Afro and Super Curly Hair

alisara

lostintates, have you tried Boots curl cream, its in a pot and its pink. It is excellent and a little goes a long way my daughters hair sounds like yours and i find this good.

alisara

glowgirl

What products do you use that are non protein, I have no idea but would be interested in trying same.

knithappens

alarisa, the training over here compared to the states is pants, and we use such out dated methods, with regards to relaxers etc, i know in the states they do not straightening the hair bone straight as that leads to a weakening of the hair shaft, and then breaking.

Thats another reason I stopped going to the hairdressers as they only offerd a few options for my hair, and non of it helped my hair grow, plus the extortionate price, i just ould not justify spending hundreds every few months on my a hair for extensions, or £80 every 2 weeks at the hairdressers. Once I started doing it myelf and then letting it grow natural and learning how to cope with it, is grew so much better.

I have a few books on Afro hair care, again American, will dig them out, but again they were more geared towards loose curly afro hair, not the kind i have.

Youtube as become my friends as people post so many tutorials on there, as soon as I can remember my pasword to access my favs on there I will post some.

My children are mixed race, my 8 year old has Europena type hair ust a little courses, that bounces into big culrs, he grows it long and it is to die for, my 16 month old, has a ixture of straight and ringlets, but my oldest wowo she inherited more of the black gene when it comes to her hair, and it is not one texture al over, tighter at the back and sides, and looser on top, and it does the lovely Afro thing, of when it is wet is is long and managable, once is dries it shrinks back to her head, and it takes an age to grow. She is almost 15 and wants to straighten her hair which i will not allow at the moment, once she is 16 i dont think i have a choice, but since i started growing my hair natural, she is saying it less and less and learning to style her hair.

wow I rambled on with myself then haha

lostinrates

alisara wrote: »

lostintates, have you tried Boots curl cream, its in a pot and its pink. It is excellent and a little goes a long way my daughters hair sounds like yours and i find this good.

I have and I just don't like it. My DH, also a curlytop does though, so he uses that. I find tigi curl products good, and frizzease. But neither are cheap, and I get through them quickly.

I was once told that some ''intimate lubricants'' but not all had the same stuff in them as frizzease and work out cheaper....its a tip I haven't followed up on.:o

knithappens

She is almost 15 and wants to straighten her hair which i will not allow at the moment, once she is 16 i dont think i have a choice, but since i started growing my hair natural, she is saying it less and less and learning to style her hair.

Its good to hear this. Afro styling has come along way from when I was little in the states, where the straightening resulted in stiff, inflexible, and dry hair, and its great to have more choice, but the idea that natural hair styled well isn't as good I find uncomfortable. Not least because I think some girls spend on their hair what could be going to genuinely make their lives better in the future or improve their living conditions instantly....


also time: my hair takes long enough but not as long as afro hair, the drying for day comment made me nod. afro hair takes longer still to style. another thing that people who don't have experience don't know!

glowgirl_2

alisara wrote: »

glowgirl

What products do you use that are non protein, I have no idea but would be interested in trying same.

Hi:) I chop and change but always seem to go back to the light blue herbal essences which says moisturising on the label, thats the key, reading the labels, products with things that end in "tin" just frizz and dry my hair, so that would be keratin, protein, excuse the spelling but you get my drift, the herbal essences one kind of relaxes it slightly giving a loose curl, Treseme body gives a tight curl watch out for masks and treatments as well the vast majority have some form of protein - hth:) another great trick is to buy the super cheap hair gel (19p roughly from morrisons or tesco) and scruch a bit in when hair is still wet, its so cheap that it has no alcohol in which is great for curly hair, it gives definition and hold if needed, watch out for dimethicone in serums this can be drying as well, although can be very useful if mixed with a bit of the gel and used on wet hair, trial and error will help you find out the amounts needed, I use 70/30 gel/serum if I do this:)

edrushuk

Hi ya ladies.

A few website I would suggest are

longhaircareforum
nappturality
naturallycurly

While they are most US based website, there is loads of information on them and other fellow UK ladies to chat to.

As a black female, I wear my naturally, the two things I would suggest you look into (if not doing so already is

Co-washing, which is basically reducing the amount of shampoo you use on your hair, and using conditioner only. If that freaks you out, use an extremely mild shampoo on your hair.

Ceramide - which can be found in some hair products but best found in oil eg Wheat Germ oil. Use it as a pre-wash treatment, or just on the ends of your hair daily..it works wonders.

Oh one other thing, silk/satin pillowcases or scarves to help with breakage.

My hair is the most delicate there is...even if I glance at it in the wrong way it will break. So forget about chemicals or heat..the only time it has grown well is when I had it in braids. So while it is still a continuing journey, I have learnt loads..and things are getting better.

There is a load of information out there. I have just discovered hair stories on you tube, some are so inspirational.

Remember your hair is as unique as you are, so what will work for some people may not be right for you.

Have fun learning..it can get a bit additive.

Susanna

glowgirl_2

I agree CO washing is good too, I do it for about a week or two if I feel my hair is dry or misbehaving however most people try to use a no cone (silicone) conditioner which are usually the cheaper ones but this didnt agree with my hair I just use my normal conditioner and it does give my hair a break:)

lostinrates

glowgirl wrote: »

I agree CO washing is good too, I do it for about a week or two if I feel my hair is dry or misbehaving however most people try to use a no cone (silicone) conditioner which are usually the cheaper ones but this didnt agree with my hair I just use my normal conditioner and it does give my hair a break:)

DH and I have both found out hair is better when we CO wash. we still shampoo, just not very often.

gunsandbanjos

Dawning wrote: »

I can't post links yet but if you go to a site called british curlies and onto the Forum there, the girls are all very helpful.

http://www.britishcurlies.co.uk/articles/article/the_cg_method_to_great_curls/

It is a great site, there is loads of info on the forum.

I am curly, a 3b, i use the CG method and my hair is in great condition now. I haven't used shampoo on my hair since july!

alisara

The info on here is great. I do co-wash and find it really works, although I shall be looking for non-silicone and non-herbal products. Will be making a trip into town today to pick up some herbal essences.