How do I style curly hair?

by Rebecca
(NSW)

I have similar hair to yours and would love to know what products you use and how you style your hair. I feel I have no control over how my hair looks - some days it looks great and other days I look like a gollywog! I would like my hair to look styled rather than unkept but I don't like straightening it!

Jane's answer...I do sympathize Rebecca!

It took me many years of trial and error to master my hair!

For years I spent hours blow drying it straight, then flipping it into a Farrah Fawcett style. This was great if there was no moisture in the air. However, at the slightest whiff of damp it would go frizzy! Ugh.

I finally learnt how to work with it, rather than against it. I now don’t like straightening my hair either, although occasionally for a different look I will get the hairdresser to use a flat iron on my hair, this may last a day or 2, if I’m careful. However, I would never dream of chemically straightening my hair.

My biggest tips are...

• Don’t comb or brush your curly hair!


• Get a great cut from a good hair dresser who understands curly hair

To style, use a curly hair styling product after you’ve washed your hair, when it’s still wet. Then style it by taking a small bunch of strands and twirling it around a finger. Repeat all over your head. It takes a while to start with. However, I now find it takes me 5 minutes and I can do it on the run. I let my hair dry naturally, then shake my head and ease out some of the curls with my fingers.


The days I’m not washing my hair I might apply some more curly hair product, or just use water to damp down my hair and re-activate the curl.

Easy!

If you want to dry your hair use a diffuser after twirling.

To get a different look you can experiment with the thickness of the sections you twirl, or use large rollers (if you can be bothered) to get a smoother, bigger curl look.

I’ve tried several curly hair products. The best ones are only available from hair salons or specialists hair product suppliers.

My favorite is a range of organic products from MOP (Modern Organic Products ). I’ve been using their ‘C-System Hydrating’ range of shampoo and conditioner and the ‘C-System Texture Lotion’ leave-in styling product. That particular leave-in product has been discontinued, but the good news is they now have a range of C-System products especially for curly hair (C-System C-Curl), so I’ll be using these from now on.

>> Find curly hairstyle examples using a virtual hairstyler program