Day Two of Hair Cut:
I shampood it with straightening shampoo.
I towel dried it.
I put in KMS curly-making goo.
I blew it dry with a thingmajingy (diffuser).
It is straight and floppy and has jaggedy ends.
I added some Cocky by Bedhead to give it some lift and piece-out the ends.
It is just flop. Soft, lank, with a few waves and good body in the back but mostly a big head of nothing.
What I plan to try:
Blowing it out straight and forward with volumizing foam at the roots. I will piece out the ends with a more clay-like product.
(Believe me, I got a whole bathroom cabinet FULL of hair products.)
ditch the straightening shampoo in favor of either just conditioner and friction or conditioner mixed with a little lemon juice or brown sugar if you feel like you need more cleansing power. Avoid ALL products with alcohol in them!
also ditch the blow dryer and any other styling tools–brushes, etc. they’re damaging! either scrunch your wet product-ed hair up and clip it with some small butterfly clips until it’s mostly dry, then let it down. OR just scrunch some product in and let it dry.
If you decide to use the diffuser anyway, try partially blowing it upside down for more body.
have fun! and remember that your hair is still recovering from the cut and such!
You know what I’m going to do right now? Spritz it with conditioning spray and put it up in clippies to see if it will get some bounce to it! But how about those scraggy ends? How do I smooth them without overloading on product?
It may be that the scraggy ends are so recalcitrant that a slight trim to even them out and teach them to behave is in order. Perhaps after three washings, if they don’t shape up, you’ll decide to get even.
I don’t get the straightening shampoo and then the curling gel.. If I was your hair I would be confused. Pick curly or straight and stick with it! I like the curly idea because it is not what you usually do.. I agree that trimming may be in order. You see with curly. you give up control. Wild is interesting! Straight costs you time. It’s a choice. Poor dear. If you use the blow drier. Conditioning is very important..
[I should have said “Smoothing Shampoo,” not straightening. It makes the color nice and shiny, but I see what you’re saying. – PB]
An idea—work some volumizing mousse through your damp hair. Take small sections and twist/twirl them tightly, securing the ends with clips. Finish your makeup and breakfast while it air dries. Remove clips and gently finger comb it out.
I’ve wandered into the same cut from the other direction… my hair was short and I’ve grown it out to about that shape (not quite as long). The longer it gets, the more the waves/frizz comes into play. Especially here in the land of ThemeParks and Humidity. I’ve been straightening but now that I’ve seen such good suggestions for curly hair, I may try au natural (with product). Hang in there!
I think we are usually not good judges of what our hairs actually look like – let’s see another picture now that you’ve washed out the stylist’s gooeys. I really liked the first two photos of your new do, and didn’t see any crazy wild ends or flips. Honestly, I thought about getting a cut like yours but know my hairs would not behave. Let your friends be the real judges!
I’m not the biggest believer in smoothing/curly/whatever shampoo. Just use whatever gets your hair really clean (I really like Head and Shoulders classic clean – NOT the 2 in 1) then using a really nice conditioner, something that will leave your hair with a not-too-greasy/not-too-dry texture (I like Pantene’s new Natural conditioner)
With short hair, try putting a light liquid gel in it when it’s wet (Aveda Confixor perhaps) then twist quarter sized chunks of hair into spirals, or coils. Let them hang out like that for a little but, or until you can diffuse your hair and it wont take forever to dry. Diffuse it on warm by collecting the coils into the diffuser starting from tip to root. Adjusts stray bits with a curling iron. To finish, just take a DAB for a molding wax (Aveda Molding wax) – NOT pomade, it’s too oily – and spread it across your palms and fingers and scrunch the hair, starting from the back and working your way forward. This will help stop fly-aways.
This is pretty much what I do to my hair every day. Give it a try!
GOOD LUCK!
[Thanks for the detailed instructions — I think I will try this, even though the curling iron part SCARES me! And here’s to Sheridan Avenue — did you know that I’m a Northwestern alumn? How are things at Garrett these days? – PB]
Sorry, the Molding wax by adeva is called “Control Paste”
I write a blog about how to grow healthy long hair. This is a little trick I learned – before shampooing your hair, rub a warm mixture of olive oil and coconut oil into your roots. It’s supposed to make your hair grow faster. I have no idea if it does, but it seems like a useful hair treatment if you’re going to blow dry your hair.
Hey, hair is all about taking risks. Good for you for trying, even if it didn’t come out as planned!
I have really straight hair and sometimes use hot rollers. When I get the scraggly ends I touch them up with the curling iron. That could work for you.
Oh my goodness! I did NOT know that you were a Northwestern alum. Well the NW freshman just moved in, so it’s a little bit more lively around here than it had been for the first two weeks of classes. Garrett is going great so far. It’s just my first years, so they’re haven’t scared me away yet.
I hope the hair trial went well!!! My biggest issue with my hair is the more product I put in it the heavier my hair gets and the less I can do with it. I just try to get it as clean as I can and use very light weight product.
As a “hair challenged” woman myself, I’ve been following the hair saga with great interest. You’ve gotten some good advice, but there is one thing no one has mentioned yet: for the love of god, DO NOT let a stylist come near you with a razor! My hair is curly, thick (ie. lots of it) AND fine (ie. each hair is soft and thin-ish) and any type of “thinning”, “texturizing” or “spiking” with a razor actually means “you will have an infinity of impossible to control fly-away bits until you have the sense to go back and get the ends blunt-cut”.
One other piece of advice I would suggest: I’ve found that only stylists WITH curly hair fully understand how to cut it. Other curly friends have verified my observation too, that “straight” stylists may be well-trained and have good intentions, but rarely do they really “get” curly hair.
[I think you are SO right. I know it sounds silly, but this saga has actually taught me about my hair — which I never thought about very much until now. I have never known that I DO have curly hair. I knew it was wavy but I just thought that my styling challenges over the years were due to my own ineptitude with a brush and hair dryer. You’re absolutely right about the razor, and also about the curly stylist thing. I am ridiculously fascinated by this conversation and all the comments. I have always thought of my hair as either short or shorter, and focused on color much more than cut. 43 years old and finally figuring out the stuff that grows out of my own head! – PB]
Good luck!
Why don’t you get it cut again in a different shape, something that will continue to look nice as it grows out? Ditto to finding a curly-haired stylist. [Because the more I cut it, the longer it takes to grow as long as I want it. – PB]