Help! I Want My Curls Back…..
Flat Ironing or dying your hair frequently can make your hair more porous. Basically, It could generate spaces and openings within the hair shaft, which makes it a challenge for the cuticle to lock-in moisture content. As a result, this may lower your curl potential. If you wish to maintain your hair curly & shiny, it is crucial that you do not modify its natural condition too frequently. Whenever you do, be sure to use a product right afterwards to help restore the moisture.
Here’s what happened to a close friend of mine who had beautiful naturally curly hair. She started wearing her hair straightened and wrapped everyday for several years. By the time she was ready to wear her natural hair, she noticed her hair could not curl like it used to. In order to get her curls back she had to cut her hair. Here are some alternative methods I learned about which might help to regain lost curls.
Deep Conditioning Treatment
Based on the degree of the damaged done to your hair, often a good deep conditioning treatment used on your hair weekly will have the desired effect.
Step 1: Thoroughly cleanse your hair with a shampoo
Step 2: Soak your hair in Extra Virgin Olive Oil for around 45 minutes, covered with a plastic cap and preferable under a heat cap or dryer.
Step 3: Thoroughly rinse your hair and repeat weekly.
Sea-Salt Water Treatment
I don’t know what it is about sea-salt, but it has all kinds of healing powers! Which includes the power of healing natural black hair that has been damaged. Here’s a method of doing this…
Step 1: Cleanse your locks thoroughly with a shampoo
Step 2: Combine equal parts of Pure Sea Salt & Water (If you’re lucky enough to live by the ocean, save some money and head to the beach!)
Step 3: Allow this mixture to set on your hair for around 1hr
Step 4: Make certain you THOROUGHLY rinse your hair
Step 5: Deep condition your hair for at least 30mins & then rinse
Cut Your Hair
In the event the other methods doesn’t seem to work, then you may need to start new. Meaning a hot new haircut!
I made the mistake of straightening my hair last spring. Used a hot flat iron.
Ended up with a Superman curl in the front of my hair… cute, but not with the rest of my hair being super kinky (with a few straight spots spliced in).
Had to cut all the hair off and go to a TWA.
During my transition (I was too scared to do the big chop) I straightened my hair ALL THE TIME! I didn’t start wearing my natural texture until about a year and 7 months after I decided not to get another relaxer. By the time I started cutting off the relaxed ends, almost the entire left side of my head was straight from heat damage… Now I’m stuck moisturizing like crazy and doing 2 strand twist bantu knot outs so that it looks like that side of my head is curly! Glad I read this.. Will be trying the deep conditioning… Read more »
I put a box texturizer on my hair to loosen up my 4c curl pattern, I rinsed it out right after application, approx. 7 min. Now my hair is in between straight and kinky and I don’t know what to do to restore my kinks.
Cut the chemically altered ends. Once you chemically process/alter/change your hair, you cannot go backwards to its natural state. No amount of rinses, deep conditioning etc will get your kinks back. A texturizer IS a relaxer. Don’t believe it if anyone tells you different. Hope your hair grows those curls back soon! 🙂
hello
i want to start by saying God bless you for this website. it is very helpful and encouraging. i have a question about the deep conditioning you talked about. Is the Extra Virgin Olive Oil the cooking oil? or you are talking about a hair product. I want to know where to go to buy the Extra Virgin Oil. Thank you so much. Your response is most appreciated.
beverly
Yes, it’s the same oil you can buy at your local grocery store 🙂
Help!!! I recently did the BC after 5 months of transitioning and don’t know what to do with my 4C hair. I began relaxing my hair at an early age (between 9 or 13 maybe sooner) and don’t remember what was done to care for my hair because my mother or a beautician did my hair. Now that I have decided to go natural at the age of 44 I’m so excited and happy, but I really need assistance. I currently co-wash my hair at least 5 days a week and shampoo 1 day a week. I haven’t found a… Read more »
You only need to wash your hair once a week or even less. You should cleanse it once it feels dirty. If you’re trying to keep your hair moist, try using a daily leave-in-conditioner.
Now I am not all the way with this article. I was wearing my hair pressed out for years and it did seem to resist when I decided to go without pressing. However, there are ways to encourage it to go with the flow. Many ladies to twist or braid sets to make their hair look cute and to encourage it to go curly. My hair is 4b. So it doesn’t like to be straightened anyway. I do twist or braid set it everynight just to keep it stretch out.