Funky Hair

[jubileebud]

My hair is super annoying. It's really curly, long, sooo frizzy, and it has sooooo many split ends. When i blow dry it and stuff though it gets nice and silky. When I wet it and let it dry, it's like a curly afro do (think of that girl in the show "Girlfriend"). What can I do about it because summer's coming and I want to do so many nice things with my hair, but I cant? Oh, by the way, my mom is on this "natural strike" where she won't give me any money to put junk in my hair and I've never put any kind of chemicals in it and dont plan to.   

[p0rn0gr4phy]

Depending on how light your hair is you can Henna it.
Henna's really cheap, and gives most people beautiful red highlights.
It's all natural, I'm sure your mother wouldn't have a problem with it.

Also, if you weren't aware, you can buy hairdye at some health stores, it's twice as much as the normal kind, but it doesn't harm your hair, or your scalp.

[Kamithina]

Will this help?  It's pretty "natural"  :

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/beautyhair/hair32.html

[vanillaxlight]

I think she was meaning what can she do to make it straight and less afro-y? Anyway, yes, henna will streak your hair, but I honestly do not suggest you try doing it yourself. Depending on your hair type and color, it will turn out way differently than you expected. If you'd like to try hennaing yourself, I suggest you go to hennaforhair.com and send in a sample of yoru hair (collected for hair brushes) into catherine and the other people who run the site.

Otherwise, I'm not entirely sure of things you can do to make your hair less afro-y other than cute hair styles, like messy pigtails (oh how I love them).

First, cut the split ends off and have your stylist recommend a conditioning treatment to make your hair more healthy. Second, I don't know if I'd recommend blowdrying or straightening because they both damage your hair, and you don't need any more of that. However, if you don't mind that, you could always continue blowdrying.

I know how you feel - except, kind of the opposite. My hair is ultra soft and shiney (Sounds like something weird to complain about, I know) and I've always wanted curly hair or dreds, both of which are impossible for me. I've permed my hair twice, to no avail.

[rachelyra]

if you found some sort of natural waxy product to comb through it, and tied it up in loose curls around, say, scraps of a t-shirt or something, it would dry slower but come out soft, i think.  hair always acts a little funny after you wash it because it needs those waxes.  i'm sure there's something bees-wax-y you could find.  maybe burt's bee's?

[Jack E. Ohhh]

Truthfully....my hair is completely completely out of control unless I tame it with heat products (and who wants to blow-dry in the summer?) or brush it constantly the entire time it dries....Here is what I have been doing for years.

Wash your hair at night, right before you go to bed, squeeze excess water from your hair and part it however you usually wear it.
Then rub in some type of oil or cream...I use either "africa's best," or some type of carrot or almond cholestoral...Most grocery stores have these items in the hair ailses in the african american sections for hair (it seems wierd to me that they set these products apart from everything else).  These items are SUPER cheap and a little bit goes a long way (and this is coming from a girl who used to spray tons of aqua net etc. on every morning)....You really done need to add much...a dime sized drop of oil or a dab of cream the size of two peas should do.

Sometimes after all the oil or cream is rubbed/combed in and my hair is slick and parted, I spray a little hairspay over the whole thing too.

Then just make sure to comb it in and brush your hair smooth...keep it parted in the way you normally do.


Throw a bandana on to keep your hair in place and make sure to tie it and tuck the hair beneath it and behind your ears.

Your hair will take longer to dry, which is why I reccomend doing this at night before bed...When you wake up, your hair should be way less gnarly.

Hope this helped.

[marlynkee]

ooooo...be careful of the henna,if you do a touch up be really careful not to overlap and to get it on the outgrowth only,henna builds up and looks bad after awhile. Just my opinion.....and I'm a hairdresser. Good luck.

[max]

Read a book called "Curly Girl". It's the bes $10 I've ever spent!
max

[Scarah]

I'm a curly-girl too, and I'm afraid, my dear, that no matter what you put in it, if you keep heat-treating it, it's always gonna be fuzzy and stupid. you're just going to have to accept it for what it is, or buy a really good ceramic straightener, and accept the spit ends.

personally i can't remember the last time i had split ends, so I'll share my hair routine with ya (i don't use any permenant chemicals either):

i shampoo my hair once a week, twice if I'm feeling really motivated, curls don't tend to get oily looking, and they like to keep their natural oils for a while, so they don't need to be shampooed any more often than that.

also, i don't condition my hair whilst in the shower, i just shampoo and rinse (x2), once I'm out, i towel dry my hair and rub some conditioner and mouse through it, comb it with a wide tooth comb to style, and that's it. On the other five or six days that I'm not shampooing, i just wet my hair in the shower and do the towel, condition, mouse, comb routine.

hope that's helpful... also, check out www.naturallycurly. com it has lots of info and reviews about curly-hair products and techniques, forums to exchange curly-hair tips, and i think it has a section with recommendations for curl-friendly saloons for all you USA-dwelling types (not so handy for us Aussies).

<3 Scarah.

[jubileebud]

This is how my hair looks when I blow dry it and don't wash it for like 5-6 days. (I only wash my hair two to one times a week because then my scalp gets dry and itchy and my hair gets even FRIZZIER.)


HERE IS A CLOSE-UP OF MY HAIR:


OH this is how my hair looks when I let it dry naturally except a little softer and looser.