Biggest tip ever! It's all about that lean!

If you're looking for help to understand how to add moisture and softness to your wavy, curly and coily hair, you'll want to watch this webinar with Dr. Susan Walker and I. It’s filled to the brim with curly hair education on the topic of moisture, specifically speaking to humidity, glycerin, oils, and so much more.  There’s information on what ingredients will seal in the moisture and keep out the humidity.

If you’d like to catch the replay, grab yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine and set aside some time to educate yourself on the science around moisture and caring for your hair.  You will come away with great tips on how to manage your waves and curls, and learn what you can do to get it moisturized and KEEP it moisturized. 

Also, I’ve written two articles for CURL Magazine that I’m looking forward to you reading.  If you haven’t subscribed to this digital (and in print) magazine, definitely do it! ...

If you’re as confused as every other curly girl out there about “protein”, then you are not alone. Dr. Susan Walker and I filmed a webinar on this very topic that you won't want to miss. 

You’ll be taken through a full presentation with Q&A on proteins, protein sensitivity, and so much more.  This was originally done live, but we’ve recorded it because we knew it would just be so valuable and jam packed with information you need to hear.  The goal with anything I publish, is to always help educate others about naturally curly and textured hair.

Here’s a little bio about the both of us if you’re new to my blog:

Susan is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and certified Trichologist. She is the Founder and Creative Director of the Earthtones Naturals product line, a premium Canadian hair and beauty product line line of formulated to address many of the needs unique to women with naturally curly and kinky hair....

A great refresh CAN happen.  If you haven't been successful yet, try my refreshing method below. The secret you've been likely missing is smaller sections and using more water! Many people mist water from a spray bottle at the entire head, scrunch and wonder why they have frizz. My method will guarantee better results than that!

You can use this method any day of the week between washes. The more blown apart your curls are, the more water you will need to apply during the process to bring them back together.  Refreshing will NEVER get your clumps looking as big as wash day. I just want to state that fact so you won't be expecting that end results. What doing this refreshing method WILL do is get your curls defined and you're able to go another day without washing!

Note: If your roots are oily, make sure to use a dry shampoo before you start my method below. 

1). Start by sectioning your hair. I usually refresh my hair using 4-5 sections, working my way up my head...

Want great multiple day hair without having to do a full wash every day? I'd like to share some secrets I've learned over the years that I thought would be helpful for you. These tips will hopefully help you extend time between wash days.

It can be difficult for those fine and/or thin haired curly individuals to get multiple day hair, because the definition just doesn't very long. Sometimes if you learn to preserve and refresh well, your volume on multiple day hair is better than your wash day.  

As a general rule, the thicker and curlier your hair is, the more days you can go before needing to fully refresh your hair (full refresh process below). Some people don’t like the look of multiple day hair and just choose to wash their hair everyday and that is perfectly fine! Just make sure your cleanser is sulfate free if that's your plan.

Here are my main tips on how to prolong your time before you need to refresh or do a wash day…

1) Sleep on a satin...

WATER QUALITY 

You may never have thought about it before, but water quality greatly affects how your hair turns out every wash day. If you want to guarantee the best turnout on your wash day, your cleansing routine may need to change a few times a month. The water type we should be most concerned with is hard water, although water that is too soft can definitely affect your hair too.If you aren't sure what kind of water you have, you can contact a local water softener and treatment business that will often test it for you.  

Have you noticed your hair feeling dry and brittle lately?

Have you noticed how your hair does better (or worse) when you're at the cottage, on vacation or at a friends house? 

Is it feeling or looking weighed down?

Have you noticed more frizz than usual?

Do you feel a sticky feeling to your hair often when its dry? 

If so, you MAY have been met with hard water!

Here’s an real life client example of a client who is experiencing hard...

Clipping is one of the most valuable styling methods to incorporate into your routine if you struggle with your hair sticking to your scalp, or seeing scalp through your finished style. The reasons for clipping your roots are many, but here are the best reasons:

• It will release the hair of its own weight so that your wave/curl pattern can start up closer to the scalp. 
• It helps the air to flow through the hair for a faster drying time
• If gives more root volume to wavy and curly hair, which usually lays quite flat to the head when wet or dry when left to its own devices
• Can reduce the look of cowlicks and give more lift in your crown

Often coily curl patterns can forgo the root clipping and still achieve plenty of volume because the closer the curl pattern is the to roots and the tighter the curl, the more volume a person naturally achieves. Having said that, ANYONE with texture in their hair can clip and see benefit.

Bigger clips tend...

HEALTHY HAIR IS A CURL TYPE

As curly girls, wear our hair in it’s natural state, whether it’s loose wave or tight coils.  Maybe we’ve been on the search for the perfect product, the perfect routine to make our curls pop over the time of our curly journey.   Here’s a tough question though…what if you’ve exhausted all your efforts and resources and you’re just not getting the results you hoped for?  Do you feel the pull to do something drastic because you’re so frustrated with your natural textures?   

My Curly Hair Artist friend, Melissa Stites says, “… we need to embrace all the multiple textures within one head of hair.  ‘Healthy hair’ IS a curl type to be embraced and that’s a beautiful thing…it’s incredibly freeing!  It’s time to get off the search to try and ‘fix’ our hair”.  Most curly girls have more than...

Two out of three of my kids are curly, and I often have parents/guardians ask me what to do with their curly kids hair. I thought I’d share with you some tips that I have found helpful from working with kids. To many parents with straight hair, curly hair can be a complete mystery! Here is a list of what you'll need, and I've made a special category for kids hair of products that I love, incase you want to try some. This is a longer article but I promise you will want to use every bit of this advice!

Things you will need every time you wash their hair: 

~Sulfate free Shampoo 

~Silicone Free Conditioner

~Leave-in Conditioner

~Silicone Free Detangler 

~Detangling Brush (or you can use your fingers)

~Fine Mist Spray Bottle

~Large long sleeved t-shirt

To care for the curls on a daily basis: 

~Daytime: Satin scrunchie, one-tie hair elastics, Buff/hair tube

~Nighttime: Silk or Satin Pillowcase, plus a bonnet or one of the accessories for daytime
~Spray Bottle...

Here's some tips on ingredients that will help you sort through your cupboard to find out what's best for your hair.  You can even print this list use it to take shopping with you. Here are my best tips to keep in mind when you are choosing products and looking at labels.

1. Avoid sulfates in your shampoos

Sulfates are harsh foaming detergents that are found in many commercial shampoos and dish detergents. They can be extremely drying for curly hair, so choose sulfate-free shampoos. Sulfates contain “sulfate” somewhere in the ingredient name (usually). Also, keep in mind that there are some cleansers that are as harsh as sulfates but are not sulfates. If you decide to use a shampoo, avoiding sulfates is best. Sulfates are also difficult to remove off the scalp, so remember you need to scrub to clean your scalp, but also scrub while rinsing your hair to help remove them fully from the hair. Just rinsing out your shampoo isn’t enough.

Here is a list of sulfates...