it a shot of cold air with the hair dryer to seal it all in and voila! Done-Zo.
The Pantene Mousse doesn't leave my hair crunchy when I use a hair dryer - I can't really explain why; maybe because it's being tousled around more.

Just for fun
Here's how long my hair actually is when it is blow-dried straight (no flat iron was used in this).


All I really did for this was apply a small amount of Carols Daughters Smoothing Blow Dry Creme (smells like chocolate- yumm) and put a concentrator on my hair dryer. Section the hair off in 4 sections again, and use a paddle brush to follow the hair down the brush with the edge of the concentrator.



















Well! There you have it!

If you guys have any questions about the individual products, or want to see how I "Unnaturally" curl my hair for daytime or a night out, let me know!!

Thanks for reading! Love!

-J

2 comments:

  1. This is such a great post!! Where can you buy AG products? I've never heard of recoil but I need to try it! I've been straightening my hair way too much and it doesn't get as curly anymore D: and OMG I just saw your comment on my blog! Would you film a video?! That would be so fun!! Let's plan it out!! :D

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    1. AG products can be purchased at Chatters Salon - as far as I know, that's the only place in NL to find them! :) Highly recommend it; every curly hair girl I've had try it has fallen in love :)

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