Ah curly hair. First, let’s start with some links:

My Hair Product Collection

How I Finger Coil My Hair

My Wash & Go with Silicone Products

Now my journey:

I have 3b curls, medium porosity, and thick dense hair. Basically I have smallish curls that absorb water well and a lot of it. My curly hair journey began back in 2011 after I had done a Brazilian Keratin treatment that I shortly began regretting. I had initially done the treatment seeing my sisters own success with it and wanting beautiful waves after the beach in the summer. Needless to say, I shortly regretted having no curls, my ends being stringy and staight, and because of the volume of hair, having a huge bob of weird wavy hair. What I ended up doing was always rocking the “Wet” look, which roughly consisted of gels, mousses and hair spray. Sick of this routine, the feel and smell of my fried hair, I turned to curly hair products and better ingredients. This was when I started a journey (one I am still on) to learn what’s best for my hair to have it grow healthy and strong. First things first, I needed a good chop.

After I had done the big chop, I kind of regretted it. I did it on a whim. I had went with my mother to the hair salon and I sat on a chair and told the stylist to cut. I had cut just short enough to be put into a low pony tail. Although I didn’t like the length, that was actually when my hair thrived. It was healthy, it always looked great, I was able to stop finger coiling and just wash & go quite literally.

I was strictly using silicone free products at this time. I also had home made shea and mango butter creams, home made oils and hair gels. My hair looked amazing, and it was incredibly easy to handle. Who knew that curly hair could look better and healthier than straightened hair? I couldn’t believe there was a time in my life that I preferred straight hair! I was always under the impression it straight hair was easier. Yes, with straight hair you can brush it everyday and distribute those oils that your scalp naturally secretes through out the strands and yes, there might even be less frizz, but curly hair, when healthy, is so easy. 

A few months after the big chop, I learned I was pregnant again. I made it a priority to keep my hair as healthy as possible. However, I also experimented a bit, especially in the summer, with products that contained silicone. In the summer, it just felt as though my home made butters were sitting on top of my hair, and probably due to my pregnancy and not my actual hair type, my hair felt greasy.

This new transition to silicone products was like some sort of God send. I went from 4 products to 2 and my wash and go’s were easier and faster. I mean dry time was the same but still, 2 products and DONE.

After I gave birth, I went back to silicone free for the winter and was actually able to beat winter dryness. I used home made shea butter cream and flax seed gel with some leave in conditioner. That’s it!

3months after giving birth to my second, I began my second run at post-partum shedding. If you remember, with my first I gave up and cut off all my hair, this time I was ready to commit to my hair and the mess and possibly clogged drains to get the length I want. For this second round, I began doing french braids to keep my hair from being a huge matted mess. With curly hair, shed hair doesn’t easily fall out. It gets tangled and caught in the wild mess of curls. So with french braids, I am able to actually detangle my hair much faster than in a wash & go because my hair is neatly braided.

Yes, curly hair can be a hassle at times and no wash & go method is the same every single time. Even with healthy hair, bad hair days exist (mostly due to weather). Don’t ever let those tiny bumps in the first few months of your journey stop you from getting to that healthy curly hair you want. Healthy hair is so much easier than damaged. Trust me. I’m not completely opposed to heat or straightening you hair if that is what you choose to do, but if you want your natural curls to thrive, those things do need to be used sparingly if not eliminated. I go months, sometimes even a whole year without straightening my hair because I genuinely don’t miss it or find it easier than my curly hair. I actually find it time consuming.

When your hair is easy, styling becomes something you WANT to experiment with. Before this journey I had no idea how to french braid! Now I love experimenting with different styles and hair do’s.

I want everyone to be clear, this journey is not over for me. I’m still on it. I still deal with problems like dry hair or weak hair. I deep condition my hair every time I wash it either with my regular conditioner or a specific leave in. I am currently going back to silicone free products after my post-partum shedding got unbearable. I will keep you guys updated on that if you like!

I hope you guys enjoyed my journey and possibly learned something new. I will be doing detailed posts how to co-wash and what products I use.

Thanks again for reading (especially if you made it this far!).