This all began as my “Natural Hair Journey” because, well, it’s a process and I haven’t quite figured out my struggles. I am trying something new today and it made me realize I should write about what I’ve already done. The first major change I made to my initial routine was using gel in 2B waves!
My natural hair journey began with the Deva Curl Celebrate Wavy kit because it was easy and all-in-one. I thought it was okay, but really wanted to find some less expensive products (read the full review here). So then I added in some different styling products. I wanted a curl cream, and some type of oil. I went for two products from SheaMoisture, and tbh I don’t know that I love either. One was my fault because the bottle directly says for “high porosity, kinky coily hair” and mine is none of those things. The other was the Coconut Hibiscus Curl Styling Milk. At first, my hair seemed to enjoy this, but as soon as humidity began to go up, it wasn’t cutting it. I plan to revisit the product in winter, but for now it isn’t doing much at all.
So what did I do? Well, after a little google research, realized that with the humidity adding in a hard hold gel then “scrunching out the crunch,” aka scrunching your hair when it is 100% dry.
Note: the 100% dry is essential. Any hint of moisture and you will have frizz all week.
Using gel in 2b waves: but which gel?
Honestly, using gel during the summer was amazing for my hair! If you have humidity, I cannot recommend trying a gel. Remember to check the ingredients to avoid silicones, but a gel is pretty easy to find. The other thing is, many curly girl friendly gels are very affordable. I spent $2.77 (it was on sale) on my Aussie Instant Freeze, and my hair loves it on wash day.
Edit: 3/27/18 – I mention the humidity and summer weather a lot in the above, but I continued to use this gel during the whole winter. I just use a lot less. In fact, right now I only use a pea sized amount. I apply this to soaking wet hair directly in the shower and take it from the ends to a couple inches below my roots (I have a different, non-hard hold gel) that I use at my roots.
Everything was going great until it wasn’t. I do believe that this was one piece of the puzzle that was very important on my 2A/2B waves.
What is YOUR favorite hard hold gel? Some that I’ve heard work well are: LA Looks Sports Gel (I used this back in like Jr. High!), Aussie Instant Freeze, Devacurl ARC Angel, and ECO Styler Gels.
-Rachel
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Now, I‘ve always been a pretty wash’n’wear type of girl. I was not so good with the whole add a special produc b50 t, use a special brush, employ a special heat styling tool sort of hair management. Thusly, as my hair got more and more wavy, I became more and more befuddled by its new interactions with humidity as well as its affinity for turning into a tangled nest of bird-of-prey proportions.
I feel ya! This sounds about right. People keep telling me to diffuse, but I wanted to leave my hair natural to be EASIER, not to be just as much work. If I was wanting to put that much time into my hair, I’d just keep curling or straightening it. Good luck with the bird’s nest;)