Jackie's Tips for Curly Hair

For those of you who have been cursed blessed with curly hair, this post will be incredibly helpful for you, and for those of you with straight hair, I bet you didn't know this much work was involved for us curly girls. After getting some curious readers asking about my hair from this post, I realize that a lot of you are still struggling to tame the curl, so I thought I would share how I've come to love my hair.

I've had big, crazy, curly hair my whole life, and it was always a hot tangled mess. In fact, my mother used to style and blow out my hair every day for kindergarten. Talk about high maintenance at an early age! Growing up, if my hair wasn't professionally blown straight or flat-ironed, I would just wear it up - and since I've never really been a high maintenance kind of girl, my hair was up practically every day. I would even get that painful, bruised-like feeling on my scalp from having my hair pulled back so often. At some point, going into high school, I had the confidence to start trying to style my hair. I decided not to fight with it any more, and to find a way to work with the curly mop. I tried everything from Frizz-Ease to super thick styling goop gel. I would sometimes end up with really pretty (but cardboard stiff) curls, or, on bad days, I would end up with crispy, frizzy, flaky gross-ness.

At some point my aunt, who also has curly hair, suggested I read The Curly Girl Handbook. After reading the first chapter I was a born-again Curly Girl. The book is written by Lorraine Massey, founder of DevaChan and DevaCurl - a salon and product line devoted to curly haired girls and the methods described in her book. For those of you that haven't read the book, I highly recommend it, it changed my life.I've been a Curly Girl and using Deva products since the moment I read that book circa 2001. I've had soft, natural, healthy curls ever since.

I started only seeing Deva trained hairstylists, and four years ago I began going to an actual DevaChan salon, which happens to be just down the street from my work office. For those of you in New York City or White Plains, I HIGHLY recommend going to the actual Deva salons - it's just the most amazing haircut you'll ever have in your life. If you aren't able to get to an actual salon, you can find local stylists that have been trained in the Deva methods.

While I absolutely swear by having your hair cut by a Deva hair specialist, I don't follow some of the other steps religiously (if you want to know what those steps are, read the book). For example, I find the Deva products to be really expensive, so while I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the DevaCare Arc Angel styling gel and the Mist-er Right Spray, I don't use their other products, as I found natural methods that work better for me. However, while I don't use all the Deva products, I do follow their styling method TO A TEE. From styling in-shower (yep!) to microfiber towels, I do it all, and I recommend it highly.

Alright, so lets start talking about my actual process.

Deva says not to use regular shampoo - it's toxic for curly hair. They offer their version of a non-sudsing shampoo, called No Poo, which I used and loved for a long time. But it's expensive, and I've always had a dry, flaky scalp, which it didn't seem to help. I read online about the use of baking soda and vinegar instead of shampoo, and figured I would give it a try. Believe it or not, it worked like a charm and I've been shampoo-free for years now and will never got back. At first I was concerned that it wouldn't really "clean" my hair, but after a few weeks I found that I no longer had build-up, flakes, or itching. My hair is cleaner and healthier than ever.  In order to make sure the baking soda doesn't dry my hair, I also use a natural peppermint conditioner. This may not work for everybody, but it works for me and so I use it as an alternative to the Deva No-Poo products.

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Here is my shower routine: I leave a sturdy cup and a bottle of apple cider vinegar in my shower at all times. There's also box of baking soda that's always in my bathroom vanity. I also leave my Arc Angel in the shower (more on why in a little bit). Before every shower, I put a tablespoon or two of the baking soda into the cup and bring it into the shower with me. After wetting my hair thoroughly, I add enough shower water to the cup with baking soda to turn it into a thick paste. Then I use the water/soda paste as if it were shampoo, and I rub it into my scalp and hair. Then, I rinse my hair with shower water, to get all of the baking soda out - I also rinse all of the baking soda out of the little cup. After I'm all rinsed and the cup is clean, I put about a quarter cup of the vinegar into the cup, and then fill it up the rest of the way with water. I pour the vinegar/water over my hair, and then rinse again under the shower water. Then I use my peppermint conditioner, just normally, and being sure to scrunch my hair (instead of combing, brushing or anything else) so that I maintain the curl shape (the book goes into this in detail).

The rest of my styling is completely out of the Deva manual, so I'm going to go over it quickly, assuming you'll read the book for the details.

Anyway, don't rinse all of the conditioner out of your hair. You want to leave just enough so that your hair still feels soft and a little milky. This helps keep your hair moist after your hair is dry. Then, once you've shut the shower water off, stay IN the bathtub (or shower stall) to start styling your hair. You want to style your hair while it's dripping, sopping wet (this is why I leave my gel in the shower, and why I also consider styling to be part of the shower process). Do not rinse, wring or dry your hair out in anyway. Get yourself a good amount of the the Angel in your hands and start scrunching it into your hair, from ends to roots. I also have very defined curls, so I wrap those curls around my finger (with gel) to help them keep their shape.

After you're done scrunching and shaping the curls with the gel, and you're still in the shower, go ahead and use a microfiber towel to scrunch (DO NOT RUB) the excess water out of your hair.

That's it, you're done. Now you just leave your hair to air dry. Don't touch it or fuss with it until it's completely dry. The gel leaves a little bit of a cast on the curls, but once they are completely dry, you can scrunch them to break up the stiff gel-cast and you'll be left with soft, perfectly shaped curls.

I wash my hair about 3 times a week, to make sure I don't try it out. Between washes, I use Marrakesh Oil to keep my hair healthy and shiny, and Mist-er Right to keep my curls in shape. When I have to put my hair up, which I still do pretty often, I make sure to use metal-free hair bands to avoid breakage.

So there you have it, my secrets for perfect, healthy curls. I love my hair now, and am so proud to be a completely 100% natural curly girl!! I hope this is helpful for those of you have are still fighting with your hair.