Many curly girls get obsessed with finding what is known among us as “The Holy Grail” for their curls–that mythical, miraculous, one-of-a-kind, priceless treasure of a product that will give us impeccable, frizz-free, red carpet curls–the kind that always snap back into perfect ringlets even in the worst rain, hail, humidity, sleet and hurricane-force winds known to mankind.
The good Lord knows, I was on an HG quest myself for eons and there are times I still find myself falling into that trap. Even when I find a product combination that makes me look great 99% of the time, I’ll catch myself thinking: sure, my curls look great…but what if I stop looking now and that one great product–that one single elixir of magical fairy tales–is just over the hill? And what if I never find it because I was happy with “second best” and I stopped looking too soon? It was enough to drive any curly girl to drink.
It was with a mixture of relief and sadness that I finally came to the conclusion–after doing hundreds and hundreds of curly heads, and studying reams of information on hair type and product ingredients–that, despite our greatest hopes and wishes, that mythical “Holy Grail”
just. doesn’t. exist.
Yes, there are products that are great for our hair and will work wonders the vast majority of the time, sometimes even 99% of the time. There are products with ingredients that love our particular hair type–our texture, our porosity, our elasticity–and will make our curls look the absolute best they can possibly be.
For a time.
But …
Hair type changes over time. Texture changes, porosity changes, elasticity changes. Weather changes. The chemical composition of your water changes. Hormones change. Medical conditions change. If there is one thing we can count on in the crazy world of curly hair, it is change. And that means no product is going to work 100% the best 100% of the time.
The same product might work almost as great, but from the bottom of my heart I do not and will never believe one single product can unfailingly give you what I call “red carpet curls”…the perfect, rockin’ kind of curls that make any Hollywood A-lister turn around and think jealously, “I want HER hair.” Unless you live in an environment and in a body where absolutely nothing changes, the Holy Grail will have to remain the myth it is.
Incidentally, that’s why it is all the more important to understand your hair type and your environment and, subsequently, what product ingredients work the best for your particular situation. There might not be a single Holy Grail…but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a foundational core of products that act in tandem with each other to give you red carpet curls all the time.
For more of Tiffany the Curl Whisperer, click HERE.
Tiffany, say it ain’t so!
Ain’t it the truth, lol. ISO’s Bouncy Creme doesn’t do a thing for my curl definition anymore. But I love the smell so much, I still stick some in my hair anyway! 🙂
You said a mouthful right there. My hair used to love Karen’s Body Beautiful’s hair butter and hair milk but lately it doesn’t but I refuse to give up on it, I’ll just mix it with something else lol