4 Tips To Consider About Your Curly Hair Routine

As most everybody with curly hair knows, there are a lot of potential steps to making sure your curls are happy and healthy, and if you're anything like me it can be overwhelming. But there are a few things that you can do to narrow down all the options and figure out which steps are most important for you in your curly hair routine.

1. Be Careful With Your Shampoo Use

One of the biggest ways to dry out your curls out in a hurry is to shampoo your hair too often. Curls has a hard time trapping moisture because of the shape of curly hair follicles. The more you use shampoo on your curls the more dried they will become. You don't want to make this face when you look at your curls:

Sherise-VD, Unsplash

Every curly hair type will have their own shampoo needs, but a good rule of thumb is to shampoo your hair once a week. To some of you that may seem like it's not enough, but I promise it is! For Type 2 curls you may decide you want to shampoo your waves twice a week. For Type 4 curls you may want to wash your every 2-3 weeks instead. The biggest thing here is to pay attention to your curls! If they are dry, try shampooing less often for a while to let your hair recover.

Another thing to consider is the type of shampoo you are using. A good tip to keep in mind while buying shampoo is to look at the ingredients and see if they are sulfate-free. Sulfate-free shampoo is great because it is less dehydrating and better for your curls.

2. You Can Never Use Too Much Conditioner

This is probably the most important part of your curly hair routine. The conditioner you use and how often you use it will make a big difference in your curl health. The general recommendation is to condition your hair almost every day. 5 or 6 times a week is probably a good place to start. Pay attention to what your hair does with that amount of conditioning and make changes accordingly.

You might have to go through a few different brands of conditioner before you find the one that works best for you hair. Don't get caught up in believing that the most expensive conditioners are the best, because in my experience that's not always true. For some expensive brands may be better, but my favorite conditioner is Pantene's Curl Perfection Conditioner, which is a lower-end conditioner. It works really well for my curls, and a lot of the more expensive brands don't work as well for me.

Try out a few conditioners until you find one that works best for you. While your conditioner pay attention to the texture of your hair. Is it smooth and silky? Or can you still feel frizz? If you are still feeling dryness or fizz you might want to try a different conditioner.

3. Creams and Leave-In Conditioner

After you've conditioned your hair, you're not done yet! Conditioner is only the first part of the making sure your curls are healthy and moisturized. After you shower it's always a good idea to use a curl cream, a leave-in conditioner or both. Using these products add an extra layer of moisture to your curls and allow them to be shiny and soft.

Unsplash

One thing to consider is the ingredients in your products. You want to avoid large amounts of preservatives and sulfates in any product you use, so make sure to double check before you purchase any curl creams and leave-ins. The better ingredients in your products the healthier your hair will be.

4. Be Careful How You Detangle Your Curls

The biggest no-no with curly hair is using a brush! Don't brush your curls out the way a lot of straight-hair havers might. Using a regular brush can cause a lot of damage and breakage to your curls. Instead use a wide-tooth comb, a pick, a detangler brush or your fingers. There are a lot of great detangling tools out there!

Each curly hair type will have different tools that they respond to better, but using a brush isn't a great option. Not only does it cause damage, but it causes your curls to separate and lose some of their natural shape and pattern. Using a wide-tooth tool will help keep your curls shape and prevent extra breakage.

At The End Of The Day

When all is said and done, everyone will have their own curly hair routine, but these tips can help you figure out the best things to add to your routine to give you the happiest and healthiest curls and waves a girl could hope for!

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