Curly Comeback: A Guide to Transitioning
Posted on 15 November 2018
Have you just recently taken the plunge into the naturally curly world? If so, welcome aboard, curlfriend!
It can be a little difficult to figure out the best way to start living your carefree, curly life. There are endless blogs, influencers and tutorials online. Even your closest friends and family members may have conflicting opinions about how you should take care of your hair.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all of the information out there, but why make it more stressful than it needs to be? Your curly hair journey will be an adventure, so have fun with it! To ease you through the process, we’ve put together a guide to help get you through the transitioning stages and on the right track to loving ur curls!
Transition or Chop?
1. Take Ur Time With Step One
If you’re giving your head a super quick lather and moving onto the next step, you’re not doing your new products any justice. To ensure that our shampoo was super gentle we kept those harsh, stripping agents known as sulfates and other harmful ingredients away from our formula.
1. Take Ur Time With Step One
If you’re giving your head a super quick lather and rinse before moving on to the next step, you’re likely not getting the most out of our sulfate-free shampoo. As with any sulfate-free shampoo, you need to WERK to break up oil and dirt at the roots. Reason being that normal shampoos (the ones that contain sulfates) are full of harmful, drying agents that foam and strip the hair.
Since we did away with those, you’ll need to give your entire scalp a solid massage to get your roots nice and clean. @craft_and_mane does an awesome job of showing you how it’s done here.
One of the biggest questions newly curly girls have is whether they should go for the big chop (cutting off all dead and damaged hair) or take a more gradual approach and transition.
Before you decide if transitioning into curly hair is the right fit for you and your curls, it’s important to consider these 3 T’s for Transitioning!
1. Tricky Textures
If your hair is transitioning from being straight to curly, there will be all different types of crazy textures you’ll have to learn to care for and style.
If you have been excessively dying, straightening or chemically processing your hair, your new curls may not look the way they used to.
It’s likely that the ends of your hair will be loosely curled, wavy or even straight from damage over time. The tricky part is that once you start to transition, the new growth at the roots of your hair will be noticeably healthier and curlier.
Transitioning Hair Needs
Your weaker and more damaged hair is older and requires a little extra attention. What’s the best way to revitalize your limp strands?
Well, older transitioning curls will thrive with products that replenish and fortify your hair. Getting into a routine of deep conditioning often will help the health and look of damaged hair.
You can learn everything you need to know about deep conditioning here. 💁🏽♀️
1. Tricky Textures
If your hair is transitioning from being straight to curly, there will be all different types of crazy textures you’ll have to learn to care for and style.
If you have been excessively dying, straightening or chemically processing your hair, your new curls may not look the way they used to.
It’s likely that the ends of your hair will be loosely curled, wavy or even straight from damage over time. The tricky part is that once you start to transition, the new growth at the roots of your hair will be noticeably healthier and curlier.
Transitioning Hair Needs
Your weaker and more damaged hair is older and requires a little extra attention. What’s the best way to revitalize your limp strands?
Well, older transitioning curls will thrive with products that replenish and fortify your hair. Getting into a routine of deep conditioning often will help the health and look of damaged hair.
Check out how we like to deep condition here.
Stop Sad, Stringy Ends
When your new curls begin to flourish, your stringy, straight ends start to look more obvious and become even more to difficult to style.
Some curly girls prefer to snip off stringy ends and rock a shorter hairstyle.
However, you can also try to camouflage your straight ends with styles like braid-outs and twist-outs to create a consistent texture throughout your hair.
Check out this amazing flat twist-out vid from our girl Jadyn to see how you can naturally manipulate your curl pattern.
2. Rinse Out Step Two
Raise your hand if you’ve ever finished your shampoo and conditioner at the same time?
(Ha! We didn’t think so.)
It’s no secret that curly girls can go through a lot of conditioner, and we’re not knocking you for that. Conditioned curls retain more moisture, more moisture means less frizz, and less frizz equals more definition.
However, as curly girls ourselves, we didn’t want our customers to have to use TONS of conditioner to get the uber-hydrated curls they desire. Like the other two steps in our line, our conditioner is also activated by water and requires a lot less product than you think. It’s a concentrated formula that’ll still give you all the detangling and slip you desire, without requiring boatloads of product to do so.
2. Time & TLC
Transitioning curls are more fragile for a few reasons. Remember, chances are you were putting extreme stress on your curls with things like, heat, colour or potent chemicals that break down the structure of your curls. All of these make the strands weaker and more prone to damage. The parts of your hair where different textures meet tend to be more fragile, weak and prone to tangling.
The difference is noticeable and some curlies refer to it as The Line of Demarcation [cue lightning and thunder!].
The Line of Demarcation is the place where many combs have lost their teeth and many strands have lost their lives in a fierce battle of detangling and styling.
This section of your hair will require a gentle and patient hand: If you’re too rough with your curls, chances are you’re gonna cause more damage.
Less product = even better results (at ALL stages of the LUS application!).
It’s also important to know that the LUS conditioner should not be used as a leave-in conditioner.
While it’s chock-full of amazing hydrating ingredients, the formula was designed to do all its work in the shower; when you choose not to rinse it out, you risk clogging your hair follicle and dulling your shine.
Bonus: Rinse out your conditioner with cool water to close up the hair follicle and seal in moisture.
3. Detangle In the Shower
We strongly advise doing all of your dirty detangling work IN the shower! Why? You’ll handle your curls less as they dry, reducing frizz and preserving all of your glorious definition. Many of our curlies actually find it easiest to detangle after letting their conditioner sit for about 5 minutes. You can see our founder demo this here.
Add a bit of water (try sticking your whole head under the running water for 1–2 secs) and then slowly detangle using your fingers or curl-appropriate comb, a bit more water, a bit more detangling, until ahhh—you’ve got a silky smooth, tangle-free mane.
4. Less Product, More Water
Our All-in-Ones are activated by.... you guessed it, water! So, you’ll want to apply them to soaking wet hair. Since lots of us aren’t accustomed to working with more H2O than product, many curlies go overboard with our products their first time around. Even though it may be scary, try a lighter hand with your All-in-One and be generous with the amount of water you use. Keep in mind that this may change depending on your curl type and porosity level.
Someone with 2A curls, for example, will have hair that easily retains moisture so adding water after applying your All-in-One might not be necessary. Someone with 4B curls, however, may need to use a spray bottle to add water throughout their application process.
You’ll know you’ve used the right product-to-water ratio when you can easily start to rake your fingers through your hair without a ton of excess product coming off in your hands.
The application really is the key to a great finish (our founder proves this here), so take your time to really work in the product. Not only will you experience better results, but you will also find that you can last longer between washing and styling your hair. Who would have thought that one product could do all that?
Protective Style Basics
What exactly is a protective style? Basically, any hairstyle that keeps your fragile ends from being manipulated and damaged.
There are many amazing styles that will protect your hair and camouflage your transition: braids, twists, buns, ponytails – you name it! The beauty of protective styling is that once you have styled your hair, you can shave off tons of time from your morning routine.
Just make sure if you are using braided or twisted extensions not to forget about taking care of your hair. This means continuing to wash, condition and moisturize your hair regularly so your curls will have time to heal and strengthen while rocking your protective style.
3. Type: Why Ur Curl Pattern Makes A Difference
Curly hair journeys can be vastly different from person to person (no two curl types are exactly the same, after all). Ladies with looser curls may find that transitioning is not so challenging, but for someone with a really curly, kinky or coily hair type, it may be harder to stick it out through this stage of the journey.
Even with protective styles, some are more appropriate for certain hair types. For example, when it comes to braided and twisted styles, kinky-coily types tend to hold the style better with little effort. On the flip-side pulling this hair-type back into buns and ponytails too often can be damaging and may cause breakage.
The amount of work and time that goes into transitioning is often underestimated. A big chop can be a huuuuge leap into going natural, and in some ways a fresh start can be easier than contending with damaged, stringy ends.
It takes a lot of patience to transition from damaged curls, especially if you’re just starting to learn about how to take care of them.
But with the right mindset, you can certainly come out on top with a beautiful head of curls to boot.
Even with protective styles, some are more appropriate for certain hair types. For example, when it comes to braided and twisted styles, kinky-coily types tend to hold the style better with little effort. On the flip-side pulling this hair-type back into buns and ponytails too often can be damaging and may cause breakage.
The amount of work and time that goes into transitioning is often underestimated. A big chop can be a huuuuge leap into going natural, and in some ways a fresh start can be easier than contending with damaged, stringy ends.
It takes a lot of patience to transition from damaged curls, especially if you’re just starting to learn about how to take care of them.
But with the right mindset, you can certainly come out on top with a beautiful head of curls to boot.
Mind Over Matter
The secret to building your perfect curly hair routine is all about learning and growing. Don’t forget that most of your favourite curly hair Instagrammers had to go through tons of bad hair days or product fails before they found a routine that works for them and their curls.
So don’t beat yourself up if you don’t love your curls the first few times you try to rock ‘em! Your curls aren’t gonna make a comeback overnight. Instead, take a breath, shake off the doubt, and try tweaking your technique or changing up your styles.
Most importantly, be realistic about your expectations. As long as you remember to be patient, your hard work will pay off and your curls will thank you!
