My need to turn this into a weird off topic post for my Substack!
TK Maxx is the place.
Shampoo- I can now vary this a bit but tend to stick to Living Proof Curl Shampoo. The Elvive hydra thingy one is new to me but does a good job. And cheaper. I think get best shampoo and conditioner you can afford. Not sure if new shampoos are getting better less sulfates?
Conditioner Living Proof - I also had a huge bottle of Sukin (sp?) from the Maxx for colour treated hair and that was very good. I use tons of it. Squish it in. This is the only time I comb /brush my hair. In the shower with too much conditioner on it.
(But I am tempted to source this brush to do this job and experiment with brushing at other times! Eek)
For each of these three steps my hair is sopping wet. This is vital. None of these work on even beginning to dry hair. I stand over the bath after my shower and squish each one in.
Then do not touch it. Air dry is the best. But when it’s chilly or I need to be out of the house. The Dyson.
I saved up my nectar points for one from Argos. Is the best and cuts drying time down.
Did also have the best hair after sitting in a train to London - breaking the gel cast cast with a touch of cream. Wow do one, jvn I’ve used also.
Silk pillow case. I have two and travel with one. One from Dunhelm. Now falling apart and one from Marks- a gift.
I get up and massage a bit of water in my roots in the morning and maybe a bit of wow cream.
Gosh if anyone has got this far! I realise I could talk endlessly about my curl routine!! I too have gadgets. And an old babyliss thing I got in a charity shop. This sucks in hair and spits out a curl. I use it sparingly but love it.
My hair is thirsty! It takes ages to dry. Thick and lots of it ( less with perimenopause)
I didn’t know it was curly until I was in my 40’s. My mum was obsessed with brushing it.
Mine is less curly than yours, but still pretty damn curly. I have tried the plopping thing and the t-shirt thing but the thing that works best of all for me is a REALLY EXPENSIVE BLOWDRY followed by rain.
Do look up Good Wash Day towels. Like a T-shirt but shaped like a towel. V good for this type of hair (mine is not fine but the curl shape description is perfect match)
Me too!! Draws full of products which promised the holy grail of defined curl and no fizz but did not deliver. Both my sons have curly hair and one of them uses a relatively cheap Sea Salt spray and it really works on his short curls. I had an expensive Sam McKnight one and it didn't work on my hair. Thank you Jess for sharing all your tips xx
The t-shirt method is called 'plopping'. PLOPPING! I also have fine but wavy hair and a lot of it, have fought with it all my life as you describe, and I plop sometimes. Not aways. But sometimes. #plop
It's no good. I have longed ALL MY LIFE (nearly 70 years of it) for curly hair. Mine dead straight. Thin but reasonably abundant. Unstyleable - curls/waves drop within half an hour. I want your hair.
I’m absolutely here for everything in this post! I keep coming back to the Ouai products (mousse, leave in conditioner, curl cream). The t shirt trick I will try tmrw! Screen grabbing all the links (especially the hairnet).
When I was a young teen I went to a trendy hairdresser who got all dogmatic and said he refused to cut my hair unless I had it permed straight. Had to go back home to beg for the money.
Then for years I permed it myself (flat on my head) and loved it.
I had perfectly straight, shiny hair growing up that slid out of ponytails etc, then when I was a teenager and in my 20's I had a bob of varying lengths. Very easy to look after, sometimes I couldn't remember if I had brushed it! THEN, I had children and the hormones gave me curly/wavy hair just at the back of my head. I had it short, then grew it out. It took AGES to grow, looked not too bad growing (partly because we were in lockdown for a lot of it!!) then got to my desired length and was awful! The back was curly, the sides were straight-ish and wouldn't curl but when I tried blow drying it straight I looked like a lego person! If I put a hat on, well, game over. I continued to try for a while, then cut it all off again!!
I literally could have written this myself! Having spent 60 of my 61 years bullying my hair straight and perpetually complaining about frizz, a new (to me) hairdresser suggested that my hair is actually really "textured " (wavy) and I should let it do it's own thing! She said that people pay good money to have hair like mine which is a revelation! Anyway I now use leave in conditioner, curl cream (Aveda) and gel (also Aveda). I scrunch it a bit, use a diffuser for 2 minutes and blast any wiry stray hairs flat with my Dyson attachment. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes and honestly my hair has never looked better!
I bow to your perseverance. Just when I thought I'd be giving up and let my frizz be darned, I have renewed hope. I shall lop off most of it and head to these products. Your hair looks great, by the way!
I’m the weird person who reads any hair related even though this has no relevance to me whatsoever. 🤭
Ha haa! Me too!
Happy to share my tips. It has taken years!
My need to turn this into a weird off topic post for my Substack!
TK Maxx is the place.
Shampoo- I can now vary this a bit but tend to stick to Living Proof Curl Shampoo. The Elvive hydra thingy one is new to me but does a good job. And cheaper. I think get best shampoo and conditioner you can afford. Not sure if new shampoos are getting better less sulfates?
Conditioner Living Proof - I also had a huge bottle of Sukin (sp?) from the Maxx for colour treated hair and that was very good. I use tons of it. Squish it in. This is the only time I comb /brush my hair. In the shower with too much conditioner on it.
(But I am tempted to source this brush to do this job and experiment with brushing at other times! Eek)
Rinse get out of shower. With sopping wet hair
Leave in conditioner or defrizz cream. I am currently rotating something that came in an advent calendar https://www.champohaircare.com/products/leave-in-perfecting-cream
I’ve had mine since 2023 - it lasts. It works. And this https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/drpawpaw-it-does-it-all-7-in-1-hair-treatment-styler---yellow/p/8368822.
Then curl cream
I use boucleme https://www.boucleme.co.uk/products/curl-defining-gel. They had it in tk Maxx a few months ago. I bought three bottles of it.
I finish with gel. https://uk.curlsmith.com/products/shape-up-aqua-gel
For each of these three steps my hair is sopping wet. This is vital. None of these work on even beginning to dry hair. I stand over the bath after my shower and squish each one in.
Then do not touch it. Air dry is the best. But when it’s chilly or I need to be out of the house. The Dyson.
I saved up my nectar points for one from Argos. Is the best and cuts drying time down.
Did also have the best hair after sitting in a train to London - breaking the gel cast cast with a touch of cream. Wow do one, jvn I’ve used also.
Silk pillow case. I have two and travel with one. One from Dunhelm. Now falling apart and one from Marks- a gift.
I get up and massage a bit of water in my roots in the morning and maybe a bit of wow cream.
Gosh if anyone has got this far! I realise I could talk endlessly about my curl routine!! I too have gadgets. And an old babyliss thing I got in a charity shop. This sucks in hair and spits out a curl. I use it sparingly but love it.
My hair is thirsty! It takes ages to dry. Thick and lots of it ( less with perimenopause)
I didn’t know it was curly until I was in my 40’s. My mum was obsessed with brushing it.
So many helpful things here! Thank you, Shona xx
Think I am a bit boring at parties
I’d like to sit next to you - we’d get on like a house on fire! My hair has gone proper curly in my 50s so I LOVED your work
Thank you! And ha haa, we would! I never run out of hair chat…
Ha haa, that made me laugh.
LOVE these tips!!!
Mine is less curly than yours, but still pretty damn curly. I have tried the plopping thing and the t-shirt thing but the thing that works best of all for me is a REALLY EXPENSIVE BLOWDRY followed by rain.
Ha ha haaa… this is so true!!
Do look up Good Wash Day towels. Like a T-shirt but shaped like a towel. V good for this type of hair (mine is not fine but the curl shape description is perfect match)
As a fellow curly girl, I feel seen by this post. I also have tried 487 (million) shampoos and conditioners 😂
Me too!! Draws full of products which promised the holy grail of defined curl and no fizz but did not deliver. Both my sons have curly hair and one of them uses a relatively cheap Sea Salt spray and it really works on his short curls. I had an expensive Sam McKnight one and it didn't work on my hair. Thank you Jess for sharing all your tips xx
How much of our friendship chat has been spent on curl angst?!! Ha ha. Love that the boys have found a cheap and easy solution… xx
Ha! Easily done!
The t-shirt method is called 'plopping'. PLOPPING! I also have fine but wavy hair and a lot of it, have fought with it all my life as you describe, and I plop sometimes. Not aways. But sometimes. #plop
Oh yes! I forgot it was called plopping. Plop away, my friend.
It is a ridiculous term. I vote you come up with something better. Then we can start throwing it out casually until it takes over.
Yess! *squeezes thinking cap over massed curls*
It's no good. I have longed ALL MY LIFE (nearly 70 years of it) for curly hair. Mine dead straight. Thin but reasonably abundant. Unstyleable - curls/waves drop within half an hour. I want your hair.
A perm??? I think the hair is always better on the other side…
I’m absolutely here for everything in this post! I keep coming back to the Ouai products (mousse, leave in conditioner, curl cream). The t shirt trick I will try tmrw! Screen grabbing all the links (especially the hairnet).
Thanks Lucy!
Oh, and I used to sellotape my fringe to my forehead. But it didn't work.
That reminds me of my mum telling me she used to iron hers…😬
When I was a young teen I went to a trendy hairdresser who got all dogmatic and said he refused to cut my hair unless I had it permed straight. Had to go back home to beg for the money.
Then for years I permed it myself (flat on my head) and loved it.
Can't imagine why now!
I had perfectly straight, shiny hair growing up that slid out of ponytails etc, then when I was a teenager and in my 20's I had a bob of varying lengths. Very easy to look after, sometimes I couldn't remember if I had brushed it! THEN, I had children and the hormones gave me curly/wavy hair just at the back of my head. I had it short, then grew it out. It took AGES to grow, looked not too bad growing (partly because we were in lockdown for a lot of it!!) then got to my desired length and was awful! The back was curly, the sides were straight-ish and wouldn't curl but when I tried blow drying it straight I looked like a lego person! If I put a hat on, well, game over. I continued to try for a while, then cut it all off again!!
Oh my goodness! What drama!
I literally could have written this myself! Having spent 60 of my 61 years bullying my hair straight and perpetually complaining about frizz, a new (to me) hairdresser suggested that my hair is actually really "textured " (wavy) and I should let it do it's own thing! She said that people pay good money to have hair like mine which is a revelation! Anyway I now use leave in conditioner, curl cream (Aveda) and gel (also Aveda). I scrunch it a bit, use a diffuser for 2 minutes and blast any wiry stray hairs flat with my Dyson attachment. The whole thing takes about 10 minutes and honestly my hair has never looked better!
I'm delighted you enjoy your hair now! I've heard good things about Aveda for curly hair - will give them a try.
I bow to your perseverance. Just when I thought I'd be giving up and let my frizz be darned, I have renewed hope. I shall lop off most of it and head to these products. Your hair looks great, by the way!
Blush! Xx
Enjoyed this Jessica, thanks for the tips. I’ve recently embraced my grey, but that’s only served to make my hair dryer. The struggle is real.
Ps. You may enjoy and relate to my curly story:
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonjoslyn/p/confessions-of-a-celtic-afro?r=7tva4&utm_medium=ios
Ooh! Will read x
Ooh so many good tips to try - thanks for sharing! Must get that brush :)
My pleasure!
Thank you for the restack!