Curly Hair Care: 5 Unique Facts You Need to Know

Caring for curly hair is one of the most delicate and important things to do on a journey to healthy,  curly hair. There are so many things curly-haired gals and dudes do not know about their hair and that’s why many find it difficult to get the best results, despite using different hair products.

One of our missions is to ensure that every curly-haired person enjoys the gift of their curls, by learning how to care for it with easy regimens and the best of hair products.

What does this mean for you as a curly king or queen? We’ll be equipping you with facts and information that can help you get the best out of your hair. We’ll tell you what you need to avoid or do more of. We’ll also show you how much products you need for the best curls, or which types of products can give you the best bounce. 

Are you excited? We are! 

Most Common Curly Hair Problems & Their Solutions

Here we share the myths, the facts, and everything you need to know about curly hair problems. We’ll also give you the solutions to these problems so you can start making adjustments right away. Let’s dive right in:

 

1. Moisture and Protein Balance

Your hair is made up of protein, but not as much protein as you think. So, it’s essential that it has the right amount of protein at all times. The protein compound that makes up the hair, called keratin, depletes over time based on many reasons. 

It may be due to heat styling, chemical damage, your environment, a person’s health issues, and more. Without adequate protein-moisture balance, your hair strands may become brittle, knotted up, and break.

Protein-moisture balance is simply when your hair has the right amount of hydration, nutrients, and strength that can help you prevent breakage. If you want to check if your hair has the right balance of moisture and protein, take a hair strand and stretch it outwards.

Let the strand go and watch if it bounces right back up into its curl or falls limply or stretched out or breaks. If it bounces back and retains its curls, you have nicely balanced hair. If it stretches out limply, it may have too much moisture. If it breaks, there’s either too much or not enough protein.

If you frequently heat-style, color, or relax your hair, you need protein treatment about once or twice a week. You can use a light leave-in conditioner like Alldoer, for Curls Conditioner. If it’s an intense protein treatment, perhaps because of relaxer-damaged hair, then you need to follow up with Alldoer, for Curls Deep Conditioning Mask.

Quick Notes:

• Not providing your hair with enough moisturizer can leave your hair brittle, breaking, and damaged. 
• You can repair overly moisturized hair by applying leave-in conditioner as a treatment at least once a month
• If your hair has too much protein, use a gentle clarifying shampoo like Alldoer, for Curls Gentle Clarifying Shampoo to extract the excess protein. Always finish off with a deep conditioner. 

2. Hair Porosity and the Role it Plays When Choosing Products

Hair porosity is a very common term that almost all hair enthusiasts yap about. But what is it?

Hair porosity is simply how much moisture your hair can absorb and retain. Do you find yourself waiting hours for your hair to dry? Or does your hair get dry before you can even blink your eyes? Perhaps you’re stuck somewhere in the middle; your hair doesn’t take too long to dry, but it’s not exactly a quick dryer either.

All these are functions of your hair porosity. There are three categories of hair porosity; low, high, and medium. You can test your hair porosity right now. Take the hair porosity test by following the steps below:

• Shampoo and rinse out your hair to remove product build-up. Allow your hair to dry.
• Take a strand of your dry hair and drop it inside a glass of water.
• Does it sink to the bottom or float on top?

If your hair sank to the bottom, you have high porosity. If it floats on top, you have low porosity. If it dances around somewhere in the middle, you have medium or normal porosity.

Why is this important?

Your hair porosity determines the types of products you need for your hair. 

• Low porosity hair has tighter hair cuticles, which makes it difficult for products, moisture, oils, to get absorbed easily. Your goal should be to use products that are lightweight to avoid causing excess buildup. You also need to use a weekly clarifying shampoo and frequent hair-steaming to open up your cuticles to let moisture in.
• Medium porosity hair is restriction-free, but for the best curls, you need protein-moisture balance, as we shared above. You also need to avoid frequent heat styling and hair coloring, or else your hair may become high-porosity.
• High porosity hair soaks in a ton of water when it’s wet, but loses it just as quickly when dry. So, you need to choose products like conditioners and oils that are super moisturizing and protein-packed. This will help to strengthen your hair cuticles. You can also use hair gels like Alldoer, for Curls Super Hold Jelly, to help you retain curl definition.

3. How Much Product Does Your Hair Need? 

Using too much products on your hair is a real problem. Yes, you can show your hair too much loving, and it could be damaging for your hair. So, if you’re wondering, just how much is enough?

Well, there are five basic products any curl-haired person needs for a hair-care routine. 

1. Gentle clarifying shampoo
2. Conditioner
3. Leave-in conditioner
4. Deep conditioner
5. Hair gel

With these products, you can get the best out of your curly hair care. However, you don’t have to go overboard when using these products. In fact, most of the time, less is more.

Many hair products come with instructions on how to use the product. Product overuse causes excess product buildup, which may deter your hair from getting the benefits of these products at the end of the day. 

How do you know you’ve used too much products?

1. Your curls are crunchy or stiff after drying
2. Your hair loses its shine
3. Your hair feels drier than usual or lackluster.

Fine curls: You only need an itty-bitty amount of lightweight products for your hair, otherwise you would weigh it down. 

Thick/Tight curls: You need to use a little more amount of product to achieve your desired definition. However, if you want more volume, you need less amount of products. Generally, curly and wavy hair needs a little more product to achieve well-defined curls.

Quick note:

• Curl creams or gels give a tighter hold, while spray gels give loose curl patterns.

4. What to Do About Shrinkage?

Naturally, curly hair shrinks. Your hair can shrink up to 90% after it’s dry, usually depending on the hair type and porosity. When your hair is well-moisturized, it can stretch out by expanding the curls, but as it grows drier, the curls shrink back to their regular size. 

To stop your hair from shrinking, here are a few things you can try:

• Frequently moisturize your hair when you wash. A sulfate-free shampoo cleanses your scalp but doesn’t strip it of its natural oils, so your curly hair can stay well-moisturized.
• Detangle your hair often from the ends to the roots for less breakage.
• Moisturize your hair with conditioner, and then deep conditioner when you notice your hair starting to frizz.
• Sleep wearing a bonnet or silk scarf to protect your curls and keep them bouncy.

5. Hair Precautions for Curly Hair

Many curly-haired people get so eager to try out new products, they forget all about hair precautions that can protect the hair from damage. Not all products might be suitable for your hair or your scalp. Sometimes, you may even be allergic to some ingredients in the products.

So, a patch test is always necessary to check if you’re safe to use a new product. 

• To begin, place a small amount of the new hair product on your elbow or other sensitive parts of your body.
• Leave it there for 24 hours preferably to see if you’re allergic to any of the plant ingredients in Alldoer, for Curls products (or any other new hair product you buy.)
• Take note of any reactions you have to the patch test. 
• If there’s none, this means the product is safe for your use.
• Discontinue use of any products that cause allergic reactions.