Since doing the Curly Girl Method/Tightly Curly Method I have been washing or rinsing my hair three times a week. This frequent washing has definitely improved the amount of moisture in my once dry hair which is a big plus. The flip side of things is having wet volume-less curls three days a week, and fewer days with full big curly hair that I love.
Curly girls are always told not to touch our hair while it dries to avoid frizz. It can sometimes take up to four hours for my hair to completely dry. During this time my curls are super shrunken and tightly coiled. I’ve worked out a simple method to elongate my curls on my wash/rinse day that does not manipulate my fine strands too much, nor involves heat to stretch my curls out.
For starters I’ve been applying a lighter herbal conditioner that allows my hair to dry almost completely in 1.5-2 hours. This is much better than my usual four hours when I was applying a heavier conditioner. I am still smoothing each individual curl as advised with the Tightly Curly Method to avoid the usual wash and go tangles, and give movement to my hair overall. Once the majority of my curls are set and dry (approximately 85-90%), I use a satin scrunchy to “pineapple” my hair. I used to only “pineapple” my hair at night, but this has also become a helpful trick for styling my hair.
Only the roots of my hair are still a bit damp at this point, and the high ponytail stretches out the roots as they finish drying without disturbing my curl pattern. I then allow the rest of my hair to dry in the high ponytail. I’d honestly rather run errands with my hair up with “Curls Gone Wild” than have it out with no volume.
A few hours later my hair is completely dry and I can remove the satin scrunchy and add a natural oil to the ends of my hair. The roots of my hair have been lifted for body as well as been stretched for maximum length without heat. Now I no longer have to wait until 2nd day hair for the volume and length that I adore.
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Dawn Michelle is a writer, professional dancer, choreographer, jewelry designer, and pure lover of life and the planet. She has been a part of the entertainment industry for years, and worked in one of the largest beauty retailers as a consultant. Dawn Michelle writes a lifestyle blog called Minimalist Beauty that incorporates organic beauty and cosmetics, eco-friendly fashion and extremely chic style, simple living, and pursuing creativity. She also has an Etsy shop called Azuha which has handmade fiber jewelry, earrings, natural cosmetics and more.
For the ladies with the hair going straight from the pineapple. I highly recommend Kinky Curly Custard. I have a mix of 4A-4C curls. For the uncurly parts, it just locks in the pattern & helps it to not go completely straight.
Here are the steps for pineapple:
Take the parts of your hair that frame your face, and leave them out from the pineapple. These are usually the areas that tend to go straight and look crazy. You may have to do more then one "pineapple" or loose ponytail. It may be that one pineapple stretches the hair on the sides too much to the point where it takes out most of the curl. You will have to experiment. I do two pineapples.
Take bobby pins and secure the leave out hair in the front in the direction that you want it to fall. Being careful not to stretch it to much. Think of the way people do a wrap with relaxed hair. Again, you will have to play with this a few times to get the right configuration for the hair to fall properly.
With my hair, even though I may have a straighter section , it doesn't matter because the hair that frames my face is falling into place. Then because of the kinky curly, I can easily lightly mist the straighter section if I have to and it will start to curl back up some. I usually don't do that though because the humidity in the air curls it back up anyway.
If you have somewhere to go like the person who wrote this article, I would blow dry the roots which takes away the shrinkage and makes it fluffy.
I try doing aWnG today using gel after conditoner and u cldnt c alot of the curl pattern, that I normal c when hair is wet. And it took forever to dry.
CG just does not work for 4c. I used henna/indigo for more than a year, and my hair was always wrecked, breaking, dry, ssk, mid-strand splits you name it.
I purchased great conditioners; Tresemme, Super Sweetback, rapid recovery, GPB, Knot today, Yes to Carrots, yada yada.
Wonderful suggestion! I will be trying this as soon as it warms up outside.
I do something similar. Once finished with the method ,I flip my head upside down and wrap it it a t-shirt. By the time I'mfisnished getting ready, dressed and makeup on, I take the t-shirt down, shake and am ready to go. The heat from my car dries my hair completely by the time I get to work. I scrunch and go.
When my wash n'go is about 80 – 90% dry I put my hair in about 8 or 9 chunky twists. I leave the twists in for about an hour so my hair can finish drying then gently take them down and fluff. This still gives me the look of a wash n'go but my hair is stretched out some because of the twists. No heat required!
Thanks everyone for sharing your hair tips. For anyone interested, I feel as if henna treatments are a wonderful way to combat extreme shrinkage. If you have fine strands the henna will definitely add weight to your hair and help elongate your curl pattern.
You usually notice the smoothing/conditioning effects of henna treatments after three applications. I used henna monthly for two years. During that time I also did weekly henna treatments. To make the process easier and not drying to my hair I mixed the henna with coconut milk and left it on overnight.
@CurlyInTheA A loose pineapple may work better since your hair straightens out if you ever want to try doing wash-n-gos again. It's good that you found another routine that works out though.
Best Wishes!
I'm like CurlyInTheA 'shrinkage is a MUG!!' I'm hoping to try the the CG/TightlyCurly method once my hair grows a bit more. I'll try to remember this elongating method. Thanks for the post.
Good tips, I usually pineapple my coils after a henna treatment from sheer exhaustion.
Anonymous @ 3:21 PM, check out tightlycurly.com and mahogonycurls CG method on youtube for more info.
Is there a youtube video of this somewhere? I would love to see the process.
I discovered on my last wash that waiting about an hour after washing before applying product (leave-in and oil/butter sealer) allowed my hair to dry much faster and my hair was damp enough to benefit from the product. I'm not a CG-I'm a 4c coily girl 🙂
I work out daily and sweat a lot (we're talking at least a 6 mi hard run daily), so I HAD to find a way to deal with my hair.
2x/wk (at night) I do a quick thorough rinse, microfiber towel dry til slightly damp, add a leave-in conditioner, Place a styling agent (usually some combo of butters) twist into about 6 large sections and place under a satin bonnet. I pay special attention to the ends, as I have found that this is the first place that the salt from sweat creates dryness. I eliminated all gel use and replaced it with butters.
1x/week, I cowash, place a deep conditioner (instead of a leave-in) and follow the same steps as above. I rinse out the next day.
I have shoulder length 3c hair, unstretched. This process sounds like a lot, but it is actually pretty quick and keeps my hair well moisturized and stretched.
CG method hasn't worked, so far, for my tightly coiled hair. When I do a wash and go and put my hair in a pony, it dries straight (weird) and curly at the ends. Not a good look. When I don't do that, my shrinkage is a MUG! Wash and gos used to be my staple style.
Not so much anymore, as my hair has gotten thicker and longer and more prone to tangles. I'm now wearing lightly blowdried, flat twists and curls.
http://www.HairNista.blogspot.com
This is a great idea. I do the cg method with a heavier condish and it take forever to dry. I haven't been natural a year yet but I've achieved good length. I was trying to see how to obtain stretching. I will try this. (YouTube name amph327. I just did a cg video and journey video)