Curly Hair Tricks

Special for my homegirl KJames, who also rocks the curly locks. Basically, the salon I went to is certified in the "Curly Girl" method, which is outlined in the book by Lorraine Massey. Here are the steps I take with my hair:

1) I've switched to DevaCurl products. The shampoo is sulfite-free, which means no suds and that it kind of has the consistency of a light conditioner. It does clean without weighing my hair down, provided I *really* scrub my scalp with my fingertips and rinse it well. I use it every 2-3 days or so. On the off days, I'm either not showering and rocking a ponytail or showering and just "washing" my hair by scrubbing my scalp with water.

2) After shampooing, I squeeze all the water out of my hair and apply the conditioner, scrunching the whole time.

3) To rinse, I lower the water pressure a lot, make it as cool as I can stand it, and rinse it without touching it too much. I kind of lift it in sections to make sure the water gets in there. I leave it feeling slightly silky (not completely stripped of conditioner).

4) I flip my head over, give it a shake to separate the curls, and while it is still soaking wet and dripping apply and scrunch with the Deva gel (called Angel Gel or something absurd like that). The scrunching removes a lot of the excess water.

5) With my head still flipped over, I kind of stumble humpback-style out of the shower and scrunch from the bottom with an old t-shirt (the older and softer the better). I flip my head over and make sure the curls are falling the right way, and that's it. I'm done. It dries while I ponder stock futures in Estonia.

I promise to get some pics up here soon. Tonight, though, is made for watching Hollywood Week on American Idol while eating cookies and cream ice cream. I refuse to defend either choice. If you'll excuse me...