*Ok, "perfect" might be stretching it a bit. “As ideal as possible” doesn’t have the same ring to it, though.
When you have curly hair (which I use as a term to cover the whole spectrum from loose 2a waves to 4c kinky curls and everything in between), finding the routine that works for you can be a daunting task. The online community is full of wash day routine videos, explanations of various techniques, product reviews, and a thousand different opinions of all of these…which occasionally seem completely contradictory. It makes a certain amount of sense because, as we hear and say often in the curly community, every curl is unique. But that doesn't make all these different opinions any less confusing. The common refrain is that it simply takes trial and error to figure out what works for you and your hair. While this is an inescapable fact, I wanted to find the best way to develop a stellar hair routine customized to me without trying every curly hair product or technique under the sun.
This series comes out of that experience. My hope is that I can take my curly hair self-education-- which was, honestly, done in a time consuming and meandering way-- and translate it into a more streamlined process for others. Don't get me wrong…this isn't an easy, quick-start guide to caring for your curly hair. That's available plenty of places, already, by people who are much better at being concise than I am. Certainly there are other ways to find or develop a hair routine that suits you just fine. But...c’mon. The blog is called “Nerdy Curl” not “Casual Curl” which means you can expect plenty of nerdy, nitty-gritty details every step of the way.
As with anything you read online, take the recommendations in this guide with a grain of salt. Not only is it possible that I’ve gotten something wrong (I am human and thus fallible) but everybody’s curls are different. The purpose here is not to give you a canned routine or tell you what you “should” do with your hair. Instead, the idea is to give you tools so that YOU can build your ideal routine because, in the end, nobody knows the unique hair on your head as well as you do.
This guide comes to you in five parts (I’ve never been known for my brevity) and is going to focus on developing your wash day routine. In addition to today’s post, we’ll cover choosing techniques, identifying your ideal ingredients, product selection, and the process of experimentation that is key to bringing the whole routine together. If there’s interest (or if I just feel like it) I may eventually add a post about developing a refresh routine. My goal is for this guide to be usable by anyone regardless of curl pattern, where they are in their hair journey, or whether or not they follow the Curly Girl Method. I freely admit, however, that as a wavy who follows the CGM, that I probably have more information pertaining to those things. I've done my best to be as balanced and informative as possible, but if you see that I'm missing something, please feel free to let me know so I can increase the usefulness of this post for everybody.
So, how did my search for the ideal hair care routine begin?
The process began when I started looking less at the "what" and more at the "why" behind the advice and recommendations I was reading and hearing online. I found myself moving away from product reviews and other people's routines (although both are still great sources of inspiration). I wanted to clear away the mystery around why some products that are amazing for one person can fail spectacularly for someone else, even if they have similar hair. I also wanted to avoid buying into curly hair myths or marketing traps. So, I started looking for information on the science of hair and hair products and resolved to do my homework before buying new products.
The Science-y Hair Blog was (and continues to be) extremely helpful in this pursuit and I cannot recommend it enough. My grades in science classes were hit or miss but luckily, Wendy is great at explaining scientific concepts in a way the layperson can understand. Articles on NaturallyCurly.com are also a great resource. I particularly enjoy articles by Tonya McKay Becker who is, according to the site, "a curly-haired polymer scientist and cosmetic chemist." I don't find her articles QUITE as easy to understand as those on the Science-y Hair Blog but they're very interesting, nonetheless, and chock full of good information.
The ingredients dictionary at TightlyCurly.com is a gold mine of information that helps me to navigate the back labels of all my hair products. I don't treat the ratings (good, okay, caution, and avoid) for each ingredient as gospel, since my hair is different from Teri LaFlesh's, but the awesome thing about her ingredient dictionary is that she always explains what the ingredient does as well as why she is recommending or warning against it. She also quotes scholarly sources when she can which makes my little skeptic heart flutter. While not completely comprehensive, the dictionary lists an enormous number of ingredients and is a fantastic resource for anyone, curly or not, who wants to decipher their product ingredient labels.
Ok, let’s move onto the first step:
Know Thyself
Before we dive into techniques or products, we need to gather information about you. The first thing to think about are your goals and limitations. What are your long term hair goals? Are you looking for length? Are you growing out heat damage? It’s important to keep your goals in mind so you can ensure that your routine is helping you get where you want to be in the long run. Your goal doesn’t have to be complicated, either. My personal long-term goal is simply to maintain the health of my hair.
You also need to think about your daily concerns and preferences for how your hair looks. Do you like clumped curls? Is volume key? What about curl enhancement? Definition? How important is frizz fighting? Some of these aims can work at cross-purposes. For example, the more “clumpy” your curls are, the less volume you’re likely to have, so it’s good to know what your top priorities are. Curl enhancement and definition are the most important factors for me on a day to day basis.
The next thing to ask yourself is how much time and effort you’re willing to put into your wash day routine. Stay realistic about what you think you will actually stick to. Many curlies prefer a wash and go with one styling product. Others devote several hours and multiple products to their first day hair (yeah, that would be me). Some like to keep their hair in protective styles most of the time. Some like to straighten their hair for formal events. Don’t forget to keep your lifestyle in mind when considering how much time you’re willing to spend on wash day. This is especially true if you have work or school early in the day. Don’t plan a morning wash routine that takes 3 hours if you have to leave the house at 6 am...I mean, unless you’re cool getting up at 3 in the morning. You do you; I don’t judge.
I also advocate NOT making yourself miserable for the sake of your hair. Don’t plan on doing your whole shower with your head flipped over then rinsing in ice cold water if it’s going to hurt your back and give you a chill. There will be a way to get results your happy with without tormenting yourself, I promise. I personally refuse to sleep on anything but a cotton pillowcase and I straight up sleep on flannel in the winter (*gasp* I know), despite knowing the benefits of sleeping on a satin or silk pillowcase. Instead, I sleep in a satin bonnet, which prevents tangles and breakage overnight but lets me lay my cheek on soft, cozy cotton. Meanwhile, I have no problem rinsing my hair in cold water or spending extended period of time with my hair flipped upside down. It all comes down to what YOU are comfortable with.
Another BIG factor is the climate you live in. I cannot stress ENOUGH how much living in a very humid or very dry climate can affect your hair routine. Not only is there an effect on how hydrated or frizzy your hair is, different humidity levels can make different ingredients more or less effective or even damaging for your hair (I’ll cover this in more detail later).
Know Thy Hair
The next thing to do is to determine the properties of your hair. The texture typing system we commonly see in the online curl community was actually invented by Andre Walker, Oprah’s hair stylist. This puts hair into one of four categories (1-4) with three subsections within each category (a-c). Type 1 hair is straight, type 2 is wavy, type 3 is curly, and type 4 is coily and kinky curly. It’s usually pretty easy to identify this part of your hair but narrowing down your exact sub-group is trickier and more open to interpretation, especially since the examples you see in the various categories can vary drastically. It’s also important to remember that many people (more as we get into looser curls and waves) have multiple curl types on their head. I generally call myself a 2b wavy but I have the full spectrum of type 2 on my head (and even some straight, type one pieces in the underlayer at the back of my head).
If you’re new to curly hair care, I recommend taking the Texture Quiz at NaturallyCurly.com. Not only will this help you to identify your texture, it will also help you identify your porosity, density, and thickness (which I generally refer to as “width”), and provide a concise introduction to those terms for you. The only thing I don’t love about the quiz is that they guess your porosity based on your habits. My hair is colored and doesn’t take an excessive time to wet in the shower. That led them to conclude I had medium porosity. However, I actually have low porosity. I believe I got an inaccurate result because, while my hair is colored, it's colored with bleach-free dye from Splat which uses micro-pigments rather than peroxide to color the hair (which means less damage, which means the hair isn't made as porous). My hair also isn't very dense which could explain why it doesn't take that long to wet.
My favorite method for quickly estimating your porosity is the slip ‘n’ slide test. You simply pinch a strand of hair and slide it upwards. If it slides smoothly, your hair is lower porosity and if it feels bumpy, your hair is higher porosity. Another indicator is how long it takes for your hair to dry. For my hair, this is the biggest sign that my porosity is low. I didn't realize how long it took for my hair to dry until I was at the salon under a hooded dryer (my stylist noted how much longer than expected it was taking). I’m not a big fan of the float test to determine porosity because water tension or product in the hair can give you a misleading result. For more information on determining your porosity, check out this post from the Science-y Hair Blog.
Another (more expensive) option is to get a Deva Cut or Transformation Service. A Deva Cut is a hair cutting technique especially for wavy, curly, coily, and kinky hair. Deva Cuts include cleansing and styling, which they call the “transformation service.” If you don’t want a haircut, most Deva stylists offer the transformation service a la carte. A good Deva stylist should be able to help you identify your texture, porosity, density, and width as well as give you some guidance about caring for it. You can find a Deva stylist here.
If you want to know, FOR SURE, gosh darn it, what your porosity and width are, consider ordering a hair analysis by GoosefootPrints. It’s the side business of the author of The Science-y Hair Blog. There is a waiting list but she’s recently added the requirement of a $5 deposit to get on it. I personally prefer this because it means people are less likely to get on the waitlist without following through, extending the wait for others. There are three price levels, depending on whether you want photos and/or product recommendations. The “measurement only analysis” only costs $18 and is definitely something I hope to get done at some point.
And don’t forget about your scalp! Your scalp concerns will definitely factor into the techniques and products you choose. Is it dry and flaky? Oily? Do you have dandruff or another skin condition? Healthy hair starts at the scalp and you want to make sure you’re meeting its needs too.
Finally, look the knowledge you can glean from your existing routine. How long does it take for your hair to feel greasy (if it ever does)? Is there another way your hair lets you know it’s time to wash it? If your hair feels weighed down sometimes for seemingly no reason you may be dealing with build-up. Sometimes build-up is visible as tiny white flakes or balls (not to be confused with dry scalp flakes). If you experience build-up, how quickly does it form? Look at the ingredients of your favorite products to see if there’s overlap; that might be an ingredient your hair loves that you should look for in other products. Have you tried products with protein? How did your hair react? Taking note of observations like this can help you out later on when we’re looking at techniques, ingredients, and products.
I think that’s a good place to wrap up this installment. The next post in this series will be all about choosing the best techniques-- cleansing, styling, drying, and more-- for your best routine.
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