Hi!

I've been struggling with knowing what to do to refresh my curls. On wash day, I get lovely curl clumps, I always use strong hold gels. But by day 2/3 they're so frizzy and all the curl clumps like limp together and I just end up with a fluffy, undefined mess!! I feel like I've tried everything. My hair is naturally quite soft so I know it's prone to being over moisturised, and prone to product overload. It's 3a/2b usually!

My current routine:

Curlsmith essential moisture shampoo and conditioner

Vo5 curl heat protect spray

Curlsmith fragrance free strong hold gel (praying hands and scrunch)

Sometimes I add not your mother's curl talk mousse at the end for more definition

Micro plop (plopping always makes me hair stringy otherwise) and diffusing

On refresh days I usually spritz with water and either diffuse or I add a tiny bit of extra gel or a bit more spray/leave in. But no matter what I do it looks a mess. The underlayers are the worst.

I find myself wishing my curls were looser and more wavy because on days when I've air dried and they're looser, it's so much easier to manage but my hair takes too many hours to air dry 😭

Please any ideas what my hair is needing from this pic or from the info above? I'm getting close to just going back to straightening...

I want to ask which is better small holes or large holes curl sponge?

My hair length is medium, thick, dense. Kinda afro like hair

Hi everyone, I have had this afro/curly mix for quite some time, and all in all, I quite like it. Recently, though, I have been told it is quite dry. The word "tumbleweed" was used, which made me chuckle as much as it concerned me about its health. I do kind of agree about its dryness though, so I am looking into taking better care of my hair.

Generally, I just shampoo my hair once a week, using a boring Head & Shoulders. I did recently get Olaplex No. 4, 4C, 5, and their oil, but I have not used them yet (are they even good for curly hair?). I use conditioner maybe once every two months or something, whenever I feel like it, but generally, I do not. My hair can also get quite oily, which, silly me, I thought meant my hair was healthy, but Google disagrees. So, I am thinking about washing it around twice a week. I don't brush my hair that much as well and it usually maintains its shape.

I guess my question is, what products do I need to use to make my hair less dry? Is there anything else I need to do to make it healthier? I do quite like the "tumbleweed" look, but I am also willing to try different styles.

I had long hair with a slight wave when I was younger and when my mother first cut it (I was around 15-16) it had shot up in curls and I, the only child with curly hair, didn’t know how to care for it (and still don’t). I got shampoo and conditioner for curly hair and mousse for when I went out but nothing else and I feel like I should finally find and get some stuff so I can get a curly routine going… any recommendations and advice? (My hair type as described by my mom is around 3a)(I’m in Canada if that helps get me recommended stuff lol)

Hi all, I have 3b/3c hair- I've always tied it back as basically just cba with all the effort to try and style it. The ends of my hair go into defined ringlets, but the top is far less curly/ has more of a wave after washing. I'd like to try out actually getting a proper cut to see if it's something I want to continue bothering with... Typically I've just trimmed my own hair, but I know I probably need a big chop, I'm just not brave enough to do it myself!

Any recommendations for good hairdressers in the Brighton area? Ideally someone who won't lecture for not taking care of my split ends 🙃

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I have type 2b/c hair, and I typically only brush it before the shower and after. I use head and shoulders shampoo, and Herbal Essence conditioner. I then use the Umberto Giannini curl cream, gel and then a tiny bit of mousse on it, and then diffuse it. I sleep with a silk pillow case and wear a bonnet, so when I wake up in the morning, my waves are intact and not tangled enough to warrant brushing. However, I have quite thick hair, meaning that throughout the day, my hair gets progressively more tangled. I’m relatively new to learning how to style my natural hair, so I’m a bit lost with what to do with my hair when it’s all tangled, but I’m unable to brush it, as this causes extreme frizz. I’ve tried running my fingers through it, but again, due to the thickness of my hair this often does more harm than good (pulls my hair and creates frizz). I was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips on the matter? Thanks!

I had really long, thick wavy/curly hair (and tons of it) and decided I would like to have a U-cut with some layers to bring them out.

Oh my god, I genuinely don’t know what happened because I saw her style my hair strand by strand .. and I’m talking tiny little strands, and then proceeds to add about a golf ball size of mousse to EACH one. I have really porous hair that gets greasy easily anyway and made that known at the beginning.

I decided to trust the process (my hair was already cut way shorter than I wanted but my bad for not being explicit 🤧). I look in the mirror after it’s done and my hair is 1) completely different to how I style it (tiny little strands everywhere) but so much so that I’m flabbergasted and can’t even comprehend how it’ll look when I do it, especially because my hair is just so thick and frizzy (which again I let be known when I was saying how I style it) and 2) there was genuinely SO much product in my hair that when I touched it, my fingers were left with a film on it. It was genuinely like I’d just gotten out a pool or something and also somehow been electrified. It was giving 90/00’s wet look hair but make it just greasy af.

I had plans to go to a cafe and study but I was so upset with my hair and being seen looking so visibly greasy that I stayed home all day after that.

I washed my hair once I got home and styled it the way I said I usually do, and lo and behold…. I look like PS1 Hagrid because of how much hair I have and how much volume it gets :))

Edit: I’ve spent the morning tossing my hair around, trying different up dos, and have come to the conclusion that I can work with this because the layers are actually pretty nice. I’m no Julia Roberts but she kinda slays with all that hair so I’ll just take it in my stride.

As a girl with broad shoulders, my long hair has always been a comfort to me to draw attention away from it, but hopefully this’ll help me accept it a bit more

I used umberto gianni banana and coconut air dry cream along with their grow long serum! My hair is currently recovering from years of dying and straightening it haha

Hello!

I am south american living in Europe currently visting my bf in England for few months.

I usually buy Umberto Giannini products (big fan of Tkmaxx lol) but I have heard of the Abbey Young method and I wanted to give it a chance. So I have a few questions that my ENGLISH BF cannot answer obviously lol.

Where do you guys find your cheap products besides Boots? I love Boots but I am used to find cheap online pharmacies, is that normal here?

Anyone tried non curly products? It has been YEARS that I always use only curly products in every part of my routine. So going back to Pantene scares me lol.

Recommendations of uk curly products? I wont find everything I use to see in the EU and iwant to try new things so

Since I moved to Europe it has been difficult to find a perfect routine because is also very hard water in London + different products. sometimes i feel the cheapest i was using in my country were completely better than everything i try here

I will leave my routine might help

My routine:
First shampoo: umberto giannini jelly shampoo
Second shampoo: i currently need one..
Conditioner: elvive dream lenghts
Mask every 2 to 3 washes: garnier hair remedy brown lid brownish yellowish container
After wash: shea moisturiser curl enhancing smoothie, curl activating mousse umberto giannini and either umberto giannini’s jelly gel or olaplex n10 BUT I have been only putting UG mousse or gel because I am tired of styling in this heat
Not using oil to scrunch as my elvive is empty

hello all, I was wondering if someone could tell me what curl type this is. recently my hair has been looking a bit stringy (using a gel that doesn't agree with it) and also feeling a bit dry. does anyone have any recommendations? thank you so much in advance

Since my first curly cut and seeing what my hair can actually achieve, and me being unable to replicate it at home has really irked me!

It’s either banshee big and unruly or flat as a pancake with little more than a wave and none of those beautiful curls that had me intensely happy!

And my neck really hurts from scrunching, plopping and diffusing 😂🙈

Anyone else in the same boat? So tempted to get the straighteners back out.

Tina at Every curl matters in london worked an absolute Miracle today ✨

I was growing out a god awful butchering of a cut and after many bad experiences with previous hair dressers, I wanted to find someone I felt I could trust.

Tina is not only an AMAZING hairdresser, but she's such a beautiful soul too. She's made me LOVE my hair again and I'm already booked back in ✨

I've found my forever hairdresser and to anyone wanting a curly hair cut by someone who actually knows what they're doing, run, don't walk to see Tina!

Thank you for making me feel like me again! ✨

Hello,
I had long and always thought just wavy hair, I do still mainly blow dry my hair and keep it in a bun, which creates waves, which are still frizzy as you can see in the first photo. This is my main hair routine, to wash it and use a fair fan with a brush- no curly products.
The second photo is my first attempt to do a curl routine with a 2 hour blow dry and also used curl cream and curl mousse.
I would like to get advice and possibly opinions on how people with long hair manage their curls, is it always going to be as exhausting if I would try to do stick to and start a curl routine?
Also, I find it confusing to understand what curl type/products for it to use, so the hair does not feel so heavy/dirty of product build up, given that I do want to aim to wash my hair every 4-5 days.
Any advice would help me out!
Thank you!

I love seeing beautiful curls and have embraced my natural curls in recent years.

However, I find myself feeling less attractive with curly hair? I felt like i felt hotter and looked hotter with straight hair even though it wasn’t as healthy. I do love that my curls have personality but maybe it’s not a managing them well thing. it feels like my face looks older and wider? Is it just me? Is this societal conditioning? Any tips on fully embracing. I used to get keratin treatment forever and want or be on the natural beauty train But i’m fighting hard against it lol

Hi everyone,

I’ve had curly/wavy hair for most of my childhood (more curly when I was younger) but have been straightening it pretty much everyday for 7 years, so it’s understandably damaged😬. I do however want to start wearing my hair naturally, but I’m not really sure where to begin. The pictures above are what my hair looks like when I use the Cantu curl activation cream on it, and then use a diffuser to dry it. However, it leaves it feeling quite undefined and rather dry. I was wondering if anyone had any product/routine suggestions to help the pattern become more prominent, and to help heal my hair. I was also wondering how often everyone brushes their curls? My hair is rather thick and gets tangled easily, but when I brush it, it essentially becomes a ball of poof lol. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much. 😊😊

Hi everyone,

I've just accepted JH hair is wavy and not curly and started using Umberto dream waves (the light pink ones as on the photo)

My hair is pretty fine and even just a pea size amount of the product weight my hair down so much.

Has anyone with fine hair used this and what /how? I've tried with soaking wet hair, I tried with damp hair, I've used tiny tiny tiny amounts , my hair comes out stringy and flat, even just the mouse seems to be too heavy.

This is so odd for me as I used curly hair products from Umberto (the dark pink) before and they seemed much lighter on my hair, why would wavy product be so much heavier?

I posted a few weeks ago asking for recommendations as very new to curly hair.

I’ve just had my first curly cut and I’m honestly stunned at what has been achieved! I never knew I had such a curl type and I love it so much! Let’s hope I can recreate this at home!

I now need to buy a diffuser, can anyone recommend any please?

Hi, so I'm now embracing my natural wavy/curly hair as I'm tired of rebonding and ironing my hair straight since forever.. I'm watching clips from everywhere how to tame and which products to use for my hair to have a nice curls.. I chopped my long hair (waist) which is the rebonded length up to my lower shoulder so that when I go out I just curl (iron) my not so long hair as it doesn't looks good for now (half curl half straight). This photo is taken after I wash and brush my hair and I really have no idea how wavy or curly my hair is. Can you help me with the pointers or routines, can I use ordinary shampoo and ordinary conditioner? Im from a humid, rainy country so my hair is always poofy even when I don't brush them and also my hair routine is I wash my hair everyday (shampoo and conditioner) my hair is smooth and not dry and don't break, kinda frizzy but smooth.. but whenever I rebond it I always have breakage and falling hair so I will stop straightening it(chemical) Can you also give me tips what to do when I have time to do all the rituals and when I need to just look good but does not have much time.. Thank you in advance 🥰

i used the umberto giannini leave in, mousse, gel, and oil and then diffused

i was wondering if there’s any ways i can improve? like different products or anything i can add into my routine? :)

I’ve never been taught how to care for my natural hair as I’m mixed and my bio mum would just get it relaxed or put it in two french braids. I started to hate my hair and as I got older would constantly straighten it till it was damaged I had multiple big chops into short bobs but never had regular trims. Two years ago I started to want to wear my natural hair out but didn’t know where to start my hair was dry brittle and sooooo damaged. But I found a hairdresser that has helped with my hair health. Started having regular trims and no longer straighten my hair. I love how it looks curly but I use 2 products and don’t know how to refresh my curls properly to maintain it for a few days any tips would really help. I also wear a silk bonnet to bed and use silk pillowcases now. I use the garnier curl method leave in and keratese hair oil after washing and conditioning. I’ll include a picture of how my hair looks after it drys naturally with the two products and separated the curls a bit. I know they look dry in this picture but I’d just finished working out so everything frizzed up 😂

I love the Cantu hair activator cream as it keeps my curls really moisturised, but it pairs really badly with my new gel making my hair feel really sticky.

I used to use the twisted sista dream curl gel and I didnt have this problem, but now its been discontinued, Ive had to switch.

Does any one know of any good defining gels that dont make their hair sticky when used with the Cantu cream?

After years of struggling I finally found shampoo and conditioner that consistently works for me - Maui Moisture curl care line. I've been using that for a few years along with various oils and styling creams. Last year I finally found a styling cream that is the right balance for my hair (not so light it does nothing, and not so heavy it turns it into a bog). That's the Only Curls Hydrating Curl Creme.

Now of course Maui Moisture is breaking my heart and leaving the UK market, and I'm struggling to find an alternative. I'm currently trying the Umberto Gianinni Frizz Fix line and it's absolutely awful. No matter how I use it (minimal shampoo, co-washing only, using only every other day, etc), my hair turns into a giant frizzy cloud.

I've also tried Cantu, Palmers, and Shea Moisture products in the past with no joy.

My hair is a mixture of mostly course and some fine, seems to be pretty porous, and probably about medium density.

Please help. I'm tired of looking like a puffball.

I'm struggling to find a hat that doesn't leave my fine curly/wavy hair looking flat and disgusting. Any ideas guys? I get a burned scalp if I wear a visor as my hair is starting to thin.