10 tips for growing out hair

Hello curlies!

I am currently in the process of growing out my hair, so in this post, I will be giving you my top 10 tips for growing out your hair. Enjoy!

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1. Stop heat styling.

The first thing you need to do is drop the heat tools like flat irons and curling irons! These cause so much damage to the hair & can cause split ends. Instead, let your hair do it's natural thing! You can still dry your hair using a diffuser, but only use as much heat as you need. The lower the heat, the better. If you still need to "fix" a few curls, you can wet them, add a small amount of product, and wrap them around your finger. Then, clip/pin them to keep them in that form until they dry; once they're dry, you can un-clip/pin it and marvel at the fresh curl. ;)

2. Lead a healthy lifestyle.

This plays a pretty big role with the health of your hair! Try your best to maintain a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of protein. Exercise often & try to keep your stress levels low. Also, make sure you get lots of sleep & stay well-hydrated. Your hair (and body!) will benefit greatly from all of this.

3. Prevent damage/breakage.

Try to prevent breakage and damage to your hair by doing these things: use a silk/satin pillowcase, don't brush your hair (instead, to detangle, gently comb your hair with a wide-tooth comb in the shower while your hair is soaked & covered in conditioner), use a microfiber towel, and avoid using products with sulfates.

4. DT/PT.

Do deep treatments and protein treatments as needed to keep the protein & moisture balanced! The level of protein to moisture needed varies for different hair types & individual people, so you'll just have to find out what works for you. :) For deep treatments, I personally recommend using your favorite conditioner combined with some oils like coconut, Argan, or olive oil. For a protein treatment, I recommend a simple gelatin treatment like this one. 

5. Stop cutting your hair!

I know people think you're supposed to cut your hair every 6-8 weeks, but this just isn't true! The only reason you may actually need to get a trim is if you have split ends, in which case, go ahead and get those damaged ends cut off. Other than this, just let your hair grow out and do its thing! I haven't had my hair trimmed in a little over 4 months & have no damage at all. Whenever I spot a split end, I trim it, but other than that, I don't cut it. My hair is doing great!

However: if you have a lot of damage on the ends of your hair, you may need to do a "big chop" to get rid of that damage.

6. Massage your scalp w/ oil.

Take your favorite hair oil (my hair loves coconut & Argan oil, but you can use almost any oil) and gently massage it into your scalp. This will help the blood flow, moisturize your scalp, and encourage growth! This can also help out with dandruff. I like to do this an hour or so before a shower & then wash it out.

7. Go natural!

If you aren't already doing this, consider trying out the curly girl method. This method has greatly improved the health of my hair! Read this post to learn more about the curly girl method.

8. Keep an eye on ingredients.

This goes hand-in-hand with the tip above. Always look at the ingredients of a product before purchasing it! Try to find out what your hair does & doesn't like. This requires some trial-and-error, but once you've found out your hair's preferences, you can use products that you know it will love. Also, remember to avoid silicones & sulfates! This will help it stay happy and healthy.

9. Try hair supplements/vitamins.

There are supplements & vitamins that you can take to help your hair grow. Since I've never personally tried hair supplements or vitamins, I won't recommend a specific brand; just make sure whatever you try has biotin in it. :) As a bonus, hair supplements/vitamins usually help your nails look great as well!

10. Have patience!

Hair takes time to grow. Sure, you can do several things (like the stuff listed above!) to help it along the way, but it will still take time.

Try not to measure it too often; this may end up discouraging you if it isn't growing fast enough for your taste. I'm not saying you shouldn't measure your hair every now-and-then to keep track of your progress; go ahead and measure your hair every month or so (remember to stretch it so it's at its full length)! Just keep in mind that the growth rate of hair can vary greatly among each person.

Thus, my recommendation to you is to try to not be too obsessed with length. Instead, focus more on keeping your hair happy and healthy, and your hair will eventually get longer! The healthier the hair, the better it'll grow.

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I hope these tips will help y'all out with your hair! The picture below shows how much progress my hair has made within about 4 months.

So, what are your hair goals? Do you have any more tips to share? :)

Also, make sure to stay warm this weekend; it's snowing a lot where I am right now!

-CK

P.S. None of the pictures in this post (except for the last one) were taken by me.

How to wash/style wavy hair

Hey there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
In this post, I'd like to share a few styling tips for wavy hair. It's easy enough to find information about curly or straight hair, but what about us wavy girls?! ;) I've been doing some experimenting with how I style my hair (2B/2C), and I'm sure you'll find these tips helpful if you're in the 2A-2C hair type range.


This may all sound like it would take forever or be complicated, but I swear it's easy (otherwise, I wouldn't do it), so just bear with me; I simply wanted to give a detailed description of some tips and what I do. :)

The finished results of this routine!

Washing

Step 1- Okay, so, first thing's first; we gotta wash our hair. :) Begin by taking some sulfate-free shampoo and gently massaging it into your hair, focusing on the scalp. (Side-note: Every now-and-then I wash with sulfates to give my waves a fresh start if my hair feels like it has buildup.) Rinse out your shampoo.

Step 2- Grab your silicone-free conditioner and smooth it into your hair. However, try to avoid putting conditioner right on the roots of your hair; this will help you keep some volume at the roots because this area can be easily weighed down by conditioner. :) While you still have condish in your hair, grab a wide-tooth comb and very gently comb through your hair to get rid of tangles. Leave in the conditioner for the rest of your shower.

Speaking of combing your hair: don't brush your hair out while it's dry. The only time you should run a comb through your hair is when you're in the shower w/ conditioner in your hair. I'm sure you know from experience, but if you brush your hair out while it's dry, it'll end up looking like this..

Step 3- Rinse out your condish as usual. Then, flip your hair over and make the water as cold as you can stand (the colder the better!), and do a quick rinse with the cold water while scrunching your hair as the water runs through it. The scrunching helps your waves begin to form, and the cold water closes up the cuticle to seal in moisture, add shine, and help your hair clump nicely together. If you don't feel like freezing yourself at the end of your shower, you could probably just grab a bowl and fill it with cold water (maybe even ice water if you're brave) and dip your hair into it. Note that this whole cold-water thing is optional, but I've found that it really makes a difference for my hair. Even if you don't do this, I still suggest doing a final rinse upside down while scrunching to form your waves.

Styling

Step 4- Still upside down, scrunch a bit of leave-in conditioner into your ends (optional). Then scrunch out as much excess water as you can. (Side-note: I used to scrunch in product while my hair was still soaking. I've found that my hair looks better and dries a lot faster if I scrunch out excess water and then add product.)

Step 5- Scrunch in your product. I usually use a gel, but sometimes I use mousse. Which one you choose to use really depends on your hair and how much hold you need. Anyway, scrunch in a generous amount of product into your hair in sections. Note that we're still upside down here. :) (You don't have to do it upside down, but it really helps with volume.) After this, scrunch your hair using a microfiber towel (or cotton t-shirt) to get more excess water out. The more water you get out, the better, because the water can really weigh down our waves while they're drying! If you'd like, you can even scrunch a bit more product into your hair after scrunching with the towel.

Step 6- Let your hair air-dry or dry it with a diffuser. Don't touch your hair until it's fully dry! Once it's dry, you can scrunch your hair to get out the crunch from your products. If your hair takes forever to dry (like mine), you can "plop" it for about 15 minutes before diffusing it. I like to follow the plopping method shown in this video by Jess from Jessicurl (she calls it "plunking"): http://youtu.be/O2qD38ZYX6A




And that's it! Your waves will thank you for taking such good care of them by looking fantastic! ;) Try this method out and let me know how it works out for you.

-CK

Hard Water & Hair

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
In this post, I will be discussing water and how gH affects your hair.

What's gH?

This is where my interest in aquariums & chemistry comes in handy! ;) Since I often test the water of my fish tank & have done extensive reading about this matter, I have become pretty familiar with the chemistry in water. I won't go too in-depth into it, so please bare with me for this scienc-y stuff; I promise I'll keep it simple!

You're probably wondering what gH even means. You've likely already heard of pH, which is used to measure the acidity of things (acidic things have a very low pH, and alkaline things have a high pH. Water is usually around the middle, around 6-8).

gH stands for General Hardness. This is used to measure how "hard" or "soft" your water is by seeing how high or low the levels of dissolved minerals are in your water. If your water has a high gH, you have hard water, which means your water has lots of minerals. Magnesium & calcium are the two major ones. This is why you often see white mineral deposits/water spots when you have hard water. The water evaporates, but the minerals leave a spot in its place. Anyway, if you have soft water, you have a low gH and a low level of minerals. If you have a low gH, you have nothing to worry about as far as hair. Carry on. If you have high gH, you may run into some trouble.

 Leave a comment if you have any questions about this. I'd be glad to explain.

Here's a map of the USA showing a general guideline of the gH in different areas. Your water's actual gH may differ from what's on the map; if you really want to know your gH, you'll have to test it. In fact, you can usually take some of your water into a local fish store and have them test it for you.

My water has a gH of 12, so it's in the "very hard" zone even though on that map it says I'd be in the "hard" zone. Like I said, the best way to find out your gH is to just get it tested. Most pet stores that sell fish (like petsmart) will test your water for free if you ask. :)

How does it affect my hair?

The minerals in the water can end up building up on your hair, making your hair look more dull and unmanageable. This is actually what pushed me to start the CG method; my hair hadn't been acting the same ever since we'd moved (the water at our last place literally had a gH of zero), and I had been doing the same routine that I'd been following for awhile. The only thing that'd changed was the gH of our water. It built up on my hair and made it frizzy, dull, and just plain sad-looking. Of course, at the time, I didn't realize that the hard water was causing this. This was when I started doing a buttload of reading about my hair & ultimately decided to start the CG method. I also discovered that hard water was probably the cause of my troubles. In a way, I'm glad that we have hard water since it's what pushed me to discover the CG method ;) A few other symptoms of hard water bothering your hair can be strawlike/dry/brittle hair (this is also a sign of too much protein; read this), lifeless/dull/limp hair, and getting more tangles.

How do I deal with it?

Dealing with hard water is actually pretty easy. There are a few things you can do.

-Use a chelating shampoo. The ingredients in a chelating shampoo bind to the minerals (and also chemicals from pool water!) in order to remove those elements from the hair. Key ingredients to look for in chelating shampoos are EDTA, Disodium EDTA, Tetrasodium EDTA, or Sodium Citrate AKA Trisodium Citrate. As long as it has one of those, it'll work. These can be stripping/drying, but it removes the mineral buildup on your hair. Just follow it up with something moisturizing, and don't use it every time you wash your hair. A clarifying shampoo is not the same as a chelating shampoo (nor will it remove minerals), by the way. Clarifying shampoos are for a deep cleaning to remove dirt, oils, & silicones from your hair.

-Get a shower head filter! It softens the water that comes out of the shower. It's a quick, easy fix.

-Use a water softener. I'll let you do your own reading about that, but it also softens the water.


I hope this helped you understand the relationship between gH & hair! :)
Do you live in an area with hard water? Post a comment & share your story.

-CK

How to protect hair while sleeping

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls. :)


There are a few easy things you can do to protect your hair while you're sleeping. Here are a few quick tips on how to do so..

• Use a satin/silk pillowcase

This is more gentle on your hair than a regular cotton pillowcase.

• Wear a satin/silk sleep cap

This will help you not to smush your curls while you're sleeping! :)

• Pineapple your hair

Pineappling your hair is easy; you basically just make a ponytail on the top of your head. It's actually really fun. ;)

It's as simple as that! Your curls will thank you in the morning. <3

-CK

Top 8 Hair Oils

Hi there! Welcome to carefree curls. :)

Putting oils in your hair can be a great way to moisturize and add shine to your hair if used correctly. I'd like to list a few of the most popular oils (starting with a few that I personally love)!

Argan Oil

Oh my gosh this stuff is amazing. It adds shine, is easily absorbed so it doesn't weigh down the hair too much, and you barely need any of it (literally only 3-4 drops for my whole head of hair, and I have a lot of hair). I like to smooth the frizzy parts of my hair with this. My hair feels so much happier when I'm using Argan oil. ;) You can use it for DT's or to style your hair with. The only drawback with Argan oil is that it's pretty expensive (usually around $15-20 for 4 oz). However, it lasts a long time because a little really does go a long way!

Just so you know, when you're looking for Argan oil, DO NOT just go grab whatever product you see that looks like oil and says "Argan oil" on it. You want to look at the ingredients. Most "Argan oils"
have silicones and all sorts of other stuff in them. The best thing to do when looking for Argan oil is
find one that's cold-pressed and 100% Argan oil. Remember, always check the ingredients!

Olive Oil (extra virgin)

Okay, I admit, when I first heard of putting olive oil in my hair, I was a little grossed out. I eat it all the time because I live in an area with Italian food all around me! But on my hair? Ew. After doing more reading, though, I became more and more curious about what effects EVOO would have on my hair, and I decided to try it out. It works beautifully for deep treatments (like this one!) since it's a very moisturizing, heavy oil. I was pleasantly surprised! It also helps to seal in moisture.

Coconut Oil (extra virgin)

This is another oil that works beautifully for DT's like the one mentioned above. It's lighter than olive oil, but I wouldn't call it a light oil. It's a penetrating oil that gets moisture deep into your hair. :) My hair seems to really enjoy coconut oil.

(Those are the only oils I've been able to try on their own so far, so I may not have as much to say about the ones I'm about to mention. I'd like to eventually try all of them, though.)

Jojoba Oil

This is an oil that closely matches the oil (sebum) that your head produces; jojoba oil is pretty similar to Argan oil, but a bit cheaper and lighter. Since it closely matches the oils on your scalp, it can help prevent your scalp from overproducing oils and causing greasy hair. It's moisturizing, adds shine, and isn't a heavy oil, so it can be used for styling as well.

Grapeseed Oil

This is a light, moisturizing oil that can be used as a heat protectant when blow-drying, flat-ironing, or curling w/ a curling iron. It can strengthen hair & help with dry scalp issues.

Avocado Oil

This oil helps your hair grow, and it's very moisturizing.

Sweet Almond Oil

This is another good oil for hair that can be a good sealant to keep in moisture. Keep in mind that sweet almond oil is different than just almond oil!

Castor Oil

This oil is a heavier oil (which may be better for tighter coils) that helps to seal in moisture and add thickness to hair.

Those are all some great oils for your hair! Also, I didn't even talk about essential oils, which are also popular to use on hair. I still have no experience in the world of essential oils, so I decided not to talk about that in this post. Keep in mind that your hair might love some oils but hate others. For instance, I suspect that my hair strongly dislikes castor oil, but it obviously loves Argan oil. Think of it as though your hair has tastebuds. ;) It likes the flavor of some things, but not others! If you use any other oils, comment & I may them to the list! :) Hope you enjoyed this post.

-CK

Curly Girl on a Budget

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.

At first, the curly girl method can seem really intimidating, and you can get the impression that the products you have to use are going to break your bank. However, the curly girl method is totally doable on a low budget! There are plenty of great products out there for decent prices! I'll be talking about a few of the most popular options. :) Also, you should be able to find all of these pretty easily; I believe they're at most walmarts and/or targets. I should let you guys know that I haven't actually used any of these products; they're just what I've dug up in my research.


Suave naturals

Everybody seems to absolutely love this conditioner. I'd have to say it's the one I've seen most commonly recommended for newbies. There are different scents to choose from, but I believe the most popular scent is the tropical coconut one.This conditioner is readily available at a great price! You should be able to find it at target or Walmart.

Under $2 at walgreens' website: [link]

V05

This is another commonly recommended conditioner for newbies! There are different scents to choose from for this as well, and these are also readily available. One of the common flavored is strawberries & cream.

Only one dollar at Walgreens website:
[link]

LA Looks Sports Gel

This gel is a favorite of many curly girls, and the price is great! I would love to try it out, but unfortunately, I am allergic to blue #1 dye. It only bothers me when I eat it, but I figure it's safer not to slather something I'm allergic to on my hair. Anyway, you can get a 20 oz bottle for less than $3 at walgreen's website here: [link]

Or you can try a smaller 3 oz to test out the product for $1.50: [link]

Eco Styler gel

Eco styler gels are another favorite amongst us curly girls. There are a few different kinds; the two that seem to be common favorites are the Argan oil & olive oil ones. I believe the olive oil one is cheaper, so I'll post a link to that one. You can get 32 oz for $8 here: [link]

DIY flaxseed gel

This is very simple & cheap to make, and I've seen so many people say that they love it, so I wanted to add this to the list.

Click here to read how to make it: [link]

TRESemme Naturals

Buy a 25 oz bottle for a little under $5: [link]

As I Am

Even though this product didn't work AT ALL for me (read my review here), there are still a lot of people that love this product, and it works fantastically for them... so even though I can't personally recommend this product, I still wanted to include this on the list. You can get a 16 oz jar of it for a bit under $7 here: [link]


Shea Moisture

The whole Shea Moisture line is pretty decently priced and very popular. I've seen most of the products from this line at Walmart. :)



I hope this helped to give you some ideas for products to buy on a budget!

-CK



What are some cheap products that you love?

Must-haves for curly hair

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.

There are a few certain useful things that a curly- or wavy-haired person shouldn't live without. ;) In this post, I will list a few items that I have found to come in very handy!


Bobby pins

Bobby pins are extremely useful for a lot of things. I use them to pin my hair up into styles, fasten a shower cap on for a DT/PT, fix curls while I'm drying my hair, etc.! Bobby pins are definitely a must-have for any curly girl. Click here to get some bobby pins!


Shower/processing caps

These are great to have for a DT or PT. Click here to get some processing caps!


Spray bottle(s)

This isn't something you'd think of as a "must-have", but I've used my spray bottles/misters more often than I thought I would. You'll probably end up using a mister pretty frequently! Click here to get a spray bottle.


Comb

I keep two combs: one in my shower, and one at my sink. They both come in very handy! When I'm in the shower, I always comb through my hair when I have conditioner in it to detangle and evenly distribute the condish. :) Click here to get a comb!


Products

Okay, this one's obvious, but I still had to include it.. Every curly girl needs some hair products. A few important products to own are a conditioner, cleanser, and styling product (gel, mousse, cream, whatever works best for your hair).


Oils

This isn't necessarily a must-have, but they are definitely useful for moisturizing. Some awesome hair oils include argan oil (my personal favorite!), jojoba oil, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, & sweet almond oil.


Satin/silk sleep cap or pillowcase

This is another not really necessary must-have, but using a satin or silk sleep cap or pillowcase protects your hair from breakage and helps keep your curl pattern in-tact.


A diffuser

If you want to dry your hair quickly, a diffuser attachment for your hair dryer is a very useful tool! Click here to read how to dry your hair with a diffuser.


Scrunchies

Scrunchies are more gentle on your hair than regular hair ties. Scrunchies are nice to have when you want to pineapple your hair or wear it in a pony-tail. :)


Microfiber towel (or cotton t-shirt)

A microfiber towel or cotton t-shirt helps absorb excess water without causing as much frizz as a terrycloth towel would. Click here to get a microfiber towel!



That pretty much sums up the must-haves that I can think of!
What are some things that you & your hair couldn't live without? Post a comment & let us know!

-CK

How to dry curly hair with a diffuser

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
Have you ever heard of the pixie curl method? :) if not, read on!

The way you dry your curly hair can greatly affect the outcome. I've found that the best way to dry my hair is to do the pixie curl method. This method is pretty simple.

Step 1: Take a section of hair and put it into your diffuser, scrunching it up and holding the diffuser against your head. (See pictures below. Side-note: my hair doesn't look very good right now because it's still mad at me for trying a different conditioner! Lol)

Step 2: Turn the dryer on (preferably low heat) and leave there for as long as that section takes to dry. If your curls are frizzy or drooping when you're finished, you may not have held it in place long enough. I usually have to hold it there for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Turn the dryer off. Then, gently lower the diffuser and repeat the above steps with another section of hair until all of your hair is dry.

Done! It's that easy! Try it out next time you dry your hair. :)

-CK


How do you dry your hair? Post a comment and let us know!

Overnight Deep Treatment

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.

     Every now-and-then when I feel like my curls need an extra boost of moisture, I like to do an easy DIY overnight deep treatment. This is a great thing to do if your hair loves moisture! ;)  NOTE: If your hair is easily over-moisturized, just don't do it overnight.

I don't use any very special ingredients for my DT, and it really does work! The next morning, I take a shower & wash it out, and I end up with soft, very shiny curls. <3

What you'll need (you can use whatever you want, really; this is just what I usually use):

• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• Coconut oil
• Conditioner of your choice
• Shower/processing cap (I ordered these from amazon)

(Just FYI: my hair is medium/high porosity & medium texture)
     Before I go to sleep, I dampen my hair by misting it with water. Once it's wet (not to the point of dripping wet, just wet enough so that none of the hair is dry), I take some of my regular conditioner (currently DevaCurl One Condition) and evenly smooth it through my hair. I gently comb through my hair with a wide-tooth comb to evenly distribute the product (this is optional as long as the conditioner is evenly distributed).
     After this, I take some EVOO and rub it in the palm of my hand. Then, I rake it through my hair until it's evenly distributed. (Note - this may feel a little weird and, obviously, oily.) Once I've done that, I take some coconut oil (You can warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds to melt it if you want to, but it isn't really necessary. If you do warm it up, make sure it isn't too hot when you put it on your hair) and warm it up by putting some in my palm & rubbing my hands together. Then, I evenly distribute that through my hair, and I'm all done! :)
     Side-note; I just got some argan oil which I will probably be adding to this routine. You can add or remove whatever you like! Keep in mind that some hair doesn't seem to like coconut oil (I think it's usually hair that's protein sensitive). If you're not sure about it, you can always test it out on a small section of hair.

     When I'm finished with all of that, I flip my hair over and sort of twist it into a really loose bun just so it'll fit in the plastic processing cap, and I squeeze all of it into the cap. Sometimes I secure the cap with a few bobby pins before I go to sleep. If you're worried about getting oil on your pillow, I suggest putting a towel over the pillow :)

In the morning, I wake up and shower as usual, making sure to use my cleanser that day to ensure that I get rid of the excess oils & not end up with oily hair. I style as usual, and viola! Shiny, perky curls! ;)

This may not work for everybody, but it works fantastically for me. Try it out if your hair needs more moisture!

-CK

Curly Hair Tips

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
Here are a few tips that I've found to be helpful for my curly/wavy hair!


Use a microfiber towel.

A cotton t-shirt would also be acceptable. Using a microfiber towel (or cotton t-shirt) causes less frizz than your average terry cloth towel. Just scrunch in an upward motion with the towel or tshirt to get rid of excess water in your hair.


Sleep with a satin/silk sleep cap or pillowcase

This simply helps to prevent breakage and keep the curl pattern better. :)


Don't brush your hair.

If you're like me & you get a tangly mess if you don't brush your hair, don't worry! Just use a wide-toothed comb instead. It takes some getting used to, but it's better for your hair & won't make it frizz as much. To detangle, it helps to wet your hair (you can just spray it with water using a spray bottle) before detangling. For extra help, you can rub some conditioner or detangler into the tangle. :)


Always check the ingredients in products.

Don't just grab whatever product you want to try! Read the ingredients first. Stay away from sulfates & silicones. Remember that silicones (and sulfates) aren't always listed as just silicones. They disguise it with other weird words; dimethicone is one of the most commonly seen silicones. Keep in mind that there are water-soluble silicones that say "PEG-" in front of it with a number, and those are safe for your hair since it doesn't require sulfates to clean off.


Try to stay open-minded.

When you begin embracing your curls, you're probably letting go of a lot of "normal" things like regular bubbly shampoo, hairbrushes, and terrycloth towels. A lot of going curly goes hand-in-hand with going green/natural, which can seem kind of hippie-like at times. (I don't mean that in an offending way at all, just FYI! It's the only word I could think of to describe it lol.) It does take some getting used to, and I can almost guarantee that you'll run into some people who think it's weird to do stuff like putting gelatin in your hair, but I encourage you to stay open-minded and explore the different hair techniques & recipes that sound fun to you. :) I'm not saying that you have to put stuff in your hair if you think it's weird; by all means, don't! I'm just saying not to shun everything that's different from the norm & just try to explore some new things.


Do your research.

It's good to be knowledgeable about your hair. Do some reading about your hair type & figure out some stuff that it may or may not like. Before you try a product, read some reviews from people with similar hair types. Find out some good information on how to care for your type of hair.

That being said..


Don't overthink it!

It's easy to get bogged down with all of this new information. If you're like me, you overthink a lot of things & this whole embracing-your-curls thing can be very overwhelming at first; just try not to stress too much about it. Don't worry too much about whether or not your hair looks perfectly defined & frizz-free, either. Keep in mind that being a curly girl involves a lot of trial and error! If something doesn't work, just consider it a lesson learned & move on. :)

Lastly..


Have fun with your hair!

Try some new & exciting things! It's a very exhilarating process to let your hair go natural. :)



If you have any tips, feel free to comment & share them! :)

-CK

Protein or moisture?

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.

In this post, I will explain how to tell when your hair needs protein & when it needs moisture.
Generally, high porosity hair needs a lot of moisture, and fine hair needs a lot of protein (if you don't know your porosity or texture, click here).
   High porosity hair tends to need more moisture because it absorbs moisture quickly but also releases it quickly. Fine hair usually needs more protein because it's thinner & weaker than coarse hair.

An easy way to tell if your hair needs protein is if your hair is very stretchy or weak. Take a shed strand of hair and see how much you can stretch it without it snapping. If it stretches a lot & your hair feels weak, it probably needs protein; if it snaps quickly & your hair feels dry or straw-like, it probably needs moisture; if it stretches a little and then snaps, you probably have a good balance of moisture & protein. Usually, if you don't have enough of one or the other, your hair will be frizzy. My hair tends to begin feeling more limp when it needs more protein.

If your hair needs protein, you should probably do a PT (protein treatment). A quick, simple, and cheap way to give your hair a PT is gelatin. It sounds a little weird, I know, but give it a chance! Here is a link to the recipe for a DIY protein treatment with gelatin: [link]
Of course, if you'd rather not put gelatin in your hair, you can always grab a protein treatment product. There are other ways to do DIY protein treatments as well, but I have no experience with them. :)

If it needs moisture, I suggest doing a DT (deep treatment). Here's what I do for a DT: [link]


I hope this helped you understand the difference between needing protein & needing moisture! :)

-CK


What do you do for a PT/DT? Post a comment and share your experience!

Hair Basics

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
When you're just starting the curly girl method, everything can be really confusing and overwhelming. What on earth is porosity? How do I determine my hair's texture? What's all of this 2b, 3a, 4c, etc. nonsense?! Yeah, those were some of the things I was stressing about at first. In this post, I'll go over some of the basics and explain what these things mean.

Porosity

Okay, so you may be wondering what porosity is. Essentially, the porosity of your hair is how quickly (or slowly) your hair absorbs stuff like moisture. People say that you can do this "float test" with a strand of hair, but several trustworthy people have told me that this test can be unreliable and can be confusing if it gives multiple results. The easiest way to tell what the porosity of your hair is is to simply see how long your hair takes to dry without any products on it. If it takes less than two hours to dry, that means your hair is high porosity. If your hair takes 6+ hours to dry, your hair is low porosity. If it's anywhere in between those two time frames, then your hair is medium/normal porosity. Keep in mind that it's possible to have multiple porosities in the same head of hair! For instance, the front sections of my hair are high porosity, but the rest is medium.
Now that you know how to tell what the porosity of your hair is, you're probably curious about why this matters. Like I mentioned earlier, high porosity hair absorbs moisture pretty quickly. However, it also loses moisture quickly, so higher porosity hair tends to need more moisture while low porosity retains moisture longer. Different products will work better for different porosities.

Texture

Next up: texture! The texture of your hair is basically how thick each individual strand of hair is. If your hair is really thin & isnt very thick or strong, your hair is probably fine. If your hair is thick, strong, and each individual strand is easily visible when held up to light, your hair is probably coarse. If your hair is somewhere in between, it's probably medium. You can always compare your hair to your friends' hair to see how thick it is compared to theirs.

Fine hair tends to need more protein because it's thinner & needs the extra strength, but coarse hair is already thick & strong, so it usually doesn't need much protein.

When your hair is medium texture (or porosity), it generally needs a good balance of protein/moisture. Click this link if you want to read about protein/moisture: [link]

Curl type

Your curl type doesn't matter as much as your texture & porosity do. Your curl type is basically just how curly your hair is. The possible curl types are 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b, and 4c. Don't get overwhelmed by that. The 2's are wavy hair, the 3's are curly hair, and the 4's are tightly curly hair. It's possible to have multiple curl types on the same head of hair! If you want to see what your curl type is, take a look at this: [link]

Naturallycurly.com also has a quick quiz you can take to help you find out your hairstyle. I encourage you to explore naturallycurly.com and check out their forums!



Those are the basics of your hair! You'll find that certain products will work with certain hair types. Eventually, you'll figure out what your hair likes & doesn't like. I hope this will help you embrace your beautiful curls & set them free! ;)

-CK

What is the curly girl method?

Hi there! Welcome to Carefree Curls.
Have you heard of the CG method (CG is short for Curly Girl)? If not, read on!

The basic rules of the curly girl method are simple, but if you want the most important one, here it is:

• Don't use products with sulfates or silicones.

There's more than that, but that's one of the most important things to remember.

Silicones basically coat your hair and seal/smooth it; most silicones aren't water soluble, so they can be really difficult to remove, and they can weigh your hair down & cause buildup. Silicones also prevent any more moisture from getting into your hair and are only removed by sulfates, which strip your hair & can be really drying/harsh.

Sulfates are in a lot of shampoos. It's usually what makes them lather. Basically, it's a harsh cycle of coating your hair w/ silicones and then stripping it w/ sulfates.

So, if you want to start avoiding silicones & sulfates, you'll want to do one last wash w/ a sulfate-ridden shampoo to get rid of any lingering silicones & have a clean, blank slate to begin with. :)

There are SOME silicones that are water soluble and are fine to use, but it's easier to just start out by avoiding all silicones, so I won't get into that right now.. Their names in the ingredient lists can get really complicated and weird lol. The most common silicone is "dimethicone". They usually end in "cone". Not always though. So, always check the labels of your hair products for silicones and sulfates! Like I said, they don't always directly say "silicones" or "sulfates". (You can do some reading to find out how to spot those ingredients.)

Washing hair

What you're supposed to do when you wash your hair is cleanse your hair using a sulfate-free shampoo (also known as "no-poo", which I honestly think is a stupid name). A lot of people also "co-wash", which is basically just washing your hair with conditioner (it may sound weird at first, but it actually works for most people) or a cleansing conditioner. When you co-wash, you take conditioner and gently massage it into your scalp. Then you just rinse it out. After you do your "no-poo", you use conditioner (remember to avoid silicones) in your hair like you usually do, and rinse that out. If you co-washed, it's not always necessary to use more conditioner unless you want to use a more moisturizing one to get a deeper condition. You can then reapply a small amount of conditioner as a leave-in to moisturize your hair. One of the things that curly hair craves is moisture. Moisture is a major part of keeping healthy curls! Just keep that in mind.

After washing

When you get out of the shower, don't immediately start tousling your hair with a normal terry cloth towel. This causes friction and isn't good for curls! What you want to do is use a t-shirt, paper towels, or a microfiber towel to gently scrunch the excess water out of your hair. After this, apply a (silicone free) gel, mousse, and/or styling cream evenly throughout your hair. Some people put product in before scrunching out excess water.

It's best to just let your hair dry naturally, but if you must blow dry it, use a diffuser on a lower heat setting. Also, don't touch your hair while it's drying; this will cause frizz. Once it's dry, you can gently scrunch your hair to release the "cast" that the gel forms and you'll have nice, soft curls!

Another major thing: Don't brush out your curls. It kills the curl formation that you've been working so hard for! Use a wide-toothed comb instead, and only comb it to detangle while you're in the shower w/ conditioner in your wet hair.

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The great thing about this method is that once your hair gets used to it, it'll look a lot better and healthier. Click here to see my progress (as of 7/15/15)! You also probably won't have to wash your hair as often as you used to. You can tweak the method to work better for you or you can follow it to the T! It may take some time to find the right products; just keep on digging until you find what you love. :)

The person who started the whole curly girl method (also known as the original curly girl!) wrote the curly girl handbook, which I suggest you read if you're interested in this method. Click here to see the handbook. They also have a line of curly hair products called DevaCurl, and they have all sorts of stuff, including "no-poo," gel, conditioner, etc!

Now go explore & have fun with your hair!

-CK